Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree

Are we growing up or just going down?

Aug 31, 2024

This post was originally published on August 31, 2024.

Release Date: May 3, 2005
Genre: Pop-punk, alternative rock, emo
Label: Island Records
Producer(s): Neal Avron

In hindsight, it's not that surprising that Fall Out Boy turned out to have some of the most longevity of all the 2000s emo bands. They were honest-to-goodness popular at my middle school, not just a niche act like Jimmy Eat World or the Spill Canvas. DJs would play their songs at middle school dances, along with the closely related Panic! at the Disco. Pete Wentz was a legitimate celebrity. At the height of the Hot Topic aesthetic that was so popular among teen girls, these guys somehow appealed to teen girls the most (even my sister, who had outgrown that phase by this time). But to sustain the kind of careers they have, the songs also had to be at least solid, which is how I got interested in them.

As I read about the band's early days, it's a bit of a feat that they managed to make it far enough to get a major label release. Fall Out Boy was formed outside of Chicago by already locally famous bassist Wentz and guitarist Joe Trohman. They'd been playing in the hardcore scene, but decided to start a side project, for which they auditioned Patrick Stump. They went through many names, many members, a messy tour, disagreements about who would write songs, and an EP that was so rushed they refused to acknowledge it as their official debut. It all sounds like a lot of drama. But they barely held it together to release their real debut, Take This To Your Grave, in 2003. They played a few shows on the Warped Tour, and eventually got enough traction and praise that there was hype for a second album.

Stump claims the creation of From Under the Cork Tree was more "smooth," "natural and fun" than their earlier efforts. They wanted Neal Avron to produce because of his work with New Found Glory, which I certainly can't argue with. The sound is your typical catchy, aggressive melodies and riffs that are so central to pop-punk, but somehow fuller. The vocals are a cut above most of their peers, which may be why I never heard anyone dismiss Stump as "whiny." Wentz's lyrics cover heavy topics, but in a way that can be as cutting as it is somber. And the hooks are truly bulletproof, to the point where I had trouble deciding what to give each song on my spreadsheet. It's beyond rock solid, and you can see exactly why it captivated millions of young fans.

Highlights

Favorites:

This list will be hard to make, and not just because I have to type those long titles (I'll be truncating some of them). Rather, I think every song is at least good, so it's hard to choose what not to include. First up, I think the opener is strong. It does a really good job setting up the cynicism about fame that runs through so many of the songs, and there's a decent enough hook, even if it's not the biggest the album has to offer.
The two most famous songs, "Dance, Dance" and "Sugar, We're Goin Down," are accessible and deserved stand-outs. The former is a frenetic display of vocal prowess for Stump, with a few biting one-liners from Wentz for good measure, and it's hype as fuck. The latter is more morose, but it's still an effective sing-along and some of those lyrics are downright poetic. You can see why both of these became hits, and were the band's signature songs (at least until "Thnks fr th Mmrs" came along).
The bridge of "Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year" is my favorite moment of the whole album. The verses are pretty great, too. An all-around stand-out.
My other favorite song is "A Little Less Sixteen Candles." Something about it chugs right through the album's slightly less interesting second half -- the combination of the uncompromising riff, head-beating drums, and Stump punctuating the lyrics does it for me every time.

Least Favorites:

It was pulling teeth to choose a weak spot on this list (other than the wack remixes of "Sugar, We're Goin Down" and "Dance, Dance" in the bonus tracks). I guess "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" is not the most innovative or interesting thing here, but it is still fun.

Final Thoughts

Cork Tree deserves its status as a stone-cold emo classic, and its role in cementing Fall Out Boy as generational rock stars. Listening to it is always a great ride, front to back. The crunchy tunes are attention-grabbing without being annoying, and the smart lyrics tap into a kind of self-analysis that went beyond the juvenile suburban angst that other pop-punk bands had been doing. The genre itself was changing in the middle of the decade, and this band was one of the ones who adapted and grew into it the best. They've kept adapting and held onto their crown ever since.

Now, for me, those adaptations haven't been all great. The promo and singles for Infinity On High and Folie à Deux didn't interest me enough to buy them. When they came back from hiatus with more big hits, I was very turned off by the direction they went. ("Uma Thurman" is up there with "Moves Like Jagger" in terms of stupid ideas.) With their post-hiatus work being so polarizing, Cork Tree has become more special since it seems unanimously loved. So I haven't listened to more Fall Out Boy, and I don't expect to make another post about them. But who knows?