Fall Out Boy - Under The Cork Tree

Fall Out Boy certainly has a lot of things they do that could technically qualify as gimmicks, but is their sophomore album Under The Cork Tree middle of the road, forgettable pop-punk?

No. I get that there were tons of bands flooding the market at the time, and i get that critical response has more to do with looking good in 6 months than having actual opinions, but this is way better than Brendan Urie, or the favorite comparisons Jimmy Eat World and All American Rejects. The latter bands had two good songs each and disappeared from mainstream consciousness like they should have.

Here's the thing, you don't realize this is 2005 Fall Out Boy, not 2013 Fall Out Boy. This is some standout stuff from the decade of dismal. 

I know i've talked about this before, but the mid to late 90s so totally warped everyone's perception because fringe rock was the mainstream. It went back to the fringe in the 00s. You hear big radio hooks now, but this wasn't in standard rotation back then. This was  the occasional bright spot in between past their prime Matchbox 20, Nickelback, Gorillaz, Hinder and terrible middle period Weezer.

Unlike Christgau, Bottle's tastes are decidedly anti-mainstream with a healthy dose of credit where credit is due. You see any of those bands in my collection? If so let me know and i'll destroy them in humorously inappropriate ways. I kept a few of the absolute worst as showpieces and mementos, but it's the bad old middle ages as far as Bottle is concerned. 2001 to 2009 is a barren wasteland because the majors straight up dropped everyone who couldn't pop out for a TRL taping tomorrow morning. Long gone are the days of artist development, be sellable in 20 minutes or drink drain cleaner. 

Fall Out Boy was in it for fun, but Wentz's suicide attempt was as much a result of the pressure to not screw up their deal as anything. Narcissistic sure, but not completely his own fault. I'm sure i said it before, it sounds like clumsy teenagers because they're just barely not clumsy teenagers anymore. Wentz is the oldest and he's only 7 months older than me (and i'll remind you that i myself moved out into the corn fields). Life's been a tad rough for the class of '98, plus or minus a couple years.

Regardless, this is a great little album for a bull that would rather smell flowers under a tree than fight a matador, and as far as emo concepts go it's quite serviceable. It's case is long gone, but that's no reason to throw it out, all things considered....