Generally speaking, I think there are three main categories of Fall Out Boy fan.
So, this is just a sort of theory I have about the anatomy of the fandom and the kinds of different fans Fall Out Boy has. It’s not super articulate, more of a thought dump, so I hope it makes sense.
As we know FOB and their music is influenced by a variety of others genres and scenes and I think the “type” of FOB fan you are can be determined by which “influence” resonates with you the most and which of the members you’re closest to in that regard.
1. The Trohman/Hurley Fans
Fall Out Boy’s members famously started out in the Chicago hardcore scene. Pete and Patrick were prominent, of course, but I feel like it’s Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley who kept these influences in the band even as their bandmates’ interests drifted. Naturally, Trohman/Hurley fans will resonate with them and these influences more than any other aspect of the band’s music.
For a fan in this category, their favorite aspects of FOB’s music are probably the guitars and instrumentation, mostly in the older albums. Starting from Infinity on High, these fans are less likely to enjoy the band’s output as it goes into more pop sounds and influences. Joe or Andy are probably their favorite members. The post-hiatus albums are probably not highly regarded by these fans. If they take an interest in any of the band’s hiatus projects, Ironiclast and the Damned Things will most likely be their favorite.
In terms of demographics (because I do think certain demographics tend to be certain types of fans) these fans are typically white males, especially if they’re not queer.
Starting with Infinity on High, Patrick Stump incorporated more of his pop, R&B, etc. influences into Fall Out Boy’s music. I think this is the period when they would’ve hit the radar of what I like to call the “Stump” fans. For these people, they come to Fall Out Boy for that funk, pop inspired rock and roll.
In terms of preferences, their favorite aspects of the band are probably Patrick’s voice and also the instrumentation, especially in Infinity on High, Folie a Deux and So Much (For) Stardust. In fact, generally speaking, these are most likely to be a Stump fan’s top three favorite albums. FUTCT and TTTYG are also probably well liked but some of these fans may not enjoy them. The same goes for the 2010’s albums but I imagine they’re a little more polarizing with this cohort. Naturally, Patrick is the favorite member of this group and Soul Punk is the favorite hiatus project by far.
I think this is the most diverse category of the fandom, especially since this is mostly likely where a lot of the band’s POC fans land. I also think it’s very gender diverse as well. Though, I could just be biased because I perceive myself to fall under this category and see it in a more nuanced way than the other two.
Finally, we have the Wentz fans. These fans are less about Pete Wentz’s musical influence (because I don’t really know what Pete’s musical interests are) and more about his “circle of influence.” Basically, Pete was the face of the emo scene of the 2000’s, so the fans in this category would also belong to this scene as well.
These fan’s favorite aspects of the song are probably Pete’s flowery lyrics which can be interpreted in many ways and seen as a window into his life and the band’s history. They probably enjoy all of the albums to some extent but portion may disregard the post hiatus albums for being less eloquent than earlier projects in their opinion. Obviously, their favorite member is Pete. Aside from FOB, they probably also listen to lots of MCR, P!aTD, Cobra Starship, all those DCD2 bands, etc. These people most likely stopped following the band’s members entirely during the hiatus and instead focused on other acts, returning when Save Rock and Roll was announced.
In terms of demographics, most of these fans are white and women and/or queer. These people write most of the fanfiction. They’re also most likely Millenials who grew up with the band or gen alpha kids going through their preteen/teenage emo phase right now.
So yeah, I guess I’ll turn it over to you guys now, if you’re interested. Do you think I missed anyone or misrepresented any category? Honestly, this is probably more of a van diagram than three separate circles, and I kind of rambled, so I’m curious to know what you think.
