Fall Out Boy’s Save
Rock and Roll is their saving grace from the dismal fate of band
breakup. This album was the spark they
needed to spread across the nation like a wildfire. Their music infiltrated every radio station
and made it to number one on the Billboard top 100 within the first week of
sales. Coming back from the radio
silence that had haunted Fall Out Boy fans since the 2008 Folie a Deux, this album couldn’t have been a better starting point
for the rest of their career.
Patrick
Stump is accredited for the break up of Fall Out Boy but is also largely given
credit for bringing them back. Stump is the person blamed for separating the band because he wanted to
pursue a solo career. Pete Wentz, the
bassist, pursued fatherhood during this time and Joe Trohman and Andrew Hurley,
the guitarist and drummer joined the heavy metal band The Damned Things. Somehow during this five year break the band
became even more talented. The release
of Save Rock and Roll in 2013 marked
the day that all was forgiven, because it’s impossible to listen to this
compilation of songs and not feel satisfied.
This album was worth the wait, making up for all the lost time by being
completely modern but still including the true Fall Out Boy style.
Save Rock and Roll is an ambiguous title
for an album that isn’t even completely a rock album. The music is largely pop and alternative rock
but the title reveals a theme for the album lyrically. Fall Out Boy organized the songs in a
specific order to tell a story of revival and mistakes. The story revolves around the idea of being
young and falling in love and causing chaos.
And although this story has been told a million times, the musicality of
this album from the first second gets you hooked. So for the purpose of truly appreciating the
album, I will overlook the arguable title.
Each
song’s placement in the album was well thought out and contributes to the
success of the album. For example the
opening number "The Phoenix" begins with suspenseful violins and leads into a
high tempo song. Patrick Stump’s iconic
voice starts the song with a cry to put on your warpaint and is backed up by a
steady drumbeat. This song showcases the
amazing vocals and tempo that the rest of the album builds on. Another strategic element of this song is the
name. The image of a phoenix symbolizes
the return of Fall Out Boy from the ashes of their success and reminds everyone
that they won’t ever truly be able to dissipate from the music world.
The
guitar and drum rhythm continue to keep the beat of the music fast paced and exhilarating
as it transitions into "Young Volcanoes" and "Alone Together." The music is so upbeat that it mimics the
story behind the album, of being young and reckless and accepting the horrible
mistakes that they make with ease. Each
song talks about a terrible love story where there’s a mutual attraction but
both parties are careless in their actions. This complete shift of topic is quite abrupt. The album comes to a climax at "My Songs Know What you Did in the Dark",
where Stump’s soaring vocals cry out the iconic line ‘Light ‘em up.’ He is describing how his music can see where
his love interest is betraying him. And the
next song is The Mighty Fall, describing the fall for the girl. This is also the first song that has a
featured artist in the sequence,
Four
out of the Eleven songs on Save Rock and
Roll feature a famous artist, including the key song of the album. The artists that feature are from an array of
genres, such as the alternative artist Foxes and the rapper Big Sean. It also includes music legends Courtney Love
and Elton John. Including these artists
wasn’t just a whim for Fall Out Boy but an intentional move to promote their
album. Bringing in a variety of artists
draws in a broader group of listeners and with that comes more publicity. This ensured the success of Save Rock and Roll and made this album
one to remember. Having matchups like
this was unheard of and now people can hear the iconic Fall Out Boy jam with
Elton John in Save Rock and Roll and hear the collaboration between rap music
and rock. These features were a major
publicity scheme but this album became legendary because of it.
This
entire album was immortalized when Fall Out Boy did a music video for every
single song. The songs didn’t truly have
any chronological order but the videos put a cohesive story behind the
music. I will say that the videos are
gory and slightly explicit (but what isn’t these days). Now people can experience the beauty of this
album through the music and visually through a video storyline.
Would you be able to relate to the recklessness of love as told by Fall Out Boy or is it just storytelling in song form?
Youngblood Chronicles: Compilation of every video in order
No comments:
Post a Comment