More about: Fall Out Boy

This week, Fall Out Boy wrapped up the US leg of their Hella Mega Tour, performing sandwiched between Weezer and Green Day for a 2000s pop-punk nostalgia extravaganza. Of the three, Fall Out Boy boast the most recent mainstream popularity, and their set-list was a tour de force of the hit singles that took them from basement shows to headlining Wrigley Field in their native Chicago.

With the Hella Mega Tour due to arrive in the UK next summer (fingers and toes, fingers and toes), what better time to take a look at some of the songs that might not make a live show but are nonetheless essential parts of the Fall Out Boy canon.

'Rat a Tat'

Fall Out Boy have become known for their collaborations, and when they roared back after a hiatus with the brilliant 2013 album Save Rock & Roll, the record was peppered with features. Elton John’s turn on the title track stole the headlines and the song is a staple of the band’s setlist (see Patrick’s piano bursting into flames on the Hella Mega Tour) but Courtney Love’s turn on the overlooked ‘Rat a Tat’ is a real gem. A punked up song on a pop-rock album, Love laces her contributions with trademark venom and pure rockstar energy. From there, the four-piece power through the most urgent instrumental on the record, Patrick Stump borrowing some of Love’s sass with his angry delivery.

'Tiffany Blews'

Conversely, the feature artist on ‘Tiffany Blews’—a deep cut from 2008’s daring and unfairly maligned (on release) Folie A Deux—is probably the weakest part of the song...Lil Wayne mumbling through an auto tuned interlude. Funk guitars swagger through the verses before one of Stump’s most soulful vocals to date sends the chorus to the stratosphere. Chef’s kiss to that moment that guitars drop out before the final chorus, leaving just Stump’s meticulously multi-tracked harmonies.

'Jet Pack Blues'

FOBs post-hiatus popularity peaked with American Beauty/American Psycho. Not pausing for a break between tours, lead single ‘Centuries’ became ubiquitous and the album spawned multiple radio hits. Nestled in the midst of all that noise is ‘Jet Pack Blues’, another soulful effort which starts off with soft acoustic strums and piano keys, before blasting off into an electronic chorus of processed beats, cranked synths and another acrobatic Stump melody. The whole concoction is evocative and addictive in equal measure.

'Young and Menace'

Can you include a lead single on an Underrated Songs list? Well we’re going to anyway. Announced, delayed, re-recorded and finally released in 2018, MANIA puzzled fans and critics alike. Lead single ‘Young and Menace’ was a glitching, writhing nightmare of electronic noise which took everyone by surprise, with a strong enough backlash that Fall Out Boy banished it from set-lists except in a stripped down form which, while sultry, lost the pure chaos that makes the recording so vital. They then went back to the drawing board and re-wrote half of MANIA in response.

In retrospect they should have stuck to their guns. MANIA became a quirky edition to their catalogue but was too safe in places to fulfil its own mission statement. ‘Young and Menace’ was dangerous, jarring and exactly what Fall Out Boy exists to do; push mainstream pop-rock into places it has no right to venture, but bring their huge fan base along for the ride. There are better songs on MANIA, but none matches ‘Young and Menace’ for sheer thrill.

'Bang The Doldrums'

Before the hiatus and subsequent comeback (the greatest ‘second act’ in modern rock?), between 2005 and 2008 Fall Out Boy enjoyed a steady string of radio hits, their first phase cresting with Infinity on High and it’s two monster anthems ‘This Ain’t a Scene’ and ‘Thnks fr th Mmrs’. While they live for smash singles, the deeper cuts are never too shabby with FOB. Featuring a bizarre yet charming pirate-punk singalong and one of bassist Pete Wentz’s spoken word bridges, ‘Bang The Doldrums’ was prime FOB v1.0. The hooks ascend and ascend, Stump dealing out melodies like an emo-ABBA. Wentz recently revealed that they wrote the track for a Shrek soundtrack, which we would have loved to have seen. Unfortunately Dreamworks didn’t like it. 

'G.I.N.A.S.F.S'

Despite it’s flirtations with RnB and soul, Infinity on High still packs its share of pop-punk Kerrang fodder. Appearing as a bonus track, ‘G.I.N.A.S.F.S’ features frantic power chords, yelping vocals and some of Wentz’s best lyrics of his ‘self-deprecating ironist’ phase. Try these on for size: “I've already given up on myself twice, third time is the charm. Threw caution to the wind, but I've got a lousy arm.”

'XO'

If it wasn’t obvious by now, we’ve got a soft spot for the final third of Fall Out Boy albums, once the small matter of radio-crushing singles is out of the way and the band can cut loose and experiment further. Closing their breakthrough record From Under the Cork Tree, ‘XO’ is a shapeshifting singalong, moving from frantic guitar thrash to a glistening arena chorus, as Wentz details a sordid one night stand from the nightclub to the hotel room to the narrator’s speedy getaway. "I hoped you choked and crashed your car" the voicemail says; it’s early Fall Out Boy so the lyrics rarely reflect well on their narrator.

'West Coast Smoker'

Another cut from Folie a Deux and another of FOB’s overlooked collaborations. A wildly diverse record featuring choral arrangements, fluttering strings and grandiose crescendos, Folie ends on its most abrasive note, metal guitars and pounding drums from Andy Hurley giving the floor for Stump to wail out the chorus with none other than Debbie Harry. There’s even room for a Wentz screamo moment before the final chorus. Excellent.

'Bishop’s Knife Trick'

We like the collaborations, and yes we also love the closing tracks. Unburdened from radio pressure, these final tracks are some of their most adventurous. Marrying piano balladry with hyper-modern pop production, ‘Bishop's Knife Trick’ is one of the best moments on MANIA, and one of the few to live up to the promise of ‘Young and Menace’. With a steady, insistent drum loop and warbling synths, the whole thing has a woozy, blissed out quality and some of Wentz’ more intricate post-hiatus lyrics. Oh, and a music video where Stump tries to direct a pair of llamas to perform the song.

'Twin Skeletons'

A haunting bookend to the frenetic pop of American Beauty/American Psycho, like ‘Bishop's Knife Trick’, Wentz again seems to let more of himself into the lyrics, mirroring ‘XO’s hotel tryst. Stump barks his vocals with appropriate spite, guitarist Joe Trohman wildly pitch-shifts his squalling guitar lines and the whole thing ends with an otherworldly choir of Stumps chanting acapella.

'I’ve Got All This Ringing In My Ears And None On My Fingers'

Ok, we swear we’re done listing the last song on Fall Out Boy albums now. While it often gets remembered for the RnB angle and Jay-Z intro, there’s a whole baroque-pop side to Infinity on High that can get forgotten. ‘Thnks fr th Mmrs’’ orchestral intro is the most enduring example, but ‘I’ve Got All This Ringing In My Ears And None On My Fingers’ is even more ambitious in scale, never fully giving way to pop-punk and insisting on its big band arrangement from start to finish. From opening piano stabs, a full horn and string section and strutting drumming, the chorus opens into an angelic falsetto from Stump.

Trohman adds a funky post-chorus lick that not so much nods as headbangs at Brian May, someone he references time and again across this album. The Queen worship is strongest on this epic closer, with the dynamics of each verse, chorus and post-chorus shift each time round like a Bo-Emo-ian Rhapsody.

More about: Fall Out Boy