Youth of the Nation (song)

Youth of the Nation is a Christian Nu-Metal song by the band P.O.D. from their fourth studio album Satellite, released in 2001. It became a crossover hit on the secular charts, reaching #1 on the Modern Rock chart, #6 on the Mainstream Rock chart, and #26 on the Billboard 100 chart (their only top 40 hit on that chart).

The song was inspired by a real-life incident involving the band: on March 5, 2001, while traveling to the studio to record songs for Satellite the band was held up in traffic as a result of a school shooting at Santana High School in Santee, California (which resulted in two deaths, 13 injuries, and the shooter -- 15-year-old Charles Andrew "Andy" Williams being ultimately sentenced to 50 years to life for the crimes).

The song features three verses involving three different people:

• The first verse (told in first person, as opposed to the others told in third person) is of an unnamed young boy who skates to school, only to become the victim of a classmate shooting fellow students (inspired by the Santana incident).
• The second verse tells of "little Suzie", age 12, who is abandoned by her father, and is now "finding love in all the wrong places" (i.e. seeks affection from boys via sex).
• The third verse tells of "Johnny", a young boy who never "fits in" and ultimately commits suicide by shooting himself.