An evening in with Fall Out Boy

There's no doubt about it, I used to dismiss this band. I never really let them register and even when I did it was a fleeting fancy for one or two of their big hits that more or less everyone could move to. I never thought of them as a band right at the forefront of making good music, they never were a totally amazing group of songwriters to me, Fall Out Boy didn't get the obsessive treatment I reserve for alot of the other big hitters I listen to. Nevertheless, as with anyone submerged in today's pop culture milieu they've always flirted with the boundaries of my listening radar.

For a group of guys who churn out solid hit after solid pop punk hit they possess somewhat double-edged sword charachteristics, take the very inception of Fall Out Boy; Joe Trohman overheard future lead singer Patrick Stump talking about Neurosis in a book store and went on to introduce himself. Not Bad Religion, not early Green Day but Neurosis! Pete Wentz, as preened and coiffed as you might like to think of him, played in a succession of hardcore punk and metalcore outfits, notably Arma Angelus (The Grave End of The Shovel), and Yellow Road Priest. Furthermore along with future drummer Andy Hurley, he played in the political straight edge act Racetraitor. It was only after the group discussed taking their musical aspirations in a direction that reflected their early pop punk listening habits (Descendants, The Get Up Kids), that Fall Out Boy came into being

I was really well and truly impressed with Folie á Deux, bringing it out roughly only a year after Infinity On High and still managing to pack in an abundance of delightfully well crafted songs aswell as furthering their musical maturity Is surely praise worthy in anyone's book. Bands don't do that nowadays, well not the gilded pop punk generation. They're so obsessed with the particulars of producing, mixing and mastering, to really put out what they want to put out. Pete Wentz, no longer the limelight thief with perfect teeth that i thought he was, is worthy of the recognition he gets. His lyrics are as satirical, layered, meaningful and seductively blazé. Metal has so many restrictions and boundaries that are watertight if you want to be deemed part of the fold, yet i have never seen a downside to 'wimpy' pop punk. It's just sailing in the sunshine, there's no downside to great hooks & great melody. Punk Rock is freedom, it is Art, someone great once said 'Art is expression, in expression you need 100% full freedom" .. and so i will advocate for Fall Out Boy.

So I've started my love affair, 5 years later than everyone else maybe, but hey, I'd like to think I listen to alot! The point of this blog? Probably to say that I was wrong to dismiss Fall Out Boy earlier on in their career, and also to say sorry to Pete Wentz - he's not the ego monster I labelled him as, he has quite a bit of wit about him, I love how he makes a complete mockery of young coked up Hollywood. Probably just a product of growing up listening to The Smiths.

For those who haven't heard Folie á Deux and feel like giving it a chance - Download