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· “Scoff at all of this hype if you will, but Fall Out Boy’s melodic, exuberant and smartly written songs justify the excitement. And Infinity on High is a major leap forward, bringing a wild ambition to the simple genre patented by the Ramones, revived by fellow Chicagoans Screeching Weasel and turned into a platinum phenomenon by the likes of Green Day and Blink-182. The band’s roots are still obvious, but this ain’t your father’s pop-punk anymore.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
· “Singer Patrick Stump has a voice that’s made for the almost-soulfulness that’s crept into the band’s otherwise gleefully traditional emo-pop. He also has a knack for sounding genuinely self-deprecating (best demonstrated on the rattling ‘Fame< Infamy'), which for Fall Out Boy is as necessary as air. The band's ability to make itself the butt of the joke before anyone else can is what most infuriates its critics and, occasionally, is the only thing that saves it from itself." [Washington Post]
· “‘A penny for your thoughts/But a dollar for your insides/And a fortune for your disaster/I’m just a painter… And I’m drawing a blank,’ Stump sings in the galloping power-pop blast ”Don’t You Know Who I Think I Am?” Like all Fall Out Boy lyrics, it’s not quite as clever as Wentz seems to think, and his obsession with posers, lame ’scenes,’ and, above all, his own band might annoy listeners not currently enrolled in high school. But Wentz’s words have a pleasing vernacular spunkiness — this is the Esperanto of young American suburbia, poetry of the mall and the chat room. Who but Wentz would brag, ‘Every dotcom’s refreshing for a journal update’?” [EW]
· “Every so often Fall Out Boy returns to the kind of messed-up relationship songs that made it so popular. And instead of gloating about success, the band stays wary about show business and its own status as a commodity: ‘I’m a salesman selling hooks,’ Patrick Stump sings in “Fame < Infamy," adding, 'There's too much green to feel blue.' Fall Out Boy hasn't turned into a band of rock-star blowhards yet; it's still too hyperactive and catchy. But the songs were more fun when it was a band of underdogs." [NYT]
I’m sorry, but the footage I’ve seen of these dudes playing live is excruciating. Maybe I always catch them at a bad moment? Maybe the experience is better in person? Maybe they just kind of suck at being an actual band?
Case in point: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wJtUuxmm-B0
Just not feelin’ it. Blink 182 did it with more skill (yeah, I said it), more charisma, and less self-conscious pretension (up until that last album…that seemed pretty awful).
Yes, all of this “music criticism” is all well and good, but what’s been happening with Pete Wentz’s penis lately?
This ain’t a penis. It’s an arms race.
Kaate- They suck whenever they play live on TV. They do sound slightly better live in person, but mostly just because they play very energetically and very loud.
To be fair, though, they’ve frequently admitted that they don’t sound very good live. So they try to make it up by jumping off things and spinning a lot.
I hate myself for having a crush on Pete Wentz. I am too old for that kind of shit. But no, I see Pete Wentz and I turn into a thirteen year old. Ugh.
How can none of these reviews been from Pitchfork?
“But Wentz’s words have a pleasing vernacular spunkiness — this is the Esperanto of young American suburbia, poetry of the mall and the chat room.”
Eeewwww.