Last week, Fall Out Boy and fans of the band celebrated the 15th anniversary of the band’s fourth studio record, “Folie à Deux” which translates to “A Madness Shared by Two.” The album was first released Dec. 10, 2008 in Japan with more release dates throughout the week in Australia (Dec. 13), the U.K. (Dec. 14) and the U.S. (Dec. 16).
To commemorate all of its releases, fans have referred to the six days as “Folie Week.” To close out “Folie Week,” we will take a deep dive into the writing, recording and tracklist of what is considered the “fan-favorite” Fall Out Boy record.
After the massive success of its third studio record, “Infinity On High” (2007), the band started working quickly on its follow-up album. In a 2008 interview with Billboard, lead singer Patrick Stump teased, “I don’t want to be overly vague, but whenever we do another record, it’ll be different from the last one, and it’s going to be different from the last three. I think the new stuff will have a lot of freedom on it, and it’s going to be our first just plain old record in a while.”
However, the band released its cover of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” earlier in the year, which initially stalled Fall Out Boy’s work on new music. The promotion was held out longer than it needed to be, but the band continued to work diligently on new material. With the help of Neal Avron, who produced “Infinity on High” and its sophomore hit record, “From Under The Cork Tree,” the band was bent on re-inventing itself while staying true to its roots and inspiration.
Even so, the recording process for “Folie à Deux” was not easy. The ties within the band were growing thin as each member grew tired from non-stop touring, constantly working and dealing with the confines of stardom. The band was held captive on a stage with fans and the media staring at them, waiting for its next move. With the pressure from the outside, the members slowly started to cave in.
Nevertheless, the band’s members didn’t let the pressure completely fall on themselves as they worked to make a record that felt collaborative — not only between the four members, but with other musical artists, too — and creative, both thematically and musically.
There was a drive to make an album simply for the fun of it, returning to the band’s roots where it would make a record, such as. its first record, “Take This to Your Grave” under an extreme time crunch, yet using newer techniques made possible by a bigger budget like a stringed orchestra or a brass accompaniment.
Guitarist Joe Trohman’s excerpt, “Folie Ah Dude,” from the lyric booklet of the 2009 greatest hits record, “Believers Never Die - Greatest Hits,” sums up his overall feelings about the record.
“For me, and maybe for the rest of us, this was a return to what Fall Out Boy meant to me in the first place,“ he saidIt meant, way back when, four piece of s--- guys getting together to create music that was exciting to them. And in that, this was the epitome of playing music. I feel like if that was ever lost, between the incarnation of this band, and what we became, this was us finding “that” again. It made me remember that I actually want to do this for a long, long time, and that it was possible to return to the beginning. It may not sound that way, but it sure felt that way.”
As stated before, the “Folie” was more collaborative than its past two albums with Stump as the primary composer, bassist Pete Wentz writing the lyrics and Trohman with drummer Andy Hurley filling the gaps between Wentz and Stump’s primary partnership.
Stump’s compositions for the songs were each tailored for Wentz’s lyrics, which explore themes such as failing relationships, superficial expectations in society and dealing with moral dilemmas. The instrumentals were meant to reflect the anger, melancholy, dreariness or narcissism the narrator expressed in the lyrics.
Musically, the record leans toward arena rock with massive drums, electric guitar and Elton John-type piano. The album also incorporates several aspects of R&B from its funk-like chord progressions to Stump’s unwavering soul voice. A string orchestra and horns are present throughout the record, which amplify its massive sonics. There are also hints of synths and buzzy basslines that sound almost new-wave, which add to its monstrous cacophony.
The album’s four singles — “I Don’t Care,” “America’s Suitehearts,” “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet” and “What A Catch, Donnie” — show off the record’s musical range. From the head-banging nature of “I Don’t Care” to the soft, emotional ballad that is “What A Catch, Donnie,” the casual listener can understand what the record is about.
However, it’s not until they reach non-singles like the album’s opener, “Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes,” and “(Coffee’s For Closers)” that the true magic happens. Each song has a heart of its own, even if the band says that most of the songs are rough sketches of what they should be.
The album is also littered with guest artists who add to the record’s overall message. In a 2008 interview with TIME, Wentz talked about the cameos.
“They serve the purpose of a character in a musical, where this character's voice makes the most sense … certain lines need to be conveyed in certain ways,” he said.
In the R&B realm of this record, producer Pharrell Williams laid down beats for “w.a.m.s.” and rapper Lil Wayne sang the bridge in “Tiffany Blews.” Debbie Harry of Blondie fame also cameos in the final song of the record, “West Coast Smoker,” in which she sings during the chorus in her signature lower register.
“What A Catch, Donnie” features a reprise at the end of the song that references its past hits like “Thnks fr th Mmrs” and “Dance, Dance” in which other musicians show off their skills. Travie McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, Brendon Urie from Panic! At The Disco (also on “20 Dollar Nose Bleed”), Gabe Saporta from Cobra Starship, Alexander DeLeon from The Cab (also on “Tiffany Blews”) and William Beckett from The Academy Is … all come in at various times to sing their respective parts.
Also on this song is Elvis Costello, who has his own part during the track’s bridge. Costello’s cameo is especially significant as his influence is all over the record, namely present in Stump’s vocals and melodies.
Unfortunately, “Folie à Deux” did not perform as well as the band’s past records, even with the loaded musical cameos. It debuted at No. 8 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and sold just under 150,000 copies in the first week.
When touring, the band would receive boos from fans whenever it played songs from the album. In a 2012 blog post (that has since been deleted, but uploaded to Rolling Stone), Stump talked about touring for the record.
“(It) was like being the last act at the Vaudeville show: we were rotten vegetable targets in Clandestine (Pete Wentz’s clothing brand) hoodies,“ Stump said. “That experience really took the wind out of the band’s sails; it stopped being fun.”
The band would later release “Believers Never Die - Greatest Hits,” its first greatest hits record in 2009 before going on a four-year hiatus. Although the band claims that the hiatus was not a result of the “failure” of “Folie,” it is a possible factor considering the overwhelmingly negative response the band received. Nevertheless, the band returned feeling refreshed and renewed four years later in 2013 with the release of “Save Rock And Roll,” which was a commercial and fan success.
Since the band released “Folie à Deux” 15 years ago, the feelings toward the record have changed among the band and its fans.
In a 2023 interview with Rock Sound, Stump commented on his past feelings about the record. He said, “I love “Folie à Deux,” I do, I love that record. But I had a really personally negative experience of touring on it. So that’s what I think of when I think of that record initially.”
He continued to reflect on his newfound appreciation for the album by saying, “It had to be brought back to me for me to appreciate it, for me to go ‘Oh, this record is really great. I should be happy with this. I should want to play this,’ … (But) you can find new experiences if you play those songs. You can make new memories with them.”
New memories were made when the band switched up its setlist to include more songs from the record like “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet” and “Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes” on its 2023 tour, “So Much for (Tour)dust.” Also on the tour, fans heard the return of “What A Catch, Donnie” and a live debut of “w.a.m.s.” performed by Stump on the piano. Most notably, they performed “Pavlove - Demo,” a bonus track from the album that, for the longest time, was not available on streaming.
Finally, after years of fans screaming for the hidden track to be released, the band answered prayers by delivering “The Holy Grail” on streaming platforms to celebrate the record’s anniversary. The band also released a vinyl reissue of the record with an alternate blue album cover, titled smartly “Folie à Bleu.” Other Folie-themed merchandise was released, such as shirts, bumper stickers and, funnily enough, a teacup.
“Folie à Deux” has certainly had its ups and downs, from the rushed recording process to its initial negative responses. However, fans have grown to love and appreciate the record, which made room for the band to revisit the positives of the album as well.
It’s a musically expansive record laced with several different genres and inspirations. The collaborations between each member of the band and the other musical artists are tight-knit and help bring out the album’s instrumental and lyrical themes. It holds up to this day, and it continues to be one of Fall Out Boy’s most beloved albums.
