No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls is the debut studio album by Canadian rock band Simple Plan.

Formed by members of Reset, Simple Plan spent over a year recording their first album with producer Arnold Lanni.

After signing with major label Atlantic Records, "I'm Just a Kid" was released as a single in February 2002, with No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls following on March 19.

[1] They released their debut album No Worries in 1997;[2] unhappy with the musical direction, Comeau left to attend college.

[6] Additional recording was done at Select Sound (in Buffalo, New York) and Studio West (in San Diego, California) with Angelo Caruso.

[7] Bouvier said the long process was due to a clash of opinions between the band and Lanni: "He came from a different world than we did, and he wanted to push the quirky, pop side of what we were doing.

[6] Caruso, Al-Hillal and Dom Condo did digital editing, before the tracks were mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound in New York City.

[5] Musically, No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls has been described as pop-punk,[8] drawing comparisons to Blink-182,[9] Good Charlotte and New Found Glory.

"[3] The opening track "I'd Do Anything" was one of the first songs written for inclusion on the album,[12] and includes Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 doing back-up vocals.

[5] Bouvier said he and Comeau wrote "I'm Just a Kid" about how they felt when they attending high school, namely "feel[ing] like it's the end of the world".

[18] The band wanted "Addicted" as the first single, however, due to a film opportunity, "I'm Just a Kid" was chosen instead;[19] it ultimately appeared on the soundtrack for The New Guy.

[20] The song's music video was directed by Smith N' Borin; it features DJ Qualls and Eliza Dushku (both of whom appear in The New Guy).

[45] "I'm Just a Kid" saw a resurgence in popularity in 2020 due to a challenge on the social media platform TikTok that involves family members re-creating childhood photos.

[61] Throughout February 2004, Simple Plan appeared on IMX, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

AllMusic reviewer Todd Kristel opened his piece by stating the band didn't have "anything new to say, but at least it sounds like they're having a good time saying it", being "so full of pep and energy".

"[64] Pär Winberg of Melodic said he was "so bored" with Blink-182 ripoff acts such as Simple Plan "trying to be funny on the sleeve with a nerd look".

's Stuart Green said the group disseminated a "trite and derivative brand of inoffensive mall punk" in the vein of New Found Glory and Good Charlotte.

"[10] IGN writer JR viewed it as "harmless bubblegum pop-punk for the junior high set", and said multiple listens of it were "considerably less taxing on the psyche" than his initial impression.

[8] Hannah Guy of Chart Attack said the group "delved into the previously explored-and-pillaged genre of pop-punk", however, they lacked the hooks of their peers.

"[65] Rolling Stone's Jon Caramanica wrote that the tracks were "brief, ephemeral, tautly structured, bombastically produced blasts of snotty posing.

[66] No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls was included on best-of pop-punk album lists by A.Side TV,[67] BuzzFeed,[68] Houston Press,[69] Rock Sound[70] and Rolling Stone.

[80] Track listing per booklet, all musics were composed by Simple Plan, except Happy Together written by Alan Gordon and Gary Bonner.