It is hard to judge the influence and impact of a work of art on a generation. Entire books have been written about the significance of paintings, of photographs, of architecture, and, of course, of novels.
Entire books should be written about Fall Out Boy’s sophomore release From Under the Cork Tree.
The first of Fall Out Boy’s albums to receive mainstream success, it became part of a wave of emo-centric pop-punk albums that would become favourites of young people hitting adolescence during the mid to late aughts.
Mainly composed by leadsinger Patrick Stump and written by bassist Pete Wentz, the album details the grandiosity of late adolescence; sex, drugs, and antidepressants; entitled invulnerability; and the highs and desperate lows that accompany feeling like the centre around which the universe spins.
As Stump croons, “We’re the kids who feel like dead ends” in the opening bars of “I’ve Got a Dark Alley…” and later, “The poets are just kids who didn’t make it,” thousands (if not millions) of kids felt like they were coming home.
It’s special to find a piece of art that captures a world and presents it succinctly. The boys who fell out managed just that.
Photo courtesy.