Peak
28
Weeks
19
Score
1,878
Chart Year
2002
The music video for "Youth of the Nation" has the band performing the song in a room filled with photos of adolescents as seen on the single cover. It revolves around a group of teenagers taking a cross country trip in a car from New York City to Venice Beach in Los Angeles via Western Pennsylvania (New Kensington, Arnold, Cheswick, Harmarville), Carhenge is used as a backdrop for parts of the chorus along with other locales. The book On the Road by Jack Kerouac can be seen on the dashboard of the car. Directed by Paul Fedor, the video found significant airplay on MTV2. The video features a prefamous Joel David Moore as the teenager driving the car.[5][better source needed] Marcos Curiel noted that censorship of the video came into play due to Viacom: "We had a girl sitting on the hood of the car going down the highway trying to be free-spirited, you know? [...] But, Viacom and MTV had us edit that out because kids are so easily influenced."
This song was inspired by the March 5, 2001 shootings at Santana High School in Santee, California, where 15-year-old Charles Williams walked into school with his father's gun and fired 30 shots, killing two students and wounding 13 others. The shooting was remarkably close to where P.O.D. was working that day, and inspired this song. In our interview with lead singer Sonny Sandoval, he said: "When we were actually writing the record for Satellite, we were two blocks away from the Santee high school shootings. We had taken a break and went out for some coffee, and we see all the fire trucks and the police department and the helicopters and news. And we're like, something's going on. We turn on the TV and all of a sudden there's a young kid who has trapped everybody inside the school and he's shooting. Here we are, glued to the TV and we're literally two blocks away. All this is going down, and here we were supposed to write music. It kind of just set the tone for how we felt that day." On April 20, 1999, two students at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado killed 13 people in a shooting spree at the school. P.O.D. stands for "Payable On Death," but that's a reflection of their Christian beliefs, and not a call for violence. The band spends a lot of time working with young people and trying to represent them in their music. Sonny Sandoval told us: "We had always been a touring band and we had toured through Colorado, even when Columbine had happened, and we had an awesome underground following, even of kids in Colorado. So when we toured through Colorado, some of the kids that survived the Columbine shootings put on a fund raiser, so we've always been kind of involved in that. We're hanging out with young kids, we're talking with kids, and that was one of the things that was going on when we were touring so many years ago. So it had always been something that was on our shoulders. And then when this happened it was like wow, what's going on with these kids? And it was like here it is, these are the youth of the nation. So it just sparked that whole story." Guitarist Marcos Curiel said of this song: "It's always been a topic on tour. I don't want to say it inspired us, but it gave us the motivation to write something. Well, when we were writing this record, we wanted to be secluded so we went to Santee, in East San Diego, where we had this 35x35 rehearsal studio. One day we were on our way to practice, and we saw all these cops, but we didn't know what was going on. Later we found out what had happened (The shooting). It was an emotional situation. The main control room in the studio has a TV, and we're watching the news on there, thinking, 'Man, this is a mess.' I'm the only one that doesn't have kids, but everybody was like, ' Dude, that could have been my kids in there,' or 'That could have been my sister.'" >> Parts of this song were recorded very quickly after the Santee shootings. Sandoval explained in his Songfacts interview: "We had the title and we had the music. It was just this very drone like echo of this guitar. And that's just how we felt. And here we are having conversation and the title 'Youth of the Nation' came up, and then we kind of hummed out some ideas of the chorus. But the lyrics for the verses weren't written until we actually got into the studio and started to write out tracks. But I knew I was going to be telling the story of what we experienced and what happened. So it was more about this story of certain individuals, or just this kid who feels like he's lost in this world. The lyrics all came out once we were in the studio." Paul Fedor directed the video, which follows a young man on a cross-country journey, where he brings other young folks into the fold. In the band scenes, the balls are covered with enlarged yearbook photos, some of them distorted. The video has a positive vibe, with the youth of the nation coming together. Other directors pitched much darker storylines.
Last day of the rest of my life I wish I would've known 'Cause I didn't kiss my mama goodbye I didn't tell her that I loved her, how much I care Or thank my pops for all the talks And all the wisdom he shared Unaware, I just did what I always do Everyday, the same routine Before I skate off to school But who knew that this day wasn't like the rest Instead of taking a test I took two to the chest Call me blind, but I didn't see it coming Everybody was running But I couldn't hear nothing Except gun blasts, it happened so fast I didn't really know this kid Though I sit by him in class Maybe this kid was reaching out for love Or maybe for a moment He forgot who he was Or maybe this kid just wanted to be hugged Whatever it was I know it's because We are, we are, the youth of the nation We are, we are, youth of the nation We are, we are, the youth of the nation We are, we are, youth of the nation Little Suzy, she was only twelve She was given the world With every chance to excel Hang with the boys and hear the stories they tell She might act kind of proud But no respect for herself She finds love in all the wrong places The same situations Just different faces Changed up her pace since her daddy left her Too bad he never told her She deserved much better Johnny boy always played the fool He broke all the rules So you would think he was cool He was never really one of the guys No matter how hard he tried Often thought of suicide It's kind of hard when you ain't got no friends He put his life to an end They might remember him then You cross the line and there's no turning back Told the world how he felt With the sound of a gat We are, we are, the youth of the nation We are, we are, youth of the nation We are, we are, the youth of the nation We are, we are, youth of the nation Who's to blame for the lives that tragedies claim? No matter what you say It don't take away the pain That I feel inside, I'm tired of all the lies Don't nobody know why It's the blind leading the blind I guess that's the way that the story goes Will it ever make sense Somebody's got to know There's got to be more to life than this There's got to be more to everything I thought exists We are, we are, the youth of the nation We are, we are, youth of the nation We are, we are (we are, we are), the youth of the nation We are, we are (we are, we are), youth of the nation We are, we are (we are, we are) The youth of the nation (the youth of a nation) We are, we are (we are, we are) Youth of the nation (youth of a nation) We are, we are (we are, we are) The youth of the nation (the youth of a nation) We are, we are (we are, we are) Youth of the nation (youth of the nation) (We are) youth of the nation (We are) youth of the nation (We are) youth of the nation (We are)
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 9, 2002 | 74 | 52 |
| 2 | Feb 16, 2002 | 67 | 59 |
| 3 | Feb 23, 2002 | 59 | 67 |
| 4 | Mar 2, 2002 | 53 | 73 |
| 5 | Mar 9, 2002 | 47 | 79 |
| 6 | Mar 16, 2002 | 40 | 86 |
| 7 | Mar 23, 2002 | 34 | 92 |
| 8 | Mar 30, 2002 | 30 | 96 |
| 9 | Apr 6, 2002 | 28 | 98 |
| 10 | Apr 13, 2002 | 28 | 98 |
| 11 | Apr 20, 2002 | 30 | 96 |
| 12 | Apr 27, 2002 | 32 | 94 |
| 13 | May 4, 2002 | 41 | 85 |
| 14 | May 11, 2002 | 57 | 69 |
| 15 | May 18, 2002 | 65 | 61 |
| 16 | May 25, 2002 | 68 | 58 |
| 17 | Jun 1, 2002 | 75 | 51 |
| 18 | Jun 8, 2002 | 89 | 37 |
| 19 | Jun 15, 2002 | 92 | 34 |