As someone who got into them in middle school when I saw the “This Ain’t A Scene” video on MTV, I back all of this.
I liked each post-hiatus album a lot when they each released, but grew less fond of them over time. There’s only a handful of songs from all three I don’t skip when they come up on shuffle. TTYG-Folie I’ll still actually choose to throw on and listen to the full albums. I think out of all three the only ones I still really like are Phoenix(still think this one is as cool as the day it released), Alone Together, Missing You, Immortals, Favorite Record, Church and Heavens Gate.
TTYG Infinity Folie FUCT SRAR AB/AP Mania Top spot is 90% nostalgia but I don’t care I’ll always love that record
"Selling out" is a dumb concept no matter how you slice it, but when I think of how it's meant in these cases, it's not that people think the band sold out themselves so much as they sold out the fans. In a weird way, I get it. You become a fan of a band, support their art, and then all of a sudden they're not the band you thought they were and you're included in a fanbase you didn't expect. It's absolutely a selfish perspective, 100%. Whenever I think about this topic, my mind veers to Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth. Sugar Ray started as a hard rock, funk metal group, and after "Fly" took off, did a complete swerve into pop rock territory, and it paid off big for them for a while. They sold out successfully. Smash Mouth, on the other hand, between their own drastic genre shift, continual covers and Disney soundtrack spots, and turbulent career path, always struck me as a band that wanted really badly to sell out and just couldn't pull it off.
I agree with a lot of this too...and while Green Day and Blink were exposed via radio/MTV there was a large shift in tone for Blink's audience from Dammit to All The Small Things IMO but I definitely hear you on the "divering directions" that is really well stated and true ! (and also led to me not listening to FOB any longer after IOH)
I'd argue that the shift from Damnit to All The Small Things wasn't really...that...jarring. It was just a slight change in tempo and slicker production. The shift from, say, M&M's to I Miss You definitely probably brought on some head-scratching though.
Regular reminder that some of the Amazon reviews for Blink-182's untitled record are absolutely hilarious. I read those and Starting Line's BOATs at least once a year and laugh.
listening to soul punk, every song in the second half of which is a masterpiece. interesting that every social ill that "dance miserable" details is much worse now!!!! my friend got an advance of it many months before it finally came out, and i remember hanging out on her bed listening to it just marveling at what a good songwriter and producer patrick is. and!: that advance did not include "cryptozoology," so a few months later we're watching his show at joe's pub and he breaks out this song that sounds like morris day and the time playing in a graveyard and i'm like "whoa WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT" so when the album finally came out i got a nice little surprise at the end of "run dry"
I just got an alert from Ticketmaster that Fall Out Boy are playing the Forum in LA TOMORROW. Did I miss this news or is it a surprise show.