Sunday Swim Presented By The Lake Review Episode 5: Fall Out Boy, “Under The Cork Tree”

Sunday Swim is a weekly guest column written by The Lake Review for Sound Over Time, covering classic records that you need to hear if you haven’t already. Follow the Lake Review on Instagram @thelakereview.

Many bands have been responsible for my love of rock music. Fall Out Boy being one of them. Probably my first real exposure to pop punk music in the mainstream, Fall Out Boy was a band full of energy with lyrics and song titles like no other band in their genre. I like to think they are the reason a lot of bands started using random song titles that had nothing to do with the actual song.

From Under the Cork Tree was Fall Out Boy’s breakout album with songs that were all over television. There was a time where MTV played Sugar, We’re Goin Down every hour just showing how popular they were. A setback arose during the recording process when bassist/lyricist Pete Wentz attempted suicide due to overwhelming anxiety of making a successful record after the underground success of their last album (Take This To Your Grave) which he also wrote with assistance from lead singer, Patrick Stump. After undergoing therapy, Pete returned healthier than ever ready to make an incredible album that touched on the anxiety and depression that goes along with looking at your own life.

An album that spent 78 weeks in the top 10 and top 20 on billboard during the physical album era, this album shows how a great project will have lasting power on an audience for years. An album that spawned three incredible singles one of them being my all time favorite Fall Out Boy songs (A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me), this is most definitely my all time favorite FOB album and considered to be their magnum opus among many.

Expanding on their sound now that they had a mainstream audience, Fall Out Boy dropped two more incredible albums in 2007 and 2008 (Infinity on High and Folie à Deux) with Infinity on High debuting at number 1 on billboard. After Folie à Deux, Fall Out Boy took a hiatus and returned to mainstream stardom in 2013 with another album, Save Rock and Roll, which I wasn’t too much of a fan of. I think many can agree Folie à Deux is the last true Fall Out Boy album. Despite that, From Under the Cork Tree has had a lasting effect among many audiences including myself with it being one of many albums that began my love for rock music and its many sub genres.

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