Fall Out Boy Announce New Album • Page 6

That cover art reminds me a lot of Hotline Bling

 

Trace Cyrus: hold my beer.

 

I don't think they're separate circles where a band is only one thing. I think they've always been a pop band, and a rock band, and at times a more traditional "pop-rock" band, and at times more "pop-punk." I don't think it's obvious that they're just two separate genres and bands should, or ever do, stand firmly in only one. It's more of a Venn-diagram and a mixture of styles, sounds, and influences ... which, is what I would say is the foundation of rock music to being with historically.

I dunno, I can think of quite a few: Queen, The Beatles, Weezer, The Who, Eagles, ABBA, The Doors ...

 

I am the same; I was a true diehard from FUCT through FAD and I'm honest when I say I do not enjoy the post-hiatus stuff as much as the pre-hiatus stuff. But if they released pop-punk I wouldn't enjoy it as much either - it was a different time when I had different tastes so they will not be able to match that for me ever again. Nor would they want to - they are making the music they want to make, and trying their hand at new styles etc.

These days i'm open to the possibility of liking AND disliking what they release, whereas I couldn't comprehend disliking a FOB song in 2009 or whenever. Fuck the people who get pissy when people don't vibe with the new FOB/Blink/Paramore/whoever though. They're losers who conveniently forget/can't wrap their heads around the fact that people hold their fav bands to higher standards than other artists for personal reasons that go far beyond enjoying one new track!

 

Pete's quote regarding Save Rock & Roll applies here as well:

"Let’s talk about the album title. What does rock ‘n’ roll need saving from?

First and foremost, we’re a tongue-in-cheek band and we’ve always been like that. When we were planning coming back, I envisioned reviews like, [sarcastically] ‘They came back to save rock and roll.’ Like, we’ll just say this before you can say it. That being said, I’ve been driving my kid to school and just tooling around Southern California, listening to the radio, and it’s all sounded really similar to me. That’s why I think that, within the last two years, when we started getting Gotye and fun. and stuff like that on pop radio, it was really exciting. For me, if I hadn’t ever had a chance to hear an album like [Green Day’s] Dookie, I don’t know where I would have ended up, heading down the path that I was on. If anything, we want to be a band like that. Maybe the idea is we’re not trying to save big-R rock ‘n’ roll because big-R rock ‘n’ roll is a thing. It’s, like, leather jackets. But we do want to promote little-R rock ‘n’ roll, which is an attitude, a perspective on life. We feel like little-R rock ‘n’ roll is 2 Chainz and Kanye West and Lena Dunham and people like that.

That’s a pretty broad definition.

When people start talking about rock ‘n’ roll, that’s the thing you’re not supposed to ever do. When you try to define it, it makes everyone act funny."

 

Tour - Fall Out Boy - M A N I A Tour

 

I hear guitars all over this song.
I hear drums all over this song.
I hear a singer giving his all.
I hear a huge chorus.

This is an arena rock song if I've ever heard one. Just because there are also electronic elements over it doesn't mean it's not a rock song anymore. But also I don't really care because genre is arbitrary and a good song is a good song. In my opinion, this is a good song.

 

Fair points. Maybe I'm just hoping for once a rock band comes along that pushes the genre forward and hits it big without just expanding to the pop/electronic side of the spectrum like every other "rock band" that plays arenas (Chainsmokers come to mind). Seems awful depressing to think every iteration of popular rock music is going to be more poppy, sampled, and electronic, than the one before...

 

Pretty awesome to see FOB go from a band playing couple hundred cap clubs like the Grog Shop to now playing the big arenas such as the Q. They are now officially going to be headlining the same venue LeBron calls home with the massive video board hanging down that Paul McCartney sold out back to back nights last year. That is fucking cool!

 

The argument around FOB really comes down to this - do you want your favorite band to show incremental growth (if even that) or go outside the comfort zone and try new things? It seems like a fair amount of people think the former whereas I love the latter. To each their own and that's the joy of being critical about music. There's no reason to get mad at one side or the other.

 

Maybe you'd like Royal Blood? They're a rock band (I'm not that huge of fan), but they seem to be doing something interesting with their approach to the genre

 

Every iteration of music is a copy of a copy. That's how the cycle has been. Rarely has there been something completely new.

 

Who has ever said that the Chainsmokers are a rock band? They're not even a band, they're producers.

 

Agreed. It's pretty simple, this FOB song is more poppy and electronic than their early stuff. If you like poppy, electronic music you're probably more likely to enjoy this than someone who doesn't.

 

Well, on the other side of things you have bands like Deafheaven, ETID, and the like doing their thing. You've got Gaslight Anthem, Brand New, Manchester Orch, doing their thing. You've got Foo Fighters, Blink, Green Day all still kicking. Rock and alternative music takes a lot of different forms, what the radio and popular culture are currently circles around just happens to include a lot more "modern" sounds, as is kinda the definition of something being current pop-culture.

Will there be a time where something like Brand New is on the "radio" (using as a stand in for very popular music) again? Maybe. But it doesn't feel like it'll be anytime soon based on the current landscape of pop, rock, hip-hop, etc.

 

I'm not even one of those people and I like this. I think it's the difference between liking buttered toast for every breakfast and liking a variety of foods.

 

They get played on rock radio in my area all the time.

 

I'd actually disagree with this statement. Sure, more "electronic" ... but not any more poppy than their earlier stuff.

 

I can't really agree that this is "poppier" than their earlier stuff. TTYG and FUCT are exceedingly poppy. It is why I liked them to begin with.

 

Beat me to it by a damn heartbeat.

 

You can still enjoy variety without electronic music being a part of that variety.

 

Oh that's weird. Is it the Chris Martin one? I guess it kind of makes sense since they have people like Coldplay and Halsey. Still don't know many people who think of them as a rock band though. I don't know what their live show is like now, but when I saw them it was two dudes dj'ing.

 

I'd bet you if there was an internet 60 years ago you could have seen an argument just like this about "electronic guitars" being a stand in for "music."

 

Had to log in for this one! Just to take part in this joyous discussion! I, too, am wondering how they will play this live. It's not a terrible song per se, just a little weird . . .

 

Do you mean electric guitars? Just want to make sure I understand your point.