Emo. The scourge of vast sways of the music press, the driving force behind an army of adoring fans, the genre that a lot of us Brits love to hate. British bands just don't seem to be able to open the floodgates like our American cousins. With the likes of Bright Eyes, Sunny Day Real Estate and Taking Back Sunday pioneering the Yank angst parade, it's a genre that's pretty much sewn up.
Fall Out Boy would probably say that they're not Emo. They would probably also say that their blend of quiet/loud, overdriven guitars and harmonies isn't a blatant Jimmy Eat World clone. Don't believe them - Sugar We're Goin' Down sounds like something that didn't make it on to Bleed American (or whatever the politically correct title was), a power-punk pop song about, yep, you guessed it - a girl.
"I wanna be the friction in you jeans," urges singer Patrick Stump and a million teenage Avril's go weak at the knees. If it weren't so annoyingly catchy, Fall Out Boy would probably be still falling off skateboards in some park in the States, annoying the hell of out old people and moaning about 'the system'. Instead, they just played Reading and won an MTV award. Conclusive proof that 'the kids' are by no means alright.
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