Fall Out Boy - Take This to Your Grave (2003)

Take This to Your Grave is the debut studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy. It was released on May 6, 2003, by Fueled by Ramen. The album was produced by Sean O'Keefe. When the band was signed to Island Records, Island employed an unusual strategy that allowed the band to sign with independent label Fueled by Ramen for their debut, to later move to the major label for a second album. O'Keefe had helped with the band's demo, and the group returned to Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin to record the bulk of their first album. Living on a stranger's floor for part of the time and running out of money halfway through, the band recorded seven songs in nine days, bringing them together with the additional three from the demo. While Stump had previously written all prior lyrics and took them lightly, Wentz took the process with a considerable seriousness and obsessively picked apart his bandmates' lyrics. The "exhausting" process led to numerous revisions of single songs and several arguments. The album cover, which features all four bandmates sitting on a broken futon, features a blue tint reminiscent of jazz records and was the second choice after the original was rejected by the label.

The album created gradual interest in the band as they toured across the country, including a five-day stint on Warped Tour 2004. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with sales of 634,000 copies, as of August 2008. The record produced three singles, including the minor success "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy". The album has often been named as a vital blueprint for pop punk music, with Alternative Press calling the record a "subcultural touchstone [...] a magical, transcendent and deceptively smart pop-punk masterpiece that ushered in a vibrant scene resurgence with a potent combination of charisma, new media marketing and hardcore-punk urgency."