HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out With Your Girlfriend – Fall Out Boy
If you’ve not heard of Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, then that is understandable. Recorded in two days, with no promotion, and a low budget, this mini-LP is dead and buried by the band themselves. As it is the 20 year anniversary of its release, we decided to take a trip down memory lane to shine a spotlight on what could have been FALL OUT BOY‘s debut album.
After forming in 2001, FALL OUT BOY released a split EP with PROJECT ROCKET, before a rushed recording resulted in Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out With Your Girlfriend. The nine-track EP has a roughness that leaves no doubt about the recording state. The band sound unrecognisable on songs such as opening Honorable Mention. But there are also hints of what was to come. FALL OUT BOY are now regarded as one of the most recognisable rock bands of the early 2000s. If you were around in the Tumblr days, then you’d have no doubt heard of the so-called Emo Trinity, which – along with FALL OUT BOY – was comprised of MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE and PANIC! AT THE DISCO. Despite some polarizing views of their later work, the band are so beloved that they will go down in history as one of the most prominent rock bands.
However, that was all thanks to their official debut, Take This To Your Grave, released in May 2003. If they had branded Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out With Your Girlfriend as their debut, things could have been very different. It’s not that this album is especially bad; in fact, there are some shining moments, such as the energetic Pretty In Punk, which starts off well. But it quickly descends into auto-tune hell, from which there is no return. Furthermore Calm Before The Storm was plucked from an early grave and rerecorded for the band’s official debut. The instruments on the songs seem to have been copied and pasted slightly differently over the nine songs. It is a shame because the songs have no identity or personality, which make the hints of individuality even more frustrating.
The band have never played any songs off of this mini-LP live, save for a few hometown shows at the very start of the year. The only song they have acknowledged is Growing Up, which they included at the very end of 2009’s Believers Never Die – Greatest Hits as a “rarity”. It’s easy to see why. The song is the best one on the album; a fresher, more polished song that sticks out like a sore thumb because of how much better it is than the other songs.
Another issue with the songs sounding the same is that they can speed by without you knowing. It’s very easy to miss songs such as The World’s Not Waiting (For Five Tired Boys In A Broken Down Van) and Moving Pictures because they are copy-and-paste. On the other hand, Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out With Your Girlfriend did showcase FALL OUT BOY‘s trademark of naming their songs with really unique titles, such as the before mentioned The World’s Not Waiting… and the closing song Parker Lewis Can’t Lose (But I’m Gunna Give It My Best Shot).
Due to the lack of promotion, the album did not get many reviews at the time of release. In fact, the band were hesitant to release it at all. The only review out there, from Averisonline called Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out With Your Girlfriend “tolerable (but not very good)”, and overall “not a very exciting record”. They are right; the album is inoffensive at best, and boring at its worst. It did not even chart anywhere.
It is easy to see why the band have buried it. But 2003 was a year that was warming up to the boom of the 2000s emo phase, which would change the rock scene forever. All the major players were bubbling under the surface, ready to explode in a riot of colour. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE had released their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, a year prior, in 2002; PANIC! AT THE DISCO and PARAMORE would form in 2004, and DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE released Transatlanticism, which is easily one of the defining alternative albums of 2003. FALL OUT BOY would soon join the ranks of one of the most influential rock bands of the 21st century; they just didn’t know it yet.
In hindsight, it is easy to why Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out With Your Girlfriend is forgotten in the FALL OUT BOY discography. It is a rushed, uneven, and forgettable mini-LP. However, it also showcased some potential, as well as some quirks which are specific to the band. Furthermore, it is easy to see why they consider Take This To Your Grave as their debut album. On the other hand, it is fun to look back at how far FALL OUT BOY have come in the 20 years since their formation. The high-energy is seen in some songs on this mini-LP, and it does have potential to be a hidden gem. But the copy-and-paste instrument arrangement; the reliance on auto-tune; and the fact that some songs are easy to miss, might make a hard case for that hidden gem status. Some might argue that every band has to start somewhere, no matter what. With the imminent release of their eighth album, So Much (For) Stardust, a trip down memory land doesn’t hurt, even if it is quite a bland one.
Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out With Your Girlfriend was originally released on March 25th 2003 via Uprising Records.
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