"Sugar, We're Goin Down" is a song by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...
, released to US radio on April 4, 2005, as the
lead single
A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date.
A similar term, "debut ...
from their second album, ''
From Under the Cork Tree
''From Under the Cork Tree'' is the second studio album by the American Rock music, rock band Fall Out Boy, released on May 3, 2005, by Island Records as the band's major label debut. The music was composed by lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist P ...
''. Two different CD singles were released with different
B-sides
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...
, Part I with a green cover and Part II with a red cover. With music composed by vocalist
Patrick Stump
Patrick Martin Stumph (born April 27, 1984), known professionally as Patrick Vaughn Stump, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Rock music, rock band Fall Out Boy ...
and lyrics penned by bassist
Pete Wentz
Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (born June 5, 1979) is an American musician who is the bassist and lyricist for the rock band Fall Out Boy. Before the band's formation in 2001, Wentz was a fixture of the Chicago hardcore scene and was the lead si ...
, the single reached 8 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming Fall Out Boy's first top-10 hit and exploding the band into the mainstream, exposing them to a new audience. It spent five weeks in the top 10 and 20 weeks in the top 20 out of its 42 chart weeks.
The song became the band's first two-million seller in July 2009, and as of February 2013, has sold 4,639,000 copies in the US.
It was upgraded to a 8× platinum certification by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) in November 2023.
On July 22, 2013, "Sugar, We're Goin Down" was certified silver by the
British Phonographic Industry
BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...
(BPI) for 200,000 sales.
Background
"Sugar We're Going Down"'s lyrics have been called "almost nonsensical."
Patrick Stump
Patrick Martin Stumph (born April 27, 1984), known professionally as Patrick Vaughn Stump, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Rock music, rock band Fall Out Boy ...
told ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' that he deliberately slurred the lyrics in the song's chorus to make it sound better, saying that he "was trying to do a straight
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
song for fun" and adding, "I saw those lyrics and just kind of barked them out. But there was something about the rhythm of it, where I was like, 'Hmm, that actually might be too good for just a shitty punk song.'" Contrary to popular belief, instead of going through thirty versions before going back to the first one, Stump clarified the song went through countless rewrites until they landed on the final version which was chosen.
The song appears on the karaoke games ''
Lips
The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...
'' (as downloadable content) and in ''
Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol'', and is also a playable song on ''
Band Hero
''Band Hero'' is a 2009 rhythm game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the second Spin-off (media), spin-off of the ''Guitar Hero'' series, following ''DJ Hero'' (2009). The game was released on November 3, 2009, for the P ...
''. It is in the 2005 film ''
The Fog
''The Fog'' is a 1980 American independent supernatural horror film directed by John Carpenter, who also co-wrote the screenplay and created the music for the film. It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Janet Leigh and H ...
'' and its soundtrack. American
country pop
Country pop (also known as urban cowboy or even urban country) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends g ...
artist
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
covered "Sugar, We're Goin Down" at a concert on her 2011
Speak Now Tour in Chicago, during which she would sing a cover of a song originally released by an artist from each tour stop.
Hayley Williams
Hayley Nichole Williams (born December 27, 1988) is an American singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist and only constant member of the rock band Paramore, which she co-founded in 2004.
Williams was born and raised in Meridian, Miss ...
joined Fall Out Boy onstage in 2014 to perform the song as part of a
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...
Blitz show. The band themselves used a sample of the song in "
What a Catch, Donnie
"What a Catch, Donnie" is Fall Out Boy's second digital download single and third radio single from their fourth studio album ''Folie à Deux'' (2008). It was first released as part of the buildup to the new album on iTunes on October 14, 2008, ...
" from their 2008 album ''
Folie à Deux
''Folie à deux'' (), also called shared psychosis Berrios, G. E., and I. S. Marková. 2015. "Shared Pathologies. Pp. 3–15 in ''Troublesome disguises: Managing challenging Disorders in Psychiatry'' (2nd ed.), edited by D. Bhugra and G. Malhi. ...
'' and referenced it in "Save Rock and Roll", from the 2013
album of the same title.
Chart performance
"Sugar, We're Goin Down" would rise and fall in inconsistent patterns. The song debuted on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 on July 2, 2005, at No. 93 and rose each week. Eleven weeks later, on September 17, 2005, the song entered the top 10 at its peak of No. 8,
becoming Fall Out Boy's first top 10 single. At this point, the song did not have much
airplay
Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...
but had relied on the strength of digital downloads alone, and it experienced a sales surge following the band's performance at the
2005 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2005 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 28, 2005, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. The show was hosted by Diddy at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. The big winner of the night was Green Day, who ...
.
Following this download surge, however, downloads fell, and the song dropped to No. 15 the following week. During this time, though, mainstream radio support came in, and while downloads were falling, airplay was able to help stabilize the song. As a result, "Sugar" rose in the following weeks to be at either position No. 10 or 11. It spent five weeks in the top 10 and 20 weeks in the top 20, and in total stayed on the charts for 42 weeks before it was retired, making it the band's most successful single charting. The track peaked at No. 2 on the
Hot Digital Songs
The Digital Song Sales (previously named Digital Songs and Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Luminate and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally started tracking so ...
chart and reached the top position on the Hot Digital Tracks chart. Its airplay peak was No. 18 on the
Hot 100 Airplay
The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014 and Top 40 Radio Monitor until July 1993) is released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout the United States ...
chart.
On the
Pop 100
The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009. It ranked songs based on airplay on Mainstream Top 40 radio stations, singles ...
chart, "Sugar, We're Goin Down" displayed a slightly better performance. With the same digital download stats, but with an airplay panel to its advantage, the song reached a peak position of No. 6 on the Pop 100 with its component airplay, Pop 100 Airplay, being No. 6. In terms of total spins versus total impressions, the single also peaked at No. 6 on the
Top 40 Mainstream
Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the U ...
chart. It reached No. 3 on the
Hot Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...
chart and became a rock-radio staple.
In the United Kingdom, the song first charted on January 15, 2006, at No. 54 before moving to just outside the top 20 at No. 24 on February 5. However, it continued rising in the charts in February, and entered the top 10 at its peak position of No. 8. As of 2013, the song has sold over 200,000 copies in the UK to date being certified silver. It remained in the top 75 of the
UK Singles Chart for 21 weeks.
Music video
The official
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for "Sugar, We're Goin Down" was directed by
Matt Lenski, and has been described as "bizarre."
The music video centers on a boy who has deer
antler
Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) Family (biology), family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally fo ...
s on his head. While he is walking around, a younger boy throws a shirt at one of his antlers. While he is sitting at a cemetery and eating, a kite falls onto his antlers and a girl tries to recover it, and they become friends. The girl's father disapproves because the boy has antlers, asking him to leave his daughter alone. Frustrated, the boy decides to try to cut off his antlers with a variety of tools, but she stops him. Later, the couple goes to a bowling alley. When the girl's father sees they are still together, he tries to shoot the boy with a bow and arrow, but fails as a car rams into him. The boy tries to help him and notices that he has deer hooves for feet. The father then gives the couple his blessing. The music video also frequently cuts to scenes of the band members performing the song.
Reception and legacy
''
Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...
'' ranked "Sugar, We're Goin Down" at No. 4 on their "100 Greatest Songs of 2005" list and
About.com
Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...
placed the song at No. 3 on their "Top 100
Pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Pop music, a musical genre
Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop! (British group), a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Album ...
Songs of 2005" list. It was also nominated for the
''Kerrang!'' Award for Best Single in 2006. In 2009, ''
Phoenix New Times
''Phoenix New Times'' is a free digital and print media company based in Phoenix, Arizona. ''Phoenix'' ''New Times'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, arts, cannabis, as well as longform narrative journalism. A ...
'' writer Martin Cizmar wrote that "Sugar, We're Goin Down" was possibly "the most listened-to
emo
Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...
track of all time".
Music critics have retrospectively considered "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" as a seminal, genre-shaping song within
pop punk
Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...
and emo. In 2015, ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' ranked the song number six on their list of the 10 greatest Fall Out Boy songs. In 2020, ''
Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...
'' called "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" one of the most influential pop punk songs of all time, stating that the song "shaped the genre", was "a lyrically abstract masterpiece that gave subsequent bands an excuse to write creatively" and that it was "a game-changer".
In 2021, ''
Kerrang
''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...
'' ranked the song number four on their list of the 20 greatest Fall Out Boy songs. Also in 2021, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked "Sugar, We're Goin Down" at 443 on their amended list of the "
500 Greatest Songs of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...
", noting that the song "signaled a sea change – emo, which had roots in confessional
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
, had grown into a new and often highly theatrical kind of
arena rock
Arena rock (also known as stadium rock, pomp rock or corporate rock) is a style of rock music that became mainstream in the 1970s. It typically involves radio-friendly rock music that was designed to be played for large audiences.
As hard rock ...
".
''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' ranked it as one of the 25 best emo songs of all time in 2022.
Track listings
All songs were written by
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...
.
CD single
# "Sugar, We're Goin Down" – 3:51
# "The Music or the Misery" – 3:27
CD 1
# "Sugar, We're Goin Down" – 3:47
# "The Music or the Misery" – 3:27
CD 2
# "Sugar, We're Goin Down" (album version)
# "
Dance, Dance" (
Patrick Stump
Patrick Martin Stumph (born April 27, 1984), known professionally as Patrick Vaughn Stump, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Rock music, rock band Fall Out Boy ...
Secret Agent Remix)
# "Snitches and Talkers Get Stitches and Walkers"
# "Sugar, We're Goin Down" (video)
7-inch vinyl
# "Sugar, We're Goin Down"
# "Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner" (Acoustic version)
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2004 songs
2005 singles
Fall Out Boy songs
Island Records singles
Mercury Records singles
Music videos directed by Matt Lenski
Songs written by Patrick Stump
Songs written by Pete Wentz
Song recordings produced by Neal Avron
Emo songs
Songs written by Andy Hurley
Songs written by Joe Trohman