Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump recently celebrated the band’s 25th anniversary. He shared a reflective message on Instagram about their journey and expressed his surprise that they still enjoy working together after so many years.
In his post, Stump compared the band’s 25-year milestone to the age when one can rent a car. He reflected on how distant that age seemed when they first started.
“When you’re young, particular ages tend to come with certain milestones,” Stump said. “15: You can get your learner’s permit. 18: You can buy cigarettes if you want. 21: You can break edge without breaking the law (Andy is still edge!). 25, I’d always heard was the age at which you could rent a car. There was a time when I literally couldn’t imagine a life past the age of 21 let alone filling out paperwork at the Hertz counter. 25 just seemed so big and far away…like a distant body in deep space so remote that scientists only speculated about its existence based on the way objects around it moved. That’s certainly how I felt floating out in the zero gravity that is age 17. That was the year Fall Out Boy started.”
He went on to express his amazement at how much time has passed. He thanked the band’s listeners while also acknowledging the band’s early members and the addition of drummer Andy Hurley.
“Now somehow the band is itself car renting age,” Stump continued. “How?! How am I 42? How is my band 25? And even harder to believe is the fact that anyone still wants to listen to our silly little band 25 years on. Maybe the surreality of it all is part of those milestones. It feels simultaneously so recent and yet so intangibly distant thinking of the origins of the band. I say this in no way to disparage the contributions of the great people we had in early incarnations of Fall Out Boy (Especially Ben and Mike; Hope you guys are doing well) but I always felt like the band really started when Andy finally agreed to join a little band over a year into it.”
Stump also emphasized that the band members have remained close. They continue to enjoy working together, and he dismissed the idea that their past hiatus truly separated them.
“So maybe depending on who you ask the ‘Ted’s Pants,’ band gets to celebrate the car-rental age again some time in the middle of 2028,” Stump added. “But until then, I’ll remain shocked that the four of us continue to enjoy working together, continue to be the same four guys this whole time (the so-called ‘Hiatus,’ doesn’t count, we were very much still a band then no matter how exciting it is to imagine otherwise). Yet here we are.”
Looking ahead, Stump expressed hope for the band’s future. He wondered what other milestones they might reach in the coming decades.
“And if the world gives me another 25 years and perhaps another 25 after that, hopefully I will have spent as much of it as possible in the band from that one joke in the It’s Sunny/Abbott Elementary crossover,” Stump concluded. “I couldn’t imagine a life past 21; Let’s see what milestones await the band beyond the cold orbit of social security collection eligibility age.”
Stump’s message arrives at a moment when fans and media alike are revisiting the band’s long history. A look back at that history shows how a group born in Chicago’s hardcore scene grew into one of the most recognizable rock acts of its generation.
Fall Out Boy formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. Bassist Pete Wentz and guitarist Joe Trohman founded the group, and Patrick Stump joined shortly afterward. The lineup took time to settle. Drummer Andy Hurley eventually completed the four-piece that remains together today.
Early incarnations of the band also included drummer Mike Pareskuwicz and Ben Pose, among others. Stump addressed those former members directly in his message, writing, “Especially Ben and Mike; Hope you guys are doing well.”
The band’s path was not continuous. After more than four years of near-constant recording and touring, Fall Out Boy played what was presented as a final show in October 2009. They then stepped away for a four-year hiatus. Throughout that period, the members insisted they “never broke up.” Stump repeated this position in his anniversary note.
Fall Out Boy returned in 2013 with the album Save Rock and Roll. This release marked a new chapter for the group and a commercial comeback. The reunion set the stage for the band’s continued activity across the following decade.
The band’s most recent studio album, So Much (for) Stardust, arrived in 2023. That release extended a career that now spans a quarter of a century and four consistent members.
Stump’s reflection closed with an eye toward the future rather than a summary of the past. For a band that once seemed unlikely to last past its teenage years, the next milestone remains an open question.
