Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree
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IslandTracklist
1. Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of this Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued2. Of All the Gin Joints in All the World
3. Dance, Dance
4. Sugar, We're Going Down
5. Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner
6. I've Got a Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth
7. Seven Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen)
8. Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year
9. Champagne for My Real Friends, Real Pain for My Sham Friends
10. I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song
11. A Little Less "Sixteen Candles", A Little More "Touch Me"
12. Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part to Save the Scene...)
13. Xo
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First of all, since when did Fall Out Boy decide they were the Norma Jean of pop-punk? These extremely long and completely trite song titles are even more cringe-enducing then those on Bless the Martyr.... Sure the song titles in 2003's Take This to Your Grave are long, but this is way past ridiculous. Alas, song titles really don't mean anything if the music is good, case in point with Norma Jean. However, Fall Out Boy don't fair as well. Their trite and over-the top song-titles are only a periphereal hint at the truly mediocre album that lies beneath.
The bottom line is that Fall Out Boy brings nothing new to the table. The riffs, the lyrics, the vocals; all have been done by other bands and all have been done better. From the "oh oh ohs" in "Of All the Gin Joints in All the World" to the "lalala dododos" in "Seven Minutes in Heaven...", the album consistently relies on the staples of pop-punk. Sure Fall Out Boy does all those things well, but that doesn't make it a joy to listen to. No matter how well Fall Out Boy pulls off these songs, there is no escaping that it is just played out. In fact, I am positive I have heard the opening riff in "Seven Minutes in Heaven..." in at least four other songs by four other bands.
The songs on From Under the Cork Tree are undeniably catchy, but catchiness really is a given in this genre. If a pop-punk outfit releases an album that does not have catchy hooks or vocal melodies, then what else do they really have going for them? Emotion? No. Lyrics? Absolutely not. So basically Fall Out Boy has done the bare minimum to ensure that their album isn't a total bust, there just has to be something else. Without infusing this type of music with some sort of unique touch, it just gets lost among the thousands of pop-punk albums that have been and will be released. Admittedly, Fall Out Boy seems to make the attempt. They occasionally throw in some gang vocals, and even some screaming on the tenth track that turns out to be a big mistake. I'm not sure who it is they got to scream on this track, but the clash between this guys scream, and the music Fall Out Boy play is laugh-enducing. Picture Comeback Kid meets Fall Out Boy, it just isn't a pleasant combination.
Yet there is a small beam of light bursting from the tiniest hole in this album, somewhere between the third and fifth track something clicked for the band. I don't know what inspired it, or what caused it to fade away so quickly, but for some odd reason, among the mediocrity of this album, Fall Out Boy has released one of the best pop-punk songs in recent memory. It's like eating at IHOP, and then all of a sudden someone walks into the restaurant, lets you have a bite of their filet mignon, and then departs as quickly as he came, leaving you to finish the rest of your "rooty tooty fresh and fruity". I mean when I first heard this song, I had to make sure I was still listening to the same album. It begins with some drums that quickly are accompanied by a heavy distorted guitar and then some riffing. The vocals aren't awe inspiring at first, but soon give way to the best on the album. The chorus is what really makes the song. It is unbelievably catchy... I mean, this song will enter your head, and take up residence. It is just the epitome of a good pop-punk tune. It's effect was to instantly make me upset that the rest of the album just didn't live up to it.
Fall Out Boy are pop-punk legends. They showed this on Take This to Your Grave. However From Under the Cork Tree just isn't up to par. In a scene saturated with boring pop-punk bands, Fall Out Boy was supposed to release an album to revive the genre, but they dropped the ball. Instead of branching out and infusing something different into their sound, they decided to cuddle up with the familiar and safe sound that has come to define the genre. Fall Out Boy put it best with their opening lyrics of the album, which in my opinion end up playing out as a warning to listeners, "Brothers and sisters put this record down, take my advice, cause we are bad news."
-Dan Wotherspoon
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