Fall Out Boy Album- When Punk is Worth Platinum

Many would consider Fall Out Boy merch and albums to be quite young. After all, the group that generated them only came together in 2001. In music years, that would indeed be considered pretty young. Some would say the group is also short lived.

Pete Wentz and Joe Trohman were the first two official members of the band. They were friends who had some experience playing punk and decided to venture on their own. They recruited their third member Patrick Stump in a bookstore and later went on to ask T.J. Kunasch and Mike Pareskuwicz to play with the band.

The new friends started playing together even before they had a stage name. Their current name is a result of name solicitations from the audience. One audience member suggested the name which was lifted from the iconic cartoon The Simpsons. This was to be the beginning of the story of the punks that eventually got platinum. The year that followed was marked by the release of their EP and LP, works which were sure to be followed by a Fall Out Boy album.

In 2003, Kunasch and Pareskuwicz left the group and Andrew John Hurley came in. This was the year that their first album Take This to Your Grave was released. The album became certified gold but only at a much later date. The band’s first real break only came with its second album From Under the Cork Tree in 2005. By this time, the boys had already waited too long for success but the wait was well worth it. The album took the 9th spot in the Billboard 200, sold more than 60,000 copies in its initial week of release and sparked a new line of band merchandise. It didn’t take long for it to eventually reach platinum and double platinum status.

The band members followed through on their outstanding success producing more chart topping albums and singles in the succeeding years. Infinity on High came out in 2007 and sold even more copies than their second release. This was followed by Folie a Deux in 2008 and then a greatest hits compilation Believers Never Die in 2009.

Critics noted that for a young, decade old band, a hits compilation was a bit early for release. Understandably, fans started to question the group’s intentions of staying for the long haul. The idea that the group was breaking up didn’t seem far-fetched. Before they could work on anything new in 2009, the group said it would be on a break. This caused a fair amount of confusion regarding the group’s standing especially since there was no definite time frame placed on the break. Band members fanned the fire by sending out different messages in online sites. The only thing fans knew for sure was that the band wasn’t sure where it was going.

There may no longer be any Fall Out Boy albums in the making. This is unfortunate considering that the group has the makings of future pop punk legends. For whatever it’s worth though, it’s obvious that their music will remain relevant at least to one generation of punk music lovers who grew up to their music.