Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump is taking a moment to reflect on the band’s 25-year history, and he’s still having a hard time believing it himself.
In a lengthy letter shared on the band’s official social accounts on October 9, Stump looked back on the group’s beginnings, its evolution, and the unlikely reality that fans are still listening a quarter-century later. With s little humor, he compared the milestone to reaching the age when you can rent a car.
“Now somehow the band is itself car renting age. How?! How am I 42? How is my band 25?” he wrote.
Stump recalled being 17 when Fall Out Boy first formed in 2001, an age when imagining life beyond 21 seemed almost impossible. Looking back, he described the band’s origins as feeling both surprisingly recent and impossibly distant.
He also offered some perspective on when Fall Out Boy truly became the band fans know today. While acknowledging the musicians who played in its early lineups, Stump pointed to drummer Andy Hurley’s eventual arrival as a defining moment in the group’s history. That distinction means the band’s original incarnation could technically reach its 25th anniversary again in 2028, depending on how you count its beginnings.
Despite the years, Stump said he remains amazed that the group’s four members still enjoy making music together. He even dismissed the band’s much-discussed hiatus as a break that never truly ended their identity as a group.
“We were very much still a band then,” he wrote.
Most of all, Stump expressed gratitude for the band’s continued connection with listeners and his bandmates. What began as a small project among young musicians has grown into a lasting career that he once could barely imagine. Looking toward the future, he joked about spending another 25 years or even longer making music with Fall Out Boy, closing his reflection with a nod to the milestones that await them in old age.
For a band that began when its members were teenagers, reaching 25 years together is a remarkable achievement. And judging by Stump’s message, he’s still not quite ready to believe they’ve made it this far.
You can read Patrick’s full reflection below: