100 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".

Pete Wentz's parents met in the 1970s while campaigning for which future US president's Senate run?

Joe Biden, who went on to represent Delaware in the Senate for 36 years, was the candidate both of Wentz's parents were working for when they met.

Which four-star general was a cousin of Pete Wentz's grandfather, a US ambassador to Sierra Leone?

Colin Powell, later the first Black US Secretary of State, was a cousin of Arthur Winston Lewis, Wentz's maternal grandfather.

Bad weather stopped Fall Out Boy reaching which continent in 2008, ending a world record attempt?

Antarctica was to be the seventh continent the band played in nine months, with a show for an audience of scientists, but the flight from Punta Arenas in Chile never left.

A 2023 limited-edition pressing of Fall Out Boy's So Much (for) Stardust was a vinyl record filled with what?

Tears were sealed inside the record, a limited run the band released in May 2023 in partnership with the art studio BRAIN.

Which pop star duets with Patrick Stump on "Electric Touch", a 2023 track featuring Fall Out Boy?

Taylor Swift released the duet as a previously unheard vault track on Speak Now (Taylor's Version), her re-recording of the 2010 album Speak Now.

Characters from which gory web cartoon star in Fall Out Boy's video for "The Carpal Tunnel of Love"?

Happy Tree Friends creator Kenn Navarro directed the video, which drops cartoon versions of the band into the show's world, where every character meets a grisly end.

Pete Wentz had a multi-episode arc on which teen drama, where Fall Out Boy played the club Tric?

One Tree Hill also put Fall Out Boy on one of its soundtrack albums, a release made to support cancer awareness.

Before Fall Out Boy, Pete Wentz was an all-state high school player in which sport?

Soccer was Wentz's sport at North Shore Country Day School, and he later bought a minority stake in a professional club in the USL Championship.

Which fortune-telling toy did Fall Out Boy consult on stage before each surprise song on its 2023 tour?

Magic 8 Ball banter introduced a different surprise song each night, often one the band had never played live, on the So Much For (Tour) Dust run.

Which rapper joined Fall Out Boy on a 2016 remake of the "Ghostbusters" theme for the film reboot?

Missy Elliott raps on the band's version, one of four takes on the theme on the 2016 film's soundtrack alongside Ray Parker Jr.'s original.

Which band joined Fall Out Boy as co-headliner on 2014's Monumentour across North America?

Paramore and Fall Out Boy were each touring a 2013 album that summer, with the Danish band New Politics opening the shows.

The title of Fall Out Boy's 2005 breakthrough album is a line from which 1936 children's book?

The Story of Ferdinand, Munro Leaf's tale of a bull who would rather sniff flowers than fight, gave Pete Wentz the phrase he turned into the album title.

The title of Fall Out Boy's chart-topping 2007 album comes from a letter written by which painter?

Vincent van Gogh used the phrase in an 1888 letter to his brother Theo, describing how his recovered health was helping his painting.

Tim McIlrath, bassist in Pete Wentz's metalcore band Arma Angelus, went on to front which punk band?

Rise Against grew out of Transistor Revolt, the band McIlrath quit Arma Angelus to form in 1999. He was also the frontman who announced the name Fall Out Boy on stage at an early show.

Fall Out Boy's drummer, a vegan since 16, is the band's only member to stay in which punk subculture?

Straight edge punks give up alcohol and drugs, and in 2016 the drummer started a vegan straight edge hardcore band called SECT.

Pete Wentz left which Chicago university one quarter short of graduating to focus on Fall Out Boy?

DePaul, where Wentz studied political science, was also where the band played its first public show, in a campus cafeteria.

Which major label bankrolled Fall Out Boy's indie debut, then released the band's 2005 breakthrough?

Island Records paid for the band to make its debut on a tiny independent label first, planning to move the group up to radio with the second record.

In which Fall Out Boy video do the members appear twice, as the band on stage and as nerds in the crowd?

"Dance, Dance" is set at a homecoming filmed at a high school in New Rochelle, New York, and won Viewer's Choice at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Fall Out Boy shot a 2007 video in which African country, inspired by the charity Invisible Children?

Uganda became the setting for a love story between two local children, after the band dropped its first idea of a documentary-style film.

Which Manchester band's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" did Fall Out Boy cover on a 2004 acoustic EP?

Joy Division's song appears on My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue, the first Fall Out Boy release to reach the Billboard 200.

Fall Out Boy covered a song for a 2006 soundtrack reissue of which film produced by Tim Burton?

The Nightmare Before Christmas returned to cinemas in 3-D in 2006, and its reissued soundtrack added a bonus disc of covers, including versions by Marilyn Manson and Fiona Apple.

For the 2015 album We Love Disney, Fall Out Boy covered a song from which animated film?

The Jungle Book is the source of "I Wan'na Be Like You", the song the band covered, first sung in 1967 by bandleader Louis Prima as the ape King Louie.

Fall Out Boy's song "American Beauty/American Psycho" samples "Too Fast for Love" by which band?

Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx wrote "Too Fast for Love", which was the title track of the glam metal band's own debut album.

A top-ten Fall Out Boy single released in 2014 borrows the melody of "Tom's Diner", a song by which singer-songwriter?

Suzanne Vega's tune was re-sung for the track by the singer Lolo, and Vega later joined the band as a special guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Fall Out Boy's video for "The Take Over, the Breaks Over" is the dream of Pete Wentz's dog, named what?

Hemingway dozes off on the couch beside his owner at the start, and the video ends when the dream breaks and the dog leaps to the floor.

Fall Out Boy's song title "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" refers to which baseball player?

Pete Rose was famous for sliding headfirst into bases, and a betting scandal while he managed the Cincinnati Reds ended his career in baseball.

Fall Out Boy features on "I've Been Waiting", a 2019 single by ILoveMakonnen and which late rapper?

Lil Peep first heard the song as an ILoveMakonnen demo in July 2017, and it came out in January 2019, more than a year after his death.

Which rapper guests on "Dear Future Self (Hands Up)", from Fall Out Boy's second greatest-hits album?

Wyclef Jean also co-wrote and co-produced the 2019 single, and the band said its members had long been fans of his old group, the Fugees.

Which actor's Reality Bites dialogue is heard on Fall Out Boy's 2023 track "The Pink Seashell"?

Ethan Hawke gets a vocals credit on So Much (for) Stardust for the dialogue, which comes from the 1994 film and fills the album's seventh track.

Fall Out Boy's 2018 release earned the band its second Grammy nomination, in which category?

Best Rock Album was the category at the 2019 ceremony, 13 years after the band's first Grammy nomination.

At which touring festival did the stage collapse three songs into Fall Out Boy's set in summer 2004?

Warped Tour had booked the band for only five dates that summer, and at one of them the crowd grew so large that the stage gave way.

Listening stations at which mall chain helped Fall Out Boy's debut sell thousands of copies a week?

Hot Topic's listening stations helped the album move 2,000 to 3,000 copies a week, the point at which the label felt the band was tipping into the mainstream.

Fall Out Boy headlined a 2007 tour that was sponsored by and named after which compact car?

Honda Civic Tour dates that year were first postponed over personal issues, then went ahead with the rapper Paul Wall among the support acts.

Fall Out Boy's first live album was recorded at a June 2007 concert in which Arizona city?

Phoenix gave the record its title, Live in Phoenix, which captures the band on stage at an outdoor pavilion in the summer of 2007.

Fall Out Boy donated the proceeds of one 2017 arena concert to relief efforts after which hurricane?

Harvey had flooded Houston in August 2017, and the band gave away the proceeds of its show in the city that November.

The promotion for Fall Out Boy's "Heartbreak Feels So Good" featured which actress's well-known adverts?

Nicole Kidman's adverts for AMC Theatres were used to tease the single, which arrived in January 2023, a week after the first song from the album.

Pete Wentz's book The Boy with the Thorn in His Side takes its title from a song by which band?

The Smiths put the song on their album The Queen Is Dead, and Wentz borrowed its title for a story based on bad dreams he had as a child.

Pete Wentz founded which clothing company, known for a logo combining a bat, a heart and a skull?

Clandestine Industries sold books as well as clothes, and in 2007 the fashion company DKNY signed a partnership with it.

Which rapper's 2008 debut album No Introduction came out on Pete Wentz's label, with Patrick Stump producing?

Tyga made No Introduction with Wentz as executive producer, and Travie McCoy guested on its single "Coconut Juice".

Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman, raised in Ohio and the Chicago suburbs, was born in which state?

Florida is where Trohman was born, in the city of Hollywood, as the son of a cardiologist.

Which Chicago rapper guested when Fall Out Boy remade the Chicago Bulls anthem "Only the Bulls" in 2014?

Lupe Fiasco joined the band on its new recording of the basketball team's anthem, which was released in November 2014.

Fall Out Boy features on "Back to Earth", a track from Neon Future I by which electronic music producer?

Steve Aoki put the collaboration on his second studio album, released in September 2014 while the band was finishing its own sixth record.

Fall Out Boy is among the guests on Shock Value, a 2007 album by which hip-hop producer?

Timbaland's guest list for the album also ran from Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado to the Swedish rock band the Hives.

Asked what Fall Out Boy should sound like, Pete Wentz handed an early producer two records by which band?

New Found Glory's first two records were the blueprint Wentz gave Jared Logan, the drummer who produced the band's earliest recordings.

When Fall Out Boy was choosing a name, Patrick Stump wanted one that referenced which singer-songwriter?

Tom Waits was Stump's idea, while Pete Wentz argued for long, tongue-in-cheek names, and the pair ended up putting a short list to a vote among friends.

Fall Out Boy's drummer started on which instrument in middle school before switching to drums in high school?

Saxophone gave way to drums after his sister bought him two albums, one of them Metallica's Ride the Lightning.

Which pop-punk label did the young Fall Out Boy court, only to be offered its side label Rushmore?

Drive-Thru Records' co-founders watched a showcase that fell flat and offered only the side label, a deal the band turned down.

Under what name did Fall Out Boy introduce itself at its first public show, in a university cafeteria?

Forget Me Not was the name used at that first gig, which the band later called goofy and which was its only show with its original drummer.

Pete Wentz and Fall Out Boy's future drummer were bandmates in which political Chicago hardcore band?

Racetraitor landed on the covers of the fanzines Maximumrocknroll and Heartattack before it had released a single note of music.

Pete Wentz labels Fall Out Boy's mix of hardcore punk and pop sensibility with which one word?

Softcore was his word for it because, as he put it, the members were hardcore kids who could not quite cut it as hardcore kids.