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User
Reviews 96
Approval 87%
Soundoffs 10
Album Ratings 325
Objectivity 73%
Last Active 05-15-20 12:19 am
Joined 05-11-18
Review Comments 333
| Fall Out Boy records ranked
Truth be told I didn’t like FOB for a while. Then I listened to thm properly and I realised they’re actually (mostly) excellent. So, here’s this.
Some rules:
1. EPs are allowed, but no live ones. That would be redundant. Remix releases aren’t allowed either. So no Make America Psycho Again, thank God.
2. No mixtapes as they often contain more music from others than they do actual Fall Out Boy
3. That split EP isn’t being included either for the same reason | | 12 |  | Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy's Evening Out With Your Girlfriend
Rough. That’s the word to describe this. Honestly I wasn’t even really going to bother putting it on here but since it’s technically an “official” release, then I guess I have to. Anyway, this was done cheaply with three other guys who left as soon it was finished. It’s messy, has pretty awful production and it’s pretty by the numbers. For a pop punk album, there sure aren’t a lot of hooks. Still, there’s the odd solid tune in there. The band hate it and have long since disowned it, but not enough to finally allow it on streaming services.
Standouts: Honourable Mention, Switchblades and Infidelity, Pretty in Punk, Growing Up, Short Fast and Loud
Skips: The World’s Not Waiting | | 11 |  | Fall Out Boy
Save Rock and Roll
FOB’s big comeback record certainly scored them another batch of commerical success, what if it’s colossal lead single and all. Whether or not it was a good album however is a matter of opinions. ‘Save Rock and Roll’, ironically is more focused on digestible pop rock than it is saving an entire genre. There’s some strong stuff here of course. Opening two punch ‘The Phoenix’ and ‘My Songs-‘ show there’s plenty of burning rage in the tank, and the closing twofer ‘Rat a Tat’ and ‘Save Rock and Roll’ featuring Courtney Love and Elton John harken back to the eclectic strengths of ‘Folie a Dèux’, but most of the album sounds like the band is on autopilot, pushing out average and inoffensive pop with so so hooks. Its fine, I guess but its main offence is that it’s just pretty bland and forgettable.
Standouts: The Phoenix, My Songs Know-, Alone Together, Death Valley, Rat a Tat, Save Rock and Roll
Skips: The Mighty Fall | | 10 |  | Fall Out Boy
M A N I A
Embracing modern pop tropes to almost baffling degrees, M A N I A is FOB’s shiniest, most over the top and at times garish record yet. It’s a record on the edge, teetering between being an enjoyable and catchy set of Electropop or a hideous disaster of overproduction, trend chasing and all around terrible choices. Next to solid tunes like the thumping ‘Last of the Real Ones’; you’ve got fucking putrid attempts at tropical house on ‘Hold Me Tight or Don’t’. For every ‘Heaven’s Gate’, there’s a ‘Sunshine Riptide’. Then there’s ‘Young and Menace’. You know for all the hate this song gets, I appreciate how ballsy and nuts it is. That being said, Fall Out Boy releasing a brostep song in 2018 is… an odd choice. The whole album is an odd choice. It’s just fucking weird man. But at least it’s never dull.
Standouts: The Last of the Real Ones, Wilson (Expensive Mistakes), Heaven’s Gate, Young and Menace
Skips: Hold Me Tight or Don’t, Sunrise Riptide | | 9 |  | Fall Out Boy
Lake Effect Kid
After a decade of screwing around with massive stadium pop production, FOB quietly released this little EP and saw themselves returning to their pop punk routes. Briefly. Indeed, over the course of its 10 minute runtime, ‘Lake Effect Kid’ is a hell of a rollercoaster. The title track, a reworked rarity from 2007 is one of the best things they’ve done in years. A bittersweet return to the sound that made them so popular. The other two tracks obviously can’t match it. ‘City in the Garden’ is a nice slab of charming of pop rock all things considered but ‘Super Fade’ is one of the most baffling insane and hideous things they’ve ever dropped. Still, two for three yeah?
Standouts: Lake Effect Kid, City In the Garden
Skips: Super Fade. My god, Super Fade. | | 8 |  | Fall Out Boy
American Beauty/American Psycho
For many, this was the death flurry of the band. With all traces of pop punk and emo removed from their sound, ‘American Beauty’ goes full stadium rock with plenty of modern flourishes and production choices. Sometimes it works swimmingly, like on the now immortal ‘Centuries’ and the swaying and bubbly ‘Favourite Record’. On the other hand, you get stuff like the title track, a bizarre mess of electro house drops and overly loud drum parts that sounds like the band accidentally corrupted the ProTools project for the song and ran with it. Still, American Beauty isn’t as bad as you’ve probably been told and is a solid pop record in of its own right. If you separate it from what came before it and swallow it down as just a big loud singalong, it’s pretty fun.
Standouts: Irresistible, Centuries, The Kids Aren’t Alright, Uma Thurman, Novacaine, Favourite Record, Immortals
Skips: American Beauty/American Psycho | | 7 | | Fall Out Boy
Llamania
Is it cheating putting an EP on here that’s barely 4 minutes long? Maybe. Still, I feel I should include it regardless. Llamania might just be snippets of unfinished MANIA demos, but they’re still actually pretty damn good. They’re all agonisingly short, but what’s here is extremely sweet, extremely short and has a fun air of mystery behind it. Of course they left the good songs off Mania, what else did you expect?
Standouts: Footprints in the Snow, Wrong Side of Paradise
Skips: this is three minutes long what is there even to skip? | | 6 |  | Fall Out Boy
My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue
A quaint and intimate little EP released in between ‘Take This To Your Grave’ and ‘From Under the Cork Tree’. Driven almost exclusively by acoustic guitars, it’s a pleasant and homely little release with the sparse instrumentation letting Patrick’s vocals shine front and centre. Its biggest crime is its length, a scant 15 minutes and by the time it’s over, you’re desperate for more. Could FOB have been a killer emo folk band? I think so.
Standouts: really, all of them but Love Will Tear Us Apart in particular is excellent
Skips: none but the main issue is the length of the release. | | 5 |  | Fall Out Boy
Take This to Your Grave
FOB’s first PROPER album, ‘Take This To Your Grave’ is pure pop punk fun. There’s a reason it’s so acclaimed in the genre, and there’s a reason it’s so influential too, being the variable blue print for basically all modern pop punk. All those bands that clogged up MTV back in the day, Thank this album. That sounded a little negative didn’t it? Hell maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but you get my gist. While the rather repetitive tempos can be a little grating, the band’s knack for killer hooks, heart on the sleeves songwriting and razor sharp playing is evident, even when they were still cutting their teeth here.
Standouts: Dead on Arrival, GTA/Where Is Your Boy?, Saturday, Chicago is So Two Years Ago, Grenade Jumper, Calm Before the Storm
Skips: Reinventing the Wheel to Run Myself Over | | 4 |  | Fall Out Boy
PAX AM Days
The fact that this and ‘Save Rock and Roll’ were released in the same year is kind of hilarious. They couldn’t be more far apart. That album is a dreary slab of stadium rock and this thing is a quick and furious burst of hardcore punk rage. It’s weird to see this side of them to be honest. Sure, FOB were never afraid to get heavy when they wanted and they all had roots in the hardcore scene, but to hear them go fully into it is really quite something. Loud, aggressive, brief and a ton of fun. It’s the best thing they ever released in the 2010s, bar none.
Standouts: We Were Doomed From The Start, Art of Keeping Up Disappearances, Love Sex Death, Caffeine Cold
Skips: Eternal Summer | | 3 |  | Fall Out Boy
Folie a Deux
Highly divisive upon release, time has been kind to ‘Folie à Deux’. Breaking away from straight forward pop punk and emo nearly entirely, this quirky LP features a lengthy guest list of stars from Debbie Harry to Lil Wayne, Elvis Costello and Brendon Urie. Taking the eclectic nature of their previous album and running with it, you wouldn’t think listening to this that just a few years prior, these guys were making their rounds in clubs and shitty venues. Indeed, nearly every song has a unique touch on it from the music hall inspired ‘20 Dollar Nose Bleed’ to the heartbreaking torch song ‘What a Catch, Donnie!’ which features several of their labelmates (and Elvis Costello) all bound together in a touching singalong epic about getting through hard times. It’s the best song they ever did. Bar none.
Standouts: Disloyal Order of Water Buffalos, I Don’t Care, She’s My Wynona, America’s Suitehearts, The (Shipped) Gold Standard, What a Catch Donnie, W.A.M.S, 20 Dollar Nose Bleed
Skips: 27 | | 2 |  | Fall Out Boy
From Under the Cork Tree
Right from the opening track, you can tell why FUTCT made such an impact. It’s far more aggressive, far more emotional and a lot more catchier. Indeed, while their sound may have gotten arguably much more aggressive, their talent for massive songs had yet to diminish, giving us eternal classics like the emo anthem ‘Sugar We’re Goin’ Down’ and the strutting ‘Dance Dance’. It’s not just the production that gets a boost too, but their sound with the occasional dabble in ballads and straight up post hardcore at times. It was fucking massive for a reason, and chances are if you grew up during the mid 2000s, most of this album is burnt into your skull. It’s just that damn catchy.
Standouts: Our Lawyers-, Dance Dance, Sugar We’re Goin’ Down, I’ve Got a Dark Alley-, 7 Minutes in Heaven, Sophomore Slump-, A Little Less Sixteen Candles-, Get Busy Living-
Skips: Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner, I guess? Still like it | | 1 |  | Fall Out Boy
Infinity on High
Propelled to superstardom by the success of their previous LP, ‘Infinity on High’ sees the boys embrace celebrity whole heartedly and make the catchiest of their career. Shifting away from the emo and pop punk that brought them all plenty of money and attention, Infinity on High is a veritable smorgasbord of pop hooks, catchy riffs, big dumb energy and heapings of other styles from funk, RNB, metalcore, electronica and even pirate shanties if you can believe that. Jay Z even shows up at one point, on the opening track no less, just to hammer in the fact that these skinny jean wearing sadboys are partying with royalty now. Is it a little bloated and unwieldy? Perhaps. Is it a load of fun with some of the best songs of the mid 2000s emo revival? But of course.
Standouts: There’s genuinely no bad tunes here
Skips: none, honestly. | |
twlight
06.16.22 | 2 is 1 and 5 is 2. Imo | twlight
06.16.22 | Good list by the way | Slex
06.16.22 | Centuries is truly one of the worst songs in the history of music. These dudes are so embarrassing post-hiatus | Feather
06.16.22 | All that needs to be said is pre-hiatus FOB >>>>>>>> Post-hiatus FOB, which your ranking basically did. Pax am was a fun little experiment and while better than most post hiatus stuff definitely isn’t better than take this to your grace or my heart.
Appreciated your thoughts and commentary on all this though! I had no idea llamania existed and considering FOB was my first “favorite band” I am definitely gunna go check that out. | Feather
06.16.22 | Also reinventing the wheel, 27 and nobody puts baby in the corner are all standouts … I may be fanboying a bit but what the hell are you hearing?!
Random additional thought, I will never forget receiving my pre-order of infinity on high and being utterly disappointed at first. Album really grew over time! I just was young and wanted from under the cork tree part 2 lol | Slex
06.16.22 | Yeah lmao i HATED Infinity at first but it is one hell of a grower | Trebor.
06.16.22 | I only like 5 and 2 and 2 only barely | Drbebop
06.16.22 | @feather, I basically like everything from 6 onwards so a skip is to equated to my personal least fave on the album. 27 never particularly stood out to me but it’s still fun. I think Reinventing has a pretty iffy hook compared to the rest of TTTYG and i vastly prefer the acoustic take of Baby in the Corner over the electric one (I think the verses sound a bit fucky on the studio Take whereas they’re super clean and nice on the acoustic version) | twlight
06.16.22 | 2 is actually a good album | twlight
06.16.22 | So is 5 | tinathefatlard
06.16.22 | The bridge on Homesick from Take This To Your Grave is straight bliss. | Irikeheavymetal
06.16.22 | Good list. Lots of bands tried to be Fall Out Boy and failed, even Fall Out Boy. Infinity on High has aged pretty well. | SIMBOLIC
06.16.22 | Infinity on high was pretty good now that I think of it. Actually had some real personality | Irikeheavymetal
06.16.22 | The only thing I don't like about this list is that it made me give MANIA a try and now I'm sad. | Emim
06.16.22 | Nice I love panic at the disco | Feather
06.16.22 | @DrBebop listen to reinventing the wheel side by side with cute without the e by TBS. Their choruses have (nearly) the same melody. Despite cute without the e being stronger, I always enjoyed reinventing the wheel. I’ll have to check out this acoustic take of baby in the corner. The b-sides on the deluxe version of from under the cork tree are interesting and fun | JeremiahBullfrog
06.16.22 | I fuck with this list hard | Beauers
06.16.22 | 2, 3 and 5 are the only ones I acknowledge as existing. 3 has so many hits on it, they just chose the wrong songs as singles. | Feather
06.16.22 | acknowledge 1 and 6 you dork. I agree with the singles comment about Folie, that album deserved more love. | Slex
06.16.22 | Folie is still their best album for me |
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