The quintet initially came together when Comeau and Bouvier founded Reset at age 13. Reset proved to be a modestly successful band in Canada, touring the country with other punk groups like MxPx, Ten Foot Pole, and Face to Face. A debut album followed in 1997; however, Comeau bowed out quietly to attend college. Two years later, Comeau pushed his studies to the back burner and returned to music, this time working with Stinco and Lefebvre to put a new group together. Meanwhile, Bouvier was still in charge of Reset, but he'd grown tired of being both a frontman and a guitarist. After he and Comeau reconnected at a Sugar Ray show in late 1999, Bouvier agreed to join Comeau's new project. Desrosiers, who briefly replaced Bouvier in Reset, was also asked to join the group, and Simple Plan was born.

The band quickly hit the road and joined the annual Vans Warped Tour in 2001. By this point, Simple Plan had carved out a spunky, energetic punk sound, textured like Cheap Trick but raw like Pennywise. The following year, Simple Plan headed into the studio to capture the sound on tape. Good Charlotte's Joel Madden and Mark Hoppus of blink-182 joined Simple Plan during those sessions, and the end result was the fiery, fun No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls, which was released in early 2003 on Lava Records. The group took home a 2003 MuchMusic Video Award for People's Choice Favorite Canadian Group in June, and the album became a genuine success, selling over four million copies worldwide while going double-platinum in Canada and America. The Bob Rock-produced second album, Still Not Getting Any..., appeared the next year and also did quite well, scoring hits like "Crazy" and "Welcome to My Life." Simple Plan continued touring in support of both releases, and released the concert album Live from the Hard Rock in 2005.

The band scaled back their touring schedule in 2006, looking to concentrate on writing new material instead. Simple Plan entered the studio in June 2007 to begin work on their third studio album, the self-titled Simple Plan, which appeared in February 2008. Although not an international best-seller like its two predecessors, the album still went platinum in Canada, where demand for the band's spunky pop songs remained strong. The band returned three years later with another album, Get Your Heart On!, which featured cameos from Rivers Cuomo, Natasha Bedingfield, and All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth. Its sequel, the EP Get Your Heart On - The Second Coming!, was released in 2013 in conjuction with a for-the-fans live recording, which was released as an online stream. In 2015, the band began to release singles to garner buzz for their fifth album (and first full-length in as many years), starting with the catchy '80s-vibed "Saturday." Although that song would not make it to the album, "Boom," "I Don't Wanna Be Sad," and "I Don't Wanna Go to Bed," which featured rapper Nelly, would all be included on Taking One for the Team (Atlantic), which was released in February 2016. Keeping in line with their brand of catchy pop punk, the release also featured appearances by New Found Glory singer Jordan Pundik, R. City, and Juliet Simms, the runner-up on season two of The Voice. ~ MacKenzie Wilson