rose to the forefront of emo pop in the mid-2000s, selling more than four million albums thanks to the band's tabloid-grabbing bassist, able-voiced frontman, and handful of Top 40 hits. The group's four members first came together in suburban Wilmette, a bedroom community just 14 miles north of Chicago, around 2001. Vocalist/guitarist
had all taken part in various bands connected to Chicago's underground hardcore scene. Most notably,
, the furiously political metalcore outfit whose brief output was both a rallying point and sticking point within the hardcore community. As
, the quartet used the unbridled intensity of hardcore as a foundation for melody-drenched pop-punk, with a heavy debt to the emo scene. They debuted with a self-released demo in 2001, following it up in May 2002 with a split LP (issued on the Uprising label) that also featured
also drummed. The band remained with the label for the release of a mini-LP,
, but a bidding war of sorts was already in full swing.
Fall Out Boy eventually signed a deal with Fueled by Ramen, the Florida-based label co-owned by
Less Than Jake drummer
Vinnie Fiorello, but also received an advance from Island Records to record a proper debut album. The advance came with a right of first refusal for Island on
Fall Out Boy's next album, but it also financed the recording of
Take This to Your Grave, which occurred at
Butch Vig's Smart Studios compound in Madison, Wisconsin, with producer
Sean O'Keefe (
Lucky Boys Confusion,
Motion City Soundtrack) at the helm.
Take This to Your Grave appeared in May 2003, and
Fall Out Boy earned positive reviews for subsequent gigs at South by Southwest and various tour appearances. Their break-out album, the ambitious
From Under the Cork Tree, followed in spring 2005, quickly reaching the Top Ten of Billboard's album chart and spawning two Top Ten hits with "Sugar We're Going Down" and the furiously upbeat "Dance, Dance." The album went double platinum and earned the musicians a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
Fall Out Boy's underground star status -- driven by the especially extroverted
Wentz, who also gained exposure with his clothing line, his Decaydance record label (an imprint of Fueled by Ramen), and eventually a celebrity relationship with Ashlee Simpson -- had boiled over into the mainstream. They toured extensively, supporting the album with international tours, arena shows, TRL visits, late-night television gigs, and music award shows. Without taking a break, the guys then hunkered down to work on their follow-up record with
From Under the Cork Tree producer
Neil Avron (and, somewhat surprisingly,
Babyface).
Infinity on High, whose title was taken from a line in one of
Van Gogh's personal letters, appeared in early February 2007, spearheaded by the hit single "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race." The album continued
Fall Out Boy's streak, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts and going platinum one month later. Released in early 2008, the CD/DVD package
Live in Phoenix documented the band's strength as a flashy live act, while the full-length studio effort
Folie à Deux followed later that year.
Recording sessions for
Folie à Deux were tough, prompting the band to take an open-ended hiatus soon after the album's release.
Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley joined a new band, Damned Things, during the interim, while
Wentz teamed up with a new vocalist, Bebe Rexha, to form Black Cards. Stump took the opportunity to launch a solo career, ditching his band's emo pop music in favor of a more electronic, R&B-influenced sound.
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Johnny Loftus & Corey Apar, Rovi