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Fall Out Boy - Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name of This Book So We Wouldn't Get Sued: The Biography
Fall Out Boy were front-and-centre of the emo scene of the mid-2000s, gaining a devoted following with their infectious brand of pop-punk. After a tumultuous decade, the band are now stronger than ever and winning new fans across the globe.
Formed in 2001, Fall Out Boy were regarded as the 'next big thing' by critics who praised their ability to entertain audiences with energetic performances and an appealing melody. Their debut Take This to Your Grave was cited as a framework of pop-punk music and they achieved worldwide fame as the emo scene exploded.
However, after a stream of hits, internal fighting, health issues and the eventual backlash against the emo scene threatened to destroy the band, leading to a temporary hiatus.
Confounding the critics, they came back stronger, with a new sound and an even wider fanbase. Their latest album American Beauty/American Psycho, released in 2015, has sold over 1 million units in the US and their worldwide merchandise sales are enormous. They remain a huge commercial force.
This is the first biography on the band and an in-depth account of their story, from its beginnings in Chicago, to worldwide fame, addictions and disillusionment with the music industry to their recent resurgence.
- GenresNonfiction
277 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 15, 2016
6 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 8, 2022
I HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK !!!!!
BUT if I just spent time reading the new 15k word masterdoc on the birth of decaydance, Chuck Palahniuk inter book-album analysis, Pete and Ryan livejournal signing origin story I am marking that towards my goodreads goal somehow idc! The result was a completely riveting essay that was in fact all factual yet still entirely baseless! Just ingenious! So a big thank you for the placeholder whoever you are! I’m sure this is a totally stellar biography! God bless! And stream folie a deux!
BUT if I just spent time reading the new 15k word masterdoc on the birth of decaydance, Chuck Palahniuk inter book-album analysis, Pete and Ryan livejournal signing origin story I am marking that towards my goodreads goal somehow idc! The result was a completely riveting essay that was in fact all factual yet still entirely baseless! Just ingenious! So a big thank you for the placeholder whoever you are! I’m sure this is a totally stellar biography! God bless! And stream folie a deux!
August 11, 2018
I consider myself a big fan of Fall Out Boy; not a fan-girl, but I’m loyal to their music and I get excited every time they accomplish another era with their newest album - I feel proud to call them my favourite band. But this book just told me a lot more about Patrick, Pete, Joe and Andy than I ever knew. (What kind of fan doesn’t even know that 3/4 of the boys have (or had) a wife, and even children!) I loved reading this because it just highlights how much the band have been through and how hard they have worked to get to where they are now. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I feel like I know FOB a lot better now. I feel closer to the band. So glad I read this book, and I have more respect for all of them than ever. This book makes me proud to call myself a Fall Out Boy fan!
January 15, 2018
The book documents the various stages of Fall Out Boy's history really well. You'll enjoy the book if you know their albums well, as it goes through them track by track, and explains where the various members were at at the time as well as their songwriting process. The book definitely takes you down memory lane, because some of these albums are pretty old now, and it's been over ten years since I first started listening to them. Was super cool to read this a few days before M A N I A comes out. I'm pumped.
January 18, 2019
This book provided me with a lot of information on FOB I'd never had as well as analysis of their music. It was pretty short for all of that, but it seems like the author put a lot of work into it.
June 13, 2020
For the die-hard fans
I grew up (physically and musically) on Fall Out Boy. I didn’t imagine in 2003, after buying TTTYG on a whim [trying to discover unknown punk music, the album cover my favorite color, and named for an obscure Simpsons character], that I’d find the future of punk and rock music. I’d end up buying every magazine that even mentioned Fall Out Boy, but none gave me the background that this book did.
It was teary-eyed nostalgia throughout the entirety of this book, for me. Without even listening to a single note of any of the songs mentioned within, the descriptions of the songs, the videos, the moments, all took me back to the loved experiences of discovering what Fall Out Boy has done next. Popping their debut into my friends car stereo for the first time, receiving From Under the Cork Tree in the Mail, driving out of the Coconuts Music parking lot covered in snow for Infinity on High. The book hits all the peaks and canyons of emotions that tied my own history to the band.
Why four stars instead of five? Because some of the finer details about FOB’s rise were omitted. The author makes it clear that Wentz had an explicit vision of how to run the business end of the band, but it’s made out like the band did everything themselves (save for creative input from producers and fighting with labels). The band made a decision early on to play the corporate music game by working with songwriters. In the liner notes of Infinity on High, it’s clear as day they weren’t the only ones composing the songs. Even on the album the book closes on (American Beauty/American Psycho), their hit song “Centuries” was composed almost entirely without the band. The producer who composed it even has a video on YouTube detailing how the song was pieces together. It’s not to take away from the natural talent of the band, but details matter. And one important detail is, as much as they feared being in the major label game, they played it. But they played it well.
All told, I finished the book in one day. I loved it as much as I loved the music Fall Out Boy creates growing up. It provides a behind-the-curtain look at how the band grew up, how they managed their careers, and how those experiences shaped them (and us, the fans). Thank you for such a captivating read.
I grew up (physically and musically) on Fall Out Boy. I didn’t imagine in 2003, after buying TTTYG on a whim [trying to discover unknown punk music, the album cover my favorite color, and named for an obscure Simpsons character], that I’d find the future of punk and rock music. I’d end up buying every magazine that even mentioned Fall Out Boy, but none gave me the background that this book did.
It was teary-eyed nostalgia throughout the entirety of this book, for me. Without even listening to a single note of any of the songs mentioned within, the descriptions of the songs, the videos, the moments, all took me back to the loved experiences of discovering what Fall Out Boy has done next. Popping their debut into my friends car stereo for the first time, receiving From Under the Cork Tree in the Mail, driving out of the Coconuts Music parking lot covered in snow for Infinity on High. The book hits all the peaks and canyons of emotions that tied my own history to the band.
Why four stars instead of five? Because some of the finer details about FOB’s rise were omitted. The author makes it clear that Wentz had an explicit vision of how to run the business end of the band, but it’s made out like the band did everything themselves (save for creative input from producers and fighting with labels). The band made a decision early on to play the corporate music game by working with songwriters. In the liner notes of Infinity on High, it’s clear as day they weren’t the only ones composing the songs. Even on the album the book closes on (American Beauty/American Psycho), their hit song “Centuries” was composed almost entirely without the band. The producer who composed it even has a video on YouTube detailing how the song was pieces together. It’s not to take away from the natural talent of the band, but details matter. And one important detail is, as much as they feared being in the major label game, they played it. But they played it well.
All told, I finished the book in one day. I loved it as much as I loved the music Fall Out Boy creates growing up. It provides a behind-the-curtain look at how the band grew up, how they managed their careers, and how those experiences shaped them (and us, the fans). Thank you for such a captivating read.
August 14, 2017
A beautiful written biography of Fall Out Boy providing a reader with a peak behind the curtain of their story - from the early beginning when Fall Out Boy was just a thought in one's head to their huge worldwide fame. if you want to know why and how certain things/decisions/songs happened - don't hesitate, this book has them all without being overpacked with loads of gossips/ invasions of members' privacies and semi-truths
July 6, 2025
Got some things right. Got some things wrong (based on interviews the band has given themselves). Still a decent read. A lot of shop talk though.
May 9, 2017
While there were times that I found myself struggling through chapters, I found this book to be rather entertaining. Youre given a rundown of the entire history of Fall Out Boy, even before FOB was really even an idea. Alongside the history, you get little anecdotes of backstage and in the studio that are sure to make any fans day.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews