We’re pretty lucky to live in a time with such diversity in music. In Dublin alone, you can jump from a hip hop night to a funk night, and sure if that dulls you, there’s Coppers or those illicit early morning raves. The music scene is even more dynamic in bigger cities like Berlin, New York, and even Seoul where K-Pop is making leaps and bounds into even our own little island. Yet, we all can’t help but return to our favourite oldies. For me, I will always open up my “Flashback” playlist that is jam packed with Blink-182, Sum 41, and the pop punk kings, Fall Out Boy. These bands were generally classified as “emo bands” or “scene bands” by those who didn’t listen to the genre, but even those who did would call them so. In recent times, there appears to be a surge of these bands not only working on new albums, but also planning worldwide tours. Thanks to social media, we are being constantly updated on their efforts.
The first band to make a comeback was Blink-182. Whilst it was short lived, it inspired others to consider resurfacing on the music scene. The band originally fell out due to the difference of direction Hoppus and De Longe wanted to take. Where Tom De Longe wanted to include the popular style of singing at the time, which I have dubbed “whiny singing” that was popular amongst many bands like All Time Low, Forever The Sickest Kids and Dashboard Confessional, Hoppus wanted to keep the fun and bubbly tone that made them famous. It took an unfortunate accident involving Travis Barker, an accident that almost claimed his life, to bring them together. On January 26th 2015, the band broke up again due the same difference of direction.
Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom in the comeback world for the emo kids! Fall Out Boy, the James Deans of pop punk, have returned with not only having released one comeback album back in 2013, Save Rock and Roll, but have recently released their second. The band chose to go on hiatus in 2010, with frontman Patrick Stump taking on a semi-successful solo career whilst the rest of the band tried other music ventures and failed. During this break, all band members struggled through a dark period. It was only when Stump reached out to Wentz in early 2012 for a writing session that the two decided that the band needed to reform. Whilst they say the break was beneficial for them to discover themselves again, they were excited to get back together and create music. With Save Rock and Roll, we got to hear the old sounds we had loved so fondly. It was reminiscent of their most famous songs, like “Sugar We’re Goin Down”, “Dance, Dance”, and “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s A God Damn Arms Race” with a more fun and poppy sound. With their most recent album, there is a lot more on show. On January 20th, 2015, American Beauty/American Psycho was released and fans went manic over social media for it. Whilst the sound is definitely a trademark of Fall Out Boys jumpy rhythm, upon listening, we can hear how they have grown. Uma Thurman, the most recent single to be released, is a total get up and dance song. The entire album has a definite pop feel to it, as does Save Rock and Roll. The band is keen to shed their “emo” status and be taken more seriously in their careers.
It is great to see bands we have grown up with take on these new paths in life. Hopefully this will inspire more musicians from our younger years to take on the challenge and experiment with their style. Who knows, maybe Elvis will return?
By Emma Costello.
