Citizens For Our Betterment Give Us Free Music

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It’s a mixtape and it’s hit and miss, thanks to rap, but there are some rare songs and demos on it that are worth your time. I guess I just have to deal with the fact that Pete Wentz likes rap… I’ll never get it, but hey.

Tracklist:

01. Guy Ripley (intro) [:40]
02. Ludacris (interlude) [:40]
03. Fall Out Boy - ALPHAdog and OMEGAlomaniac (demo) [2:09]
04. Fall Out Boy - Lake Effect Kid (demo) [3:37]
05. Fall Out Boy - I Don’t Care (27) (featuring Clinton Sparks & Seth Green) (interlude) (demo/snippet) [1:09]
06. Fall Out Boy - Catch Me if You Can/Proclamation of Emaciation (featuring Travis from Gym Class Heroes) (demo mashup) [2:51]
07. The Cab - Bounce (snippet) [1:25]
08. Tyga - First Timers (featuring Evan from the Black List Club) [2:31]
09. Panic at the Disco - Northern Downpour (snippet) [2:02]
10. The Paul Revere Jumpsuit Apparatus - Nearly Witches (demo) [:58]
11. Cobra Starship - I Kissed a Boy [3:01]
12. The Academy is… - Automatic Eyes - Suave Suarez remix (featuring Tyga) [2:40]
13. Hey Monday - Homecoming (snippet) [1:07]
14. The Cab - Take My Hand - Machine Shop Production (featuring Cassadee from Hey Monday) [3:38]
15. Tyga - California Girls (demo) [2:47]
16. Gym Class Heroes - Cookie Jar (snippet) [2:02]
17. A Rocket to the Moon - Oh, Dakota (acoustic demo) [1:14]
18. Four Year Strong - Bada Bing! Wit a Pipe! [3:26]
19. Text Fall Out Boy: FOB to 66937 (interlude - signup and instant betterment) [:15]
20. The Academy is… - About a Girl (snippet) [:53]
21. The Hush Sound - We Believe in (Barack Obama) [1:52]
22. The Hush Sound (interlude) [:24]
23. Butch Walker - Mixtape (snippet) [:28]
24. Cobra Starship (interlude) [1:46]
25. Fall Out Boy - America’s Sweethearts (demo/snippet) [:37]
26. Clinton Sparks & Pete Wentz (outro) [:34]

You can download it here.

On that page, there’s also an ad that confirms a new Fall Out Boy album [November 4th — 3rd if you’re in a country with Monday releases] — it’s called Folie A Deux, and well, there you go. I’m guessing the next couple of months will be full of interesting free things like this mixtape and other Web sites.

Say what you like, but the band is definitely embracing the Internet, and that’s never a bad thing. Way too many bands/labels are still shunning it, despite the whole “it’s here to stay” thing. It’s good to see bands with power [however you define it] in the industry doing original things and taking chances. It’s the only way we’ll ever see major label stupidity undone.

Wow, Copeland are Kind of Dicks

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In the latest “Citizens For Our Benefit”/Fall Out Boy news, it seems Copeland decided to get a slice of the action — by launching a mirror of the Fall Out Boy site [Citizens For Our Betterment] under the amazingly clever URL Citizens FOUR Our Benefit. The only difference? At the end of Copeland’s site, you get a link to YouAreMySunshineAlbum — which is a photo with the date October 14, 2008.

This really makes no sense — but here’s what I gather. Someone posted a link on a Fall Out Boy LiveJournal, and Copeland sort of just latched on to the Fall Out Boy campaign, as they were already doing some viral stuff of their own. [Which is news to me, but hey, let’s face it — it’s Copeland. I don’t think they’ve ever made it to the “elite” area of my overfilled iPod for even an afternoon.]

Speaking to MTV, here’s what Aaron Marsh of Copeland had to say:

“We had been discussing a viral campaign for three or four months now, placing some stuff on the Net, so some of this was just wacky timing. The whole concept behind our campaign was that we wanted people to be looking at our Web site while they were thinking they were looking at someone else’s. So we were poking around, and then FOB started their site, so we decided to use theirs. There was nothing malicious about it; we just saw an opportunity to reel in way more people.

And when I think about how it might affect Fall Out Boy, all I can say is that Pete’s a clever bloke, and he probably would’ve done the same thing had he thought of it,” he continued. “I mean, think about it: The two campaigns are very similar — theirs is supposed to look like an ominous organization that’s mucking around. The way [the two campaigns] crossed didn’t hurt anyone.”

Well, obviously, nobody was hurt! It’s a freaking viral campaign. Then again, is Copeland going to suffer a bit for it? In my eyes, they’re unoriginal hacks. The quote above should really read, “Yeah… well, we were doing a viral campaign of our own, but nobody was paying attention. And then Fall Out Boy did theirs, and it was successful and got people interested and talking, so we decided we’d just copy them since they’re smarter than we are. It’s not like they’d mind, they’re smart, after all!”

It reeks of pathetic, if you ask me. And I find it hard to believe that Pete, being a “clever bloke” would have done what they did. Say what you like about him, he tends to have pretty original ideas and seems above latching on to someone else’s coattails to such an extent. It must suck to be a band and realize that someone has outdone you in the whole viral thing, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Fall Out Boy’s campaign is actually the first viral campaign I have paid attention to in ages — most of them have been boring, stupid, or ill-planned.

For the record, Copeland also launched a fake AbsolutePunk site — Abso1utePunk.net. Which is hilarious because nobody would type that by accident, though I guess if they were putting fake links to AP, it would work. Christ, they’re so desperate, I’m wondering when the EPB mirror will show up… [note to Copeland: do it! I’m writing an article trashing you right now — nobody will catch the fake! That’s what I call using your heads!]

Copeland’s final comment was just a bunch of crying that their “brilliant” idea was destroyed over night [welcome to a world where people can look things up and aren’t entirely retarded] and repeated insisting “Pete would have done the same thing.” I’ve never seen anyone so positive that someone else would do the same stupid thing they did, but check it out:

“The whole idea was mocking other sites, and if life went according to plan, you would’ve seen that continue, instead it got ripped to shreds overnight. But, like I said, this wasn’t done maliciously. And everything I’ve heard about Pete is that he’s a marketing kind of guy; he’s the king of making people talk and ruffling feathers, so he would’ve done the same thing if he could have. So if Fall Out Boy fans are mad about this whole thing, well, all I can say is that Pete would’ve done the same thing.”

Mad? No. Laughing at you? Yes. Pete said there are still “many twists to come” and it may have nothing to do with an album… he said it was really just art. Not surprisingly, concerning Copeland, he didn’t say he would have done the same thing. Go figure.

It Looks Like New Fall Out Boy is On The Way

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Do I care? I’m not sure yet. I didn’t love Infinity on High when it came out, though I do find myself enjoying the songs more these days, when they come up on random on my iPod. And I really kind of gave up on Pete Wentz ever writing something gorgeous again after [accidentially or intentionally] becoming another member of the breeding masses. And yet, I find myself intrigued by the whole Citizens For Our Betterment site — especially with the new and updated changes.

All of this started a couple of days ago when Decaydance was “hacked.” It has since been restored to its normal self, but the “hack” was credited to Citizens For Our Betterment. That site wasn’t much — until today. When you click on the sidebar, you’re taken to Run Right Back to the Start, which says “this is a maze.” And it is — each page has a sort of “choose your own adventure” thing going on, and you can get lost in circles or keep finding new things, depending on where you go. I played with it for about 20 minutes and kept finding new things.

But here’s the most shocking part - the words are very clearly Pete Wentz — and they’re gorgeous. They strike me as almost on par with his usual writing… and much more in touch with emotions, ala “The Boy With A Thorn in His Side” or believe it or not, From Under the Cork Tree. If this site is full of lyric blurbs from an upcoming album [title: Run Right Back to the Start ??] — I am really looking forward to some new Fall Out Boy. Who knows? My eternal pessimism may lead to a surprise — I figured we’d get great lyrics again when his wife spat out her spawn and they had a MTV show and got divorced.

Anyway, play with the links, see what you can find. I’ve yet to find any music — but Absolute Punk had a simple post that said, “Fall Out Boy fans should make sure to watch FNMTV on Friday.” [By the way, I had no idea when this was on, but just set my DVR — it’s Friday 8-9pm EST on MTV.] I suspect if there is an announcement, or even better, a song or video, clip, this is it. A lot of people are speculating the new album will come out on Election Day [because the CFOB site looked really political on the first day], but you never know with these viral things — or with Fall Out Boy. I can’t imagine they did all of this for a tour announcement or some weird goal like playing Antarctica.

I guess we’ll see. I’m not in love with viral campaigns, but this one actually seems pretty well-done, and without too much of a wait time if something is happening on FNMTV in two days. It could all be a huge letdown, but in an odd moment of optimism, I’m hoping for the best.

*Footnote: Ah… I love that I just posted something that would have been censored quite a bit on the old site that shall not be named. It always drove me insane that they kept me on a leash for fear I would “offend” people with my real opinions. I have to remember not to hold back anymore… it feels good. And I’ll need this site more than ever when I start a soul-sucking job come Monday.

Wow, This is About as Shocking as When Michael Stipe Came Out

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On Friends Or Enemies, a post just popped up, reading “Breaking News From Pete and Ashlee.” Gee, I wonder what that could be about? Let’s check with my good friends Captain and Mrs. Obvious:

“While many have speculated about this, we wanted to wait until after the first trimester to officially confirm that we are expecting our first child. This is truly the most joyous time in our lives and we are excited to share the happy news and start our family.”

- Pete and Ashlee Wentz

HOLY CRAP! NO WAY! You mean, after all the reports about her pregnancy [which are generally pretty accurate, as celebrity gossip goes] and the rather sudden wedding within a couple of weeks of the pregnancy leak [oh God, that’s a really disgusting combination of words, isn’t it?] — she really is pregnant?

Color me shocked.

Anyway, I’m marking today as the official end of Fall Out Boy. I mean, the band will continue to exist, I’m sure, but there is no way someone who is married to Ashlee Simpson and has a kid with her will ever, ever write something that affected me the way the words to From Under the Cork Tree did. That’s probably a good thing for Pete, to be honest — I don’t know that people really should be in a state of mind where they can churn out albums like that. But still, I’m kind of bummed to know one of my favorite bands is pretty much 100% doomed and the next album will make Infinity on High sound like the freaking White Album.

Pete Wentz Has a MTV Show on the Way

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On one of Pete’s 10,000 blogs [seriously, this guy puts me to shame in that department], he revealed the meaning behind the question he posted [the day after his wedding] on one of the others. He asked people what they dislike about MTV, and predictably, got a whole bunch of comments about the stupid reality TV shows and the lack of videos. And here’s what that was all about:

so i guess all of my whining has helped push the idea along. mtv has greenlit an hour long show to be aired live once a week this summer. it will have five video premieres played in their entirety plus one classic/vintage video. also one artist will appear on every episode and play live with no lip synching. pretty excited to get a video show back on the channel! i will let you know more details as i find them out. but thats pretty rad. almost as good as burnt marshmallows and graham crackers…

just one of a bunch of summer plans. theres clandestine stuff and patricks short (movie people not everything is about our height) and joe and andy are cooking up a lil something too.

Works for me, I suppose. I find it amusing that MTV has found time between a show about some self-absorbed girl and another show about a self-absorbed misfit girl who wants to be turned “normal” to fit in six videos a week… and this is supposedly a good thing. I suspect this show won’t do all that well — if it’s an hour-long show, once a week, who is going to even find it in the miasamatic bog that is the MTV schedule?

I’m pretty sure the future of videos is YouTube and MySpace — I mean, you want to watch the new Coheed and Cambria video? Just look at the post below this. If you want to watch every Coheed and Cambria video, ever, just go to YouTube and type their name in. It’s sort of like how most people prefer their iPods to radio: why wait for someone to show you what you want to see when you can just find it yourself when you want to see it?

Ah, well. Maybe the new Clandestine stuff will be nice and someone will be nice enough to buy me a fresh new hoodie. My sister gave me her “Love Can’t Save You” one and I’ve been running around like Gollum, screaming, “my preciousssss” concerning said shirt. [Okay, I only think I screamed it once… but I have definitely said it more than once.]

I think I have to reinstate my Pete Wentz “thing”

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I know, I know. I’ve repeatedly said I’ve moved on, Pete just doesn’t do it for me anymore, and I’m a 100% Max Bemis girl when it comes to my celebrity obsessions. Unfortunately for me, the band just released their video for the “Beat It” cover, and his hair and eye makeup reminded me why I liked him and his strangely gorgeous nose in the first place. *sigh*

Unfortunately, you have to go to MTV to watch it, but I didn’t have a terrible struggle with the site, so you should be okay. I checked my good friends at YouTube, but nobody was kind enough to upload it for my enjoyment just yet. That’s fine. I’ll get them someday. Wait, what?

Anyway, yes.  This is the new Fall Out Boy single, and it is definitely going to make the band bigger than ever before. And Pete looks so damned good in the video, I have been forced to call an audible and officially put him back on my celebrity crush list.

I tried, guys. I really did. My weaknesses include interesting noses, cute hair, and gobs of eyeliner. What can I say?

Pete Wentz: Daddy

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All the gossip magazines are insisting that Ashlee Simpson is pregnant, including slightly more reputable ones such as US Weekly.  Well, now we know why they got engaged, eh?  There have been no official statements from either, yet, but that’s probably because Pete is hiding under a table, quivering, with Papa Joe Simpson walking around the house with a baseball bat in one hand and a machete in the other.  As such, he hasn’t had time to post on any of his myriad blogs.

So, yeah. That’s that.  We’ll see what is true or isn’t when there are official statements  — remember, Christina Aguilera was pregnant for about a year and a half, according to magazines — but something tells me this one is true.

I guess neither of them ever heard of these new inventions called “the pill” or “a condom.”

The MTV reality show should be great, though….