i don’t want to brag (ok maybe a little forgive me )…. But Pete just posted a vid of my gift for him on Weibo
this is so unreal.
The thing is during the china tour everything was chaotic. we weren’t allowed to give the guys our gifts in person but only through the local tour company staff and I kinda gave up on hope they even got the gifts. But then after 100 long days of missing them he posted this.
the thing is that i can still remember the way it felt.
end of november, 2022, suddenly every feed lights up. they're doing something. people are posting images of the chicago tribune, a full page ad that has this bicolored logo, a face both happy and sad, black and white, and it simply says: FOB8.
"is this real?" quite a few people were skeptical after the years-long pause between mania and now. "i'm not convinced."
"it's a full-page ad in a single chicago newspaper out of nowhere, right after joe got finished doing a whole book tour where he insisted they had no new music to speak of," i answered. "of fucking course it's real. it has fall out boy all over it."
i remember so vividly the sense of wonder that arrived on christmas morning of that same year, when i woke up at the exact right moment to learn that fall out boy did something again. an eerie, playful, earnest, weird claymation video with a haunting soundtrack, featuring a little black and brown dog. it was mystifying and bizarre and striking - a sprinkling of stardust on the dog's muzzle that prompted it to sneeze - and the adrenaline rush i got from the snippet of heart-pounding drums and guitar was the best gift i'd received all year.
so much (for) stardust. i've said it before and i'll say it again - it's a damn near perfect title. it's a play on words, it has multiple meanings nested into one another. given enough time, we all fall apart like so much dust, like so much stardust because that's where we came from. we are made of and from stardust. for stardust. so much for stardust. so much for the cosmic clay that shaped us. so much for this life, so much for the very foundational fucking firmament from which we we all sprang, so much for this whole strange weird existence. it's exhaustion and anger and spite and frustration and, at the same time - it's wonder. it's love. it's a doberman frozen in an instant of elated play, snapping at bubbles. it's a dog breed conventionally associated with danger captured in a moment of buoyant delight. it's an oil painting, surrounded by words shaped from sparkling clay.
it's love.
it's a record full to bursting with love. it's in the very first song they sent to us, sending us their love from the other side of the apocalypse. it's a record that says yes, the world is a mess and it feels insurmountable. maybe existence is meaningless. maybe it's all fucking pointless and we're all gonna die anyway. but like hell that means i'm not going to love life with all that i am. like hell i am going to let that stifle me. if nothing matters, then love is what matters.
and they committed to it, too. if there's one thing we can take away from so much for (tour)dust, it's that fall out boy loves us the way we love them. they'd have to, right? they could have called it quits years ago. hell, they could've packed it up after the hiatus and just never come back. they'd have to really love doing this to want to keep at it, years later, and look at that. they have.
fall out boy, at the end of the day, is propelled by love. they have to really love what they do to keep doing it. they have to love each other, love the music, love the fans, to keep doing what they do. this is something they've repeatedly asserted over the course of this tour and record cycle: the sheer, shared joy, the positive feedback loop of creative energy that comes from sharing something you made with the world and seeing the world respond in turn.
the world is a wreck and it feels, at times, like nothing you do matters or changes anything. so much (for) stardust is the antithesis to that kind of existential apathy. look, it says. look at what your love has changed. because as desolate and nightmarish and inescapable as the pitfalls of this strange, oftentimes terrifying existence can be - we have laughter, we have good friends, we have good music, and we have the ability to not let our own ennui defeat us. there are things in this world worth living for. there are things in this world worth loving. you have to love one another. you have to laugh and do whatever silly, inane thing makes you feel alive. you have to hug your friends and sing with them, cry with them, and savor every drop of this life that we get. prioritize love. be seriously unserious.
a week before this record came out, i spent some 6-7 hours in a car driving to a record store to hear it with a bunch of people, many of them strangers. i heard so much (for) stardust in its entirety in a record store with one of my favorite people, surrounded by awed chatter as we all drank it in. we didn't catch all the words, but the ones we heard sank into us and took root. i almost couldn't bear to wait for to hear the record properly.
a year later, it's sunk into the recesses of my soul. i'm not sure it'll ever come unstuck there. i don't think i want it to.
[Image ID: first picture is a digital drawing of patrick stump, Pete wentz, andy hurley and joe trohman, respectively, from the band fall out boy. they're all wearing suits and ties. they're all using string phones (patrick is saying something and the other 3 are listening to it). the drawing has a limited color palette. the text on the top says "fall out boy" and the bottom one says "what a catch, donnie". second picture below that one is a drawing of the four members of fall out boy with some text, just like the previous picture, since that's a redraw of this one. the art style is more semi realistic than the redraw, and it's on grayscale./.End ID]
A few weeks ago, I posted the fourth annual fob census asking you all to answer a bunch of evil questions regarding fall out boy, and after getting 1.3k (!!!!!) responses, the results are finally in (below the 'keep reading'). I wanted to quickly say thank you to everybody who participated in this, it's so fun to do every year and it makes me so happy to see so many others enjoy it too!! Without further adieu, here are the results:
Disclaimers: Quickly I just wanted to warn that this is a long post- it's worth reading, the results are very interesting! But it's also a lot to get through, be prepared for that! Secondly, tumblr loves to destroy image quality- click on the image to see it better!
Question 1:
For the first question, you were simply asked what era you became a fan. The top 3 results were, as shown:
1. Save Rock And Roll Era (345 Responses)
2. American Beauty/American Psycho Era (268 Responses)
3. During The Hiatus (132 Responses)
Not much to say about this one, every year the results are very similar. Most interesting is that over 100 people have become a fan in the last year!
Question 2:
The second question asked you for your favorite era, and the results were, as shown:
1. So Much (For) Stardust Era (550 Responses)
2. Infinity On High Era (191 Responses)
3. Save Rock And Roll Era (170 Responses)
The impact of the newest era is clearly seen in this question! Some could say it's recency bias, only time will tell, but regardless smfs era absolutely dominates as peoples favorite!
Question 3:
Question three asked what your favorite album was, and this was one where I was incredibly interested to see if so much (for) stardust shook things up that much... And as shown in the top responses, it did not!
1. Folie A Deux (550 Responses)
2. Infinity On High (270 Responses)
3. From Under The Cork Tree (153 Responses)
Last year, the order of the results was exactly the same. As I believe it has been every year... Folie is unbeatable
Question 4:
The next question asked for you to objectively say which fob album is the best, to see if the responses between favorite and best differed, and as you can see, they did:
1. So Much (For) Stardust (457 Responses)
2. Folie A Deux (389 Responses)
3. Infinity On High (297 Responses)
It's so interesting to me to see that so many people believe stardust to be fob's best album, but even then do not consider it to be their favorite.
Question 5:
Now that we've gotten the favorite/best albums out of the way, it's time for least favorite/worst, with these being your least favorite fob albums:
1. Take This To Your Grave (375 Responses)
2. American Beauty/American Psycho (371 Responses)
3. Mania (308 Responses)
Most interesting about these results, to me, are how much the top three responses sweep in comparison to the rest. While for the last two questions, the results were more spread, these are much more unanimous.
Question 6:
Question six asked for the objective worst fob album, and you responded as so:
1. Take This To Your Grave (517 Responses)
2. Mania (347 Responses)
3. American Beauty/American Psycho (328 Responses)
All I have to add here is that the responses are even More unanimous... Tttyg sweep ig! fdjsnf
Question 7:
Going away from albums, the next question asked for your favorite EP, and you all responded as such:
1. Lake Effect Kid (404 Responses)
2. My Heart Will Always Be The B-Side To My Tongue (374 Responses)
3. Pax AM Days (337 Responses)
Last year, lake effect kid was second and my heart was first- always very interesting to see how things shift, even slightly!
Question 8:
The next question had you saying your favorite album cover art, and you all decided these are the best covers:
1. Infinity On High (664 Responses)
2. Folie A Deux (195 Responses)
3. From Under The Cork Tree (176 Responses)
I was very interesting to see where smfs would land, with it falling in the bottom half, not disrupting the top three at all. However, folie moved up a spot, swapping with futct. Ioh reigns supreme though!
Question 9:
These results came out identical to last year, but here are the top first fob songs you all heard:
1. Sugar, We're Goin' Down (347 Responses)
2. My Songs Know (171 Responses)
3. Dance, Dance (134 Responses)
4. Thnks Fr Th Mmrs (132 Responses)
5. Centuries (91 Responses)
Question 10:
Question 10 asked for your favorite fob song, a very subjective question that garnered many different responses, these came out on top:
1. Headfirst Slide (105 Responses)
2. Disloyal Order (73 Responses)
3. Hum Hallelujah (69 Responses)(nice)
4. Ginasfs (65 Responses)
5. 27 (55 Responses)
I have many thoughts about these results and don't want to ramble too much, but will say, most interesting: This is the first time disloyal order isn't first for this question. A big change, I think!
Question 11:
We know now your subjective fav songs, but what about objective best? You all said:
1. So Much (For) Stardust (244 Responses)
2. Headfirst Slide (136 Responses)
3. Love From The Other Side (83 Responses)
4. What A Catch, Donnie (70 Responses)
5. Hum Hallelujah = Disloyal Order (66 Responses)
Once again, lots of thoughts! We have our first tie, both smfs the song and album sweeping, and disloyal order once again Not topping the list! Huge changes!
Question 12:
This question is always the one i get the most excited about each year. It's also the one that gets the most varied responses, but these came out in the top:
1. Sunshine Riptide (56 Responses)
2. "From Now On We Are Enemies" (49 Responses)
3. You're Crashing, But You're No Wave (47 Responses)
4. Rat A Tat (40 Responses)
5. It's Not A Side Effect = Heaven's Gate
This question changed a lot from last year, with sunshine riptide moving up three spots, and rat a tat, it's not a side effect, and heaven's gate showing up when they didn't before!
Question 13:
With underrated songs come overrated ones, and you all said these were the most overrated:
1. Centuries (330 Responses)
2. Sugar, We're Goin' Down (96 Responses)
3. My Songs Know (87 Responses)
4. Bang The Doldrums (67 Responses)
5. Immortals (62 Responses)
Most of note- Bang the doldrums is here, when it simultaneously was voted pretty highly as a favorite song!
Question 14:
This was the first time I asked the question of what your favorite fob cover is, and you all decided these are the best three:
1. Love Will Tear Us Apart (297 Responses)
2. Beat It (278 Responses)
3. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (224)
Question 15:
Asking which song has the best lyrics is another one of my favorites to see, and this year you all said:
1. Hum Hallelujah (172 Responses)
2. So Much (For) Stardust (75 Responses)
3. You're Crashing, But You're No Wave (72 Responses)
4. Ginasfs (70 Responses)
5. Disloyal Order (67 Responses)
It's not surprise these results are very similar to best song, and it's very deserved! These songs are on top every year, save for smfs being newly one of their best written songs!
Question 16:
This question asked how many times you've seen fob live, and the results are as shown:
1. 1-3 Times (780 Responses)
2. Haven't Seem Them Live Yet (353 Responses)
3. 4-6 Times (138 Responses)
4. 7-9 Times (42 Responses)
5. 10+ Times (37 Responses)
Last year, a majority of people said they hadn't seen them live, so it makes me really happy to see now, a majority has! And i hope those that haven't get to soon!
Question 17:
Continuing with the tour theme, specific to this year, I asked what your favorite medley song was, and you all said:
1. Spotlight (New Regrets) (272 Responses)
2. I've Got A Dark Alley (165 Responses)
3. What A Catch, Donnie (146 Responses)
4. WAMS (133 Responses)
5. Get Busy Living (117 Responses)
Seeing spotlight sweep made me happy, as it genuinely was the craziest moment. All of these were crazy, and so special- seeing each medley song get so much love just shows it <3
Question 18:
Now continuing with tourdust questions, I asked for your fav 8 ball song, here were your top 5:
1. Pavlove (372 Responses)
2. Ginasfs (184 Responses)
3. Bang The Doldrums (144 Responses)
4. "From Now On We Are Enemies" (80 Responses)
5. 27 (69 Responses)
Similarly to before, each of these was so crazy and special, it's great to see they all got love. Pavlove swept massively, tho, as deserved i think
Question 19:
I think it goes without saying that each band member is loved and very important, but we all have our #1 babygirl, and here's who you all said was yours:
1. Patrick (676 Responses)
2. Pete (402 Responses)
3. Joe (160 Responses)
4. Andy (112 Responses)
All i have to say is... kill that thing patrick <3
Question 20:
Our next miscellaneous question asks for your fav music video, and this year you all said these were your favorites:
1. A Little Less Sixteen Candles (275 Responses)
2. Dance, Dance (109 Responses)
3. Hold Me Like A Grudge (89 Responses)
4. America's Suitehearts = Miss Missing You (74 Responses)
5. I Don't Care (67 Responses)
I was curious to see if a stardust mv would make it in, and was glad to see grudge did! Otherwise, very similar results to last year. Old favs die hard i suppose <3
Question 21:
Here, I asked for your favorite band that isn't fob but is related/adjacent to fob, and you all said:
1. My Chemical Romance (576 Responses)
2. Paramore (302 Responses)
3. I Don't Know How But They Found Me (88 Responses)
4. Cobra Starship = Green Day (75 Responses)
5. Gym Class Heroes (58 Responses)
Not much changed from last year, other than green day getting more love, which is interesting to see! (Also, wanted to note that i did forget to include panic!... however less than 10 people wrote them in as an 'other', so results were not affected by that oversight!)
Question 22:
These last questions are all this or that style ones, with our first pairing being disloyal order and hum hallelujah:
1. Disloyal Order (762 Responses)
2. Hum Hallelujah (588 Responses)
Interestingly, last year this match-up was a solid tie. Clearly, opinions have changed to make disloyal order sweep!
Question 23:
Our second this or that pit snitches and talkers vs you're crashing:
1. You're Crashing (808 Responses)
2. Snitches And Talkers (542 Responses)
These were the top two underrated songs last year, so it's interesting to see which one is truly preferred!
Question 24:
Our last this or that, and last question, put centuries and my songs head to head:
1. My Songs Know (977 Responses)
2. Centuries (373 Responses)
All the commentary I will provide is saying: is centuries even overrated anymore with it getting destroyed like this.... fkjdsnfks
And with that, the 2024 fob census comes to a close! If you've read this far or, really, participated at all in this in any way, I want to say thank you again! and that I hope you had fun with it, and that these results were interesting to look through! Also, will throw out there, I worked very hard on this and would appreciate a rb if you read all the way through it! <3
If you have any questions about any data or questions, want to see more in depth results or commentary or analysis from me, feel free to shoot me an ask/dm! See you next year for year 5! :-3
[Image ID: a digital drawing of pete wentz and patrick stump of fall out boy. pete is hugging patrick in a way to bother him cause he finds that funny. patrick looks very visibly annoyed and he's saying "dude!!!". they look like how they looked in the pre hiatus era, with pete having a streak of red hair and patrick wearing a hat with a star on it./.End ID]
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