Fall Out Boy

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Fall Out Boy are a pop-punk band from Illinois, home of Screeching Weasel, Alkaline Trio, and the Smoking Popes. Whether or not they belong to the "Emo" genre depends on your definition of "Emo" and that's quite a controversial label to go around slapping upon things these days, so we'll leave it up to you.

The band consists of Patrick Stump (vocals, rhythm guitar) Joe Trohman (lead guitar) Pete Wentz (bassist, lyricist) and Andy Hurley (drums).

The band is well known for such songs as "Dance, Dance," "Sugar, We're Going Down," "This Ain't a Scene, it's an Arms Race," "I Don't Care,", "Thnks fr th Mmrs" and "America's Suitehearts." They have currently released five albums and have had better than a dozen singles total.

They have numerous music videos, including one where they pretended to be vampire hunters that went on for about seven minutes, and one with Turk from Scrubs. Other notable deeds the band has committed include impregnating Ashlee Simpson, wearing remarkably tight trousers, almost getting a Guinness World Record for playing a live concert on all seven continents in a certain amount of time, and having some really strange lyrics.


They have nothing to do with the mascot of the Fallout game series, Vault Boy, and are named after Radioactive Man's faithful sidekick.

The band is currently on indefinite hiatus. Patrick has started a solo musical effort, Pete has started a dancehall band called the Black Cards, and Joe and Andy have joined a metal band called The Damned Things.

Discography:
  • Fall Out Boy's Evening Out with Your Girlfriend (2003)
  • Take This to Your Grave (2003)
  • From Under the Cork Tree (2005)
  • Infinity on High (2007)
  • Folie à Deux (2008)
  • Believers Never Die-Greatest Hits (2009)

Do tropes apply to them? Why yes.
  • Adorkable
  • All Just a Dream - The video for "The Take Over, The Break's Over", "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race" and "Beat It".
  • Anti-Love Song - Many, many of their songs, but "Bang the Doldrums" is a good example: This is a love song in my own way/Happily ever after, below the waist.
    • "It's true romance is dead, I shot it in the chest and in the head" -- 'The Music or the Misery'
    • "Thnks fr th Mmrs," which tells the story of two people having sex just to get over people they broke up with
    • "Hum Hallejah": Like two teenagers in a parking lot, till tonight due us part
  • Better as Friends: Subverted in every possible way in "Bang The Doldrums"

"best friends, ex friends till the end, better off as lovers, and not the other way around"

  • Concept Video - Pretty much always.
  • Cover Version - Several, most notably Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart", The Police's "Roxanne," Danny Elfman's "What's This?" and Michael Jackson's "Beat It."
  • Faux Yay - Pete Wentz and his labelmates.
    • Such as simulating oral sex on Brendon Urie, kissing Patrick on the neck during live shows, and being just affectionate towards guys. Maybe not so faux after all, he claims to be bisexual but "isn't a fan of penises".
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble
    • Sanguine: Pete
    • Choleric: Andy
    • Melancholic: Patrick
    • Phlegmatic: Joe
  • Hey, It's That Guy! - The video for their cover of "Beat It" features Donald Faison (Turk from Scrubs), Hal Sparks (Queer as Folk, The Soup) and Tony Hale (Buster from Arrested Development).
    • Most of their music videos also include a host of friends from bands on Pete's record label Decaydance.
      • Seth Green and Michelle Trachtenberg (both from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) show up briefly at the funeral scene in "Arm's Race", and the chick who plays Cerie on Thirty Rock is the mean girl in "Dance, Dance"
      • Brendon Urie and Spencer from Panic! at the Disco make an appearance in the video for "What a Catch, Donnie", as well as some other famous musicians who lent their voices to the song.
      • The "A Little Less Sixteen Candles" video has William Beckett and Mike Carden from The Academy Is..., Travie McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, and Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith from Panic! at the Disco all as various vampires from different clans.
  • Hey, It's That Voice! - In "What a Catch, Donnie", a few guest stars lend their voices to sing a few of their greatest hits.
  • Incredibly Long Note
  • Lead Bassist - Pete is the best example of type C.
  • Long Title - Many of their songs, some of which are parodies.
  • Lyrics Video Mismatch - Constantly appearing in their music videos.
  • Most Writers Are Male - Some of Wentz's lyrics are uncomfortably unsporting and spiteful regarding ex-girlfriends, but aren't necessarily aimed at women in general. This is toned down on later albums, though.
    • Fan consensus assumes that was due to his getting married to Ashlee Simpson, and it generally not being acceptable for a newlywed to publicly bitch about exes anymore.
  • No Such Thing as Bad Publicity - In-universe. The theme of "I Don't Care" ("I don't care what you think, as long as it's about me.").
  • Our Lawyers Advised This Trope - The title of the first track on From Under The Cork Tree is a parody of this. (Though it is rumored that their lawyers actually did make them change the name of the song, from "My Name is David Ruffin...and These are The Temptations.")
  • Real Person Fic - Scores of it on livejournal. Patrick/Pete is the OTP of many, and much of it shockingly well written.
  • Shout-Out: Their name is not one to the Simpsons character came from a literal shout-out when they asked a crowd what their name should be.
  • Supporting Leader: Pete. Although Patrick is the lead singer, Pete gets the most credit for being the songwriter and face of the band and is even sometimes miscredited as the singer.
  • Surreal Music Video - "America's Suitehearts"
  • This Is Sparta: It being music, there's plenty. One example: This ain't a scene, it's a God! Damned! Arms! Race!
  • Those Two Guys: Joe and Andy.
  • We Didn't Start the Billy Joel Parodies: In June 2023, they released a cover version of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" with new lyrics covering events from 1989 to 2023.