Fall Out Boy’s journey from plucky emo underdogs to one of the biggest acts on the planet is surely one of the greatest in modern rock. Named after an obscure supporting character from The Simpsons (the sidekick to Radioactive Man), and having been together for over two decades now, Fall Out Boy came together from the fringes of the Chicago’s hardcore punk scene and have scarcely looked back since.
With extrovert bassist Pete Wentz proving the perfect foil to unusually shy vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump, while second six-stringer Joe Trohman and prolific drummer Andy Hurley (a 2003 conscript) kept energy levels high, Fall Out Boy’s emotional pop-punk was originally a sugary counterpoint to the grit and gasoline of those players’ other outfits. Caught up in the mid-2000s emo groundswell, however, and dropping two genre-defining albums in 2003’s Take This To Your Grave and 2005’s From Under The Cork Tree, superstardom didn’t take long to come calling.
In the present day, their slick pop hooks and celebrity status feel a million miles removed from the sweaty basements in which the band emerged, but across seven albums – bridging a hiatus from 2009 to 2013 – there has always remained the same outsider spirit and playful quirkiness with which they first set out. The colourful cross-section of this Top 20 is Technicolour proof of that.
Thnks fr th mmrs, guys. Here’s to another 20 years on top of the world…