Fall Out Boy

Paramore Kitten - Hammerstein Ballroom - 5/16/13

Paramore Kitten Hammerstein Ballroom 5/16/13 Better Than: Anything J.J. Abrams has done in 2013 Before seeing Paramore tonight, I went to the movies with my best friend. We're both huge sci-fi/fantasy dweebs, so we, of course, had seen the new Star Trek movie on its opening day. The movie was ... More >>

Emo is Dead, Long Live Emo: 30 Bands Making it Safe to Hurt Again

It's a confusing time to be an emo fan. My Chemical Romance recently called it quits, while Fall Out Boy, surprisingly, have the #1 album in the country. That album, however, is a far cry from the sound old heads remember from the Take This to Your Grave era. Bro, are you even emo anymore? See also ... More >>

In Defense of fun. and the Sublime Blandness They Do So Well

Hey, man! What are YOU doing Saturday night? Wanna go to Radio City Music Hall with me and watch motherfucking fun.? Wait, where are you going? Dude, why'd you just unfriend me on Facebook? I just tried to email you and it bounced. I thought we were best friends, and now you're acting like you barel ... More >>

Rockie Fresh's Electric Highway: What Kid Cudi Wished His Last Album Sounded Like

Better Than: Waiting until Jan. 21 Rick Ross and his Maybach Music Group (MMG) cadre of artists have perfected a sonic and aesthetic blueprint over the past two years. Unapologetically ostentatious lyrics, pounding basslines and of course, Jessica Gomez's deliciously sexy "Mmmmmaybach Music" drop; ... More >>

Maybach Music Group's Rockie Fresh on Why He Chose Rick Ross Over Diddy and the Violence In His Hometown of Chicago

Even though he wasn't born until the decade after Back to the Future came out, Rockie Fresh still rocks a DeLorean in his videos and even sports a pair of Nike Air Mags AKA the Marty McFlys. Fitting considering he acts much more maturely than his 21 years of age would have you believe. His rhymes a ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Dan Wilson, Linda Perry, And Other Pop Footnotes Turned Hitmakers

It's a familiar scene to anyone who's seen VH1 programs like Behind The Music or Where Are They Now?, or the channel's endless lists of 'one-hit wonders' of the '80s and '90s: a musician whose brief fling with stardom is well behind them sits at the mixing desk of a studio, while the voiceover detai ... More >>

Katy Perry Covers Jay-Z And Kanye West, Adds Rapping To List Of Things She Is The Worst At

Off the top of my head, I can come up with more "controversial" stances Katy Perry has taken than I can count on one hand: "Ur So Gay" being mean, homophobic, and seemingly aimed at Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz; "I Kissed a Girl" being shock-Sapphic and heteronormative; "You / PMS / Like a bitch / I wo ... More >>

Radio Hits One: fun.'s "We Are Young" Brings Indie Pop To The Super Bowl And The Hot 100

Last week Billboard published the Hot 100 chart covering the post-Super Bowl week, and unsurprisingly the most notable leap on the chart was made by a song featured on the telecast. The surprise was that it wasn't "Give Me All Your Luvin'," Madonna's new single, performed during her halftime show pe ... More >>

Pazz & Jop 2011 Comments: Raves and Rants

Making cases for the great and the grating

The 10 Best Live Shows of 2011

The best stuff we saw on stage this year, from thrash to Kpop

The Bamboozle: Moving Back To Asbury Park (!), Headlined By Bon Jovi (?)

The 2012 edition of The Bamboozle—the weekend-long festival of complete and utter overstimulation in the name of music and carnival rides—will take place May 18 through 20, and instead of being held in the parking lot of the Meadowlands' football stadium, as it has been for the past cou ... More >>

We Interrupt Our CMJ Recommendations To Tell You That Patrick Stump's Soul Punk Is Out And Very Good

​Today marks the release of Patrick Stump's debut solo album Soul Punk, and I'm going to put my cards on the table: It's my favorite album of 2011, and has been since I first heard it. (You can stream it here.) Hooky and witty and jam-packed with instantly hummable tunes, it is a fantastic pop ... More >>

Radio Hits One: VH1 Takes On The '00s Pop Canon

VH1 spent last week counting down what the channel, and its panel of celebrities and "experts," consider The 100 Greatest Songs of The '00s. They certainly haven't been the first to assemble such a list—Rolling Stone and Pitchfork and every blog under the sun had their say about two years ago, ... More >>

Watch Patrick Stump Cover Jeff Buckley's "Everybody Here Wants You"

On October 18 Patrick Stump will release his solo debut Soul Punk (Island), a fantastic, hooky pop-soul record, full of choruses that soar into the stratosphere and crystalline lyrics. The Fall Out Boy lead singer plays every instrument on the record, and the album lays bare his appreciation for bot ... More >>

Patrick Stump's "Explode," Your Tuesday Morning Jump-Outta-Bed Song

​Yesterday hiatusing Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump released "Explode," a twitchy, danceable track about a man so pressured by his midlife crisis, he's willing to blow up everything he knows. Its world-crashing-down mania is led by Stump's spirited vocal, which leaps octaves in a single b ... More >>

Live: Bamboozle Stimulates Every Sense (And Then Some)

So much to see, everywhere. ​The Bamboozle Meadowlands April 29-May 1, 2011 Better than: Watching scene reports scroll by on Twitter. In a lot of ways, the Bamboozle is a festival tailor-made for the current moment of constant distraction. The festival's running time over three days totals ... More >>

Live: Travie McCoy and Pete Wentz's Black Cards Get Emotional at the Gramercy Theatre

Maura Johnston​The Sgt. Schlepper's Who Needs Hearts Club Band Tour feat. Travie McCoy, Donnis, Black Cards, XV, and Bad Rabbits Gramercy Theatre Tuesday, March 24 Better than: Being broken up with by email. There was apparently some sort of apocalyptic weather going on outside the Gramercy ... More >>

Welcome Back, Courtney Love

The return of 'Hole' whether you like it or not, you little suck shits

Just Admit It, You're Really Excited to Hear Hole's Nobody's Daughter. Good Thing There's a Listening Party Tomorrow at Angels and Kings

Courtney Love isn't entirely feeling this whole performing live thing anymore. The recent incarnation of Hole played three shows at SXSW--the first of which, the Spin 25th anniversary performance was pretty bad-ass, haters be damned--but her Holeness was miserable. "In Austin, I hated every minute ... More >>

Thanksgiving Playlist 2009: 100-Plus Songs Better Than Your Grandma's Lumpy Squash

Two years ago, William Bowers compiled this playlist. Any further additions? This holiday's abstract mandate can be sorta barren for us patriotically-challenged atheist vegetarians who maintain cosmic equidistance from our bloodkin. The term for it is even weird: "Thanksgiving" is a syntactical c ... More >>

"You're All So Hammered You Don't Give A Fuck What I Say": Live From The Woodies

Girls not having much fun. Pic by Connar Walik, more below.​Once a year, mtvU hosts the Woodies, an event that's a lot like the Teen Choice Awards, except that it caters to college kids and music-industry people who can say stuff like, "I started listening to that band, like, two years ago." T ... More >>

Paramore Finally Bust Up the Lonely Tears Boys Club

Emo's Femme Fatale, Hayley Williams

Week in Review: Music About Being Young from the Perspective of People Who Are Middle-Aged

In the week we talked Charlie Gibson into saying our name, twice, we apparently made fun of the Hold Steady for being middle-aged, although that wasn't really exactly what we meant to say. Right wingers still really hate Janeane Garofalo, huh? Other interviews: Smog's Bill Callahan on his new Somet ... More >>

Young Love

Real World Brooklyn: Chetubular the Morminator Interviews Pete Wentz, Devyn's Boobs Admire Scott's Abs

Every week, Sharon Steel watches the Real World Brooklyn so nobody else has to. Last week, Chet acted like a boob instead of touching one. This week, everybody's favorite MTV Morminator interviews Pete Wentz. Pete Wentz and Orville Redenbacher A disturbing, self-motivational movement has swept ... More >>

Your Last Minute New Year's Eve

Sound of the City will resume full-force come Monday. In the meantime, find your last minute arrangements below...

Live: Fall Out Boy Week Continues at Nokia Theater

Rap's 2008, Beyond Lil Wayne

Praising outstanding new hip-hop records sadly subsumed by Weezymania

Grading the iTunes Hits, Again

The Roots' Rising Down: Bangers, With a Price

CMJ Day Two: Escaping the Basement

Overheard From Others and Myself

Another dead animal, another celebrity clothing line. Oh, and I love Paris when she's sprung—then and only then.

Live: Snow Patrol Really Care About Romantically Frustrated Medical Students

New Genre Alert

Things I Learned Watching Black Snake Moan

Live: Emo Titans My Chemical Romance

Every Molly Has an Emo Album

On the brash, brilliant, and thoroughly vexing Say Anything

Better Off Dead

The Killers' ghastly, ghostly Town is haunted by Steve Perry and wanton frat dudeness

Hip-Hop's New No Wave

Downtown's odd relationship with rap bravado continues this fall—now with Muppet costumes

Fergie Is a Man

And other shocking revelations from this year's Video Music Awards

Good Clean Fun

Teen punks the Jonas Bros. stay home from the prom

Live: The Greatest Wedding Band Ever

The Grammy Awards: A Preview

Plugged In

Plug Awards push play; Bright Eyes wins Artist of the Year

Hungover

Where everyone from Parker Posey to Miss Guy played during the holidays

Mariah Carey Beats 50 Cent on Billboard Year-End List?

Status Ain't Hood's Top Five Live Shows of 2005

Turkey Shoot 2005

Fifteen courses you'll be better off skipping at this year's musical overfeed

The Quarterly Report: Status Ain't Hood's Favorite Singles Since July

Yet Another VMA Running Diary