Are you ducking my friendly-fire?

Don’t call it a come back, this is more like a backlash. Unlike Mr. Metropolitan Segue, I devote my blog almost exclusively to gushing.

So, the subject of Fall Out Boy, is no exception. I’m a little disappointed with the FOB’s newest record. Eavvon, you have yr reasons and I have mine. One thing I will say, is the first track Thriller is killer.

The Jay-Z intro in no way seems out of place. There is something yet-to-be defined about the music made by Fall Out Boy. Something, I can’t quite put my finger on. To delve a little into my grad schoolness and use words from my Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory, Fall Out Boy are definitely post-something. Post-pop, Post-emo, Post-boy band, I haven’t quite decided yet.

But with my BPM counter currently losing track of the mainstream music pulse--it’s a struggle to keep up with the mp3 blogs and internet fueled hype. Armed with roommate’s accidental subscription to Spin and a love/hate affair with Pitchfork, I make this claim: More than any other band, Fall Out Boy are causing a rupture somewhere. Making the transition from pop-punk/emo band to pop boy band, appears quite seemless. Thriller recreates their accident as mythology, as the catalyst for their identity and success. Getting Jay-Z to introduce the album is unable to live up to the irony intended. Jokingly, it’s a sign of success that’s too ridiculous to be taken seriously, but like a lot of jokes on the album, it’s not contrasted with anything real by comparison. It just works too well. Their loss of roots is actually a good thing because it erases the conflict in ideology.

Thriller works the way a lot of good Fall Out Boy songs work; because of self reflexivity. Pete Wentz writes songs with a wink and a nod, a tongue in cheek. He doesn’t write songs with his heart on his sleeve, he writes songs knowing he’s supposed to write songs about wearing his heart on his sleeve. Patrick Stump sings, “I can take your problems away with a nod and a wave of my hand because that’s the kind of boy that I am.” You can find a lot of places Wentz calls attention to the fact that Fall Out Boy are a band, making music for fans, It’s actually much more fun when he goes metanymic and calls attention to his band or himself as music, product or music as product.

Listen to the song Dead On Arrival from Take This To Your Grave, “This is side one, flip me over, I know I’m not your favorite record.”

But what I love the most about Thriller is that metal moment towards the end.