fall out boy: a primer

dionysae:

take this to your grave (2003)

grand theft autumn/where is your boy —this song put them on the map. dubbed the national anthem of the fall out boy fanbase. i dare you to listen to it without thinking about how much your middle-school self needed to hear this.

chicago is so two years ago —dealing w/ the pains of outgrowing your hometown and the imprint it leaves on you whether you want it to or not. we all have love/hate relationships with our childhoods. we’re always orbiting that center of gravity. 

the pros and cons of breathing —quintessential teen angst, with that special flavor of nastiness that only young people have. who do you hate more, them or yourself? the answer is yes.

essential video viewing: saturday, dead on arrival

from under the cork tree (2005)

dance, dance —the love song you always wished you could shout at your crush across a crowded party. patrick stump says it’s the best thing he’s ever done. i hope he’s referring to the video.

sugar, we’re going down —you know this song. you may not know that you know this song, but you know it. i don’t care how old you are, you sing along.

i’ve got a dark alley and a bad idea that says you should shut your mouth (summer song) —pay attention to these lyrics because they hold clues to what keeps pete wentz up at night. the kids are fucked up. we will all be forgotten one day. and there’s nothing he can do but watch himself fall apart.

essential video viewing: a little less sixteen candles, a little more “touch me”

infinity on high (2007)

this ain’t a scene, it’s an arms race —continues to explore the dissonance of what they are to themselves and what they are to fans. they are the therapists, the dealers, doling out solutions when they look in the mirror and have none for themselves.

hum hallelujah —pete has said that jeff buckley’s “hallelujah” saved his life. kids grow up, promises are broken, and sometimes that’s all you’ve got.

thnks fr th mmrs —one of the greatest fuck-you—and-another-thing songs ever written. takes the time to reflect on the memories before deciding yeah. fuck you.

essential video viewing: the take’s over, the break’s over

folie à deux (2008)

i don’t care —required by law to be sung at the top of your lungs, preferably while standing on something that wasn’t meant to be stood on. if you like your fuck-offs violent, this is it.

what a catch, donnie —a raw ballad about the pain of being who you are, when none of it matters in the end. it’s okay to cry. you are so loved. (you may notice that one band member is nowhere to be found. remember, the captain goes down with the ship.)

(coffee’s for closers) —if the album had a theme song this would be it. everything’s falling apart and you’re onstage, burning under the lights, screaming into a microphone like it’ll save you from yourself. everything you love you will destroy.

essential video viewing: america’s suitehearts, headfirst slide into cooperstown on a bad bet

save rock and roll (2013)

my songs know what you did in the dark (light em up) —they dropped this song without warning after five years of radio silence, and it exploded. the symbolism is blazing clear: this is not your middle-school emo scene. they are back, they are on fire, and they are coming for you.

the phoenix —this album is a handbook of calls-to-arms and none better than this one. the kids are all grown up, with flames and teeth, rising from the ashes of what they used to be. listen to this before a competition. you will win.

where did the party go? —as he gets older, pete’s preoccupation with youth only gets stronger. listen carefully. the kids may be grown up, but at what cost?

essential video viewing: the entire young blood chronicles. do it. take fifty minutes of your time and just fucking do it all in one go.

american beauty/american psycho (2015)

jet pack blues —inspired by a scene in pacific rim. there’s someone waiting for you, to save you and make everything all right. maybe they exist. maybe it’s you. maybe they’re waiting for you, if you could just find your way back to them. maybe it’s all in your head.

uma thurman —the pop-rock munsters-sampling windows-down radio-blasting dance jam of the summer. except it’s winter. whatever. (and yes, it’s still vicious.)

the kids aren’t alright —pete wentz at his pete wentz-iest. songs like this are why fall out boy is so often the band of the outcasts and misfits and hurting. nobody’s all right but maybe you don’t have to be. fall out boy is right there with you.

essential video viewing: centuries, american beauty/american psycho

miscellaneous favorites

tell that mick he just made my list of things to do today (tttyg)
7 minutes in heaven (atavan halen) (cork tree)
sophomore slump or comeback of the year (cork tree)
snitches and talkers get stitches and walkers (cork tree)
golden (infinity)
bang the doldrums (infinity)
g.i.n.a.s.f.s. (infinity)
disloyal order of water buffaloes (folie)
27 (folie)
20 dollar nose bleed (folie)
west coast smoker (folie)
young volcanoes (save rar)
alone together (save rar)
just one yesterday (save rar)
irresistible (ab/ap)
novocaine (ab/ap)
twin skeletons (hotel in nyc) (ab/ap)