badhabitscollection

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So Much (For) Blitz —An exclusive reveal of the star of Fall Out Boy’s latest album cover

Fall Out Boy’s latest effort So Much (For) Stardust) has been critically acclaimed and lauded by fans as some of their best work to date. The album artwork, prominently featuring a doberman, has left some puzzled and looking for additional context as to the dog’s identity and how the artwork came to be. The Bad Habits Collection is proud to bring you the exclusive reveal of the dog featured on the cover of their eighth studio album alongside the full story of how they were discovered.

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When Fall Out Boy officially announced their eighth studio album on January 18th, 2023 and unveiled the album artwork for So Much (For) Stardust, there were a lot of opinions to be had. Some of the fans immediately felt connected and claimed it as their own, some compared it to Fiona Apple’s 2020 release Fetch the Bolt Cutters, and some downright found it revolting. Overall, most agreed that it was polarizing to say the least. Donned in an all black background, the front cover features both the name of the band and the album itself in the work of Omar Mroz (hereinafter referred to by his online moniker Mr.Oz). The text is covered in glitter and written out in the same style featured earlier in the rollout of FOB8’s album cycle with A Claymation Fall Out Boy Celebration, dropped as a surprise present from the band on Christmas one month earlier. The headlining attraction of this sideshow was in fact just a simple square box, containing a swirling artistic depiction of a doberman barking in the presence of a froth of bubbles.

From the moment I first laid eyes on the iconography of Fall Out Boy’s new era, I had just two questions in mind: Who is the dog? & Why choose the dog? A few obvious possibilities were immediately ruled out. Solely based on what’s been posted to social media, this dog did not belong to Pete, Joe, or Andy. Patrick has remained dormant online for years at this point, but still the odds felt slim. I did my best to brush it off, but ultimately I kept coming back to the thought of WHY? If you’re familiar with my previous work on the history of Take This To Your Grave’s album cover, you already know this type of sentiment means a lot to me. After a while of waiting for the band to bring up the topic in an interview or statement, I had essentially given up hope on any type of official explanation. It was at this moment, just 3 days before the release of the record, that I accepted the reality of the situation. This wasn’t a hot topic within the fandom. And no one was going to provide me with the answers I was looking for. If I wanted to know more, it was solely up to me. So… I got to work. — 

To take a step back, the artwork for So Much (For) Stardust first hit the internet on January 11th, seven days before the official reveal. Posted alongside the name of the first single Love From The Other Side, our barking pup friend was featured on the home feed of FILTER | NEWs on VK, a Russian social media site that I’ve been told is comparable to Facebook. The artwork was watermarked with a subtle, transparent white logo for FILTER in the background. Despite this post being up for five days (a millennia on the worldwide web), it wasn’t until the 16th that the fandom at large made this discovery, with many claiming it was an outright fake.

However, the *stars* started to align proving this leak to have a dose or two of authenticity. Mr.Oz’s claymation video from earlier in the rollout followed the story of a similar looking doberman, who just so happened to pose in the final frame in a style strongly resembling the leaked cover. 

Beyond that, a post from lyricist and bassist Pete Wentz’s Instagram dating back just two days earlier was quickly dug up. On the 4th slide of the carousel, there it was: a selfie of Pete with a Santa hat on and propped up on the shelf behind him... the physical painting of the doberman seen on the leaked cover.

All but confirmed at this point, one last clue presented itself online. The freshly created Twitter account “@muchstardust” popped up out of nowhere, making itself known by following myself and a few other notable hardcore fans in this space. @muchstardust made just one single tweet before being suspended (for reasons unknown). 

The post featured three images, the watermarked cover, Pete’s selfie, and notably, a compressed form of the actual photo taken of man’s best friend —the same one the leaked cover features an oil painting rendition of. 

—  As we all know now, this leak was indeed real and confirmed as the album artwork just a few days later by Fall Out Boy themselves. But that’s when the trail went cold. Later promotional photos featuring the band and taken by their long time collaborator Pamela Littky included another doberman, but clearly not the same one once examined a bit closer. On March 21st, the Chicago rock group posted “What do you think the dog’s name is? 🫧”, but never followed up with the answer. It’s as if they were taunting me specifically with how vocal I had been about wanting to solve this mystery. Just before the album’s official release, I was tipped off by someone with an early copy of the CD that the liner notes of So Much (For) Stardust credit Safia Latif for the cover painting and Jen Patterson for the photograph the cover painting was based on. With new pieces of the puzzle in play, my search for the dog in question was reignited. However, my leads proved of little to no help. I could not get in touch with Safia and could not properly identify Jen Patterson online for the life of me. Taking the hunt back to the drawing board, I reverse image searched the photo @muchstardust had originally provided, which even at this point, months later, was our only source of the actual photograph. Littered with results of the album artwork naturally, I did come across one potential connection. Once again, I found myself on the public timeline of someone’s VK.com profile. “dextromethorpan 3��� had included the same photograph in a gallery of different doberman puppies posted on December 21st, 2020. This was…something. Sure, this photo likely did not originate from the VK profile I had unearthed, but at least now I knew it had been around the web for a few years. Scratching my head, I wondered how Fall Out Boy had originally come across this image. Was it something that came up on one of their feeds? Or perhaps just a keyword search? Taking it to different forms of social media, I found a potential match on the /r/doberman subreddit posted 10 months ago. Titled “Cool pic of us playing with bubbles”, the dobie in question featured strikingly similar features and color patterns, and was of course, playing with bubbles. 

So I did what any other sane fan would do… and sent a private message to the Redditor the night before the album dropped with Jen’s photograph. “/u/drc55555” responded Saturday morning agreeing that the dog did look a lot like their own, but that they didn’t recognize the photograph. I woke up in a cold sweat seeing the glimpse of the Reddit notification on my iPhone and replied informing them of the cover of Fall Out Boy’s brand new release and asking if the user was the Jen Patterson credited in the album’s booklet. A day later, they replied once again noting that they weren’t Jen, but that this has sparked a memory of another DM they had received in the fall of last year from an Elektra Records personnel, Fueled By Ramen’s distributor who Fall Out Boy had publicly rejoined the roster of just this January. Indeed, 200 days ago from this very conversation, a marketing representative from the label had reached out to the Redditor through the same platform letting them know that an artist they work with had come across the very same photo I myself found and that the artist had fallen in love with it, hoping to use it as part of the artwork for an upcoming project. /u/drc55555 had conceded that they regretted not responding at the thought of how their dog could have become famous. This is when I knew, I was HOT on the trail. Either a member of FOB discovered this photo of their dog while scrolling Reddit or had specifically sought out the same search terms as me, which meant the actual photograph used on the cover could have potentially been found through the very same method. My search accelerated and within a few hours I had run a variety of similar terms by Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, really any social media site I could get my hands on. Nothing had come up, but I hadn’t called it a day quite yet as one of the more obvious sites remained: Instagram. Heading to the explore page I have barely used in my own time on the platform, I typed in the same keywords that brought me to the pup’s uncanny match on Reddit: “doberman bubbles”. And there it was, exactly 60 rows down, right in the center, the original image of the dog I had been looking for all along along with an alternate photo of the same dog in the next slide in the same setting captioned “BUBBLES!!!!!”, posted —you guessed it, in 2020. 

—  With this case officially closed, I’m beyond stoked to introduce Blitz the Doberman to other fans of Fall Out Boy. At the time of publication, Blitz has 12.8k followers on his public Instagram account, which lead me to question how this match hadn’t already been made. Blitz’s bio reveals he was born on February 27th, 2019 and lives in Las Vegas with his human, one Jen Patterson.

In a beautiful twist of fate, within the hour of finishing the final draft of this piece, Blitz’s humans responded to my inquiry from earlier in the week. I spoke with Jen at length who was happy to share her story exclusively with The Bad Habits Collection. Similarly to the Redditor from earlier, a marketing rep from Elektra Records had reached out to her through Instagram on September 20th, 2022 inquiring about using a picture of her pup for one of their artists’ work, a message she initially regarded as spam. Eventually, she came to an agreement with Elektra, however, this story ended there for her. Up until Jen read the direct message I sent to Blitz’s account, she had not the slightest idea that he was featured on the cover of the new album of one of the biggest modern rock bands left in the world. I was shocked to hear this, but Jen on the other hand was incredibly excited to learn of the breaking news. I shared a photo with her of her name printed in the liner notes of So Much (For) Stardust, a cool moment for us both. Jen told me “I never considered myself a photographer, but that’s amazing!” When I asked about how Blitz already had such a huge following on Instagram, she told me all about how she’s networked with others in a doberman group and has kept a steady stream of posts coming on the daily. In discussion of what she’d like for others to take away from this article, Jen simply hoped others would get to know Blitz’s name —my entire goal of this investigation all along. Half-joking, she expressed that she’d also love to have gotten her hands on some merchandise with his face on it. Infinitely grateful for her responding to my DM and taking the time to talk with me, I’ve personally sent Jen physical copies of So Much (For) Stardust in both vinyl and CD format. I’ll be sure to update this write-up with a photo of FOB’s newest mascot posing with his album cover when they arrive! Closing out our conversation, Jen let me know that she “felt like if you hadn’t reached out, we would not have known.” To be honest, there were times in this journey that I thought it might be for the best if I gave up the search for this pup as to not invade anyone’s privacy. I figured if Blitz hadn’t already made himself known publicly, maybe there was a specific reason behind not doing so. I would have never guessed that reason was because his family were simply unaware of his new-found fame. I feel honored to have been the one to share this discovery with Blitz’s owners and again want to thank them for their contributions to this piece. Jen has also graciously shared the original photograph of Blitz the cover was based on in its full resolution, uncropped:

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After scouring the internet to to uncover this story, it all leads me to just one final question: Why Blitz? What’s the connection? Moreover, what’s the intended meaning here? Jen let me know that she herself was unaware of how and why the photograph was found and selected, but we can naturally draw our own conclusions. Discussing this topic with other longtime fans of the band, all have come to the same conclusion that Fall Out Boy’s latest effort features some of Pete’s bleakest lyrics in a long time paired somehow ever so perfectly with some of Patrick’s most uplifting and dance-worthy melodies to date. As my partner pointed out, the album artwork depicts a breed known for their usage as guard dogs with a tough exterior, but shown playing lightheartedly with what’s usually associated as a child’s toy. In the words of fellow Fall Out Boy historian and Bad Habits Collection collaborator Tommy McPhail, the cover displays “the epitome of boundless joy and simplified bliss amongst chaos”, a phrase that perfectly sums up the entire feeling artistically and masterfully expressed in So Much (For) Stardust in my own eyes. Fall Out Boy’s newest full-length studio record So Much (For) Stardust, produced by the legendary Neal Avron, is one of their strongest statement pieces in years and is now available everywhere music is streamed or sold. You can follow Blitz’s adventures on Instagram: @blitzdoberman —  “The kind of pain you feel to get good in the end. Inscribed like stone and faded by the rain: ‘Give up what you love before it does you in.’” Written by Alex Toor for The Bad Habits Collection

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“…I’ll Take It To Mine”: The Untold History of Designing Take This To Your Grave

Fall Out Boy’s debut record features album artwork that has since been regarded as “the pop-punk Abbey Road,” but how did the fabled cover come together in the first place? From initial mockups to what’s often considered a modern-day classic, the full story has finally been compiled all in one place for the very first time. The Bad Habits Collection presents a deep dive into the never-before-seen history of Take This To Your Grave, taking you behind the scenes of designing one of the most iconic album covers of the 21st century with exclusive commentary by designer Mike Joyce of Stereotype Design.

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In the fall of 2019, I set out to purchase a copy of the extremely limited, first-pressing of Take This To Your Grave on vinyl. This pressing of 1000 copies issued in 2003 included alternate album artwork for the front cover.

For those unfamiliar, this is the original intended cover for the record as photographed by Ryan Bakerink, but it was rejected by the band's label—Fueled By Ramen—as it could not be legally cleared for use. It features lyricist and bassist Pete Wentz’s then-girlfriend Morgan asleep on his bed with 1980s toys and nostalgic references displayed throughout the bedroom. Both versions of the album cover were shot in the band's apartment located in Roscoe Village in Chicago, Illinois. 

When I got my hands on a near mint copy of the record for the first time, I was blown away by the attention to detail in the cover art. Before this article was published, the original album cover—also known as the “Girl in Bed” cover—existed online only in a highly compressed, nearly illegible format. It was a real treat to see in its full glory and after renting a professional scanner to digitize it for my online archive (as shown above), it dawned on me that somebody out there must have the original file.

Fast-forward nearly a year later and I was able to get in touch with Mike Joyce, designer for Take This To Your Grave and founder of Stereotype Design. Mike has generously shared several never-before-seen assets from the making of TTTYG exclusively with The Bad Habits Collection. The following is a complete dissection of these contents, their fascinating history, and the artistic process that guided the way.

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Mike Joyce, designer for Take This To Your Grave, worked on indie album package designs in the mid-to-late-90s, including some work for NYC alternative metal band The Step Kings. After their eventual break-up, The Step Kings’ singer and bassist, Bob McLynn, formed a management company called Crush Management—whom Fall Out Boy has been working with throughout their entire career. As a fan of Mike and his work, Bob would go on to hire him to design the artwork for the upcoming debut album from Fall Out Boy, at the time, a relatively unknown softcore punk band from Chicago.

As part of this new project, Mike got on the phone with founding member of the band Pete Wentz and they discussed ideas for the record. Mike recalls, “Pete kept changing the name of the album and the cover designs changed with them.” Originally, Pete had two titles in mind—one being To My Favorite Liar, as notably mentioned in a 2013 Alternative Press interview with album photographer Ryan Bakerink. Mike shared two treatments with me for this title, the first of which was previously featured in a coffee table book from 2011 titled 15 Years of Fueled By Ramen.

“I was really inspired by Helmet’s Betty album cover,” Mike said, “how the imagery contrasted the band’s music so much. So that’s why I came up with the retro cocktail imagery and I had this idea of a couple seeming all-smiles and cheering to one another, but it’s really only a facade and they’re lying to each other and themselves.”

The second treatment shared with me for To My Favorite Liar focuses on a polygraph, commonly referred to as a “lie-detector test,” and was highly favored by Mike at the time. Up until now, this piece has never been seen by anyone outside of its original designer and Pete Wentz himself. The other title Pete came up with at the time for their first studio album was Perfecting Regret.

Mike’s comprehensive layout for this title (as published previously in 15 Years of Fueled By Ramen) features a kid being roughed up by two other boys. Mike recalls, “[Pete] originally really wanted a bunch of guys fighting on the cover—like a street gang… Pete was a big fan of the cover photo for Simple Plan’s No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls album. He wanted something similar to that style, but have the band in a four-way fist fight in a hotel room. He even talked about maybe renting an old-school gym with a boxing ring in it and having the band fight in the ring.”

Interestingly, this is a similar concept to the cover Fall Out Boy used for their original demo tape back in 2001, which features a still from the 1984 film The Karate Kid, in which the protagonist Daniel is being beat up by Johnny and the Cobra Kai gang. Both seem to perfectly encapsulate the spirit of the underdog, a mindset and lifestyle Fall Out Boy has been heavily rooted in from the get-go.

Despite Mike’s initial treatments, Pete still wasn’t satisfied and continued to suggest new titles and artwork concepts. Growing frustrated with Pete’s inability to decide, Mike took out a pen while sitting at his desk one day and scratched up a test pressing from another band he had laying around. 

He ultimately loved how this beat-up 45 RPM single ended up looking and scanned it in to form the basis of the CD label artwork. The scanner bed itself can be seen underneath the vinyl record in this original scan from Mike Joyce’s archive.

To create the vibrant orange label featured on the disc, Mike scanned “a beat-up coaster I always put my coffee on.” The end result meant the compact disc would emulate a worn-out vinyl record, tying in to the band’s lyrics on “Dead On Arrival” (a theme they would later revisit for “Favorite Record” on their sixth studio album American Beauty / American Psycho twelve years later).

Finally, Pete settled on an idea for the cover featuring his girlfriend at the time laying in his bed in the apartment he shared with the rest of the band.

Seen here for the first time in its full-digital format, the “Girl in Bed” cover is based on creative input from Pete Wentz, photographed by Ryan Bakerink, and features Morgan in Pete’s bedroom in the band’s apartment in Chicago. As frontman Patrick Stump once put it, “If we ended up with the Abbey Road cover of pop punk, that original one was Sgt. Pepper’s.” The photo was purposefully staged with callbacks to things the band loved and nostalgic references they grew up with, such as a My Pet Monster plush hiding underneath the bed. Patrick Stump’s personal copy of Elvis Costello’s LP Armed Forces was strategically placed on the bookshelf by Ryan to help represent all of the different members’ influences. An NES cartridge of Frankenstein: The Monster Returns can be spotted in the bottom right corner, just below a full scale Darth Vader helmet, both of which were previously obscured by the band name and album title as shown in the vinyl cover. It’s now made clear that Fueled By Ramen edited several logos and other graphic elements out of the original photo in an effort to avoid litigation—such as a design by Paul Frank on Morgan’s sock and the Transformers logo on the action figures Pete borrowed from a friend of the band whom fans know as Hey Chris. In the top left corner, to the right of a The Who poster, a local show flyer can be seen, featuring headliners Rise Against and Every Time I Die. (This would come full circle when both of these bands would go on to open for Fall Out Boy on their 2018 arena tour supporting MANIA.) Directly above Morgan’s head, a poster is displayed on the wall promoting American Nightmare’s debut album Background Music—a hardcore punk band fronted by Wesley Eisold (whom Fall Out Boy would later credit as “Inspirador” in the liner notes for From Under The Cork Tree and Infinity On High). Pete was reportedly instantly satisfied with the new cover photo, but Fueled By Ramen was quick to raise concern, noting that the bedroom was littered with references that would never clear legally due to copyright concerns. And that’s when Mike finally took the reins. “It was getting pretty late in the game at this point and I remembered Pete telling me that the singer, his friend Pat, had this idea to make it look like an old Blue Note Records album. Out of all the photos Ryan sent me there was this one of the band sitting on their couch that struck me right away—I loved how their arms were crossed and how the singer’s feet were positioned and especially how the couch was bent and broken right down the middle. I quickly converted the full color photo to black and white and overlaid it on a field of 100% cyan. And then, really going for that Reid Miles vibe, I made their name a deep blue on top of black. It all came together in about an hour and the band loved it right away—especially Patrick.”

When discussing the design with Pete, Mike shared his intentions to write their names on the front cover. Pete agreed and further suggested Mike utilize the band members’ full names on the cover to help nail down “that old school Blue Note professional musician vibe”. Mike listed their full names in order of appearance on the cover as they were submitted to him by Pete, with Patrick famously requesting to leave the letter “h” off his last name, forever shaping his professional career as Patrick “Stump” instead of his legal family name “Stumph.”

Pictured here is Take This To Your Grave’s true “Blue Note” cover as provided in its full, original high-resolution glory by Mike Joyce.

“Once the cover was approved by [the] band, label, and management,” Mike said, “I fleshed out the rest of the package with pretty much no changes at all. I was thrilled, because I was really proud of the album design overall and never thought the ‘Girl in Bed’ photos worked for an album cover. I thought Ryan's band and portrait photos were really strong and really striking and knew I could use them to create a bold, vivid, and memorable album cover.” Ultimately, Pete was very happy with the “Blue Note” cover and personally approved each and every element Mike designed. Mike also recalls receiving a massive, sweaty post-show hug from Patrick after he introduced himself as the designer of TTTYG at the Continental, a tiny, now defunct bar in NYC.

Later on, Mike was contacted by Kyle Baker of Fueled By Ramen for his input on designing the first ever vinyl pressing of Take This To Your Grave. At the time, Mike was busy working on Iggy Pop’s Skull Ring and did not have time to contribute. Mike sent the label physical zip disks that stored the original files, which he could no longer access due to the antiquated technology. The team at FBR then made some edits and turned it into that rare vinyl cover we know today. Circa 2006, the label also wanted to create a classic jewel case version of the Take This To Your Grave CD. When it was first released, Mike had only designed the album assets for the paper-based DigiPak format. Unfortunately, Mike was still slammed with other work and opted not to partake in its creation. Without Mike overseeing the process, Fueled By Ramen eventually made some significant edits to the “Blue Note” album artwork that Mike had designed. AP’s 2013 Take This Back To Your Grave story included a quote from Pete noting that that not everyone in the band was sold on the idea of listing their legal names on the cover, a super uncommon practice in the modern era of records. Potentially as a result of this dissatisfaction, FBR truncated their full names to their common names while designing the jewel case artwork. In addition, for unknown reasons, perhaps even by accident, the names of the band members were rearranged, no longer in order of appearance. In another unfortunate turn of events, the cover’s overall color profile has been significantly altered over the years into a blueish-green tint, as it currently appears on streaming services for example—a far cry from its original design intentions.

Regarding the color palette change, Mike said, “I’m not sure if they tweaked the colors over the years or if they just printed poorly, or if the various JPGs, GIFs, and TIFFs online have morphed into some hodgepodge of a blue/green spectrum, but the original pressing of the DigiPak is the closest I’ve seen to what I originally intended—although I’ve always thought it printed a little dark.” ---  The visual storytelling of four scrappy boys living together in what Pete once recalled as “the worst apartment of all time” was the perfect backdrop for their iconic debut record, forever frozen as a moment in time worth revisiting alongside 12 groundbreaking tracks. While nothing can replace the simple brilliance of the final artwork, it’s nevertheless interesting to imagine what could have been: a world where legions of polygraph tattoos proudly represent one’s favorite record, an alternate present where memories of these songs took the shape of favorite liars or regrets perfected. Since these themes are an integral part of Take This To Your Grave’s DNA, it’s no surprise they were early contenders in the design process. Mike could have taken this all to his grave, but 18 years later, I’m honored to be able to digitally preserve them here on public display. The Bad Habits Collection would like to thank Mike Joyce for his time and contributions to preserving this piece of history. He is available for hire at https://www.stereotypenyc.com.

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Fall Out Boy MANIA Tour Black Variant Guitar Pick, Pete Wentz used, Atlanta 11.04.17

Notes from the collector:

Pete threw this out into the crowd during the Atlanta stop on the first leg of the MANIA Tour and my amazing girlfriend caught it. After our little burst of disbelief, she immediately informed me it was mine. She’s the best.

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Clandestine Industries Bartskull Necklace, 2007

Notes from the collector:

There’s a few versions of this necklace out there. This one was produced in 2007 and includes a small, lightweight chain with a little metal heart towards the end of the clasp. Been a good luck charm for me for awhile. 

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MANIA Snow Globe, 2017

Notes from the collector:

How cool is this? To my knowledge, this is the only snow globe Fall Out Boy has ever produced, which I actually use to collect when I was younger and traveled with my family. The sculpt itself is pretty impressive at recreating the wave structure from the album cover and looks like a physical embodiment of the two emojis the band has used the most to promote this record: 🔮🌊

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Fall Out Boy Setlist for Q100 Birthday Blowout at Coca-Cola Roxy, Atlanta 2.16.18

Notes from the collector:

So lucky to have this one. Was front row on the barricade for their all acoustic set at a 3,600 person capacity venue at a one-off tour stop for a radio sponsored event and managed to be given this at the end. This was my 13th time seeing the band live, but my first time seeing them play entirely acoustically. Really cool experience I won’t soon forget. 

[badhabitscollection]

Fall Out Boy VIP Snapback, 2016, 3030 Pro OTTO Snap

Notes from the collector:

Almost certain this one’s from WINTOUR’s VIP Meet & Greet package. After the show, a bunch of merchandise was shipped to the participants. Big fan of the gothic-esque font used here.

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F.O.B. Snapback, 2015, OTTO Snap

Notes from the collector:

This one’s pretty rad. The jagged edged font really makes it standout. Ton of personality. Picked up this one at the Nashville, Tennessee date of the Boys Of Zummer tour.

[badhabitscollection]

Twill Cap, 2016, Adams Headwear

Notes from the collector:

Man, I love this cap. Dad hats are my favorite for sure and this washed out red color is killer. Love the minimalism of the blacked out logo too. Really wish they had made this in more colors. Obtained at the Birmingham, Alabama date of WINTOUR.

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Pom Beanie, 2014, District Clothing

Notes from the collector:

I always whip this one out for the holiday season. Simple, but fun. This one was produced in a gray color palette as well.  From GoMerch.

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Frosty Monster / Llama Plush Keychain, 2017

Notes from the collector:

I love this thing. A close friend picked it up for me in LA at the M A  N   I    A Tour Pop Up Shop and I was bummed to find out Royal Tea / other llama didn’t get the same treatment. Would be dope to have them as a set. Big fan of the obviously Dr. Seuss inspired style they went for here.

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We Hate You And We Hope You DIE, LOVE FALL OUT BOY T-Shirt, circa 2004, printed on Fruit Of The Loom Heavy Cotton in a size XL

Notes from the collector:

Sadly, I cant 100% vouch for the history behind this piece. I know it’s one of, if not THE, earliest t-shirt design(s) ever printed by the band. I’ve been told on a few counts that it is indeed the very first, but I don’t feel like I can accurately back that up at this time. When I initially acquired it, I remember seeing a LiveJournal post where someone did their best to recall purchasing this shirt at a show around 2004. It’s entirely possible the design circulated for several years before they stopped making them. From an artistic standpoint, I think it’s pretty much perfect. This is everything that Fall Out Boy is and was from the start. Tongue-in-cheek delivery with polar opposite, passionate emotions directed at “You”.

[badhabitscollection]

Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out With Your Girlfriend CD, 2003, Uprising Records

Notes from the collector:

Where it all began. This is the original pressing of the band’s first (now considered unofficial) record. While I know most are aware this mini-LP exists, it’s getting increasingly rare to find a copy that isn’t the remastered version Uprising put out in 2005. The remaster has purple/pink artwork and was released by the label with the intent to cash in on the group’s success following their move to Fueled By Ramen and their release of Take This To Your Grave. This edition was produced by Jared Logan and is the only FOB record to feature Mike Pareskuwicz on drums and T.J. Kunasch on rhythm guitar. The disk sounds noticeably different with longer intros/outros, overall slower pace, and some of the best damn Joe Trohman background vocals you've ever heard.

Some notable favorites of mine include the advertisement to email Pete at brokehalo7@aol.com, “Fall Out Boy exclusives uses Count Chocula™ brand cereal”, and an invitation to join the Fall Out Boy Super Friends Club by sending a letter to the Wentz family address.