Are you on the bandwagon or not?

Fall Out Boy-- America's Suitehearts video



Do I seem a bit hung up on Fall Out Boy lately? Well perhaps that's because I am. But only because the entire world seems to revolve around them lately. I know Pete Wentz just married and had a baby with Ashlee Simpson, but does no one remember how many complaints there were about FOB following Infinity On High?

The fans couldn't handle the change, yet now everyone is back to throwing their money and their attention at a band who they ripped apart just twenty-three months ago. Fall Out Boy's newest album, Folie A Deux, which dropped on December 16, is not that different from Infinity On High. Lyrically it is a drastic change, given that the songs are for once not written from Pete Wentz's point of view, but musically, there have been very few alterations.

I've like everything of Fall Out Boy's-- from their unsigned garage-band punk days of Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, to the obnoxious popularity of From Under the Cork Tree, and even recently the new sounds of Infinity On High and Folie A Deux. I understand the attraction of Folie, but I'm just surprised that so many have jumped back on the bandwagon. Maybe fans have finally learned to look at present-day Fall Out Boy as a separate entity from past-FOB. But regardless of whether or not they are widely worshiped, I plan to continue listening.

Dedicated fan post. tl;dr.

8/17/09

It's time to talk about Fall Out Boy. I know I post reviews, etc. about them all the time; I'm sorry. But I need to write this. [Disclaimer: Even though they are merely on a "break," I will be referring to them as "over," because that is what my head tells me they are.]

I can't accept it. I cannot even begin to accept it. For as long as I have payed attention to anything in the music industry, Fall Out Boy has been there. My first favorite song [post-Nsync and Dream...] was "Grand Theft Autumn" and my first [legitimate] album was Take This To Your Grave, closely followed by Evening Out With Your Girlfriend and From Under The Cork Tree. I know I sound like a fangirl right now, talking about my long-term love for Fall Out Boy. But I'm not writing this to tell you all how I love them more than you, because I don't care. I'm just trying to convey that Fall Out Boy have always been there and I can't even fathom the world of music without them in it. The day I found out that they were going on hiatus [I've suspected for ages, but it was confirmed a little over a week ago] was a very interesting day. I never really thought that I cared about any band so much, but I definitely had a mini-meltdown.

And then I realized why I was so upset. I became a journalist because of Fall Out Boy. They didn't inspire me or anything, and the reasoning is really quite pathetic, but it's true. I just wanted to interview them. Teenage Sarah felt that she needed to sit down and have a conversation with her great musical heroes, and this was the only way that that could happen. I had, and still have, so many questions to ask them. I have so many things I want to tell them. There are lines I want to go over dozens of times and lyrics that I want to hear the story behind. And when I was sixteen, I knew that the only way I could have this sort of access to Fall Out Boy was by becoming a member of the media. Then they had no choice but to talk to me.

So I became a journalist. I started writing in high school and I got an internship at my local paper, where I interviewed The Bravery, Plain White T's, Monty Are I, Jon McLaughlin, and a few others. But not Fall Out Boy. I was in constant communication with their publicist, and it seemed that she could set me up with every interview in the world... except for with them. We even had it arranged at one point for me to interview Pete. I was finally going to have the opportunity to speak face-to-face with the lyricist who meant to much to me growing up. But of course, it fell through. I then became the entertainment editor at my high school paper and moved on to an internship at the major city paper nearest to me. Surely this was my chance, right? Wrong. I even managed to land an interview with the Jonas Brothers, but Fall Out Boy was still, forever it seemed, out of reach.

I always kept it in the back of my head, knowing that one day I would be working at a major entertainment media outlet, and I would eventually get that interview. I would finally have the chance to say and ask everything I had wanted to all these years. Even though I saw the signs pointing to the end of Fall Out Boy, I didn't accept it. I told myself that there was still time. And then August 6th rolled around and I saw the What A Catch, Donnie music video. That's when I knew it was over. The official announcement came on August 13th, but I had already been trying for a week to get in touch with anyone who could land me this interview. On Thursday, August 20th, I will be seeing Fall Out Boy in Indianapolis, and this is my last chance. If I don't interview Fall Out Boy by then, I'm terrified that I will never get the chance. I'm terrified that this one-year hiatus will turn into an indefinite break, and from that become a permanent separation.

I hope I find a way to make this happen, but I'm running out of ideas.

If anyone has any connection or anything to help me out, please let me know. My email is maloy.sarah@gmail.com.