Two years ago pop-punk was all the rage. Blink, Sum 41 and New Found Glory were the bands that everyone (or almost everyone) was listening to, wearing their hoodie or mimicking their music videos. Then something changed. Kids got angry again and the post-hardcore/emo explosion began in earnest. Instead of kids bouncing about on pogosticks in the sun they’d now much rather sit in a darkened room sobbing about lost love. So it’s refreshing, what with summer around the corner, to have a little bit of happiness back in our lives. ‘Take This To Your Grave’ is a steady no-frills pop-punk record that begs to be played when the sun is shining.
Somehow Fall Out Boy managed to escape the major label safety net and landed themselves a deal with Fueled By Ramen. With a bit of a buzz behind them on the basis of a couple of MP3’s, this release, their first for the label, was highly anticipated by many – and it’s not too hard to see why. This Chicago foursome play a plucky pop-punk that is almost a cross between Midtown and early Saves The Day, all visual lyrics and catchy pop guitar riffs. ‘But pop-punk is dead!’ I hear you cry. Well, I disagree. While most of the over-produced garbage out there right now gives the genre a bad name (yes, I’m looking at you Good Charlotte), bands like FOB are fighting back with spikey anthems for a nu generation.
There are some bad song names on ‘Take This To Your Grave’ and ‘Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today’ is probably the worst of them all. However it does set the tone for what comes during the next 40 minutes – crashing drums, sweet guitar melodies and inoffensive sugary vocals. Of course there are standout songs that litter the album, making it one of the better records I’ve heard so far this year. ‘Dead On Arrival’ is a fantastic song with one of the cleverest choruses this year (“This is side one, flip me over, I know I’m not your favourite record, the songs you grow to like never stick at first, so I’m writing you a chorus and here is your verse“). It’s all buzzing guitars and sickly sweet vox which will probably cause an indentation on our airwaves before the end of the year. ‘Saturday’ is great because of it’s simplicity – catchy verse and chorus which is the crux of any good pop song, while ‘Reinventing the Wheel To Run Myself Over’ is faster and furious than any other song, coming across like Midtown on speed.
‘Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy’ is better than anything on the GC record without being too great, ‘Homesick At Space Camp’ has a guitar intro ripped from ‘Silly Girl’ by the Descendents and ‘Chicago Is So Two Years Ago’ is a steady slow burner about a girl. (woo-hoo) Of course the odd song does stop this from being an all-time classic and the awfully titled ‘The Pros and Cons of Breathing’ sounds like a New Found Glory b-side. But in terms of big league debuts, this isn’t that bad. The purists will hate it, but I like my pop-punk and I like this.
If you’re a fan of the likes of NFG and dispise the pop-punk crap that is currently littering MTV, Fall Out Boy are well worth checking out. Yes it has been seen before and it’s no ‘Dude Ranch’ or ‘Blue Skies…’ but for a worthy alternative FOB have enough tricks up their collective sleeves to have you smiling all summer.
www.falloutboyrock.com
Paul