"Centuries" A Solid Of The Moment Song From Fall Out Boy

Can you imagine how much raw info could be packed into a million years? That's how vast the ambition is for Fall Out Boy's new single "Centuries". Fall Out Boy never struck me as being the deepest lads to slosh around in the kiddie wading pool. "Dance Dance" was unbridled youth enthusiasm. "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race" possessed loads of feisty. The gist is you wouldn't exactly look to them for the question "How do I want future rock historians to perceive what my schtick was about?" Most of the band's output travels along at a mile a minute. "Centuries" takes the time to smell the air from high atop the rock universe. To hear Patrick Stump tell it he hopes to be a legend before feeding the tree. If there's a quibble to be had as it pertains to this single it would be the "borrowing" of a sample from "Tom's Diner", the 1990 top 5 hit for Suzanne Vega featuring DNA. That single itself was juiced up, the better to court mass radio consumption. Fall Out Boy couldn't possibly think it needs that kind of radio gimmick to grab attention since the boys are 13 years into their career. Patrick vocalizes from a sure-footed central spot so as to convey to us that he wants to be remembered for centuries. Pete Wentz slides under the proceedings with a bass that allows Patrick to levitate on the strength of his convictions. Drummer Andy Hurley exerts no undue energy, a sage decision given the subject material. He knows this is Patrick's hour to make his impression felt. Joe Trohman also punches up subdued on guitar for his role in this electric look at legacies and the wish that the best foot forward is the right one. Plenty of historical figures are known for their misdeeds. I doubt Fall Out Boy, even to the avowed haters out there, could be found guilty of detracting from the potential upshot to the human spirit. Pete takes the offensive, being astute enough to know how far to run with it. He can't stop until the whole world knows his name. For the record I imagine this is as close to drama queen as Pete is likely to get. The spacing in the arrangements goes delightfully well. The band members spread out the motif, thus giving Pat as much room as he can possibly spare. I can forgive them the occasional lyric that prompts a fair amount of head scratching, one example being "Heavy metal broke my heart". In commercial terms I believe it was grunge that broke heavy metal's heart, commercially and artistically. How did it break his heart? We aren't granted any real insight there. Cryptic, no doubt. Perhaps Pat leaves that open to interpretation for the rest of us. TMI territory is mined when Pete declares "The bruises on your thighs like my fingerprints." Is Pat walking the kinky walk now? Rough sex much? You'll be in good shape as a casual listener or pronounced Fall Out Boy fan if you direct your attention to the band's ability to harmonize in, dare we think it, a mature style that past releases really didn't make much attempt to emulate. Until the entire new album becomes either a guilty pleasure, a deeply loathed discard candidate, or settles into an approachable niche in between, "Centuries" is primed to satisfy your jones for rock that brushes past lunkhead riffage on its way to a plane that dares to try intelligence on for size. Each of us could stand to ask ourselves "Are we being the best versions of ourselves that we can be and, if the answer comes back negative, how can we get as close to the idealized version as possible?" "Centuries" may not prove memorable for that large a span of time, but in the here and now, it scores enough points before the last round bell sounds to merit paying attention and maybe even walking away enriched.