I believe that there is a time and place for everything. I miss things by years. It takes time for cultural touchstones to seep into my purview (and price range). I am skeptical of the hype connected with new artists and groups. If they stick around, I decide maybe that survival speaks to something underlying that vibe.
But even when I picked up Fall Out Boy's From Under the Cork Tree and Infinity on High from the discount bin of a used bookstore, it was the price tag more than the group that sold me. My first encounter with a FOB fan was with a co-worker during my employment at the library. Folie a Deux tour was happening, and he was wearing a t-shirt with the cover art. It was their farewell tour and album, but I hadn't had occasion or reason to listen to the group's music.
There are certain pop songs that get such airplay that I hear them as background while doing other things. Sugar We're Going Down was familiar, but even when I connected the mental dots that FOB sang the track, it wasn't persuasive to my tastes. Now that the band was ending, I was curious as to what I missed. I went on YouTube and started looking up songs by the group.
One of the first songs I found was A little less sixteen candles (A little more touch me). Frankly, Fall Out Boy's early album's track titles were too clever and/or complicated by half. The majority have almost nothing to do with the song's lyrical theme or bent. Even now, saying that this particular song is one of my favorites is said with slight chagrin.
That song, along with Sugar We're Going Down & thnks fr th mmrs, were in a three song package deal online so I bought them for under $3, realizing that two out of three ain't bad. (I liked the first & third, respectively). So when I picked up the albums from the bookstore, those first two tracks were featured on From Under the Cork Tree, while Infinity on High had the third. However, since the former album had 11 other tracks and the latter had 13 other songs, paying $4.28 for both still came down to $.1783/track and that was a manageable wager to undertake on unknown music.
I stuck them on a shelf for a while, not having the inclination to test my experiment just then. It wasn't that I didn't like Fall Out Boy. In fact, when I borrowed Folie a Deux from the library, I enjoyed this last album's sound very much and was retroactively bummed that I didn't find it sooner. (FaD remains my favorite album by them. I broke down and bought it online this past year when Amazon Music had a sale. [The way I have to rationalize buying things that I like... It gets ridiculous]).
So when I finally put From Under the Cork Tree in my car's cd player for the first time, I found I didn't like it much. It was a young band with absurdly pretentious titles for songs that featured guitars and drums drowning out the high-pitched and incomprehensible vocals. This was their second album and it showed.
I wouldn't be reviewing the album if my opinion hadn't changed since then, and it has. In 2012, Fall Out Boy reunited and released Save Rock and Roll. Interest in the group rekindled among young-blooded punks and rebels. The 4-year hiatus had done wonders to rest and refocus the band as they grew from doing other things like solo projects and getting married to other pop stars of the 00's.
I became fond of the band because of the 2012 album delivering well upon the hype surrounding it. In doing so, I became less impatient and dismissive of their earlier work. During my drive home tonight, I relistened to From Under the Cork Tree and enjoyed it throughly. Yes, it is rough, raw, and loud. Yes, the titles are ridiculous and pretentious. But these are the roots from which this band grew and learned their craft. And as I approach the ages of the band members at that period of their career, a certain sympathy of spirit connects me to the music a little more. They are young, excited by their new opportunities, frustrated by some failures in their attempts, but determined to enjoy every moment they had. Even if it did turn out to be only 15 minutes of fame.
Fortunately, that album wasn't a sophomore slump for them. And Save Rock and Roll was easily the comeback of the year 2012. And my brother and I are looking very forward to their new record release next week American Beauty/American Psycho.
From Under the Cork Tree is an album meant to be streamlined. The few singles on the record are pitched up front, then it is into a breakneck pace as the songs bleed into the next track. Get Busy living or get Busy Dyin' (Do your part to save the scene and stop going to shows) is the second to last track, heaving for a rest and a rant before pressing on with one hand holding together the wound of their broken heart and the other swinging a stick at their attacker before the curtain call. (Aggravating the injury and making them more hurt and resentful emotionally as well...).
It finally fits into a time and place in my mind, and I will enjoy it for that. It is comforting for pieces to fall into place enough to catch a glimpse into a greater perspective. At least until they all dissolve and disintegrate once more, leaving only a memory of a time that was.
Falling out child
Into the rubbery roots
Under a cork tree
4 months ago
