MCR vs FOB: A Never-Ending Battle of the Bands

I have never really seen so much back and forth between fans than with My Chem and Fall Out Boy fans. I do enjoy reading some of the discourse mostly because, well, I’m a sucker for new points of view. I even retweeted something recently that got me thinking about this whole band vs band thing in the first place.

Why can’t MCR and FOB fans coexist peacefully?

As someone who enjoys both bands with every bit of my person, I find it a little weird but also not, if that makes sense. My Chem had a bit of a different audience than FOB did but a lot of the time, the audiences overlapped. MCR was definitely a lot more ‘emo’ than FOB was at times, though I will say that Pete supplied enough emo energy for the whole band while with MCR it was just everyone who had that aura. That’s unrelated.

What I’m getting at can be summed up in the tweet that I mentioned earlier:

I love FOB a lot and I’m gonna be seeing them on tour next year but I completely see the fame romanticization. A lot of their songs even have to do with fame and while some aspects can be relatable (shall I point to their song Golden), it’s a little superficial. I’m usually not an advocate for ‘separating the artist from the art’ but in this case, I’ll say it.

Mostly because FOB played such a big part in my life as a young teenager. The number of times I’ve listened to From Under the Cork Tree? Innumerable. I thought that their aesthetic was amazing and something that I would love to live in. I’m not a huge fan of some of their recent stuff and I do have some issues with their short film the Young Blood Chronicles but that’s a whole other post in itself.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I love a few of their albums and their early music videos were pretty dope. I don’t really have a special place in my heart for the members of FOB as I do with MCR but that’s because of some… moral issues with some of them. There was some underage dating, some blatant sexism, sexual assault, and unnecessary objectification in music videos. Before FOB fans come at me, I also have some issues with what MCR did. Mostly for the Blood music video. Not a fan of the sexy cheerleaders. I could write a whole book about unnecessary objectification but that’s for another time.

The discourse that I’m seeing, specifically on twitter, is really upsetting. People coming after one another because they seek attention and gossip or whatever. FOB is obsessed with fame. That’s on their conscience, not mine. If I think their music is good, then that’s my personal opinion, not anyone else’s. Do I think that dating minors is disgusting? Absolutely. Do I go hard for Sugar We’re Going Down? Absolutely. Do I continue to stan a band that is long gone? 100%. Do I come after people because they like a certain band/artist/genre? Not really.

The thing with ‘disowning’ certain bands that you like because of new information that’s morally wrong is a thing I have always struggled with. I was a really big fan of Falling In Reverse in middle school and I was ignorant to the things that were going on with a certain member. Do I listen to them much anymore? No. I grew out of them. I don’t really go out of my way to listen to FOB, either but that’s just because of my never-ending circle of Elora’s Monthly Interests. Six months from now, I could be listening to them nonstop.

No band is perfect, music-wise and member wise. I’m not downplaying any of these issues by any means. The closing that I’m coming to is this: everyone is fucked up. Every band makes mistakes. Some greater than others. Who are we to come after one another for listening to that band’s music? As long as this person isn’t advocating things that are harmful or dangerous, then leave them be. People start drama just to start drama. By playing into it, you’re fueling someone’s flames. A lot of people get off on this sort of thing and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that God hates the horny.

Okay, just kidding on that last one but for real guys. Just listen to your music and leave others alone. Cringe culture is dead and I’m tired of seeing people continue to bash on others because they listen to something that you think sucks. The world is ending soon, let’s just party till it does.

- Elora the Psychic