We interrupt your regularly scheduled horror programming for a blog that has been sitting in my draft queue since 2018 and I am just finishing now.
Just when I think I’ve grown up, Fall Out Boy comes out with a new album and proves me wrong, and right.
Fall Out Boy is one of those bands that has sneakily become the soundtrack of my life for the last…oh my god I just did the math and it has been 10 (12, as of 2020) years. Math. It kills me. Also, welcome back to the blog, High School Emlyn. We missed you.
There are other bands that I still listen to from high school, but none of them still sound like themselves the way Fall Out Boy still sounds like Fall Out Boy.
Now, it’s 2020, and I’m still listening to Mania all the time. The entire album is on my novel playlist. If you could even call it a playlist, because it’s just Mania, When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go, Lies for Liars, and Welcome to the Black Parade in album order. Nothing gets me more in the writing zone than the opening chords of “Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea.” I’m listening to it now, as I write this blog. “If I can live through this / I can do anything” from “Champions” sits on page one of my novella draft as an epigraph.
I think there are a few reasons I’m still listening to the same band and loving literally everything they put out:
1) Fall Out Boy takes me back to almost-good high school memories. I remember listening to “Thnks fr th Mmrs” for the first time while sitting at the downtown Dunkin’ Donuts with my friend’s earbuds in. I remember the walks from Schlitz Park to the central public library while From Under the Cork Tree played. There was a me that existed before I started dating my abuser. And she was fucking happy.
2) Can we talk about how queer this music is? “Thnks fr th Mmrs” is so bisexuallllllllllll, and most songs are sung to an ungendered “you.” I might be projecting. This might be me projecting. Whatever. It’s fine.
Ok I’ve googled it and I’m not crazy, but I am probably still projecting.
3) I’m still really emo you guys. But like…grown-up emo. Like Fall Out Boy. I’ve gone from the pop/screamo of From Under the Cork Tree (I somehow missed Take This to Your Grave) to…whatever Mania is. I’ve ditched my skinny jeans for skirts and my eyeliner for lipstick but I still walk a pair of combat boots to death every year. I’m corporate-acceptable emo. I’m corporate-casual emo.
Anyway, this isn’t my most coherent blog post, but was a nice break from all the horror and true crime content I’ve been consuming, which has taken a toll on my mental health much more quickly than anticipated.
Next week, we’ll be back on the horror train. Or maybe not. Maybe I’ll write about Bojack Horseman.
Sad Magical Creatures 