Fall Out Boy Resurrects with Save Rock and Roll

It’s nearly impossible to talk about this album without addressing the preposterousness of its title. Saving rock at this point is nothing short of a fool’s errand – which I think the dudes of Fall Out Boy are aware enough to know. But, the album does its damnedest to work, in its way, as a genuine rock record despite having flourishes of hip-hop, R&B, stadium-scope synth/dance pop and even, for ten seconds, dubstep. (Regarding the latter, I swear it actually works and isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds).

Trust me, the minute I heard that FOB had a new album on the way, I had a “LOL WUT THAT’S DUMB AS FUCK” moment. This was intensified upon learning the title. I heard the lead single, “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark,” and while I thought it was fine, I didn’t have much hope or anticipation for the actual album. I figured it’d be a fascinating disaster at best.

But, let’s backtrack a bit before I address the record. I discovered FOB around the same time as My Chemical Romance, in 2004. Take This To Your Grave, their debut, is a solid collection of pop-punk singles and single-worthy album tracks  – “Grand Theft Autumn” and “Chicago Seemed So Two Years Ago” being the standouts. Their subject matter would place them in the emo camp, but the sonic blueprint is thoroughly Green Day and Blink-182, not Sunny Day Real Estate or Bright Eyes. I loved that record and was pretty in on From Under the Cork Tree, which has FOB’s biggest hits – “Dance, Dance” and “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down.”

Then, things got weird.

In the process of trying to move outside their lane, with increased pop and R&B influences on Infinity on High, FOB started to look like a joke, and not the funny kind, like what often served as their song titles. (The pinnacle of that is definitely “I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me.”) Pete Wentz’s extracurricular activities – a doomed tabloid-fodder marriage and general, asshole behavior stemmed from drug/booze abuse (that strangely he managed to keep OUT of the tabloids, far as I can remember) – didn’t help.

When Folie a Deux dropped in 2008/9, it was almost entirely ignored, which is unfair because it’s got some of their best songs and marks the first time Patrick Stump’s singing voice showed remarkable prowess. After that, their hiatus/breakup was no surprise to anyone, and they fell off the map. Stump made a perfectly decent and ignored solo record, and the rest of them flirted with other music to some degree. None of it caught real attention.

So, I had little to no intention of hearing the record, but I was persuaded to give it a shot because of the enthusiasm of Grantland critic, Andy Greenwald – not to mention the fact that it was streaming for free a week prior to release. So, why the fuck not?

I clicked play on the SoundCloud link to the first track, “The Phoenix.” I heard a swell of seriously bombastic strings and almost cringed. Then, the track kicks off for real with Stump’s commanding bellow of “PUT ON YOUR WARPAINT!!” and only improves from there. “The Phoenix” is as unstoppable as a turbocharged Lamborghini with jammed fucking brakes. It exemplifies the pure joy of making rock music, and despite its extra touches (strings, synth underpinnings, almost disco rhythms), it excellently showcases every member of the band – particularly the guitars – which chug along in perfect sync.

What’s most interesting about Save Rock and Roll is that while it does even more to add new genre accents to FOB’s sound than Infinity or Folie, those efforts don’t fall flat on their face as they sometimes did in the past. By every logical rule, they should have. Consider the guest list here: Courtney fucking Love. Big Sean, a rapper I often find more distasteful than present-day Lil Wayne (this is saying a lot). ELTON JOHN. SERIOUSLY. Before I heard the songs they were on, I felt like those guest-star credits were actively fucking trolling me.

Despite all that, the only feature that actually fails in any way is Big Sean, and the parts of the song, “The Mighty Fall.” The parts that don’t involve him are so good that it doesn’t matter. Courtney Love has two hyperspeed spoken-word screeds on “Rat a Tat,” and while they’re a little ridiculous, they work in the end. The song you’d think would be most doomed, the Elton John-featuring title track, is my second-favorite song on the album after “The Phoenix.”

It’s an anthemic, bombastic, melodramatic song that sounds doomed to fail on paper and features various elements that should be ridiculous. Elements like: Samples. A Queen-aping basic-ass drumbeat. Elton John’s mere presence, which is past the point of having relevance in any traditional sense (#sorrykids). Despite its mark of death (or so you’d think), the actual song is every bit as catchy and rousing as a vintage Queen b-side – and much more emotionally affecting. Patrick Stump and John trade lines and pull off some excellent harmonies that not only showcase Stump’s ever-improving pipes, but also highlight the influence John clearly had on his vocal style.

I realize I haven’t delved much into the rest of the record. There isn’t a weak sharmoniesong in the bunch, and the 11-track length seems to indicate that FOB chose these tracks carefully and paid close attention to sequencing.

Other standouts: “Just One Yesterday” lets Stump flex his R&B muscles and boasts a surprisingly funky rhythm, courtesy of Wentz and (insert drummer name here). “Miss Missing You” is probably about Ashlee Simpson (Wentz remains the band’s primary lyricist), but there’s real sadness to the chorus, despite its simplicity: “Baby, you were my picket fence / I’ll miss missing you now and again.” “Young Volcanoes” might sound like a ripoff of Fun., until you remember that Fun. is and always has been ripping off FOB. “Where Did the Party Go?” is 80’s pop, Talking Heads-indebted and sounds glorious for it.

The last thing I want to credit this record for, as I touched on briefly when blathering about “The Phoenix,” is the upbeat-ness it has. It reflects the joy of making music, in spite of its often bittersweet and sometimes just plain, bitter lyrical content.

Save Rock and Roll is not free of shortcomings by any means. Wentz’s lyrics often take themselves too seriously. The stylistic jumping around can be off-putting and several portions of it sound way overproduced. However, that sound was more than welcome in its first week of release, which coincided with events in my city that I will not take the time to rehash. I found myself turning to it constantly, because its bombast and melodrama helped prevent me from brooding too much. It’s the joie de vivre that sticks with me – the subtle, but inherent defiance of fighting off your demons with a (sometimes shit-eating) grin, wry remarks, hooks and loud fucking guitars.

Liam Green can be reached at lgreen@thoughtpollution.com.