like my friend dennis once said, "falloutboy are like our chicago bears... you'll always root for them no matter what. they're more than a band for us, they are part of our history."

so the other day while we were rolling around i posed the question, "what are your top 5 most significant falloutboy (yes, i still spell it the old school way) songs? they asked if i meant favorite, i said, "no, most significant."
so i asked a few friends, people who were friends with the band to give me their take.
here are our stories:

stevekane:
"Growing Up"
When Joe gave me the Fall Out Boy demo I wasn't sure what to expect. There is always that worry that you won't like your friends' band and you'll have to give some sort of polite, but non-committal response when they inevitably ask what you think of it. He'd been talking about starting a pop-punk band similar to Lifetime, Saves the Day and New Found Glory forever and this was the culmination of that. I lucked out because I didn't have to lie when I told him I loved the songs.

"Homesick at Space Camp"
Take This to Your Grave was recorded in a few different sessions and the first songs to surface were "Dead on Arrival," "Saturday" and "Homesick at Space Camp." I received a burn of those three songs and listened to them constantly when I'd take the Metra train from the suburbs to Chicago for class at Columbia. "Homesick at Space Camp" was always my favorite of the three because it had this instant sentimental quality I could never really put my finger on. Maybe it was just the first real eye opener that they would become a legitimately huge band and not just popular in Chicago.

"Sugar, We're Going Down"
When Hollister first opened stores in Chicagoland FOB did in-store performances at the Woodfield and Fox Valley locations. It kind of had the vibe of the mall sequences in Tiffany's "I think we're alone now" video except confined to one small area of a single store. It was at these shows that I first heard "Sugar, We're Going Down," then titled "Hand of God (which they ended up using for a different song altogether)." I was into it because the opening riff sounded heavy and the chorus was huge. Apparently a lot of other people liked it too.

"Seven Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen)"
If I had to pick a favorite Fall Out Boy song, this would be it. I don't have any strong memories associated with it aside from it being one of my go-to songs when the weather starts getting nice and I'm driving around listening to catchy songs that feel like summer. Also, it took several months of me owning the record before I realized it was the singer of Panic at the Disco doing back ups on the chorus. I just thought it was Patrick singing a little lower.

"Nobody puts baby in the Corner (Acoustic Version)"
This song was a step forward in the song writing evolution of Fall Out Boy. I couldn't stop listening to it on the FOB side of the split 7" between them and Autopilot Off and I thought it was the best song on My Heart Will Always be the B-Side to my Tongue EP. However, I only seem to like the acoustic version because I always skip over it on FUCT. I'm not sure why.


dave cronin:
"Growing Up"
This was the first FOB song I ever heard, and is easily one of the best they've ever written. I, like most things I like, was late in the game in getting into them. My friend Justin Pence played me their demo in the early summer of 2002 after seeing them play in front of 10 people at Depaul. I was pretty much hooked, and shortly thereafter I went to see them open a free show at Metro with Knockout, Spitalfield, and Logan's Loss. Great show.

"Saturday"
Still one of my favorite FOB songs, but I put this in my list because of the video shoot. It was the first time being around a music video shoot and I was interested in how it all worked and was put together. It was shot in the basement of a dingy punkhouse called the "Needle House" in Bridgeport, named after the heroin needles left laying around the house from the previous owners. It was a tiny space and there weren't that many people at the shoot. During the moshing sequences, they played Merauder, Throwdown, and Hatebreed over the PA to bring out our sick moves. It was a fun day, and despite hearing that song probably close to 200 times that day, I still have fond memories associated with it and I never skip over it when I listen to TTTYG.

"I Slept With Someone From Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me"
Before Cork Tree came out, PW came by a recording studio where my old band Not Enough Gold was recording an EP to do some guest vocals. After recording, we went out to his car and he played us all of Cork Tree, and all I could think was how good it was and how huge this band was going to get. A few months later, they put an album sampler on their Myspace, with 20 second clips of each song. The chorus of this song stuck out to me and I was anxious to hear the full version. I think this song is lyrically one of the best FOB songs. The middle back and forth screaming part is a bit questionable, but the line "they call kids like us vicious and carved out of stone" is one of the best that dude has written.

"Thriller"
My old band 2*Sweet started touring full-time in January of 2007. A few days into the tour, Infinity On High leaked on the interweb. Immediately I made John download it for me, and I listened to it multiple times a day, every day for that three week tour, much to my bandmates' dismay. Thriller starts off the record with an over-the-top, yet tastefully executed mosh part ripped from Hurley's old band Racetraitor. The melody and lyrics make this song instantly nostalgic and it's my favorite song from that record.

"Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today"
This song made my top 100 songs of all time, so I have to include it. Best album-opening song in their genre. They should never open their set with any other song besides this one. It'd be like The Cro-Mags opening with anything other than We Gotta Know


fruity:
"My Heart is the Worst Kind of Weapon"
I remember buying this CD(yea remember CD's?) from Hi-Fi records on one of my Saturdays at Metro when I had to be there at 12 and just answer phones and that kind of stuff. I loved the artwork for the record and everything. This song says everything I've ever wanted to say to someone that has hurt me that's why this song will mean a lot to me.

"Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things To Do Today"
The title of this song will always be rattling around in my head till I'm 80 years old. They took a great movie quote and put it to a really good song that open's with one of the most annoying things you can ever hear on a phone. How could I ever forget something like that?

"Turnpike Gates"
Now FOB has done many covers in their day Jawbreaker, Gorilla Biscuits, Joy Division, Nightmare Before Christmas songs and The Police and I've enjoyed most of them. This song though just seemed right. The thing that is significant for me about this song is that they decided to do it acoustic and it made the song go great with Patricks voice.

"Saturday"
I mean come on the video for this song was filmed in my apartment. The day Chris made calls to get people in the video I was for real the only person who didn't get called, even Phil the Mosher got the call. I also remember when I was for some reason watching TRL and heard Saturday in the background and I said to myself "It's all downhill from here".

"The Carpal Tunnel of Love"
I remember hearing this song before the record came out but it wasn't the single. A lot of people hated it I recall because the song is kind of all over the place. But that didn't bother me at all I thought it was different and I backed it. Another reason this song is very memorable for me is the connection with this song and Wesley Eisold, whatever that connection may be.


christopher:
"the worlds not waiting (for five tired boys in a broken van)"
it was raining yet i still drove up to milwaukee to record backing vocals with a bunch of dudes. i remember pulling up and thinking, "they're recording in a house?... punk." while the song isnt the greatest, it definitely has one of my favorite choruses ever, why? because you can hear dennis' deep ass voice, "wueve buuen dooown," so awesome. i remember thinking how we all sounded like 16 year olds singing into one microphone. dennis' voice reminds me of someones dad who walked into the room all like, "what are you kids doing, recording a record? mind if i take a shot?"
recording backing vocals are some of my favorite memories because there was never a time when i didnt leave with a smile on my face.

"grenade jumper"
like a friend once said, "this song changed my life... literally."
there are moments, jobs, relationships, deaths that actually physically alter the direction of your life. while you can say a song has changed you life because of perspective or outlook or self-discovery, very few times can you actually say that a song written by someone else has directly effected the amount of money in your bank account, the places in the world you've seen and the career you have chosen. if you dont know the story of this song, well, you're a bad lurker.
this is the acoustic version filmed in jim/boo/dennis' living room one new years eve. years later, i cant help but note the smiles and how much fun everyone is having.

"nobody puts baby in the corner"
as the band continued to grow at a unbelievable rate, this song was the first one that i heard where i said to myself, "this could be a legitimate radio single." this is one of the few songs that can instantly break me out of a bad mood.
heres a little secret ive never told anyone... when i would go out with them on tour, i would look and see when this song was in the set list. right beforehand, i would walk way out into the back of the crowd and put my hood up. when they started i would two-step and fail around singing at the top of my lungs because i never wanted to lose that feeling of what it was to be a fan.

"grand theft autumn (where is your boy)"
patrick said he wanted to play me a new song so we went out to my car in the parking lot of some totally awesome show they were playing in the suburbs to 16 people. it was a drastic departure from what they had previously recorded and instantly i thought it was a huge risk. i said it sounded like a song by the stereo. he smiled and said, "i know." when it was over i distinctly remember saying, "holy fuck, dude. this shit is going to be huge."
and i cant help but hide a grin when i sing along knowing who its about.

"saturday"
when i hear this song i cant think of anything but the video. it was an awesome day, no beef and everyone was still friends. it was like having a party, filming it, putting a song to it, then all of a sudden its on television one day. part of the indoor scenes were filmed in my living room and in the alley behind my apartment, the show scenes in a tiny little venue called the needle house. while it looks like a decent sized show, it was literally about 14 of us dancing along to hatebreed and madball. serious all star day: cronin, jim, dennis, stevekane, john, kate, charile, ben, me and a few others sweated our balls off singing along and moshing into each other hard. joe didnt have a striped shirt so i took a black shirt, taped it up and spray painted white stripes on it. we said you would never notice in the video and no one did. afterward, we all sat on the stoop on the house and while we talked about how ben moshed charlies face and how joe was playing a guitar with no strings, im pretty sure all of us were thinking about how amazing of a day it was although we were either too cool or too shy to admit it. top 10 days, my friend. top 10.




and yours?