Fall Out Boy - Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

Thnks fr th mnkys…oops! I mean mmrs…
I’m not quite sure what the various members of Fall Out Boy were thinking when they decided on the treatment for their new single 'Thnks fr th mmrs', but they most certainly were not thinking about the music. Maybe this is a somewhat desperate plea for attention, or an odd attempt at reaching a different type of fan through blatant and overused ridicule, and while watching Pete Wentz be out-played by a trained monkey is vaguely amusing, Fall Out Boy may have just committed video/single suicide.

Alright, I’ll admit that the above statement is pretty strong, but in the paraphrased words of Pete Wentz himself, Fall Out Boy loves making fun of themselves and their situation through their videos (when they’re not shooting mini-epics – see A little less sixteen candles, A little more touch me). But how far is too far? Here’s the thing, while this video is admittedly very amusing, there seems to be a vaguely malicious message hidden not-so-deeply within the fact that trained monkeys were used to portray not only the director or the crew, but a smattering of fans as well.
Maybe Fall Out Boy is becoming more than a little dissatisfied with the people (crews, directors, labels, technicians and fans) that surround them – this leads to a direct flash back to the lyrics “band-wagon’s full, please, catch another” – or maybe I’m just reading too far into things. But malicious metaphors aside, fan reactions to this video have been more that a little confused, followed by some very opinionated rants regarding Fall Out Boy’s disregard for what is a rather amazing song.

Truth be told, there is no connection what-so-ever between the song and the video; and more often than not, the amplified sound effects overpower the music entirely. Really this isn’t much of a music video at all, and the shot of Pete Wentz prettifying himself in his dressing room is a blatant commercial for TAG.
Fall Out Boy seem to have left their scruples behind on this one, and rather than producing a music video with depth (or at least some form of connection to the lyrics) they give their fans a menagerie of monkeys and a somewhat explosive (pun intended) Pete Wentz temper tantrum.

I honestly don’t know what Fall Out Boy were thinking when they strung this video together. I don’t know what kind of reaction they wanted to evoke, or who they wanted to reach – but they were definitely not thinking about impacts or music. Maybe they weren’t thinking at all.


Review by Einat Brigler


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