Fall Out Boy Research

1. Fall Out Boy: Genre and General Information
Fall Out Boy have been typically describes as a pop-punk band, similar to Panic!
At The Disco and My Chemical Romance. However over recent years, their style
has shifted towards being more ‘emo pop’ or even features of the indie genre have
emerged from their ‘older identity’ back to their new.
Conventions of a pop-punk music video:
 Storyline (narrative)
 Audience interaction
 Instruments
 Live performance
Conventions of an indie music video:
 Costumes and make-up
 Special effects/filters etc.
 Live performance
 Narrative through a performance or a story
Fall Out Boy have previously been known for their rock n’ roll sound in their past,
but have shifted to a more ‘electronic-pop’ sound in their latest releases (2017).
Fall Out Boy originates in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The have been
influenced a lot by bands and artists such as; Barbara Streisand, David Bowie,
Metallica, Michael Jackson, and Tom Waits.
In music videos from Fall Out Boy, they include conventions from both the indie
and the pop-punk genres. They include narrative/storyline, use of costume and
make-up, and the feature of other artists, such as Demi Lovato and Brendon Urie
(either for promotion purposes, or for fun).
An example of the use of narrative and make-up is in the music video for Fall Out
Boys song ‘Centuries’. The use of the band members as characters is an example
of intertextuality (relates the ideas the band want to express back to the present
reality). In the music video, the relations of lyrics to the visuals is a way of
remembering the ‘legends’- so they re-enact a ‘typical’ legendary scene as would
have been seen in the ‘colosseums’ of Italy. This then relates to the lyrics spoken
in their song ‘Young Volcanoes’- “when Rome’s in ruins, we are the lions, free of
the colosseums”.