On May 8, emo/punk rock stalworth Fall Out Boy celebrated the 17th anniversary of their breakout album.
Upon arrival and in the years since, 2005’s From Under the Cork Tree has represented a ferociously-slung double whammy. It’s a self-reflective record that’s reach collided the loud and proud, self-proclaimed “rejects” with the athletically inclined just as infatuated with belching out “Sugar We’re Goin Down,” “Dance, Dance” and the like at their respective venues of choice. Because the truth that binds Fall Out Boy’s beneficiaries: there’s deep pain to be found in all forms of love. So why not let it bring us together in excess worship, rather than tear us apart in joyless division?
Fall Out Boy’s long-standing place in the mainstream despite its niche lyrical messaging was obtained through slurred utterances, an unintended but well-welcomed symptom of “barking” the album’s standout track into existence, lead vocalist Patrick Stump told Rolling Stone Magazine. Consequently, the song, all the songs, could mean anything to anyone listening, all permitted the ability to walk away with their own interpretation thanks to a subtle but ingenious stroke of creative decision-making.
This explosion in reach beyond their underground roots is an asset, not a crutch, for their legacy, says one Long Island-born fan who knows the world Fall Out Boy exists in more than most.
“I think when they were recording [From Under the Cork Tree, 2005], and developing, they must have felt something incredibly influential coming together,” said Megan McCarthy, 27, of Wantagh. McCarthy is a regular concertgoer and punk music aficionado whose set to attend the first of the three highly anticipated “When We Were Young” festival shows in October.
“Their nod to influential references (defiantly long-form movie quotes as From Under the Cork Tree song titles) was their way of saying, ‘this is who we are, and we are proud of it.’ So what if they have a wide appeal? That’s a good thing!”
It certainly is, considering the band’s successful efforts in bringing more generations into a musical terrain that had, for a time, been unfairly deemed too intimidating, dark or violently sounding for a subset of the masses to properly intake. So much was Fall Out Boy’s impact felt in the mid-2000s amid the mad rush of pop punk acts infiltrating the conversation, that fans are left scratching their heads as to why they are currently not slated to return to the stage on the “When We Were Young” ticket.
One reunited band that is, though, as the headliner alongside an equally on hiatus-no-more Paramore, can’t wait to welcome you back to The Black Parade. In fact, they’ve already begun to do just that this past week.
My Chemical Romance, the riotously millennial-beloved act who hadn’t released a new track since “Fake Your Death” from their May Death Never Stop You (2014) greatest hits collection, has appropriately returned from the performative dead with “The Foundations of Decay.”
The May 12-released single essentially sequelizes the juxtaposition of screamed chorus work and hushed versal and bridged calm-downs that catapulted the edgy band into popularity with their 2002 debut, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, and especially their smash 2005 follow-up, The Black Parade. Lyrical allusions to “the day the towers fell” within the song also harken the known personal mythos of band founder and lead singer, Gerard Way.
Then-pursuing a career in the comic book industry, Way was first inspired to start My Chemical Romance – their foremost musical influences including Queen, The Cure and The Smiths, as can clearly be discerned from the best of their work – immediately after the 9/11 attacks.
Needless to say, “Foundations of Decay” is a love letter to (1) their own legend (2) the fans that undyingly rallied for them to swing it back around until they finally did, and (3) the rumored new album on the way. “Swarm”-marked merchandise has been made available in bulk at their currently unfolding Covid-delayed comeback tour, as pictured left.
Scheduled for October 22, 23, and 29 in Las Vegas, the “When We Were Young” festival will also feature: Bright Eyes, AFI, The Used, Bring Me the Horizon, Boys Like Girls, Avril Lavigne, Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional, We the Kings, Alkaline Trio, Manchester Orchestra, Dance Gavin Dance, the All-American Rejects, Anberlin, 3OH!3, Atreyu, the Ready Set, Jimmy Eat World, La Dispute, The Wonder Years, Hawthorne Heights, Car Seat Headrest, and Wolf Alice.
