50 Fun Facts About Fall Out Boy

In which Illinois suburb was Fall Out Boy formed?

Wilmette. Pete Wentz and Joe Trohman, both regulars of Chicago's hardcore scene, started the band in the suburb as a pop-punk side project meant to be "easy and escapist".

Patrick Stump sings the chorus of which band's 2007 hit "Cupid's Chokehold"?

Gym Class Heroes. The chorus Stump sings is lifted from Supertramp's 1979 song "Breakfast in America", reworked for a rap-rock single that reached the US top five.

Fall Out Boy wrote the song "Immortals" for which Disney animated film?

Big Hero 6. Disney asked the band for a song to play over the sequence in which Hiro's brainy friends turn into a high-tech crime-fighting team.

Which drummer joined Fall Out Boy for good in 2003, after the band had cycled through a string of stand-ins?

Andy Hurley. Pete Wentz had wanted his old bandmate from the start, but Hurley only signed on after filling in on a tour that two other drummers had dropped out of.

Fall Out Boy's "Uma Thurman" samples which TV theme?

The Munsters. Listeners kept saying the guitar sample sounded like a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack, so the band built the lyrics around the star of his Pulp Fiction.

Fall Out Boy took its name from a character in which animated show?

The Simpsons. Fallout Boy is the sidekick of the comic-book character Radioactive Man, and the name stuck after an audience member shouted it out at the band's second show.

Which John Hughes film does Fall Out Boy name-check in the title of a single about unrequited love?

Sixteen Candles. "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More 'Touch Me'" nods to the director whose teen films are set around the Chicago suburbs where the band grew up.

Which rapper burns Fall Out Boy's old albums in the band's 2013 "Light Em Up" comeback video?

2 Chainz. He lights the bonfire that swallows the band's own records and instruments, and the follow-up video, "The Phoenix", shows the four musicians being kidnapped.

Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump first met Joe Trohman by correcting him about the band Neurosis in what kind of shop?

A Borders bookstore. Stump butted into Trohman's conversation with a friend to put them right, and the chat soon turned to the new band Trohman was putting together.

Patrick Stump won his place in Fall Out Boy by playing songs from which band's album Through Being Cool?

Saves the Day. Stump had turned up meaning to audition as a drummer, until Joe Trohman urged him to get out his acoustic guitar and sing.

What was Fall Out Boy's debut album, released in May 2003?

Take This to Your Grave. Six years on, the band picked its song "Saturday" to close the last show it played before going on hiatus.

Which independent label released Fall Out Boy's debut album?

Fueled by Ramen. It was the band's only album for the label before a move to the major Island, yet they returned to it twenty years later for So Much (for) Stardust.

Which rushed early release did Fall Out Boy try to stop its label putting out?

Evening Out with Your Girlfriend. It was thrown together in two days, and the band disliked the songs so much that it no longer counts the record as its debut.

Fall Out Boy recorded its debut album at Smart Studios in which Midwestern city?

Madison, Wisconsin. Smart Studios was producer Butch Vig's base, and the band returned there with engineer Sean O'Keefe after cutting a three-song demo in the same rooms.

What was Fall Out Boy's 2005 major-label breakthrough album?

From Under the Cork Tree. The title is a line from The Story of Ferdinand, the children's book about a bull who would rather sit under a cork tree smelling flowers than fight.

Which Fall Out Boy single became the band's breakthrough hit, reaching No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2005?

Sugar, We're Goin Down. It was a last-minute arrival: two weeks before recording began, the band scrapped ten songs and wrote eight new ones, this one among them.

Patrick Stump wrote and sings the theme song of a Disney Junior cartoon about which Marvel character?

Spider-Man. Stump, a lifelong Marvel fan, said it took him about ten minutes to say yes to Spidey and His Amazing Friends, and he composes the preschool show's score as well.

Which British singer-songwriter guests on Fall Out Boy's 2008 ballad "What a Catch, Donnie"?

Elvis Costello. He sings a line from the band's own "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet", one of a string of guests who quote old Fall Out Boy songs as the ballad closes.

For which Grammy category was Fall Out Boy nominated in 2006?

Best New Artist. The band was hardly new, having already toured for years and released two albums, and the award went to John Legend.

Which album gave Fall Out Boy its first Billboard 200 number one in 2007?

Infinity on High. The title is borrowed from a letter Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother in 1888, describing his renewed health and what it was doing for his painting.

Which rapper delivers the spoken intro that opens Fall Out Boy's 2007 album?

Jay-Z. Then president of Def Jam, and so the band's label boss, he uses the intro to take a swipe at their critics and salute their fans.

Which Fall Out Boy single hit No. 2 in both the US and UK?

This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race. Its lyric vents Pete Wentz's frustration at being made king of the emo scene, and he chose it as a single because it "had the right message".

Which R&B producer worked on two tracks of Fall Out Boy's 2007 album?

Babyface. The band sought him out because they loved his soundtrack for the 2001 film Josie and the Pussycats, and one of his two tracks was the hit "Thnks fr th Mmrs".

Fall Out Boy's 2007 arena tour borrowed its name and stage design from which children's book?

Where the Wild Things Are. Billed as the Young Wild Things Tour, it had sets by artist Rob Dobi, and Pete Wentz said that as a kid he had wanted to be Max, the book's pint-size protagonist.

Which guitarist played the solo on Fall Out Boy's 2008 cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"?

John Mayer. The cover began by accident when Patrick Stump started playing the riff at a soundcheck, and Mayer took the solo that Eddie Van Halen played on the original.

Which dystopian novel inspired the viral campaign for Fall Out Boy's album Folie à Deux?

Nineteen Eighty-Four. Pete Wentz invented an overbearing Big Brother-style group, Citizens for Our Betterment, which appeared to hack his record label's website.

Which celebrity plays Pete Wentz's love interest in Fall Out Boy's chimpanzee-filled "Thnks fr th Mmrs" video?

Kim Kardashian. Apart from her and the band, every part in the video is played by a chimpanzee, and she recalled being warned on set not to look the animals in the eye.

Where did Fall Out Boy play its final show before going on hiatus in 2009?

Madison Square Garden. One member later admitted he cried before going onstage, thinking "maybe this is it", and the band did not play another show for more than three years.

Which Blink-182 member shaved Pete Wentz's head at Fall Out Boy's last show before its 2009 hiatus?

Mark Hoppus. Rolling Stone called the haircut a symbolic cleansing of the past, and also the start of what turned out to be a very dark chapter for the band.

What is the title of Patrick Stump's 2011 solo album, on which he played every instrument?

Soul Punk. Stump spent most of his savings touring it, and wrote a blog post titled "We Liked You Better Fat" about the fans who turned up to heckle him.

Which future pop star sang with Pete Wentz's side project Black Cards during Fall Out Boy's hiatus?

Bebe Rexha. She quietly left the group and broke through as a songwriter instead, co-writing Eminem and Rihanna's hit "The Monster".

From 2013 Pete Wentz hosted a TV contest for which kind of artist?

Tattoo artists. Wentz took over Oxygen's Best Ink for its second season, filming it by day while Fall Out Boy recorded their comeback album at night.

Two Fall Out Boy members formed which heavy metal supergroup with players from Anthrax and Every Time I Die?

The Damned Things. Joe Trohman and the band's drummer launched it when Fall Out Boy stopped, but its 2010 album never gained much traction.

Which 2013 album marked Fall Out Boy's return from hiatus?

Save Rock and Roll. It was made in total secrecy, with one member staying off Twitter for fear of being geotagged, and the single, album and tour were all announced in one morning.

Fall Out Boy's 2013 comeback photo showed the band burning its old records on the site of which Chicago landmark?

Comiskey Park. The old ballpark's grounds were the scene of 1979's Disco Demolition Night, when a crate of disco records was blown up between the games of a doubleheader.

Which producer recorded Fall Out Boy's punk EP PAX AM Days in a two-day session?

Ryan Adams. The band spent 48 hours at his Pax-Am studio hanging out and having dinner, and "somehow" came away with eight tracks of raw punk.

Which pop star joined Fall Out Boy on the 2015 single version of "Irresistible"?

Demi Lovato. Her vocals were added for a remix months after the album came out, which took the song back into the Billboard Hot 100.

Which musician features on the title track of Fall Out Boy's 2013 comeback album?

Elton John. The band returned the favour by covering his "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" for the 40th-anniversary reissue of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Which single from Fall Out Boy's American Beauty/American Psycho reached No. 10 on the Hot 100?

Centuries. Its wordless hook is the melody of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner", which the band had the singer Lolo re-record rather than sampling the original.

Which rapper performed "Uma Thurman" with Fall Out Boy at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards?

Wiz Khalifa. The pairing carried on all summer, when the two acts toured America together on the Boys of Zummer Tour, and his remix of the song was released that year.

What is the title of Fall Out Boy's 2015 remix album?

Make America Psycho Again. After a one-off remix made for a summer tour, the band handed every song from that year's studio album to a different rapper, Migos among them.

Which Fall Out Boy album was pushed back four months after Patrick Stump said it "just isn't ready"?

Mania. Stump said the first version felt very rushed, so its release moved from September 2017 to January 2018 while the tour went ahead as planned.

Fall Out Boy headlined which stadium for a hometown show in September 2018?

Wrigley Field. Pete Wentz told the crowd he grew up going to games there, and marvelled that Billy Joel had played the same ballpark the night before.

In 2019 a puppet studio sued Fall Out Boy for overusing which animals from the "Young and Menace" video?

Llamas. Furry Puppet Studio said it had cleared its puppets for that one video only, yet the band went on using them in other videos and on tour.

Which two bands co-headlined the Hella Mega Tour with Fall Out Boy?

Green Day and Weezer. Billie Joe Armstrong said the stadium run was Green Day's idea; it was announced in 2019, and the pandemic pushed its first summer from 2020 to 2021.

Who produced Fall Out Boy's So Much (for) Stardust, his first album with them since Folie à Deux?

Neal Avron. He had produced the band's three hit albums of 2005 to 2008, and Patrick Stump said they wanted to get back to the slower way they used to make records.

In 2023 Fall Out Boy released its own version of which Billy Joel hit?

We Didn't Start the Fire. The new lyrics pick up where Joel stopped in 1989, but unlike his roughly chronological original they list the events in no particular order.

Which NBA star, known for his "emo" media-day haircut, appears in Fall Out Boy's 2024 "So Much (for) Stardust" video?

Jimmy Butler. Then with the Miami Heat, he wears the swooping fringe from his media-day stunt with a purple cowboy outfit, and Pete Wentz joins him in a similar costume.

Which band did Wentz sign to his Decaydance label in late 2004?

They toured together on the Nintendo Fusion Tour the following autumn.

Fall Out Boy first set its 2008 album Folie à Deux for release on which day?

Election Day. The plan was announced in August 2008, but the album slipped to December, and Pete Wentz would say only that it was "not an overtly political record".