Emo music is peppered with pop culture nuggets, part of the fun of being a consumer of Emo is picking up on all the references that bands slip into their music. Today we have attempted to dissect Fall Out Boy’s back catalogue and put together a comprehensive list of all the film, music, television and cultural references they have made over their career.

1. Pretty In Punk / Pretty In Pink (1986)



2. Parker Lewis Can’t Lose (But I’m Gonna Give It My Best Shot) / Parker Lewis Can’t Lose

Another song off Evening Out With Your Girlfriend. Parker Lewis Can’t Lose was an American sitcom that aired in the early nineties.

3. It’s Not A Side Effect Of The Cocaine, I Am Thinking It Must Be Love / Station To Station – David Bowie (1976)

The song title is taken from a lyric from David Bowie’s song “Station To Station”. “It’s not the side-effects of the cocaine, I’m thinking that it must be love”

4. Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today / Rushmore (1998)

Oh Rushmore! This Wes Anderson classic may just be the most referenced movie in emo history. Bands like Brand New, Motion City Soundtrack, My Chemical Romance and Kisschasy have all paid homage to this iconic angsty flick.



5. From Under The Cork Tree / The Story Of Ferdinand (1936)

A reference to Pete Wentz’ favourite childhood book, The Story of Ferdinand is an illustrated novel by Munro Leaf that tells the story of a bull that would rather smell flowers than engage in bullfights.



6. Of All The Gin Joints In All The World / Casablanca (1942)



7. Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner / Dirty Dancing (1987)

8. A Little Less “Sixteen Candles” A Little More “Touch Me” / Sixteen Candles (1984)

This song was originally titled “A Little Less Molly Ringwald, A Little More Samantha Fox”

9. Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends / 25th Hour (2002)

This quote is often attributed to Irish Painter Francis Bacon but it is speculated that this song is a reference to Edward Norton’s line in Spike Lee’s 25th Hour.

10. Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying / The Shawshank Redemption (1994)



11. The Music Or The Misery / High Fidelity (1995)



What came first? The music or the misery? Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

12. Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued

This song was originally called “My Name Is David Ruffin and These Are The Temptations” but as the title suggests, Fall Out Boy’s lawyer made them change it to avoid a lawsuit.

13. Thnks Fr Th Mmrs & G.I.N.A.S.F.S / Closer (2004)



“He tastes like you, only sweeter” and “I love everything about you that hurts” are both lines from the film. Closer is another film that has been heavily referenced within the mid-2000s emo community. Panic! At The Disco split “Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off, but it’s better if you do” a qu0te from Natalie Portmans character into two songs on A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out.

14. Infinity On High



Taken from a letter written by Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo in 1888. “Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all,”

15. Coffees For Closers / Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

16. Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet / The Pete Rose betting scandal

It has been speculated that this is a reference to baseball player Pete Rose, who was infamous for headfirst slides. Rose was accused of participating in a betting scandal that consequently led to him being excluded from the hall of fame (which is located in Cooperstown).

17. From Now On We Are Enemies / Amadeus (1984)

“From now on, we are enemies… You and I. Because You choose for Your instrument a boastful, lustful, smutty, infantile boy and give me for reward only the ability to recognize the incarnation. Because You are unjust, unfair, unkind, I will block You, I swear it. I will hinder and harm Your creature on earth as far as I am able. I will ruin Your incarnation.”

18. Uma Thurman / Pulp Fiction & Kill Bill

“She wants to dance like Uma Thurman” references Mia Wallace, Thurman’s character in Pulp Fiction and the iconic diner scene in which Thurman and John Travolta dance together.

“Put Your Venom In Me” is a reference to Kill Bill, another Uma Thurman film. Each member of the Deadly Viper Assasination squad is named after a venemous states.

19. Save Rock and Roll / Adaptation (2002)

Fall Out Boy appropriated the line “You are what you love, not what loves you”

20. American Beauty / American Psycho

I mean… the answer is in the question.



21. Fall Out Boy / The Simpsons

Fallout Boy was a comic book character featured in The Simpsons. According to Patrick Stump at one of Fall Out Boy’s first gigs, Pete introduced the band under a name Stump recalled as “very long.” To which an audience member yelled out, “Fuck that, no, you’re Fall Out Boy!”. And the rest is history.