What do you begin to say about an album that gave you and all your friends the tools to save your lives? From Under The Cork Tree is high energy, relentless guitars and drums, with iconic bass riffs that act like a siren call. From Under The Cork Tree is lines that make you choke on that first time feeling of being understood, of knowing you’re not alone in feeling so desperately sad or mindlessly numb. These are the songs we cried to when home wasn’t right, when learning we were maybe too different, when finding the community we’ve found now felt like far too distant of a dream to survive. This album is the power of being understood, foolish hope mixed with a touch of despair — it’s a little bit of staying alive out of pure fucking spite. It’s the world seeing you as a weed, but if the right person helps you find your spark, you can be a firework.
Maybe none of us believed back then that we’d make it 20 years, in whatever way you want to take that, but here we are all the better. Thanks for being our therapists, Fall Out Boy, you really delivered just what we needed.
“Our Lawyers Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued”
The song opens the album with sounds of flashing photography —- throwing the listener right into Fall Out Boy’s shoes when they took to the red carpets for the album that raised them to fame. The story of this song is about the anxieties of that rising fame, “we’re only good ‘cause you can have almost famous friends,” and the uncertainty of staying relevant; “we’re only good for the latest trends”. It’s high energy —- drums, bass, guitar all kicking into gear and lines screaming that they’re bad news. Pete Wentz’s anxieties about fame and fear of falling victim to trends manifests in a sarcastic tone —- like nervous laughter. It’s playful, in a sad way. At least the music makes you shake your hips; “make them dance like we were shooting their feet”. The vocal layering on the final chorus makes it sound like an entire room is singing back to the band, a reassurance that there will be crowds singing back to them through all the anxiety. As the song fades out, we’re left with a lingering vocal fry, like screaming into your pillow at the end of a bad day. Personally, even though I could never experience the feeling of fame, the anxiety of feeling unsure about your life is universal. Especially to a 15 year old in high school trying to figure out what their career path should be. All I could do was sing along as I blasted this song in the car while I learned how to drive with my uncle. — Winona Ann
“Of All The Gin Joints In All The World”
Fall Out Boy is no stranger to referencing classic movies within their work, and “Of All The Gin Joints In All The World”, a nod to the cinematic masterpiece Casablanca, is no exception. Derived from the quote, “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine”, the lyrics portray themes of intimacy from the perspective of a relationship based purely on physicality.
Wentz writes, “You only hold me up like this ‘cause you don’t know who I really am” as a way of saying “you idolize the version of me that you think you know, but in reality you have no idea what I am truly like off-stage”. While I may not be able to relate to the celebrity aspect of this lyric, I can connect with that feeling of being liked by people for my extroverted personality and not the introverted one I keep hidden. We all know how it feels to present ourselves in a certain way to an audience without displaying our deeper truths. The chorus dives deeper into the physical aspect of this relationship and creates detailed imagery for listeners to envision while they sing along.
One of the reasons I love Fall Out Boy so much is the way they allow the listener to envision themself living through the words. Everyone remembers how they felt when they first heard the line “I used to waste my time dreaming of being alive, now I only waste it dreaming of you”. We have all experienced a relationship that has led us to feel this way about someone else. Imagery is a major aspect of why this album has aged so well in the 20 years since its release.
Of all the bands in all the world, Fall Out Boy is unmatched in lyricism. — Sydney Aldrin
“Dance, Dance”
Opening on what has to be one of the most identifiable drum parts of the 2000s, “Dance, Dance” is easily one of Fall Out Boy’s best songs, let alone one of their best singles to date. It was a step out of the box for them at the time — lead singer Patrick Stump has gone on record more than once to say that this song was not what was expected of them from anyone, not even themselves. As recently as the beginning of this year, he’s said that writing “Dance, Dance” was “another moment where I was kind of scared because it wasn’t the assignment of the band; I wasn’t really supposed to be making that.” (Glass Slipping, Season 2 Episode 1)
It’s also become a space for Fall Out Boy to play on stage over the last two years. During So Much For (Tour)dust, Pete performed a magic trick every night, disappearing from the stage at the end of “Baby Annihilation” (from 2023’s So Much (For) Stardust) before showing up at the top of the stage and then quickly reappearing in the audience as his iconic bass riff geared up for “Dance, Dance”. It remains one of Fall Out Boy’s most played songs at their live shows at 936 individual plays, ahead of even “Saturday” (from 2003’s Take This To Your Grave) and falling only slightly behind From Under The Cork Tree’s lead single, “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” at 991 plays.
The creation and release of this song changed the landscape for what pop punk could sound like. It dared not only other artists but Fall Out Boy themselves to step out of the box and let themselves flourish in their own sound, and truly grow into their own skin. — Jordan Ames
“Sugar, We’re Goin Down”
Instant classic is an understatement. “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” is not only the most iconic Fall Out Boy song, but dare I say one of the most iconic songs ever written. It’s the song they’ve played the most times, even over their permanent closing song “Saturday”, the song that anyone, even if they don’t know Fall Out Boy, will probably recognize, and the song that will still be played on the radio long after we’re all dead and gone. It’s the song that introduced so many of us to quintessential Wentzian lyrics like “drop a heart, break a name”, and “a loaded god complex, cock it and pull it”. Even if we weren’t old enough to go on a computer and look up exactly what those lyrics were, or know exactly what they meant, we knew they made us feel seen in a way we never had been before. Hearing it live feels like coming home every single time. Hearing it in public will never not make me feral, no matter how frequent an occurrence. “Sugar” just is Fall Out Boy. From the ever-evolving stage rituals (are you really a diehard fan if you don’t do the lick-lick-salute along with Pete?) to the music video visuals (I’m still convinced Saltburn was directly referencing it), “Sugar” has made a permanent mark on the cultural zeitgeist, as well as the hearts of emos everywhere. — Madi Jay
“Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner”
As a kid raised who watched Dirty Dancing almost weekly, you can imagine my delight in 2005 to discover my new favorite band had a song referencing it. (Though, technically it’s a misquote — Patrick Swayze’s character, Johnny, actually says “Nobody puts baby in a corner.” in the film.)
“Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner” kicks off as a classic upbeat Fall Out Boy track with less than upbeat lyrics. Don’t get me wrong, you can and should dance to this song. It features some of my favorite drum work from Andy, as well as (in my opinion) very underrated bass lines from Pete, but it’s not as fun as it appears based on vibes alone.
“Baby” is about an intimate relationship, but it’s certainly not a love song. In the lyrics, we explore a very complicated, secret relationship that neither party really cares much about, yet there are feelings of jealousy and fear of abandonment. There’s an almost sadistic enjoyment in the anticipation of watching this relationship inevitably burn to the ground. The breakdown of “Baby” has become a prime example of FOB’s lyrical angst and haterism over the years — “Wear me like a locket around your throat / I’ll weigh you down, I’ll watch you choke / You look so good in blue”.
I was lucky enough to get “Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner” as the mysterious, surprise 8-ball song when I attended the So Much For (Tour) Dust show in Colorado in 2023. Getting to experience one of the most beloved FUCT tracks performed live for the first time in over a decade with one of my best friends is something my inner hater will cherish forever. — Crysta Marie
“I’ve Got A Dark Alley And A Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Song)”
“I’ve Got A Dark Alley And A Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Song)” is one of the most somber songs in Fall Out Boy’s discography. At nearly the midpoint of From Under the Cork Tree, “Dark Alley” provides a reprieve from the fast-paced intensity we hear on the first half of the album. You can tell from the first couple of lines, “Joke me something awful just like kisses on the necks of best friends / We’re the kids who feel like dead ends,” that this song is going to be an absolute gut-punch. Pete Wentz has a way of excavating the deepest, darkest parts of himself, shining a light on them with his words, and in doing so, creates some of the most emotionally resonant lyrics of a generation. It’s a song about being absolutely beaten down by life, wallowing in self-pity while also wondering if everything that went wrong was all your fault. Who among us can’t relate to that feeling?
This is the kind of song that brings you to your knees, emotionally, and sometimes literally. I can personally attest to this fact — when Patrick Stump played the first half of the song on piano at the Holmdel stop of So Much For (Tour) Dust, my friends and I fell to the ground of the amphitheatre lawn. If you haven’t seen this live debut performance, I highly recommend checking it out. I believe that without this song, we don’t get “Golden” or “What A Catch, Donnie”. While Cork Tree is a pop punk masterpiece, “Dark Alley” deserves credit for introducing Fall Out Boy’s audience to the idea that this band could do so much more. It was one of the songs that paved the way for them to grow as musicians, showcasing a more stripped down, softer sound — proving that they could branch out beyond the classic 2000s emo genre that they helped to popularize. — Sarah Elise
“7 Minutes In Heaven (Atavan Halen)”
The opening riff of “7 Minutes In Heaven (Atavan Halen)” instantly transports me back to the summer of 2005. I’m ending 7th grade and catapulting into the loneliest year ever. My brain chemistry is changing rapidly and nothing makes sense, but there is comfort in being a wallflower at school dances and opting out of the terrifyingly social “party game” 7 Minutes In Heaven. The 7th song off the album From Under The Cork Tree made the incomprehensible parts of my adolescence fathomable. It’s upbeat, it’s fast paced, enthusiastic; but beneath the façade there is a greater understanding of “I’m having another episode, I just need a stronger dose.”
The extension of the song title, “Atavan Halen”, is word play of Ativan (an anxiety medication) and Van Halen (a legendary rock band). The opening riff has a familiar chord progression to a few Van Halen songs (“Panama” and “Dance the Night Away”); perhaps an homage, or just something familiar and comforting to a much newer band.
“7 Minutes In Heaven (Atavan Halen)” has an origin story prompted by a particular incident, and when asked about it in 2018 by Kerrang! Magazine, the bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz said, “I just didn’t ever think I’d be happy again, and then you just are one day.”1
Fast forward to July 22, 2023, I’m on the barricade for Fall Out Boy’s So Much (Tour) Dust show in Virginia Beach, and Pete asks the Magic 8 Ball, “Should we play a really old fucking song with Patrick on drums?” I hear the opening riff; I am immediately transported back to my younger days, but this time with the comfort of making it this far to be able to witness Patrick playing drums for some reason. — Ambrose Gatsby
“Sophomore Slump Or Comeback Of The Year”
“The best part of believe is the lie, I hope you sing along and you steal a line…”
While the title alludes to a second album either being a flop or a huge hit for an artist, I don’t think anyone — even 20 years later — doubts the staying power of From Under The Cork Tree.
In a time when many bands were coming up, and going back down, the lyrics and artistry of this song stood strong. Are we growing up or just going down? While Fall Out Boy saw the ups, many groups they quite literally grew up with saw the downs. As a shoutout to those friends back home, William Beckett of The Academy Is… has a vocal feature on this track, weaving harmonies throughout before being featured on the bridge. Beckett, as well as other members of The Academy Is…, grew up going to shows in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs right alongside members of Fall Out Boy. Beckett’s feature on the song adds that extra heart to a song that’s openly sentimental in the way Fall Out Boy has long been known for. Pete Wentz’s way with words in lines like “We’re the chemists, who’ve found the formula, to make your heart swell and burst.” were etched on the seemingly just yesterday walls of the mid 00’s. The song’s harmonic melodies can both make you want to dance, or lay down and stare at the ceiling and contemplate your existence. — Ashley Rochelle
“Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends”
Fall Out Boy’s From Under the Cork Tree is considered one of the most iconic albums in emo history. One of the tracks, “Champagne for My Real Friends, Real Pain for My Sham Friends”, is another example of their signature long, catchy song titles. This song explains how they are in it for the passion and creativity, not for the fame or attention. The chorus — “We only do it for the scars and stories, not the fame” — really sums up their message: they’re doing what they love, for the right reasons.
Patrick Stump’s vocals in this track are smooth and controlled, displaying the early signs of his impressive vocal range. Pete Wentz’s lyrical work stands out as well, impressively communicating the band’s dedication to creativity and their willingness to be open about personal struggles. The song touches on mental health struggles, offering a sense of validation and encouragement to listeners who may be facing similar struggles. This song can be a huge comfort for any emo kid — it’s like a reminder that they matter and they belong. It serves as a powerful reminder that everyone is deserving of purpose and shining in their own way.
The instrumentals in this song stand out from the rest of the album, featuring catchy guitar riffs that lean more toward a pop-influenced sound compared to the band’s earlier, more punk-driven work. The ending of this song provides a seamless transition into the next track, enhancing the overall flow and cohesion of the album. — Alannah Rae
“I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me”
For an album filled to the brim with iconic Pete Wentz lyrics fighting to be the most memorable, it’s a testament to the opening line of “I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me” that a single, muted guitar left in the wake of “Champagne”, and the likewise subdued vocal delivery still manage to be so striking.
“I found the cure to growing older” and its following lines are tender, but subtly morbid in their simplicity. The verses and choruses escalate to driving gang-vocals, mirrored perfectly by the guitar and drums. The rest of the song swings between these modes: slowing for small glimpses of sensitivity, before crashing back to shameless high-intensity, dripping with disdain.
While From Under The Cork Tree clearly draws on the band’s hardcore roots, including in “I Slept With Someone”s bridge, pop-punk and emo rose to popularity in part by bringing a softer emotionality that had been missing from the genre to the forefront. To me, this song dances along the tension between what might’ve been more typical of a song before that shift, and the reality that was always underneath, maybe best summed up by the line:
“They call kids like us vicious / and carved out of stone / but for what we’ve become / we just feel more alone.”
The chorus is loud, and sneering, and brash. It’s endlessly fun and cathartic to scream yourself hoarse to, in your car, or the pit.
It’s also —- nearing the end of an album circling ideas of performance, perception, and authenticity —- a distraction. Focusing on the other’s short-comings might deflect attention from brief flirtations with vulnerability, but it can’t erase them. The nameless, faceless subject of the track, with nothing to show but a stupid song written about them, isn’t the only one who can’t cover up the way they are. — Imogen
“A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More ‘Touch Me’”
“A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me”, is the ultimate homage to 80’s film culture, referencing the cult classic movie Sixteen Candles, released in 1984. The single and whooping 11th track featured on the band’s sophomore album not only has ride-or-die fans for the song itself, but finding a dedicated following in the vampire filled music video that is reminiscent of The Lost Boys, proving that there is art in the medium of music videos.
“Sixteen Candles” is a track that is not shy in any manner, musically and lyrically, and shows off well, gearing right into its own summertime nostalgia sounding verse. Despite the seemingly lighter pitch in Stump’s vocals, Fall Out Boy keep to their Take This To Your Grave roots by overdriven guitars, and a pumping bass that in turn, keeps the consistent cymbals a key element of the song. “Sixteen Candles” perfectly blends together the sound that charted the band, yet promises something new and refreshing both on From Under The Cork Tree, and a teasing potential for their future releases.
Opening the first verse with an apology, “Sixteen Candles” keeps a story rolling in the perspective of a heartbroken boy who has come to the realization that when you mess up, no amount of sorrys can fix what was lost. Back and forth between the time of romance and what was lost, the repeating line “I set my clocks early ‘cuz I know I’m always late” perfectly encapsulates the feeling of being the underdog, having a deep desperation of wanting something, and having to prove yourself to have it — Shaylyn Marie
“Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part To Save The Scene And Stop Going To Shows)”
Never did I ever think I’d be writing about this song from a place of hearing it live 10 times, but here we are. “Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part To Save The Scene And Stop Going To Shows)” has always been one of the first proper examples we’ve had of Pete’s poetry at its best. It’s the very first time we had any of his slam poetry knock us out. This song is angry and manic, it’s in love and obsessed, it’s deeply deeply sad but so good at hiding it in the other things. In so many ways, it’s the most truly Fall Out Boy song from the early days, with every element that has always made them special. At the time, we were just learning that, though. It just gets better with age. Maybe someday Pete will join us in shouting that outro, but in the meantime, I’m just grateful he had the guts to record it in a bathroom over 20 years ago and that they keep screaming into microphones for attention. — Allison Haley
“XO”
“XO” — the shortest FOB song title to date. It’s a perfect bookend to From Under the Cork Tree, as it’s the culmination of many themes found throughout the album — angst, fame, love and lust, but with the dial cranked all the way up.
It’s not a secret that Wentz doesn’t write with the intent to deliver easily digestible lyrics, but with “XO”, it does touch on more relatable themes. Sonically, the song is upbeat and fast-paced. Lyrically, it lets us in on a secretive, self-destructive affair. “I comb the crowd and pick you out.” Wentz writes from the perspective of being desperate for an escape in the form of human connection. There’s a sense of urgency, franticness, and a manic episode reaching its peak, desperate for release and relief. This encounter isn’t about the other person — it’s the idea of them and where this fantasy could lead, even though there’s no intention of it lasting. There’s an internal conflict of “choose love or sympathy, but never both” and if he follows through with this, he’s choosing sympathy packaged in the form “love”; the only kind he feels he deserves.
Entangled in the choice of love, Wentz’s struggle with religion comes out. He takes note of “the Bible in the drawer”, but in his hopelessness, casts the notion of it aside. Religion hasn’t delivered on its promise and has repeatedly let him down in his times of need. The Bible represents choosing love, whether that be in himself or finding real connection with another human, but that’s not something he feels he’s worthy or deserving of. Sometimes love, for yourself or others, means facing some hard truths, and that’s not something he’s ready for. In the end, he tucks his conscience away and chooses sympathy.
“XO” is beautifully written, filled with brooding thoughts and emotion, with hard-hitting lines that were seared into our brains the first time we heard them and we’ve never been the same. — Shelbi Renea
“Snitches And Talkers Get Stitches And Walkers”
Kicking off the Black Clouds and Underdogs reissue of the album, the layers of “Snitches and Talkers Get Stitches and Walkers” encapsulate this band at their best. To me, this song is laced with the notion of forgiving but not forgetting, along with sickly sweet self deprecation which ties in well with Fall Out Boy’s overarching paradigm of leaving a paper trail for their future selves to find. The lyric “Here’s a picture with a note – ‘No, don’t turn out like me!’ ” places itself beautifully around “The Carpal Tunnel of Love”’s (off the album Infinity on High) “Got postcards from a former self saying – ‘How you been?’” and “Dear Future Self” (off the album Greatest Hits: Believers Never Die — Volume 2) in general. One could argue, the band’s ability to self-reflect has played a significant hand in their constant evolution and sustained success. But it’s the way Wentz is able to capture the exact place he was at during that time in his life with the growing success of the band and the gossip that the scene was thriving off that solidifies this song’s place in the greater FOB canon. If only “Snitches and Talkers” Pete could take a look behind the curtain as to the heights his life would be catapulted to in the years following this track and this album, I would like to hope he would be just as proud of that ‘starry eyed kid’ as we all are today. — Megan Juliet
“The Music Or The Misery”
Pete Wentz has written some real grade-A burns across Fall Out Boy’s extensive discography, but few hit as hard for me as “I got your love letters, corrected the grammar / And sent them back”, from the first verse of “The Music Or The Misery”. In an album chock-full of pop culture references, it’s no surprise that the title and main chorus are a nod to a line uttered by John Cusack’s character in High Fidelity.
The track touches on the band’s rapid rise to fame and Pete’s newfound (and as noted in future songs and interviews, poorly handled) celebrity, which is further emphasized by the line “I went to sleep a poet and I woke up a fraud” in the bridge. Overall, this is a 10/10 track for woe and angst.
While there isn’t an official reason why this track was relegated to b-side status, there’s proof that it was pretty close to making the album. From his now-deleted Twitter account, Patrick replied to a question about the track by saying that he wished it had made it onto the album, possibly instead of the significantly more long-winded “I’ve Got A Dark Alley And A Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Song)” or “Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends”. This sentiment rings true in their live performances —- “Champagne” has never been played live and “Dark Alley” has only been partially played twice, while “The Music or the Misery” was played extensively on 2006’s Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour and then again (after a brief 18 year reprieve) at the Pittsburgh stop of So Much for (2our) Dust. — Kate Parker
“My Heart Is The Worst Kind Of Weapon”
“My Heart Is The Worst Kind Of Weapon” — the one and only demo on Fall Out Boy’s iconic second album From Under The Cork Tree. This demo is not the first time this song has shown up on Fall Out Boy’s discography, though. It was originally released as an acoustic song on the bands’ very first EP titled My Heart Will Always Be The B-Side To My Tongue, which was released in 2004. When it was released on From Under The Cork Tree, it was no longer acoustic. Even though it is only a demo, this song perfectly shows how raw and emotional Pete Wentz’s lyrics are. Especially because the lyrical content in this song explores feelings of heartbreak and regret — it is cohesive to the subjects that are talked about throughout the previous songs in this album, making this song a solid choice to have as a demo. I remember hearing this song for the first time in 2006, and I wondered to myself why it was decided to be a demo instead of a track on the official album release because of how the lyrics cut me right to the bone in so many ways. With Pete’s emotionally raw lyrics accompanied with Patrick’s witty and vengeful vocally tainted delivery, it makes for a very solid demo to have on a very monumental album. — Bekah Eiswald
Whether “Sugar, We’re Going Down” was the first Fall Out Boy song you ever heard or you didn’t discover From Under the Cork Tree until over a decade later, its impact in its year of release and in the 20 years that have followed is undeniable. It’s a combination of all the elements that make Fall Out Boy the band that they are, and that so many people love so deeply. The lyrics that have, for so many, sought out the darkest corners of our minds and hearts and shone a little light — just the simple suggestion of oh — someone else gets it. That’s exactly how it feels. The melodies that never really leave your head, no matter how long you go without listening to them. Patrick’s soaring vocals, Pete’s poetry and thumping bass, Andy’s pulse-pounding drums, and Joe’s finger-blistering guitar — even on their sophomore album, it was clear the band had something special that would only grow in the years to come. From Under the Cork Tree was the soundtrack of so many thousands of teenage heartbreaks and lonely nights in 2005, and it’ll be healing those same hearts (and new ones) for decades more to come.