Interrupting regularly scheduled blog-cast programming to (hopefully) temporarily store a music post here before it’s really old news. Until I have access back to www.thejamfiles.com I might have to work out some migrating of that site to a new home. Stay tuned and hopefully I get this sorted out soon.
Fall Out Boy — The Lost Songs
I was ready for bed. It was a Monday night around 11:30 pm when I decided to pick up my phone one last time before hitting the hay. I never do this. I prefer to not allow screens to leak into my dreams if I can prevent them. I noticed the FOB Archive Team shared a story on Instagram and after viewing it I was wide awake. Who needs sleep when news like this hits? Apparently, a Fall Out Boy fan (sadiesknifetrick) received a CD in the mail from a mysterious sender that had 16 supposedly lost demo tracks from From Under the Cork Tree and the fandom went wild. She was given instructions to upload them to Archive.org and being awesome she followed directions. Now we can all enjoy these absolutely sick songs in the newborn form before studio release.
But wait, there’s more. A few more CDs have popped up. Some mailed, some found at record stores in the Chicago area. The metadata on the tracks also includes lyrics and a cryptic message from The Secret Order of FOB, which was a live journal era fan club for the band. To make the treasure hunt that much more interesting, a review popped up at Archive.org signed by the Secret Order with another coded message letting fans know that these are not all of the demos and the theory that these CDs were limited to 10 based on speculation that they were numbered is also false. “Keep your eyes out for numberless copies” and “to find the rest of the demos, you’ll have to look beyond the CDs” have fans theorizing, running to their mailboxes, and most likely calling every record store within a 50 mile radius from them hoping for a chance to get their hands on one of these.
So far there doesn’t appear to be any connection between the fans who received mailed CDs and Fall Out Boy has not officially announced or confirmed anything about them. When I read that Archive review I saw Pete Wentz all over it. I also remembered a podcast from the FOB Archive Team that Patrick Stump appeared on back in November where he was asked about the lost tracks and he said he had no idea where they were. When asked about the infamous track “I Liked You A Lot Better Before You Became A F***ing Myspace Wh**e”, Patrick began singing it and the lyrics match Track 15 from the Lost Songs “Get Me To A Hospital.” Patrick is too pure to be a liar, but perhaps this got his mind reeling and he sought the tracks out. Whoever had them may have seen the podcast and they unearthed them, who knows? If the band is behind this, I think it’s a genius way to do a release. Is it a prelude to something bigger? I have a hopeful prediction that we’ll get an official 25 track demo release in celebration of the band’s 25th anniversary. When the anniversary edition of From Under the Cork Tree dropped last year, many fans were disappointed that demos weren’t included on it. Now this amazing leak is an answer to their prayers and pleas.
The Chicago scene hardcore influence is very heavy on the Lost Songs and I like it. It definitely leans more punk than pop unlike the studio release of Cork Tree. This isn’t a complaint. I love Cork Tree as is, and it’s definitely what brought Fall Out Boy to the mainstream. However, I’m obsessed with these demos. The lyrics and tempo change on “Sugar” hits so differently than the well known banger. “Hand of God” is my favorite track, and don’t even get me started on “My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark”. I prefer this version to the Save Rock and Roll arena emo hit. In fact, I prefer these demo tracks to all of the releases and I’m so thankful we have a chance to hear them. It’s going to affect how I hear the studio versions from now on, this I know. I appreciate a more raw sound and I’m not going to lie, I love those P Stump voice cracks.
I’m mailing letters to addresses in a ghost town… Are these lyrics from the demo version of “Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying” a key to crack the codes? What a time to be alive, indeed.
Keep an eye on the internet if you’re a Fall Out Boy fan and join in on the deep dive to solve this mystery. More CDs will pop up and hopefully more serial killer style type messages with more clues to aid us. Personally, I feel that staying up later on March 2, 2026 to listen to the demos three times in a row and to refresh my socials for more updates was well worth losing sleep over.
Listen to the demos HERE.
Thistle Thoughts 