Fall Out Boy was too “poser” to be underground and too unpolished to be mainstream when they emerged from the Chicago hardcore scene in 2001. Nobody could quite pin them down. They were animals on drums and guitar, but Pete Wentz’s lyrics were unusually deliberate, and Patrick Stump’s soaring vocal ability intimidated even himself. Their time underground started running out with the success of their first LP, Take This to Your Grave. With the release of their second, From Under the Cork Tree, they had destroyed the hourglass entirely.
The very first words sung on 2005’s From Under the Cork Tree are, “brothers and sisters, put this record down/take my advice, ‘cause we are bad news”. Nobody took the advice, because the album debuted at #9 on the Billboard US Top 200, and it changed the scope of alternative music forever.
Their sophomore album catapulted the band from DIY shows to the top of the Warped Tour bill in months. It gave Fall Out Boy their credit as an artistic force rather than another pop-punk band following the genre’s conventions. Wentz let his clever, poetic lyricism fly (Take This to Your Grave saw Stump writing most of the lyrics), and Stump let loose vocally. It also introduced what would become their career-spanning fascination with stylistic experimentation.
Thematically, it’s about heartache, desire, and the playful psychoanalysis of Pete Wentz and everyone he’s ever met. The album is youthful, but not naive; Wentz is unabashedly self-aware. He can be brazen, writing, “I’m just dying to tell you anything you want to hear / ’cause that’s just who I am this week” on breakout single “Sugar We’re Goin Down.” Other times, he alludes to his darker struggles, confessing to be “half dead / from comparing myself / to everyone else around me” on "I've Got a Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Song).”
Twenty years and six albums later, the record still stands as one of the most influential records in the pop-punk genre. Fall Out Boy’s discography has gone off on wild sonic tangents since then, but From Under the Cork Tree remains a strong album and a reminder of the early promise they showed — and fulfilled — as rock artists. Recently, Rolling Stone Magazine named it the 135th most influential album of the 21st century, and named “Sugar We’re Goin Down” the 79th best song of the 21st century.
To honor its 20th anniversary, Fall Out Boy released a deluxe anniversary edition on October 17th, 2025. The re-release features 19 additional tracks, which include (among a few other categories) live recordings, acoustic versions, remixes, and the official release of their cover of “Start Today” by hardcore punk band Gorilla Biscuits.
The addition of “Start Today” is both an Easter egg for their oldest fans (the cover appeared in Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland circa 2005) and an homage to the DIY hardcore scene that created them.
The deluxe disc begins with four Live on BBC Radio 2005 recordings: “Sugar We’re Goin Down,” “Dance, Dance,” “Of All the Gin Joints in the World,” and “Where’s Your Boy.” Stump’s live vocals are unchained and soaring. He effortlessly riffs up and down vocal lines like a long-time professional, but his timbre is noticeably young, and each lyric is sung like a plea.
There are three slightly altered versions of songs featured with the bonus tracks, including “Sugar We’re Goin Down (TLA Radio Edit),” and alternate versions of “I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me” and “Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year.” The differences are subtle, but if you listen carefully, you can hear the differences in vocal mixing on the alternate versions and a new, distorted lead-in to the verses on “Sugar.” Some fans might be disappointed at the lack of drastic changes, but it’s still interesting to hear the small tweaks that were left behind in the studio.
If you’ve ever wanted to hear a Fall Out Boy song remixed, you’re in incredible luck — there are four remixes on this release (although three of them are variations on “Dance, Dance”). The Tommie Sunshine “Fire n Brimstone” remix is dance-techno, like you’d hear in a club where your drinks come in a clear plastic cup with a straw. Tommie Sunshine himself is a Chicago-based DJ known for remixing alternative artists, many in the same scene as Fall Out Boy. The RJDZ remix sounds way funkier, with a prominent bassline a little like “Smooth Criminal,” and it changes the tone from biting to playful. The final “Dance, Dance” remix from Lindbergh Palace is fun, futuristic, and danceable. It’s slightly jarring to hear Stump’s iconic emo vocals in front of the infectious track, but it’s the kind of remix where, if you just embrace the ridiculousness, you can close your eyes and dance.
The only other song that got a remix was “Sugar We’re Goin Down,” and it was made by none other than Patrick Stump himself. Stump produces music nearly as often as he plays in Fall Out Boy, but it’s typically for other projects. Here, he got to highlight the sound that he honed on his solo album, Soul Punk, that strays away from pop-punk and leans into R&B. The mixing is a little tinny, but the sound is confident and ambitious, and it works.
The acoustic versions of “Sugar We’re Goin Down” and “Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner” are reminiscent of an early Fall Out Boy concert, where the room was small enough that all of Stump’s unique vocal affectations could shine through. His diction is a little clearer, his tone sounds brassier, and he demonstrates incredible vocal control and range. The notes played on guitar are faithful to the original, but the acoustic sound is bright and ironically cheerful, almost akin to Midwest emo.
“The Music or the Misery,” “Snitchers and Talkers Get Stitches and Walkers,” and even “My Heart is the Worst Kind of Weapon (demo)” are tracks that might be more familiar to Fall Out Boy listeners since they were released on the first reissue of the album. On “Snitchers and Talkers,” the band lets out steam; everything about it is heavier and more hardcore than the feel of Cork Tree, from the aggressive drumming and intense guitar to the very first lyric: “show me, show me, show me a starry-eyed kid / I, I, I will break his jaw.” If that song alludes back in time to their DIY days, “The Music or the Misery” points to their next album, Infinity on High. Though the instrumentals are driving and punkish like Cork Tree and Take This to Your Grave, it’s an apathetic, pessimistic song about Wentz’s response to celebrity status.
“The Music or the Misery” is like a premonition. After the success of Cork Tree, Fall Out Boy was a pop culture sensation. Pete Wentz took the role of frontman and due to his charisma, poetics, and penchant for flirtation, he became a tabloid punching bag and felt deeply scrutinized by the public.
Without intending to, From Under the Cork Tree cut out a new space for artistry in pop-punk. Nobody could tell them that they couldn’t execute radio appeal, hardcore riffs, and heightened lyricism in one song because they’d do it anyway, and the world took notice. Their success also gave Pete Wentz leverage to start his own record label, Decaydance, signing unconventional bands like Panic! At the Disco and Gym Class Heroes, who also became iconic for standing out.
Personally, I believe the scene matured in response to this album. Pop-punk can get trite, but Fall Out Boy challenged the genre and we now have 20 years of inspired music to thank for it. Happy 20th anniversary, From Under the Cork Tree. You were much more than we bargained for.