Sugar, We're Goin Down

"Sugar, We're Goin Down"
Single by Fall Out Boy
from the album From Under the Cork Tree
B-side "The Music or the Misery"
Released April 12, 2005[1]
Format
Recorded 2004
Genre
Length
  • 3:49 (album version)
  • 3:47 (guitars down version)
Label Island
Writer(s) Pete Wentz, Patrick Stump
Producer(s) Neal Avron
Fall Out Boy singles chronology
"Saturday"
(2003)
"Sugar, We're Goin Down"
(2005)
"Dance, Dance"
(2005)

"Sugar, We're Goin Down" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy. It was released in April 2005 as the lead single from their second album, From Under the Cork Tree (2005). With the music composed by lead vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump and all lyrics penned by bassist Pete Wentz, the single reached No. 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 before it was retired.

Two different CD singles were released with different B-sides, Part I with a green cover and Part II with a red cover. Blender ranked "Sugar, We're Goin Down" at number four on their "100 Greatest Songs of 2005" list[4] and About.com placed the song at number three on their "Top 100 Pop Songs of 2005" list.[5] It was also nominated for the Kerrang! Award for Best Single in 2006.

The song became the band's first two-million seller in July 2009,[6] and as of February 2013, has sold 2,639,000 copies in the US.[7] It was upgraded to a 4x Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in February 2015.[1] On July 22, 2013, "Sugar, We're Goin Down" was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for 200,000 sales.[8]

Background

Stump told Rolling Stone 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 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.'"[9] During the writing of the song it went through thirty changes and then went back to the way it first started.[10]

The song appears on the karaoke games Lips (as downloadable content) and in Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol, and is also a playable song on Band Hero. It is in the 2005 film The Fog and its soundtrack. American country pop artist Taylor Swift covered "Sugar, We're Goin Down" at a concert on her 2011 Speak Now Tour in Chicago,[11] during which she would sing a cover of a song originally released by an artist from each tour stop. Hayley Williams joined Fall Out Boy onstage in 2014 to perform the song as part of a Super Bowl Blitz show.[12] The band themselves used a sample of the song in "What a Catch, Donnie"[13] and referenced it in "Save Rock and Roll", from the album of the same title.[14]

Track listing

All lyrics written by bassist Pete Wentz; all music composed by lead vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump, excluding remixes.

"Sugar, We're Goin Down"
Song sample taken from the album From Under the Cork Tree. It was the band's breakthrough single.

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CD single:

  1. "Sugar, We're Goin Down" – 3:51
  2. "The Music or the Misery" – 3:27

CD 1:

  1. "Sugar, We're Goin Down" (Guitars down version) – 3:47
  2. "The Music or the Misery" – 3:27

CD 2:

  1. "Sugar, We're Goin Down" (album version)
  2. "Dance, Dance" (Patrick Stump Secret Agent Remix)
  3. "Snitches and Talkers Get Stitches and Walkers"
  4. "Sugar, We're Goin Down" (video)

7" vinyl:

  1. "Sugar We're Goin Down"
  2. "Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner" (Acoustic version)

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,[15] becoming Fall Out Boy's first top 10 single. At this point, the song did not have much airplay 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.

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 chart and reached the top position on Hot Digital Tracks. Its airplay peak was No. 18 on the Hot 100 Airplay.[16]

On the Pop 100 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 chart. It reached No. 3 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and became a rock-radio staple.[17]

In the UK, 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.[18]

Music video

The music video for "Sugar, We're Goin Down" (directed by Matt Lenski)[19] follows the persecution and subsequent redemption of a boy with antlers. The video establishes the life of a socially outcast boy with antlers (played by Donald Cumming of The Virgins), and his feelings for a neighborhood girl. It is made clear that the girl's father disapproves. Distraught, the boy tries to cut his antlers off, but is stopped by the girl. Later on, the father attempts to shoot the boy with an arrow, but is hit by a car. When he rushes to the man's aid, the boy finds that the father has hooves. They connect, and the father accepts him, allowing him to date his daughter. Shots of the band performing in a local Grange hall are featured.

The video was shot in the town of Margaretville, New York found in the Catskill Mountains.

The antlers in the video can be seen in Fall Out Boy's music video for their 2008 single "What a Catch, Donnie".

Another version of the video exists, and has been played on some UK and Australian music channels. The video simply features the footage of the band playing from the main video, added to footage of the band's live performances and tour movies. This version won the MTV2 Award at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards.

In popular culture

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2005–16) Peak
position
Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)[20] 36
Ireland (IRMA)[21] 33
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[22] 99
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[23] 9
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[24] 8
US Billboard Hot 100[15] 8
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[25] 3
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[26] 10
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[27] 36
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[28] 6
US Pop 100 (Billboard)[29] 6
US Rock Digital Songs (Billboard)[30] 10

Year-end charts

Chart (2005) Position
US Billboard Hot 100[31] 40
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[32] 17
US Pop 100 (Billboard)[33] 31
Chart (2006) Position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[34] 92
US Billboard Hot 100[35] 68
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[36] 30
US Pop 100 (Billboard)[37] 47

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[38] Gold 40,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[39] Silver 200,000
United States (RIAA)[40] 4× Platinum 2,639,000[41]

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. 1 2 "American single certifications – Fall Out Boy – Goin Down". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
  2. Top 10 Fall Out Boy Songs. watchmojo.com. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  3. "10 Emo Songs That Don't Suck". Phoenix New Times.
  4. Archived August 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. "Top 100 Pop Songs of 2005". Top40.about.com. 2011-04-07. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
  6. "Week Ending July 5, 2009: All Michael, All The Time - Chart Watch". New.music.yahoo.com. 2009-07-08. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
  7. Paul Grein (February 12, 2013). "Chart Watch: 5 Reasons for Pharrell to Be "Happy"". Yahoo Music.
  8. "Certified Awards Search" (To access, enter the search parameter "Fall Out Boy"). British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  9. BRIAN HIATT. Posted Feb 24, 2006 3:18 PM (2006-02-24). "Let's Hear It for the Boy: Fall Out Boy : Rolling Stone". Classic-web.archive.org. Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
  10. Montgomery, James (June 23, 2008)Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz Says New Album May Sound Like AC/DC And White Stripes -- Or Not MTV News. Viacom. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  11. Watch: Taylor Swift Covers Fall Out Boy's 'Sugar, We're Goin Down' MTV News. Viacom. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  12. FALL OUT BOY PERFORM ‘SUGAR, WE’RE GOING DOWN’ WITH HAYLEY WILLIAMS www.hitthescene.net. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  13. http://www.whosampled.com/Fall-Out-Boy/Sugar,-We%E2%80%99re-Goin-Down/
  14. http://genius.com/1660120
  15. 1 2 "Fall Out Boy – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Fall Out Boy. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  16. "Fall Out Boy – Chart history". Billboard Radio Songs for Fall Out Boy. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  17. Nine Inch Nails' With Teeth Devours Chart Competition MTV.com. Viacom. Retrieved August 4, 2011.
  18. "FALL OUT BOY". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  19. Garcia, Alex S. "mvdbase.com - Fall Out Boy - "Sugar we're goin' down [version 2: concept]"". Music Video DataBase. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  20. "Fall Out Boy – Chart history" European Hot 100 for Fall Out Boy. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  21. "Chart Track: Week 6, 2006". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  22. "Dutchcharts.nl – Fall Out Boy – Sugar, We're Goin Down" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  23. "Archive Chart: 2006-02-18". Scottish Singles Top 40. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  24. "Archive Chart: 2006-02-18" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  25. "Fall Out Boy – Chart history" Billboard Alternative Songs for Fall Out Boy. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  26. "Fall Out Boy – Chart history" Billboard Adult Pop Songs for Fall Out Boy. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  27. "Fall Out Boy – Chart history" Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs for Fall Out Boy. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  28. "Fall Out Boy – Chart history" Billboard Pop Songs for Fall Out Boy. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  29. "Fall Out Boy | Awards". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  30. "Fall Out Boy – Chart history". Billboard Rock Digital Songs for Fall Out Boy. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  31. "Top 100 Hits for 2005". Longbored Surfer. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  32. "Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks Top 40 of 2005". J and J Heath. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  33. "2005 Year End Charts – Pop 100 Titles". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  34. "End of Year Singles Chart Top 100 - 2006". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  35. "Hot 100 Songs: Year End 2006". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  36. "Adult Pop Songs Year End 2006". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  37. "Year End Charts – Pop 100 Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  38. "Canadian single certifications – Fall Out Boy – Sugar, We're Goin Down". Music Canada.
  39. "British single certifications – Fall Out Boy – Sugar, We're Goin Down". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved July 7, 2015. Enter Sugar, We're Goin Down in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
  40. "American single certifications – Fall Out Boy – Sugar, We're Goin Down". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 10, 2015. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
  41. Grein, Paul (February 12, 2013). "Chart Watch: 5 Reasons for Pharrell to Be "Happy"". Yahoo Music. Retrieved January 17, 2016.

External links

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