Alternative rock band Fall Out Boy popped out of nowhere and made a HUGE impact on the music industry, memorising everyone with their style, lyrics and incredibly strange songs. The band released their debut album Fall Out Boy's Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, in 2003, followed quickly by the release of their second album, Take This to Your Grave. But it wasn't until 2005 when things really took off.
From Under the Cork Tree was the group's third album, and catapulted them into mainstream music and into the CD players of individuals all over the world. This album stood out above others climbing the charts for its remarkably contagious lyrics, upbeat tunes, rather unusual song titles such as 'I Slept with Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written about Me' and more lyrics in a line than I can say in a minute. Whether you want to call it mainstream rock or pop with a twist, with songs that will have you on your feet such as 'Dance Dance', tapping your fingers to 'Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner', or singing along to the infectious 'Sugar We're Going Down'. Many of the songs from this album are given their titles due to reference from further sources. 'Of All the Gin Joints in All the World' is a reference to a quote by Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, 'Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner' seems to be a quote spoken by Johnny from Dirty Dancing, 'Champagne for My Real Friends, Real Pain for My Sham Friends' is a quote by Edward Norton in the film, 25th Hour and 'Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part to Save the Scene and Stop Going to Shows)' refers to a quote from The Shawshank Redemption. Then there are the titles with a more personal meaning such as '7 Minutes in Heaven', which is based upon Wentz's attempted suicide.
The first single 'Sugar, We're Goin' Down' launched the band into the mainstream with a chart topping UK #8. In a comical way, the video deals with a boy being rejected because he is different. Then meeting a girl who likes him, her father is unhappy about the relationship, which is found out to be because he is also different; members of the band have described it as a "warped fairytale love story". The second single 'Dance, Dance' is upbeat and will make you want to dance, as the title suggests. The video shows the band performing at a homecoming dance, and simultaneously attending as nerdier versions of themselves. It reached #8 in the UK charts. The third single 'A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More 'Touch Me' hasn't overcome the popularity of its predecessors. The video mainly features the band resisting a gang of vampires around a town. Many of its scenes are parodies from various horror films, such as cult-classic The Lost Boys and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It only reached #38 in the UK charts. I for one had this album on repeat and couldn't wait for the next release.
With their recent single giving them their highest ever UK chart position, and the release of their new album Infinity on High, the boys rebound to be bigger then ever. The title is taken from a letter written by Vincent van Gough to his brother in which he describes his renewed health and the vigour it has instilled in his painting. The line that inspired the title is, "Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all". As with their previous albums, many songs have references to experiences, music or films. 'Thriller' features rapper Jay-Z, who does both the intro and outro, while 'The Take Over, The Break's Over' is a reference to a line in the Jay-Z song "Takeover". 'Hum Hallelujah' is reportedly about Peter Wentz's attempted suicide, while in previous interviews, the band have referred to the song 'Thnks Fr Th Mmrs' as a romantic relationship in which the initial sentiments have perished, but both lovers continue to be together to appease their physical desires. The title is simply the words "Thanks for the Memories" with vowels removed, which was done to imply that it was written in text language. The line "He tastes like you, only sweeter" is from the 2004 film, Closer.
The first single release, 'This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race' is reportedly about Wentz's frustration with the growing 'emo scene'. The video sees the band go into an underground hip-hop recording studio where they start singing; the R&B stars are uneasy by the song, until the bridge, which consists of a hip-hop/R&B sound. As the more emo style chorus kicks in, and the band start getting crazy, one move goes wrong and a magazine shows a beaten up Fall Out Boy, extricated from the 'hood'. In 2006, nude photographs of Wentz leaked onto the Internet. The event is parodied in the band's video when Wentz is then photographed unzipping his shirt and removing his belt, which ends up on the Internet. The song debuted at #6 in the UK Chart on downloads alone climbing to #2 the following week making it their most successful song in the UK to date. In the video for the second single 'The Carpal Tunnel of Love', the band appears as a group of Bears. I can't wait to see where that leads!
The boys have had an amazing two years and have taken the music industry away from reality stars which I for one am extremely thankful for. They have made an everlasting impression on the charts and affected the way singles and albums are going which is amazing. One thing I am curious about though boys, is why such long song titles?