Fall Out Boy

Clever emo/pop-punk outfit Fall Out Boy rose from the ashes of several hard-core bands, in the throes of suburban ennui in Wilmette, Illinois. The band's cathartic live shows -- a carryover from their days of rocking the mosh pit -- at venues like the Knights of Columbus Hall earned the boys a solid Midwestern fan base, but it was their hybrid, Green Day-with-a-dream-journal sound that sparked a small but respectable bidding war to sign them. The band, now comprised of founding members Pete Wentz (bass/lyrics) and Joe Trohman (guitar), vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump, and drummer Andy Hurley, cut a handful of EPs and two full-lengths for small labels (New Zealand's Uprising Records and the Florida-based Fueled By Ramen). While they were still working on their second album, Island Records gave the band an advance to start their third and sent them on a 280-day tour. The band's exhausting schedule didn't help Wentz's anxiety disorder, and he ended up overdosing on Ativan. While Wentz recovered, the rest of the band had to finish a UK tour with a substitute, which forced them to learn not to rely on Wentz's dynamic stage presence and become stronger stage performers. In 2007, Fall Out Boy released their third album followed by 2008's Folie a Deux.