title: Fall Out Boy

text: Fall Out Boy was formed in 2001 in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, Illinois by friends Pete Wentz and Joe Trohman. Wentz was a "visible fixture" of the relatively small Chicago hardcore punk scene of the late 1990s, performing in groups such as Birthright, Extinction and First Born. He was also part of the metalcore band Arma Angelus and the more political Racetraitor, "a band that managed to land the covers of "Maximumrocknroll" and "Heartattack" fanzines before releasing a single note of music". Wentz was growing dissatisfied with the changing mores of the community, which he viewed as a transition from political activism to an emphasis on moshing and breakdowns. With enthusiasm in Arma Angelus waning, he created a pop punk side project with Trohman that was intended to be "easy and escapist". Patrick Stump was the drummer for grindcore band Xgrinding processX and a host of other bands that "never really managed", at a Borders bookstore in Wilmette. While Trohman was discussing Neurosis with a friend, Stump interrupted them to correct their classification of the band; the ensuing conversation soon shifted to Trohman and Wentz's new project. Stump, viewing it as an opportunity to try out with "local hardcore celebrity" Wentz, directed Trohman to his MP3.com page, which contained sung-through acoustic recordings. Stump intended to try out as a drummer, but Trohman urged him to bring out his acoustic guitar; he impressed Trohman and Wentz with songs from Saves the Day's "Through Being Cool". While Wentz wanted Racetraitor bandmate Andy Hurley to join the group as drummer, Hurley appeared uninterested and too busy at the time.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: The band's first public performance came in a cafeteria at DePaul University alongside Stilwell and another group that performed Black Sabbath's self-titled debut album in its entirety. The band's only performance with guitarist John Flamandan and original drummer Ben Rose was in retrospect described as "goofy" and "bad", but Trohman made an active effort to make the band work, picking up members for practice. Wentz and Stump argued over band names; the former favored verbose, tongue-in-cheek names, while the latter wanted to reference Tom Waits in name. After creating a short list of names that included "Fall Out Boy", a fictional character from "The Simpsons" and Bongo Comics, friends voted on the name. The band's second performance, at a southern Illinois university with The Killing Tree, began with Wentz introducing the band under a name Stump recalled as "very long". According to Stump, an audience member yelled out, "Fuck that, no, you're Fall Out Boy!", and the band were credited later in the show under that name by Killing Tree frontman Tim McIlrath. As the group looked up to McIlrath, and Trohman and Stump were "die-hard" "Simpsons" fans, the name stuck. The group's first cassette tape demo was recorded in Rose's basement, but the band later set off for Wisconsin to record a proper demo with 7 Angels 7 Plagues drummer Jared Logan, whom Wentz knew through connections in the hardcore scene.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: Several more members passed through the group, including drummer Mike Pareskuwicz of Subsist and guitarist T.J. "Racine" Kunasch. While Stump at this point felt uninterested in the group, Wentz was, according to Uprising Records owner Sean Muttaqi, viewing the group as "the thing that would make him famous. He had a clear vision." Wentz was "singularly focused on taking things to the next level" and began promoting the band via early social media. Muttaqi got word of the demo and wanted to release half of it as a split extended play with Hurley's band Project Rocket, which the band viewed as competition. Uprising desired to release an album with the emerging band, which to that point had only written three songs. With the help of Logan, the group attempted to put together a collection of songs in two days, and recorded them as "Fall Out Boy's Evening Out with Your Girlfriend". The rushed recording experience and underdeveloped songs left the band dissatisfied. When the band set off to Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin to record three songs for a possible split 7-inch with 504 Plan, engineer Sean O'Keefe suggested the band record the trio with Hurley. Hurley was also recording an EP with his new group the Kill Pill in Chicago on the same day, but raced to Madison to play drums for Fall Out Boy. "It was still a fill-in thing but when Andy sat in, it just felt different. It was one of those "a-ha" moments", recalled Wentz.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: The band booked a two-week tour with Spitalfield, but Pareskuwicz was unable to get time off from work and Kunasch was kicked out of the band as the group "had all gotten sick of him". Kunasch was temporarily replaced by friend Brandon Hamm on guitar, alongside drummer Chris Envy from the recently disbanded Showoff, but both quit prior to the kickoff of the tour. The band invited Hurley instead to fill-in once more, while Stump borrowed one of Trohman's guitars for the trek. While most shows were cancelled, the band played any show possible: "Let's just get on whatever show we can. You can pay us in pizza", remembered Wentz. As the tour concluded, the general consensus was that Hurley would be the band's new drummer, and the band began to shop around the three songs from the group's unreleased split as a demo to record labels. The band members set their sights on pop punk labels, and attempted with considerable effort to join Drive-Thru Records. A showcase for label co-founders went largely mediocre, and the band were offered to sign to side label Rushmore, an offer that the members of the band declined. They got particularly far in discussions with The Militia Group and Victory Records, and Bob McLynn of Crush Management became the band's first manager. The band re-entered the studio with O'Keefe to record several more tracks to create label interest. Wentz felt "in the backseat" in writing the songs and temporarily questioned his place in the group, but Stump argued in his favor: "No! That's not fair! Don't leave me with this band! Don't make me kind of like this band and then leave it! That's bullshit!"


title: Fall Out Boy

text: The band's early tour vehicle was a "tiny V6 that was running on three cylinders, and it was not getting enough air, so it would drive really slowly", recalled Wentz. "We had to turn on the hot air to reach the speed limit, so we had the heat on all the time in 120-degree weather. It was so hot it melted the plastic molding around the windows. When it rained, we'd get all wet." John Janick of Fueled by Ramen had heard an early version of a song online and cold-called the band members at their apartment, first reaching Stump and later talking to Wentz for an hour. Rob Stevenson from Island Records eventually offered the band a "first-ever incubator sort of deal", in which they gave the band money to sign with Fueled by Ramen for the group's one-off debut, knowing they could "upstream" the band to radio on the sophomore record. Fueled by Ramen, at the time the smallest of independent labels clamoring to sign the band, would effectively release the group's debut album and help build the band's ever-expanding fanbase before the group moved to Island. The band again partnered with O'Keefe at Smart Studios, bringing together the three songs from the demo and recording an additional seven songs in nine days. The band, according to Stump, didn't "sleep anywhere that we could shower [...] There was a girl that Andy's girlfriend at the time went to school with who let us sleep on her floor, but we'd be there for maybe four hours at a time. It was crazy." As the band progressed and the members' roles became more defined, Wentz took lyrics extremely seriously in contrast to Stump, who had been the group's primary lyricist up to that point. Arguments during the recording sessions led to what "most reductively boils down to Wentz writing the lyrics and Stump writing the melodies".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: The band's debut album, "Take This to Your Grave", was released on May 6, 2003. Previously, one of the band's earliest recordings, "Evening Out with Your Girlfriend", had not seen release until shortly before "Grave" in March 2003, when the band had gained considerable momentum. "Our record was something being rushed out to help generate some interest, but that interest was building before we could even get the record out", said Sean Muttaqi. The band actively tried to stop Uprising from releasing the recordings (as the band's relationship with Muttaqi had grown sour), as the band viewed it as a "giant piece of garbage" recorded before Hurley's involvement that the band members ceased to consider the debut album of the group. Gradually, the band's fanbase grew in size as the label pushed for the album's mainstream success. According to Wentz, shows began to end in a near-riot and the group were banned from several venues because the entire crowd would end up onstage. The band gained positive reviews for subsequent gigs at South by Southwest (SXSW) and various tour appearances. The band joined the Warped Tour for five dates in the summer of 2004, and on one date the band had only performed three songs when the stage collapsed due to the large crowd. The band appeared on the cover of the August 2004 edition of "Alternative Press", and listening stations at Hot Topic partially helped the album move 2,000-3,000 copies per week by Christmas 2004, at which point the label considered the band "tipping" into mainstream success.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: The band had been flooded with "hyperbolic praise", and deemed "the next big thing" by multiple media outlets. Before recording the follow-up to its debut, the band released the acoustic EP/DVD "My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue". The EP was the band's first charting on the "Billboard" 200 at number 153. "From Under the Cork Tree" was recorded in Burbank, California, and served as the first time the band had stayed in California for an extended period of time. The group lived in corporate housing during the making of the album. In contrast to "Take This to Your Grave"'s rushed recording schedule, Fall Out Boy took a much more gradual pace while working on "From Under the Cork Tree". It was the first Fall Out Boy record in which Stump created all the music and Wentz wrote all the lyrics, continuing the approach they took for some songs on "Grave". Stump felt that this process was much more "smooth" as every member was able to focus on his individual strengths. He explained: "We haven't had any of those moments when I play the music and he'll say, 'I don't like that,' and he'll read me lyrics and I'll say, 'I don't like those lyrics.' It's very natural and fun." Despite this, the band had great difficulty creating its desired sound for the album, constantly scrapping new material. Two weeks before recording sessions began, the group abandoned ten songs and wrote eight more, including the album's first single, "Sugar, We're Goin Down".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: The band suffered a setback, however, when Wentz had an emotional breakdown in February 2005, culminating in a suicide attempt. He had withdrawn from the rest of the group, with his condition only apparent through his lyrics, and had also become obsessed with the recent Indian tsunami and his own self-doubt. "It is particularly overwhelming when you are on the cusp of doing something very big and thinking that it will be a big flop", he said later. Wentz swallowed a handful of Ativan anxiety pills (he described the act as "hypermedicating") in the Chicago Best Buy parking lot. After being rushed to the hospital and having his stomach pumped, Wentz moved back home to Wilmette to live with his parents.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: "From Under the Cork Tree" debuted and peaked at number nine on the "Billboard" 200 upon its May 3, 2005 release. It was spearheaded by the band's breakthrough single, "Sugar, We're Goin' Down", reached number eight in the US "Billboard" Hot 100 in September 2005, and in the UK chart in February 2006, crossing over from Alternative to Pop radio. "Dance, Dance", the album's second single, also was a top ten hit in the United States and was certified 3× Platinum in 2014. The record's success led to stardom among teenagers in North America, and the band's first arena tour had the group playing to 10,000 people per night. "Rolling Stone" wrote that the band's "anthems", distributed and marketed through their MySpace, connected with "skinny-jeans-wearing teen girls". In support of "From Under the Cork Tree", the band toured exhaustively with international tours, "TRL" visits, late-night television appearances and music award shows. The band performed at music festivals in 2005 and 2006, including the third Nintendo Fusion Tour in the fall of 2005, joining The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, Boys Night Out, and Panic! at the Disco on a 31 city tour. The album earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, and has sold over 2.7 million copies in the United States, becoming the group's best-selling album. "Sugar, We're Goin Down" also won the band an MTV Music Video Award.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: In the wake of the band's multiplatinum success, the "especially extroverted" Wentz became the most publicly visible member of the band. He confided to the press his suicide attempt and nude photos of the bassist appeared on the Internet in 2006. He gained additional exposure through his clothing line, his Decaydance record label (an imprint of Fueled by Ramen), and eventually a celebrity relationship with pop singer Ashlee Simpson, which made the two tabloid fixtures in the United States. Due to its increased success from the group's MTV Video Music Award, the group headlined the Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour, a pop punk event that featured The All-American Rejects, Hawthorne Heights, and From First to Last. The tour also featured The Hush Sound for half of the tour and October Fall for half. The band played to 53 dates in the U.S., Canada, and the UK.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: After taking a two-month-long break following the band's Black Clouds and Underdogs tour in promotion of the band's 2005 album "From Under the Cork Tree", Fall Out Boy returned to the studio to begin work on a follow-up effort. The band began writing songs for the new album while touring, and intended to quickly make a new album in order to keep momentum in the wake of its breakthrough success. On February 6, 2007, the band released its third studio album, "Infinity on High", which was the band's second release on major label Island. The album marked a departure in Fall Out Boy's sound in which the band implemented a diverse array of musical styles including funk, R&B, and flamenco. As reported by "Billboard", Fall Out Boy "drifts further from its hardcore punk roots to write increasingly accessible pop tunes", a slight departure from the group's previous more pop punk sound predominant on their 2003 effort, "Take This to Your Grave".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: "Infinity"s first week was a major success and was the band's biggest selling week, selling 260,000 copies to debut at No. 1 on the US "Billboard" 200 and inside the top five worldwide. This charting was first started with lead single "The Carpal Tunnel of Love", with minor success on the "Billboard" charts. This success was bolstered by the further-successful second single "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", which reached No. 2 in both the US and UK as well as the top five in many other countries. On the band's decision to pick the song as a single, Wentz commented "There may be other songs on the record that would be bigger radio hits, but this one had the right message." "Thnks fr th Mmrs", the third single, peaked at No. 12, and went on to sell over two million copies in the US. It found its greatest success in Australia where it charted at No. 3. In 2007, Fall Out Boy placed at No. 9 in the Top Selling Digital Artists chart with 4,423,000 digital tracks sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album itself has sold over two million copies worldwide and subsequently was certified Platinum in the United States.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: Fall Out Boy then headlined the 2007 Honda Civic Tour to promote the album. Though the tour was initially postponed due to personal issues, it would take place with +44, Cobra Starship, The Academy Is... and Paul Wall as supporting acts. The band also headlined the Young Wild Things Tour, an international arena tour featuring Gym Class Heroes, Plain White T's and Cute Is What We Aim For.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: Inspired by Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book "Where the Wild Things Are", the concert tour and included sets designed by artist Rob Dobi containing images from the book. The band's "hugely successful" amphitheater tour to promote "Infinity" led to the release of the 2008 live album "Live in Phoenix", consisting of live material recorded during a June 22, 2007, concert at Phoenix's Cricket Wireless Pavilion, a date of the Honda Civic Tour. The disc also included a studio cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It", with guitarist John Mayer guesting for a guitar solo. The track was released as a single and became a mainstay on the iTunes top ten.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: The band members decided to keep publicity down during the recording of their fourth album, as the group was taken aback by such press surrounding "Infinity on High". Sessions proved to be difficult for the band; Stump called the making of the album "painful", noting that he and Wentz quarreled over many issues, revealing "I threw something across the room over a major-to-minor progression." On previous albums, Trohman felt he and Hurley did not have enough musical freedom and that Stump and Wentz exerted too much control over the group: "I felt, 'Man, this isn't my band anymore.' It's no one's fault, and I don't want to make it seem that way. It was more of a complex I developed based on stuff I was reading. It's hard to hear, 'Joe and Andy are just along for the ride. To amend the situation, Trohman sat down with Stump to communicate his concerns, which led to more collaboration on "Folie à Deux". "It made me feel like I owned the songs a lot more. It made me really excited about contributing to Fall Out Boy and made me find my role in the band," Trohman recalled.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: As the release of the new album approached, the band and its management found that they would have to navigate changes in the music industry, facing declining record sales, the lack of a proper outlet for exhibition of music videos, and the burgeoning US economic crisis. To promote the album, Wentz launched a viral campaign in August 2008, inspired by George Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1949), and the autocratic, overbearing Big Brother organization. "Folie à Deux", released in December 2008, did not perform as well commercially as its predecessor, "Infinity on High". It debuted at number eight on the US "Billboard" 200 chart with first week sales of 150,000 copies during a highly competitive week with other big debuts, becoming Fall Out Boy's third consecutive top ten album. This is in contrast to the band's more successful previous effort which shifted 260,000 copies in its opening week to debut at number one on the chart. "Folie" spent two weeks within the top 20 out of its 22 chart weeks. It also entered "Billboard"'s Rock Albums and Alternative Albums charts at number three. Within two months of its release, "Folie à Deux" was certified Gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of 500,000 copies. The lead single, "I Don't Care", reached a peak at number twenty-one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and was certified Platinum by the RIAA for shipments of one million copies.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: To promote the album, Fall Out Boy embarked on the Believers Never Die Tour Part Deux, which included dates in the United States and Canada. The constant touring schedule became difficult for the band due to conflicting fan opinion regarding "Folie à Deux": concertgoers would "boo the band for performing numbers from the record in concert", leading Stump to describe touring in support of "Folie" as like "being the last act at the vaudeville show: We were rotten vegetable targets in Clandestine hoods." "Some of us were miserable onstage", said guitarist Joe Trohman. "Others were just drunk." A greatest hits compilation, "Believers Never Die – Greatest Hits" was released on November 17, 2009. Following these events, the band decided to take a break. The band's decision stemmed from disillusionment with the music industry and Stump recalled that "We found ourselves running on fumes a little bit – creatively and probably as people, too." Stump realized the band was desperate to take a break; he sat the group down and explained that a hiatus was in order if the band wanted to continue in the future. All involved felt the dynamic of the group had changed as personalities developed.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: Rumors and misquotes led to confusion as to what such a break truly meant; Wentz preferred to not refer to the break as a "hiatus", instead explaining that the band was just "decompressing". Fall Out Boy played its last show at Madison Square Garden on October 4, 2009. Near the end, Blink-182's Mark Hoppus shaved Wentz's head in a move Andy Greene in "Rolling Stone" would later describe as a "symbolic cleansing of the past, but also the beginning of a very dark chapter for the band".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: By the time the break began, Stump was the heaviest he had ever been and loathed the band's image as an "emo" band. Coming home from tour, drummer Andy Hurley "went through the darkest depression [I've] ever felt. I looked at my calendar and it was just empty." Wentz, who had been abusing Xanax and Klonopin, was divorced by his wife Ashlee Simpson and returned to therapy. "I'd basically gone from being the guy in Fall Out Boy to being the guy who, like, hangs out all day", Wentz recalled. Previously known as the "overexposed, despised" leader of the band, Wentz "simply grew up", sharing custody of his son and embracing maturity: "There was a jump-cut in my life. I started thinking – like, being old would be cool."


title: Fall Out Boy

text: During the hiatus, the band members each pursued individual musical interests, which were met with "varying degrees of failure". Stump was the only member of the quartet to take on a solo project while Fall Out Boy was on hiatus, recording debut album "Soul Punk" entirely on his own: he wrote, produced, and played every instrument for all tracks on the record. In addition, he married his longtime girlfriend and lost over sixty pounds through portion control and exercise. Stump blew through most of his savings putting together a large band to tour behind "Soul Punk", but ticket sales were sparse and the album stalled commercially. During a particularly dark moment in February 2012, Stump poured his heart out in a 1500-word blog entry called "We Liked You Better Fat: Confessions of a Pariah". In the post, Stump lamented the harsh reception of the record and his status as a "has-been" at 27. Stump revealed that fans harassed him on his solo tour, hurling insults such as "We liked you better fat", and noted that "Whatever notoriety Fall Out Boy used to have prevents me from having the ability to start over from the bottom again." Aside from "Soul Punk" and personal developments, Stump moonlighted as a professional songwriter/producer, co-writing tracks with Bruno Mars and All Time Low, and pursued acting.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: Wentz formed electronic duo Black Cards with vocalist Bebe Rexha in July 2010. The project released one single before album delays led to Rexha's departure in 2011. Black Cards added Spencer Peterson to complete the "Use Your Disillusion" EP in 2012. Wentz also completed writing a novel, "Gray", that he had been working on for six years outside the band, and began hosting the reality tattoo competition show "Best Ink". Hurley ventured farther into rock during the hiatus, drumming with multiple bands over the three-year period. He continued to manage his record label, Fuck City, and drummed for bands Burning Empires and Enabler. He also formed heavy metal outfit The Damned Things with Trohman, Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano of Anthrax, and Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die. Despite this, the members all remained cordial to one another; Wentz was Stump's best man at his wedding. The hiatus was, all things considered, beneficial for the group and its members, according to Hurley. "The hiatus helped them all kind of figure themselves out", he explained in 2013. "Especially Joe and Patrick, who were so young. And Pete is a million times better."


title: Fall Out Boy

text: Stump and Wentz met up for the first time in several years in early 2012 for a writing session. Wentz reached out to Stump after he penned his letter, as he too felt he was in a dark place and needed a creative outlet. He was at first reluctant to approach Stump, likening the phone call to reconnecting with a lover after years of acrimony. "I know what you need – you need your band", Wentz told Stump. "I think it's kind of weird that we haven't really seen each other this year. We paid for each other's houses and you don't know my kid", Wentz remarked. The result, "three or four" new songs, were shelved with near immediacy, with the two concluding that "it just wasn't right and didn't feel right." Several months later, the two reconvened and wrote tracks that they felt truly represented the band in a modern form. The band decided that if a comeback was in order, it must represent the band in its current form: "We didn't want to come back just to bask in the glory days and, like, and collect a few checks and pretend ... and do our best 2003 impersonation", said Stump. Afterwards, the quartet held an all-day secret meeting at their manager's home in New York City where they discussed ideas and the mechanics of getting together to record. Trohman was the last to be contacted, through a three-hour phone call from Stump. As Trohman was arguably the most excited to begin other projects, he had a list of stipulations for rejoining the band. "If I'm not coming back to this band writing music […] then I don't want to", he remarked. Stump supported Trohman's ambition saying Trohman "needed to be writing more".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: The band members' main goal was to reinvent the group's sound from scratch, creating what Trohman called a "reimagining of the band", which focuses more on pop. Sessions were not without difficulties, as the band struggled initially to produce new material. Walker had doubts about the band's volatility, feeling the record would not get made following "meltdown after meltdown". The entire album was recorded in secrecy from the music industry, critics, and fans of the band. While specifically denying that the group's announcement was a reunion because "[the group had] never broke[n] up", the band announced a reunion tour and details of "Save Rock and Roll" on February 4, 2013. The quartet's announcement included a photo of the group that had been taken earlier that morning of the band members huddled around a bonfire tossing copies of their back catalog into flames at the original location of Comiskey Park, the location of 1979's Disco Demolition Night, a baseball promotional event which involved destroying disco records. A message on the group's website read "when we were kids the only thing that got us through most days was music. It's why we started Fall Out Boy in the first place. This isn't a reunion because we never broke up. We needed to plug back in and make some music that matters to us. The future of Fall Out Boy starts now. Save rock and roll..." "Save Rock and Roll" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 chart, with first week sales of 154,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The arrival of "Save Rock and Roll" posted the quartet's third-biggest sales week, and earned the group's second career number one on the chart. The band's chart success was best described as unexpected by music journalists. Andy Greene in "Rolling Stone" called the band's comeback a "rather stunning renaissance", and "Entertainment Weekly" called the number one a "major accomplishment for a band whom many in the industry had dismissed as kings of a genre whose time had passed".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: The record's lead single, "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)", was released on February 4, 2013, and peaked at number 13 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, marking the band's first top twenty single since the group's 2008 cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It". It was certified 3× Platinum in the US for over 3 million sales. Inspired in part by Daft Punk's "", the band released a music video for every song on the album in a series titled "The Young Blood Chronicles" between February 2013 and May 2014. The band also released a hardcore punk-influenced EP, "PAX AM Days", on October 15, 2013. Fall Out Boy covered Elton John's (who was featured on the "Save Rock And Roll" title track) song "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" for inclusion in the fortieth anniversary re-release edition of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" on March 25, 2014, alongside covers by different artists.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: Fall Out Boy headlined Save Rock And Roll tours (including US, Australian and European legs) and played at music festivals around the world for one and a half years. The group co-headlined "Monumentour" with Paramore in North America to close the "Save Rock And Roll" era.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: On June 2, 2014, Wentz stated that he and Stump were writing new music: "We're writing. I was just listening to something Patrick had written in the trailer. So we're writing, finishing out the album cycle in South Africa in September." In a later interview with "Rock Sound" regarding the status of the album, Wentz commented "We don't have an exact timetable yet. I have a two-week-old son and Patrick has a baby on the way in October, so there's a lot going on." as well as stating a rough release time as early 2015. In December 2014 the band played radio-sponsored Christmas shows, including KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: "Centuries" – the first single of Fall Out Boy's sixth studio album – premiered on September 8, 2014, on BBC Radio 1, receiving a worldwide release the next day. By the 2010s, there were few rock bands achieving success on mainstream radio and the charts, but "Centuries" peaked at No. 10 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and No. 13 on "Billboard" Mainstream Top 40. Fall Out Boy also was featured on the track "Back to Earth" from Steve Aoki's second album "Neon Future I", which was released on September 30, 2014. Another song titled "Immortals" was released October 14, 2014, as part of the soundtrack for the Walt Disney film "Big Hero 6". The group remade the Chicago Bulls's anthem "Only the Bulls" with guest Lupe Fiasco. The recording of the song was released in November 2014.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: On November 24, 2014, the title of Fall Out Boy's sixth studio album was announced as "American Beauty/American Psycho"; the album was released on January 20, 2015. The album's title track premiered on BBC Radio 1 in the UK along with the album's title reveal. "American Beauty/American Psycho" debuted at No. 1 on the US "Billboard" 200 with 192,000 first week sales and 218,000 equivalent album units, becoming Fall Out Boy's third No. 1 album. The band played two small venue release shows in January 2015, in London and Chicago. American Beauty/American Psycho was certified platinum in the US on March 1, 2016, after selling 1 million units. From February through March, the band played at the Australian Soundwave festival for the first time, with two additional side shows in Sydney and Brisbane.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: Fall Out Boy inducted Green Day into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 18, 2015. On May 18, the group performed their song "Uma Thurman" with Wiz Khalifa on the 2015 "Billboard" Music Awards. In June–August 2015, Fall Out Boy toured across the United States with Wiz Khalifa, Hoodie Allen, and MAX on the "Boys of Zummer Tour".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: On October 1, 2015, the "American Beauty/American Psycho" European tour kicked off in Dublin, Ireland, and consisted of 12 dates with shows in the UK, Russia, and Europe. On May 24, 2015, it was announced English rapper Professor Green would support Fall Out Boy on the 8-date leg of the band's UK tour. New York based dance-duo Matt and Kim were added as additional support for the UK tour. On October 23, 2015, Fall Out Boy announced the release of a re-worked version of its sixth studio album called, "Make America Psycho Again". The remix album features a remade version of each track from the original record, each featuring a different rapper. The album was released on October 30, 2015. It included the version of "Uma Thurman" featuring Wiz Khalifa which had been originally performed at the "Billboard" Music Awards. On March 1, 2016, it was announced Fall Out Boy were to headline Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK in August 2016 along with Biffy Clyro.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: On April 27, 2017, Fall Out Boy announced that their new album was set to be released on September 15, titled "Mania", stylized as "M A  N   I    A". The first single, "Young and Menace", was released the same day. The second single, "Champion", was released in the U.S. on June 22, 2017. Music videos were posted to Vevo and YouTube for both songs. The band launched the Mania Tour in North America in October 2017 with hip hop artist blackbear and actor-rapper Jaden Smith, and performed in Australia in 2018 with indie band WAAX. On August 3, 2017, it was announced that the album's release would be pushed back to January 19, 2018, because the band were not satisfied with the results of their work at the time. The proceeds from the Houston leg of the Mania Tour was donated to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: "The Last of the Real Ones", released on September 14, 2017, in North America and worldwide the following day, was the third single from "Mania" to be released, and was played on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on September 18, 2017, after being debuted at House of Blues in Chicago on September 16. The band announced the album's completion on November 6, 2017, along with the final track list. "Hold Me Tight or Don't" was then released as the fourth single on November 15, with the music video being released alongside. "Mania" was officially released January 19, 2018 and debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200, making it the band's third consecutive and fourth chart-topping debut overall.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: On February 23, 2018, the band released an EP called "Llamania." The EP contains three unfinished demo recordings. On August 23, 2018, the band released an EP called "Lake Effect Kid." The EP includes a new version of a demo, with the same name, from the band's 2008 mixtape, CitizensFOB Mixtape: Welcome to the New Administration. In September 2018, Fall Out Boy headlined Wrigley Field in the band's hometown of Chicago, marking a milestone in their career as their first headline show at a stadium. On December 7, 2018, Fall Out Boy received their second Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album for "Mania".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: In 2019, the band was sued by Furry Puppet Studio for overusing llama puppets made by the company. According to the company, the llamas were only licensed for use in the "Young and Menace" video but were used at live shows, on merchandise, during TV appearances, and in multiple music videos. On September 10, 2019, the band announced the Hella Mega Tour with Green Day and Weezer as headliners along themselves, with The Interrupters as an opening act. They also released "Dear Future Self (Hands Up)" off their second compilation album, "", released in November 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the summer leg of the tour was rescheduled to 2021. On August 4, 2021, during the Hella Mega Tour, the band announced that they would not be performing at New York's Citi Field, Boston's Fenway Park due to one of the band's team members testing positive for COVID-19. They later announced they would drop out of a August 8 date at Washington D.C.'s Nationals Park. However, Green Day and Weezer performed as scheduled.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: While widely considered to be a pop punk band, Fall Out Boy has also been described as pop rock, pop, alternative rock, emo, emo pop, power pop, and punk rock, with elements of electronic, R&B, soul, funk, blue-eyed soul, electropop, hip hop, power pop, new wave, and hardcore punk. The members of the band were in hardcore, metalcore, and grindcore bands. Pete Wentz describes the band's sound as "softcore" due to their use of hardcore elements. The band cites emo group The Get Up Kids as an influence among many other bands. When interviewed for a retrospective article in "Alternative Press" at the time The Get Up Kids disbanded in 2005, Wentz stated that "Fall Out Boy would not be a band if it were not for The Get Up Kids." Early in the band's career, when Jared Logan was producing the group's debut album, he asked bassist Pete Wentz what sound the band desired for recording. Wentz responded by "handing over the first two New Found Glory records". Wentz also cites Weezer, Green Day, Misfits, the Ramones, Screeching Weasel, Metallica, Earth Crisis, Gorilla Biscuits and Lifetime as influences. The band acknowledges its hardcore punk roots as an influence; all four members were involved in the Chicago hardcore scene before joining Fall Out Boy. Wentz described the band's affiliation with the genre by saying "I think the interesting thing is that we are all hardcore kids that are writing pop music...It gives us a different style because at our core we are always hardcore. That aspect is always going to be evident in the music. We are hardcore kids that couldn't quite cut it as hardcore kids." He referred to Fall Out Boy's genre as "softcore": hardcore punk mixed with pop sensibility. Lead singer Patrick Stump, however, is also influenced by artists he listened to while growing up including Prince, Michael Jackson, and David Bowie.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: Fall Out Boy's albums "Take This to Your Grave" and "From Under the Cork Tree" are both said to have pop punk as well as punk rock sounds and influences, and "Infinity on High" features a wide range of styles and instrumentation, including orchestral arrangements ("Thnks fr th Mmrs") and a slower piano ballad ("Golden"). R&B influences on "Infinity on High" are on songs such as "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" and two of the album's tracks are produced by R&B singer/producer Babyface. On "Folie à Deux", the group continues to evolve its sound, with less of a pop punk sound and increasing the use of piano (such as "What a Catch, Donnie", "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet", and "20 Dollar Nose Bleed"), synthesizers, and guest artists. The band also shows a number of influences, with "Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes" borrowing a chord sequence from The Who song "Baba O'Riley". The group has worked with many producers and artists, including The Neptunes, Timbaland, Ryan Adams, Lil Wayne and Kanye West, the latter of which Patrick Stump described as "the Prince of his generation".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: When the band returned from hiatus with "Save Rock and Roll", their main goal was to reinvent the sound of the group from scratch, creating what Trohman called a "reimagining of the band", which focused more on pop and moved away from the punk aspects of their sound. While mostly an album which mixes pop, rock and R&B, the record was still described by Dave Simpson of "The Guardian" as a pop punk record, but also noted influences from Heart in the album's ballads. In "American Beauty/American Psycho", the band felt influences from playing with different artists and expanded on boundaries further than "Save Rock and Roll" did. In an interview with "Rolling Stone", guitarist Joe Trohman said the album has "hip hop grooves with guitars on it", with "more in your face guitar than "Save Rock and Roll"". Annie Zaleski of "Alternative Press" described "American Beauty/American Psycho" as a "mix of fluid grooves, punky riffs and outré pop sensibilities".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: A central part of Fall Out Boy's sound is rooted in the band's lyrics, mainly penned by bassist Pete Wentz, who commonly uses irony and other literary devices to narrate personal experience and stories. Wentz stated, "I write about what I'm going through most of the time, or what I imagine people are going through most of the time." He draws inspiration from authors such as Charles Bukowski, Ernest Hemingway, and JT LeRoy, as well as rappers such as Lil Wayne, who he described as his primary influence while writing "Infinity on High". On Fall Out Boy's earlier works, Wentz wrote primarily about love and heartbreak. Themes addressed on "From Under the Cork Tree" include narcissism and megalomania, while many tracks on "Infinity on High" discuss the ups and downs of fame. While writing "Folie à Deux", he explored moral dilemmas and societal shortcomings, as well as concepts such as trust, infidelity, responsibility, and commitment. While the album does contain political overtones, the band wanted to avoid being overt about these themes, leaving many lyrics open to interpretation for listeners.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: Fall Out Boy have been instrumental in the careers of other artists, such as Panic! at the Disco, whom Pete Wentz signed to his record label, Decaydance Records, in late 2004. Several artists, such as You Me at Six and Taylor Swift, have created or performed covers of Fall Out Boy songs in homage to the band.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: The Fall Out Boy band members were the first inductees to the "Hall of Wood" at the 2015 MtvU Woodie Awards and performed a medley of five songs at the ceremony. This honor is given to artists who have used MTV Woodie Awards as a "launching pad" in achieving chart topping success within their musical careers, thus influencing up and coming bands. The award also recognizes bands "sticking to their roots" and "maintaining their loyal fan base". The group had won the Woodie Award for Streaming for "Grand Theft Autumn" at the first ceremony in 2004.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: In a list of the 50 greatest pop-punk albums of all time, "Rolling Stone" placed Fall Out Boy's 2003 album "Take This To Your Grave" as the fifth greatest, citing it as "[ushering] in a whole new, genre-blurring scene, in which heavy riffs and a screamo aesthetic mingled with old-fashioned teen heartbreak". In a similar list, "Kerrang!" magazine placed "Take This To Your Grave" at number 11 out of 51, describing it as a "blueprint for both break-up records and timeless pop-punk". In 2018, "Rock Sound" put "Take This To Your Grave" at number 18 in their list of the 100 best pop-punk albums, describing it as "poetic and utterly brilliant", while 2005's "From Under The Cork Tree" was placed at number 3 behind only Green Day's "Dookie" and Blink-182's "Enema of the State". "Rock Sound" described "From Under the Cork Tree" as "intelligent, intriguing and utterly intoxicating...They will still be talking about this one in 50 years time."


title: Fall Out Boy

text: In 2017, Fall Out Boy were announced as the first winners of Rock Sound's Hall of Fame Award as part of the Rock Sound Awards. In an interview accompanying the band's win, Patrick Stump stated one reason for the band's success is Sugar, We're Goin Down, explaining that the "song changed my life, I have a music career in a large part due to that song". In 2009, "Phoenix New Times" writer Martin Cizmar had described "Sugar, We're Goin Down" as possibly "the most listened-to emo track of all time".


title: Fall Out Boy

text: As of 2020, the band are two-time Grammy Award nominees, their first nomination having been for Best New Artist at the 2006 Grammy Awards and their second for Best Rock Album for their 2018 album "MANIA" at the 2019 Grammy Awards.


title: Fall Out Boy

text: On July 30, 2020, the band were nominated for "Best Rock Video" for the song "Dear Future Self (Hands Up)" at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, which makes them the most nominated band in history for the category.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: Orlando Tive "Baby Lane" Anderson (August 13, 1974 – May 29, 1998) was the prime suspect in the murder of Tupac Shakur. Anderson belonged to the California-based gang known as the Southside Compton Crips. Detective Tim Brennan of the Compton Police Department filed an affidavit naming Anderson as a suspect.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: Anderson denied involvement in Shakur’s murder and was never charged. On May 29, 1998, at the age of 23, he was killed in a gang-related shootout.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: In July 1996, Anderson was involved in an altercation at the Lakewood Mall, where he and his entourage assaulted Travon Lane, a member of Death Row Records, and snatched his Death Row medallion. There was rumored to be a bounty placed on Death Row medallions by their rivals, the Compton Crips, of which Anderson was a respected member. This move was extremely disrespectful and infuriated Suge Knight, Tupac Shakur, and the rest of Death Row.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: On September 7, 1996, after the Bruce Seldon vs. Mike Tyson fight, Travon Lane coincidentally spotted Anderson by himself in the MGM, and told Tupac and the rest of the Death Row entourage that Anderson was the one responsible for snatching his medallion. Tupac can then be seen on the MGM’s security camera running over to Anderson with the rest of his entourage and throwing the first punch. Anderson then suffered a rather severe beatdown as he was essentially jumped by five men with no one to help him. However, according to BG Knocc Out in an interview with VladTV, Anderson escaped the worst of the beating by managing to cover his face during the attack. The fight occurred three hours before Shakur's shooting.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: Later that month, Las Vegas homicide Lt. Larry Spinosa told the media, "At this point, Orlando Anderson is not a suspect in the shooting of Tupac Shakur." Anderson was subsequently named as a suspect. Rumors circulated that he had bragged about shooting the rapper, a claim he later denied in an interview for "VIBE" magazine. In September 1997 Anderson told the "Los Angeles Times" that he was a fan of Shakur and his music, but denied being the murderer.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: Anderson was detained in Compton, California a month after Shakur was shot, along with twenty-one other alleged gang members. He was not charged. However, the arrest was only tangentially connected to the Tupac shooting, as Compton police said they were investigating local shootings and not the one in Las Vegas. Las Vegas police discounted Anderson as a suspect, according to a "Los Angeles Times" article, because the fight in which Shakur was involved in assaulting Anderson in the MGM Grand lobby had happened just hours before the shooting.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: Las Vegas police failed to follow up with a member of Shakur's entourage who witnessed the shooting and who told police he could identify one or more of the assailants. That witness, rapper Yaki Kadafi, was killed two months later. The police also failed to follow up on a lead from a witness who had spotted a white Cadillac similar to the car from which the fatal shots were fired and in which the shooters escaped.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: A year later, Shakur's mother Afeni Shakur filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Anderson in response to a lawsuit he had filed against Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, Death Row associates, and Shakur's estate. Anderson's lawsuit sought damages for injuries resulting from the MGM Grand scuffle, and for emotional and physical pain. Afeni Shakur's lawsuit was filed just four days after Anderson's. The Associated Press reported in 2000 that Shakur and Anderson's estates settled the competing lawsuits just hours before Anderson's death. Anderson's lawyer claimed the settlement would have netted Anderson $78,000.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: In October 2011, former LAPD Detective Greg Kading, a former investigator in the murder of Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace, released a book alleging that Sean "Diddy" Combs commissioned Anderson's uncle, Duane "Keefe D" Davis, to kill Shakur, as well as Knight, for $1 million. Kading and Davis claimed that Anderson was present in the vehicle that pulled up next to the BMW in which Tupac was shot. In a recorded conversation with Kading, Davis claimed Anderson fired the shots that killed Tupac.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: Each account said that four men were in the white Cadillac that pulled up alongside the BMW that Knight and Shakur were riding in on the night of the shooting. The accounts independently reported that Anderson was in the back seat of the Cadillac and shot Shakur by leaning out of the back window. Kading and Philips claimed that the Crips were offered a $1 million bounty to kill Knight and Shakur. However, the two accounts differ on whether the bounty was offered by Combs (as reported by Kading) or by Wallace (as reported by Philips).


title: Orlando Anderson

text: In 2002, the "Los Angeles Times" published a two-part series by reporter Chuck Philips titled "Who Killed Tupac Shakur?" that looked into the events leading to the crime. The series indicated that "the shooting was carried out by a Compton gang called the Southside Crips to avenge the beating of one of its members by Shakur a few hours earlier. Orlando Anderson, the Crip whom Shakur had attacked, fired the fatal shots. Las Vegas police interviewed Anderson only once as a possible suspect. He was later killed in an unrelated gang shooting." The "Times" series included references to the cooperation of East Coast rappers including Wallace, Shakur's rival at the time, and New York City criminals.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: Before their deaths, both Wallace and Anderson denied any role in Shakur's murder. In support of this, Wallace's family produced computerized invoices showing that he was working in a New York recording studio the night of the shooting. Wallace's manager Wayne Barrow and fellow rapper Lil' Cease made public announcements denying Wallace had a role in the crime and stating that they were both with him in the recording studio.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: "Times" assistant managing editor Mark Duvoisin defended Philips' series, stating they were based on police affidavits and court documents as well as interviews with investigators, witnesses to the crime and members of the Southside Crips. Duvoisin stated: "Philips' story has withstood all challenges to its accuracy...[and] remains the definitive account of the Shakur slaying." The main thrust of the articles, implicating Anderson and the Crips, was later corroborated by Kading's 2011 book "Murder Rap" and discussed in author Cathy Scott's 2002 book "The Killing of Tupac Shakur". Scott refuted the theory in a "People" magazine article, saying there was no evidence pointing to Wallace as a suspect. Also, "The New York Times" wrote, "The "Los Angeles Times" articles did not offer any documentation to show that Wallace was in Las Vegas that night."


title: Orlando Anderson

text: In her book, Scott reviews various theories, including the Knight theory, before stating, "Years after the primary investigations, it's still anyone's guess. No one was ever arrested but no one was ever ruled out as a suspect, either." She then (in 2002) wrote that one theory "transcends all the others, and implicates the white record-company power brokers themselves," implicating the bosses of the Suge Knight label. In recent years, however, archived letters of Scott's responses to readers show an evolution toward Anderson as a suspect and a dismissal of the Knight theory.


title: Orlando Anderson

text: On May 29, 1998, Anderson died at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in Willowbrook, California, after he was shot during a gang-related shootout in Compton, California.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011), nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. He was known for his strength, durability, formidable left hand, and relentless pressure fighting style and was the first boxer to defeat Muhammad Ali. Frazier reigned as the undisputed heavyweight champion from 1970 to 1973 and as an amateur won a gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier emerged as the top contender in the late 1960s, defeating opponents that included Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Buster Mathis, Eddie Machen, Doug Jones, George Chuvalo, and Jimmy Ellis en route to becoming undisputed heavyweight champion in 1970, and he followed up by defeating Ali by unanimous decision in the highly anticipated Fight of the Century in 1971. Two years later, Frazier lost his title to George Foreman. Frazier fought on and beat Joe Bugner, lost a rematch to Ali, and beat Quarry and Ellis again.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier's last world title challenge came in 1975, but he was beaten by Ali in the brutal rubber match, the Thrilla in Manila. Frazier retired in 1976 after a second loss to Foreman but made a comeback in 1981. He fought just once before retiring for good, finishing his career with a record of 32 wins, 4 losses, and 1 draw. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Frazier among the ten greatest heavyweights of all time.


title: Joe Frazier

text: "The Ring" magazine named him Fighter of the Year in 1967, 1970, and 1971, and the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) named him Fighter of the Year in 1969, 1971, and 1975. In 1999, "The Ring" ranked him the eighth greatest heavyweight. He is an inductee of both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame, having been a part of the inaugural induction class of 1990 for the IBHF.


title: Joe Frazier

text: His style was often compared with that of Henry Armstrong and occasionally Rocky Marciano and was dependent on bobbing, weaving, and relentless pressure to wear down his opponents. His best-known punch was a powerful left hook, which accounted for most of his knockouts. In his career, he lost to only two fighters, both former Olympic and world heavyweight champions: twice to Muhammad Ali and twice to George Foreman.


title: Joe Frazier

text: After retiring, Frazier made cameo appearances in several Hollywood movies and two episodes of "The Simpsons". His son Marvis became a boxer and was trained by Joe Frazier himself. Marvis lost a title shot to heavyweight champion Larry Holmes in 1983 and was knocked out in the first round by an up-and-coming Mike Tyson in 1986. Marvis ended his career with a record of 19 wins and those 2 losses. Frazier's daughter Jacqui Frazier-Lyde also boxed professionally and is a former WIBA world light-heavyweight champion who ended her career with a record of 13 wins and 1 loss, with her sole loss coming in a majority-decision-points loss to Laila Ali, Ali's daughter, in a fight dubbed as "Ali–Frazier IV".


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier continued to train fighters in his gym in Philadelphia. His attitude towards Ali in later life was largely characterized by bitterness and contempt but was interspersed with brief reconciliations.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier was diagnosed with liver cancer in late September 2011 and admitted to hospice care. He died of complications from the disease on November 7, 2011.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Joe Frazier was born January 12, 1944, the twelfth child of Dolly Alston-Frazier and Rubin in Beaufort, South Carolina. He was raised in a rural community of Beaufort called Laurel Bay. Frazier said that he was always close to his father, who carried him when he was a toddler "over the 10 acres of farmland" the Fraziers worked as sharecroppers "to the still where he made his bootleg corn liquor, and into town on Saturdays to buy the necessities that a family of 10 needed." He was affectionately called "Billie Boy".


title: Joe Frazier

text: Rubin Frazier had his left hand burned and part of his forearm amputated in a tractor accident the year that his son was born. Rubin Frazier and his wife, Dolly, had been in their car while Arthur Smith, who was drunk, passed by and made a move for Dolly but was rebuffed. Stefan Gallucci, a local barkeep, recounted the experience. When the Fraziers drove away, Smith fired at them several times and hit Dolly in the foot and Rubin several times in his arm. Smith was convicted and sent to prison but did not stay long. Dolly said, "If you were a good workman, the white man took you out of jail and kept you busy on the farm."


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier's parents worked their farm with two mules: Buck and Jenny. The farmland was what country people called "white dirt, which is another way of saying it isn't worth a damn." They could not grow peas or corn on it, only cotton and watermelons.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In the early 1950s, Frazier's father bought a black-and-white television. The family and others nearby came to watch boxing matches on it. Frazier's mother sold drinks for a quarter as they watched boxers like Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Marciano, Willie Pep, and Rocky Graziano. One night, Frazier's Uncle Israel noticed his stocky build. "That boy there... that boy is gonna be another Joe Louis", he remarked. The words made an impression on Joe. His classmates at school would give him a sandwich or a quarter to walk with them at final bell so that bullies would not bother them. Frazier said, "Any 'scamboogah' [disrespectful, low-down and foul person] who got in my face would soon regret it; Billie Boy could kick anybody's ass." The day after his uncle's comment, Frazier filled old burlap sack with rags, corncobs, a brick, and Spanish moss. He hung the makeshift heavybag from an oak tree in the backyard. "For the next 6, 7 years, damn near every day I'd hit that heavybag for an hour at a time. I'd wrap my hands with a necktie of my Daddy's, or a stocking of my Momma's or sister's, and get to it," he remarked.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Not long after Frazier started working, his left arm was seriously injured while he was running from the family's 300-pound hog. One day, Frazier poked the hog with a stick and ran away. The gate to the pigpen was open, however, and the hog chased him. Frazier fell and hit his left arm on a brick. His arm was torn badly, but as the family could not afford a doctor, the arm had to heal on its own. He was never able to keep it fully straight again.


title: Joe Frazier

text: When Frazier was 15 years old, he had been working on a farm for a family named Bellamy. They were both white men: Mac was younger and more easy-going, and Jim was rougher and somewhat backward. One day, a black kid about 12 years old accidentally damaged one of the Bellamys' tractors. Jim became so enraged he took off his belt and whipped the boy with his belt right there in the field. Frazier saw the event and went back to the packing house on the farm and told his black friends what he had seen. Soon, Jim saw Frazier and asked him why he told others what he had witnessed. Joe then told Bellamy he did not know what he was talking about. But Jim did not believe Frazier, and he told Frazier to get off the farm before he took off his belt again. Frazier told him to keep his pants up because he was not going to use his belt on him. Jim then analyzed Frazier for a bit and eventually said, "Go on, get the hell outta here." Joe knew from that moment it was time for him to leave Beaufort, and he could see only hard times and low rent for himself. Even his mother could see it. She told Frazier, "Son, if you can't get along with the white folks, then leave home because I don't want anything to happen to you."


title: Joe Frazier

text: The train fare from Beaufort to the cities up north was costly, and the closest bus stop was in Charleston, away. Luckily, by 1958, the Greyhound Lines bus (called "The Dog" by locals in Beaufort) had finally made Beaufort a stop on its South Carolina route. Frazier had a brother, Tommy, in New York and was told that he could stay with Tommy and his family. Frazier had to save up a bit before he could make the bus trip to New York and still have some money in his pocket, and so he first went to work at the local Coca-Cola plant. Joe remarked that the white guy would drive the truck and that he would do the real work stacking and unloading the crates. Joe stayed with Coca-Cola until the government began building houses for the Marines stationed at Parris Island, when he was hired on a work crew.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Nine months eventually passed since he got the boot from the Bellamy farm. One day, with no fanfare and no tearful goodbyes, Frazier packed quickly and got the first bus heading northward. Joe finally settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: "I climbed on the Dog's back and rode through the night. It was 1959; I was 15 years old and I was on my own."


title: Joe Frazier

text: During Frazier's amateur career, he won Golden Gloves heavyweight championships in 1962, 1963, and 1964. His only loss in three years as an amateur was to Buster Mathis. Mathis would prove to be Joe's biggest obstacle to making the 1964 US Olympic boxing team. They met in the final of the US Olympic trials at the New York World's Fair in the summer of 1964. Their fight was scheduled for three rounds and they fought with 10-oz gloves and with headgear, but the boxers who made it to Tokyo would wear no headgear and would wear 8-oz gloves. Frazier was eager to get back at Mathis for his only amateur loss and knocked out two opponents to get to the finals. However, once again when the dust settled, the judges had called it for Mathis, undeservedly Joe thought. "All that fat boy had done was run like a thief- hit me with a peck and backpedal like crazy," he would remark.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Mathis had worn his trunks very high so that when Frazier hit Mathis with legitimate body shots, the referee took a dim view of them. In the second round, the referee had gone so far as to penalize Joe two points for hitting below the belt. "In a three-round bout a man can't afford a points deduction like that," Frazier said. He then returned to Philadelphia and felt as low as he had ever been and even thought of giving up boxing. Duke Dugent and his trainer, Yank Durham, were able to talk him out of his doldrums and even suggested that Frazier make the trip to Tokyo as an alternate in case something happened to Mathis. Frazier agreed and was a workhorse there, sparring with any of the Olympic boxers who wanted some action. "Middleweight, light heavyweight, it didn't matter to me, I got in there and boxed all comers," he said. In contrast, Mathis was slacking off. In the morning, when the Olympic team would do their roadwork, Mathis would run a mile and start walking and say, "Go ahead, big Joe. I'll catch up."


title: Joe Frazier

text: In 1964, heavyweight representative Buster Mathis qualified but was injured, and so Frazier was sent as a replacement. At the heavyweight boxing event, Frazier knocked out George Oywello of Uganda in the first round, then knocked out Athol McQueen of Australia 40 seconds into the third round. He was then into the semifinal, as the only American boxer left, facing the 6'2", 214-lb Vadim Yemelyanov of the Soviet Union.


title: Joe Frazier

text: "My left hook was a heat-seeking missile, careening off his face and body time and again. Twice in the second round I knocked him to the canvas. But as I pounded away, I felt a jolt of pain shoot through my left arm. "Oh damn, the thumb,"" Frazier said. He knew immediately the thumb of his left hand was damaged, but he was unsure as to the extent. "In the midst of the fight, with your adrenaline pumping, it's hard to gauge such things. My mind was on more important matters. Like how I was going to deal with Yemelyanov for the rest of the fight." The match ended when the Soviet's handlers threw in the towel at 1:49 in the second round, and the referee raised Frazier's injured hand in victory.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Now that Frazier was into the final, he mentioned his broken thumb to no one. He went back to his room and soaked his thumb in hot water and Epsom salts. "Pain or not, Joe Frazier of Beaufort, South Carolina, was going for gold," he proclaimed. He went on to fight German Hans Huber, eight years his senior. Frazier was now used to fighting bigger guys, but not with a damaged left hand. When the opening bell sounded on fight night, Joe came out, started swinging punches, and threw his right hand more than usual that night. Every so often, he would use his left hook, but nothing landed with the kind of impact that he had managed in previous bouts. He won a 3–2 decision.


title: Joe Frazier

text: After Frazier won the only American 1964 Olympic boxing gold medal, his trainer Yancey "Yank" Durham helped put together Cloverlay, a group of local businessmen (including a young Larry Merchant) who invested in Frazier's professional career and allowed him to train full time. Durham was Frazier's chief trainer and manager until Durham's death in August 1973.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier turned professional in 1965 by defeating Woody Goss by a technical knockout in the first round. He won three more fights that year, all by knockout and none going past the third round. Later that year, he was in a training accident that left him legally blind in his left eye. During pre-fight physicals, after reading the eye chart with his right eye, when prompted to cover his other eye, Frazier switched hands but covered his left eye for a second time, and state athletic commission physicians seemed not to notice or act.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier's second contest was of interest in that he was decked in the round by Mike Bruce. Frazier took an "8" count by referee Bob Polis but rallied for a TKO over Bruce in the third round.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In 1966, as Frazier's career was taking off, Durham contacted Los Angeles trainer Eddie Futch. The two men had never met, but Durham had heard of Futch, who had a reputation as one of the most respected trainers in boxing. Frazier was sent to Los Angeles to train before Futch agreed to join Durham as an assistant trainer. With Futch's assistance, Durham arranged three fights in Los Angeles against journeyman Al Jones, veteran contender Eddie Machen and George "Scrap Iron" Johnson. Frazier knocked out Jones and Machen but surprisingly went through 10 rounds with journeyman Johnson to win a unanimous decision. Johnson had apparently bet all his purse that he would survive to the final bell, noted "Ring Magazine", and he somehow achieved it. However Johnson was known in the trade as "impossibly durable".


title: Joe Frazier

text: After the Johnson match, Futch became a full-fledged member of the Frazier camp as an assistant trainer and strategist, who advised Durham on matchmaking. It was Futch who suggested that Frazier boycott the 1967 WBA Heavyweight Elimination Tournament to find a successor to Muhammad Ali after the Heavyweight Champion was stripped of his title for refusing to be inducted into the military, although Frazier was the top-ranked contender at the time.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Futch proved invaluable to Frazier as an assistant trainer and helped modify his style. Under Futch's tutelage, Frazier adopted the bob-and-weave defensive style by making him more difficult for taller opponents to punch and giving Frazier more power with his own punches. Futch remained based in Los Angeles, where he worked as a supervisor with the US Postal Service, and flew to Philadelphia to work with Frazier during the final preparations for all of his fights.


title: Joe Frazier

text: After Durham died of a stroke on August 30, 1973, Futch was asked to succeed him as Frazier's head trainer and manager. He was training the heavyweight contender Ken Norton, who lost a rematch against Ali less than two weeks before Durham's death. Then, Norton's managers, Robert Biron and Aaron Rivkind, demanded that Futch choose to train either Frazier or Norton, with Futch choosing Frazier.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Now in his second year, in September 1966 and somewhat green, Frazier won a close decision over rugged contender Oscar Bonavena, despite Bonavena flooring him twice in the second round. A third knockdown in that round would have ended the fight under the three knockdown rule. Frazier rallied and won a close split decision after 10 rounds. The Machen win followed that contest.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In 1967, Frazier stormed ahead winning all six of his fights, including a sixth-round knockout of Doug Jones and a brutal fourth round (TKO) of Canadian George Chuvalo. No boxer had ever stopped Chuvalo, but Frazier, despite the stoppage, was unable to floor Chuvalo, who would never be dropped in his entire career despite fighting numerous top names.


title: Joe Frazier

text: By February 1967, Joe had scored 14 wins and his star was beginning to rise. This culminated with his first appearance on the cover of "Ring Magazine". That month, he met Ali, who had not yet been stripped of his title. Ali said that Joe would never stand a chance of "whipping" him even in his wildest dreams. Later that year, Muhammad Ali was stripped of his world heavyweight title because of his refusal to accept the military draft during the Vietnam War.


title: Joe Frazier

text: To fill the vacancy, the New York State Athletic Commission held a bout between Frazier and Buster Mathis, who were undefeated going into the match, with the winner to be recognized as "World Champion" by New York State. Although the fight was not recognized as a World Championship bout by some, Frazier won by a knockout in the 11th round and staked a claim to the Heavyweight Championship.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier first defended his claim by beating hard-hitting prospect Manuel Ramos of Mexico. His victory came in only two rounds.


title: Joe Frazier

text: He closed 1968 by again beating Oscar Bonavena via a 15-round decision in a hard-fought rematch. Bonavena fought somewhat defensively and allowed himself to be often bulled to the ropes, which let Frazier build a wide points margin. "Ring Magazine" showed Bonavena afterwards with a gruesomely bruised face. It had been a punishing match.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In 1969, Frazier defended his NYSAC title in Texas and beat Dave Zyglewicz, who had lost only once in 29 fights, by a first-round knockout. Then, he beat Jerry Quarry in a seventh-round stoppage. The competitive, exciting match with Quarry was named "Ring Magazine" fight of the year in 1969. Frazier showed he could do a lot more than just slug by using his newly honed defensive skills to slip, bob, and weave a barrage of punches from Quarry despite Quarry's reputation as an excellent counter-punching heavyweight.


title: Joe Frazier

text: On February 16, 1970, Frazier faced WBA Champion Jimmy Ellis at Madison Square Garden. Ellis had outpointed Jerry Quarry in the final bout of the WBA elimination tournament for Ali's vacated belt. Frazier had declined to participate in the WBA tournament to protest their decision to strip Ali. Ellis held impressive wins over Oscar Bonavena and Leotis Martin, among others. Beforehand, Ali had announced his retirement and relinquished the Heavyweight title, allowing Ellis and Frazier to fight for the undisputed title, but both lacked any lineal claim. Frazier won by a technical knockout when Ellis's trainer Angelo Dundee would not let him come out for the fifth round following two fourth-round knockdowns, the first knockdowns of Ellis's career. Frazier's decisive win over Ellis was a frightening display of power and tenacity.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In his first title defense, Frazier traveled to Detroit to fight World Light Heavyweight Champion Bob Foster, who would go on to set a record for the number of title defenses in the light-heavyweight division. Frazier (26–0) retained his title by twice flooring the hard-punching Foster in the second round. The second knockdown was delivered by a devastating left hook, and Foster could not beat the count. Then came what was hyped as the "Fight of the Century", his first fight with Muhammad Ali, who had launched a comeback in 1970 after a three-year suspension from boxing. It would be the first meeting of two undefeated heavyweight champions (and the last until Mike Tyson faced Michael Spinks in 1988) since Ali (31–0) had not lost his title in the ring but been stripped because of his refusal to be conscripted into the armed forces. Some considered him to be the true champion, and the fight would crown the one true heavyweight champion.


title: Joe Frazier

text: On March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden, Frazier and Ali met in the first of their three bouts which was called the "Fight of the Century". With an international television audience and an in-house audience that included singers and actors and with Burt Lancaster (who served as "color commentator" with the fight announcer, Don Dunphy), both undefeated heavyweights met in a media-frenzied atmosphere reminiscent of Joe Louis's youth.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Several factors came together for Frazier in the fight. He was 27 and mentally and physically at his peak. Ali was 29 and coming back from a three-year absence. He had had two good wins in his comeback, including a bruising, fifteen-round technical knockout win over Oscar Bonavena.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier and Futch noticed Ali's tendency to throw a right-hand uppercut from a straight standing position after dropping the hand in preparation to throw it with force. Futch instructed Frazier to watch Ali's right hand and, once Ali dropped it, to throw a left hook at the spot that they knew Ali's face would be a second later.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In a brutal and competitive contest, Frazier lost the first two rounds but was able to withstand Ali's combinations. Frazier was known to improve in middle rounds, which was the case with Ali. Frazier came on strong after the third round by landing hard shots to the body and powerful left hooks to the head. Frazier won a 15-round unanimous decision 9–6, 11–4, 8–6–1 and claimed the lineal title. Ali was taken to a hospital immediately after the fight to check that his severely-swollen right-side jaw was not actually broken. Frazier also spent time in hospital during the ensuing month, the exertions of the fight having been exacerbated by hypertension and a kidney infection.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Later that year, he fought a three-round exhibition against hard-hitting veteran contender Cleveland Williams. In 1972, Frazier successfully defended the title twice by knocking out Terry Daniels and Ron Stander in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively. Daniels had earlier drawn with Jerry Quarry and Stander had knocked out Earnie Shavers.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier lost his undefeated record of 29–0 and his world championship, at the hands of the unbeaten George Foreman on January 22, 1973, in Kingston, Jamaica. Despite Frazier being the overall favorite, Foreman towered 10 cm (4 in.) over the more compact champion along with an 8 in. reach advantage and dominated from the start. Over the course of two rounds, Foreman managed to knock Frazier down six times en route to a technical knockout victory.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier won his next fight, a 12-round decision over Joe Bugner, in London to begin his quest to regain the title.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier's second fight against Ali took place on January 28, 1974, in New York City. In contrast to their previous meeting, the bout was a non-title fight, with Ali winning a 12-round unanimous decision. The fight was notable for the amount of clinching. After the fight Tony Perez, when asked about the violation from Ali, he replied that the only violation is if you hold and hit at the same time, although Ali was holding Frazier but he was not hitting.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Five months later, Frazier again battled Jerry Quarry in Madison Square Garden by winning the fight in the fifth round with a strong left hook to the ribs.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In March 1975, Frazier fought a rematch with Jimmy Ellis in Melbourne, Australia, and knocked him out in nine rounds. The win again established Frazier as the top heavyweight challenger for the title, which Ali had won from Foreman in the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" five months earlier.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Ali and Frazier met for the third and final time in Quezon City (a district of Manila, the Philippines), on October 1, 1975. Prior to the fight, Ali took opportunities to mock Frazier by calling him a '"gorilla" and generally trying to irritate him.


title: Joe Frazier

text: The fight was a punishing display on both sides under oppressively-hot conditions. During the fight, Ali said to Frazier, "They said you were through, Joe." Frazier said, "They lied." Ali repeatedly held Frazier around the back of his neck with his right hand, a violation of the rules that went unpunished by the referee. After 14 grueling rounds, Ali returned to his corner demanding they cut his gloves and end the bout. However, Dundee ignored Ali. This proved fortuitous, as across the ring, Futch stopped the fight out of concern for his charge. Frazier had a closed left eye, an almost-closed right eye, and a cut. Ali later said that it was the "closest thing to dying that I know of."<ref name="11/8/2011"></ref>


title: Joe Frazier

text: In 1977, Ali told the interviewer Reg Gutteridge that he felt this third Frazier fight was his best performance. When Gutteridge suggested his win over Cleveland Williams, Ali said, "No, Frazier's much tougher and rougher than Cleveland Williams."


title: Joe Frazier

text: In 1976, Frazier (32–3) fought George Foreman for a second time, shaving his head for the fight. Frazier was more restrained than usual and avoided walking into big shots like he had done in their first match. However, Foreman lobbed a tremendous left hook that lifted Frazier off his feet. After a second knockdown, the fight was stopped in the fifth round. Shortly after the fight, Frazier announced his retirement.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier made a cameo appearance in the movie "Rocky" later in 1976 and dedicated himself to training local boxers in Philadelphia, where he grew up, including some of his own children. He also helped train Duane Bobick.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In 1981, Frazier attempted a comeback. He drew over 10 rounds with hulking Floyd "Jumbo" Cummings in Chicago, Illinois. It was a bruising battle with mixed reviews. He then retired for good.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Then, Frazier involved himself in various endeavors. Among his sons who turned to boxing as a career, Frazier helped train Marvis Frazier, a challenger for Larry Holmes's world heavyweight title. He also trained his daughter, Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, who became a WIBA world light-heavyweight champion whose most notable fight was a close majority decision points loss against Laila Ali, the daughter of his rival.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier's overall record was 32 wins, 4 losses, and 1 draw, with 27 wins by knockout. He won 73% of his fights by knockout, compared to 60% for Ali and 84% for Foreman. He was a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In 1984, Frazier was the special referee for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship match between Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes at Starrcade '84. He awarded the match to Flair because of Rhodes's excessive bleeding.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In 1986, Frazier appeared as the "cornerman" for Mr. T against Roddy Piper at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum as part of WrestleMania 2. In 1989, Frazier joined Ali, Foreman, Norton, and Holmes for the tribute special "Champions Forever".


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier appeared as himself in an episode of "The Simpsons" – "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" in 1992, in which he was supposed to have been beaten up by Barney Gumble in Moe's Tavern. Frazier's son objected, so Frazier was instead shown beating up Gumble and putting him in a trash can. Frazier appeared in another episode of "The Simpsons" – "Homer's Paternity Coot" in 2006. He appeared on-screen in the 8th series of "The Celebrity Apprentice" (USA) television show as a guest-attendee at a Silent Auction event held for the season finale (won by Joan Rivers). Frazier appeared as himself in the Academy Award-winning 1976 movie, "Rocky". Since the debut of the Fight Night series of games made by EA Sports, Frazier appeared in "Fight Night 2004", "Fight Night Round 2", "Fight Night Round 3", "Fight Night Round 4" and "Fight Night Champion".


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier released his autobiography in March 1996, entitled "Smokin' Joe: The Autobiography of a Heavyweight Champion of the World, Smokin' Joe Frazier". Frazier promoted the book with a memorable appearance on "The Howard Stern Show" on January 23, 1996.


title: Joe Frazier

text: He also wrote "Box like the Pros", "a complete introduction to the sport, including the game's history, rules of the ring, how fights are scored, how to spar, the basics of defence and offence, the fighter's workout, a directory of boxing gyms, and much more. Box Like the Pros is an instruction manual, a historical reference tool and an insider's guide to the world's most controversial sport."


title: Joe Frazier

text: According to an article from The "New York Times", "over the years, Frazier has lost a fortune through a combination of his own generosity and naïveté, his carousing, and failed business opportunities. The other headliners from his fighting days—Ali, George Foreman, and Larry Holmes—are millionaires." Asked about his situation, Frazier became playfully defensive, but would not reveal his financial status. "Are you asking me how much money I have?" he said. "I got plenty of money. I got a stack of $100 bills rolled up over there in the back of the room." Frazier blamed himself, partly, for not effectively promoting his own image. In a 2006 HBO documentary on the fight in Manila, Frazier was interviewed living in a one-room apartment on the second floor of his gym.


title: Joe Frazier

text: His daughter Jacqui Frazier-Lyde is a lawyer and worked on her father's behalf in pursuit of money they claimed he was owed in a Pennsylvania land deal. In 1973, Frazier purchased 140 acres in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for $843,000. Five years later, a developer agreed to buy the farmland for $1.8 million. Frazier received annual payments from a trust that bought the land with money he had earned in the ring. However, when the trust went bankrupt, the payments ceased.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier sued his business partners, insisting his signature had been forged on documents and he had no knowledge of the sale. In the ensuing years, the 140 acres was subdivided and turned into a residential community. The land is now worth an estimated $100 million.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Initially, Frazier and Ali were friends. During Ali's enforce three-year lay-off from boxing for refusing to be drafted into the US Army, Frazier lent him money, testified before Congress and petitioned US President Richard Nixon to have Ali's right to box reinstated. Frazier supported Ali's right not to serve in the army: "If Baptists weren't allowed to fight, I wouldn't fight either."


title: Joe Frazier

text: However, in the build-up to their first fight, the Fight of the Century, Ali turned it into a "cultural and political referendum" by painting himself as a revolutionary and civil rights champion and Frazier as the white man's hope. Ali called him an "Uncle Tom" and a pawn of the white establishment as Frazier called him Clay. Ali successfully turned many black Americans against Frazier because Frazier never spoke out about race issues, and Ali could easily paint himself as hero to oppressed black people. Bryant Gumbel joined the pro-Ali anti-Frazier bandwagon by writing a major magazine article that asked, "Is Joe Frazier a white champion with black skin?" Frazier thought that was "a cynical attempt by Clay to make me feel isolated from my own people. He thought that would weaken me when it came time to face him in that ring. Well, he was wrong. It didn't weaken me, it awakened me to what a cheap-shot son of a bitch he was." Ali's camp also hurled many insults at Frazier, calling him an "ugly gorilla", though Ali had also compared other opponents to animals. He noted the hypocrisy of Ali calling him an Uncle Tom when his [Ali's] trainer (Angelo Dundee) was of Italian descent. When told by Michael Parkinson that Frazier was not an Uncle Tom, he responded by saying, "Then why does he insist on calling me Cassius Clay when even the worst of the white enemies recognize me as Muhammad Ali?"


title: Joe Frazier

text: As a result of Ali's campaign, Frazier's children were bullied at school, and his family was given police protection after receiving death threats. Ali declared that if Frazier won, he would crawl across the ring and admit that Frazier was the greatest. After Frazier won by a unanimous decision, he called upon Ali to fulfill his promise and crawl across the ring, but Ali failed to do so. Ali called it a "white man's decision" and insisted that he won.


title: Joe Frazier

text: During a televised joint interview prior to their second bout in 1974, Ali continued to insult Frazier, who took exception to Ali calling him "ignorant" and challenged him to a fight, which resulted in both of them brawling on the studio floor. Ali went on to win the 12-round non-title affair by a decision. Ali took things further in the build-up to their last fight, the Thrilla in Manila, and called Frazier "the other type of negro" and "ugly", "dumb", and a "gorilla" At one point he sparred with a man in a gorilla suit and pounded on a rubber gorilla doll, saying "This is Joe Frazier's conscience... I keep it everywhere I go. This is the way he looks when you hit him." According to the fight's promoter, Don King, that enraged Frazier, who took it as a "character assassination" and "personal invective." One night before the fight, Ali waved around a toy pistol outside Frazier's hotel room. When Frazier came to the balcony, he pointed the gun at Frazier and yelled, "I am going to shoot you." After the fight, Ali summoned Frazier's son Marvis into his dressing room, and told him that he had not meant what he had said about his father. When informed by Marvis, Frazier responded, "You ain't me, son. Why isn't he apologizing to me?"


title: Joe Frazier

text: In his 1996 autobiography "Smokin' Joe: The Autobiography of a Heavyweight Champion of the World", Frazier consistently refers to Muhammad Ali as "Cassius Clay" and never deviating from that convention unless the book directly quotes someone else.


title: Joe Frazier

text: For years afterwards, Frazier retained his bitterness towards Ali and suggested that Ali's battle with Parkinson's syndrome was a form of divine retribution for his earlier behavior. In 2001, Ali apologized to Frazier via a "New York Times" article: "In a way, Joe's right. I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn't have said. Called him names I shouldn't have called him. I apologize for that. I'm sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight." Frazier reportedly "embraced it" but later retorted that Ali apologized only to a newspaper, not to him. He said, "I'm still waiting [for him] to say it to me." Ali responded, "If you see Frazier, you tell him he's still a gorilla." Ali also said in an interview, "I wasn't going to get on my knees and crawl and beg him to forgive me."


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier told "Sports Illustrated" in May 2009 that he no longer held hard feelings for Ali. After Frazier's death in November 2011, Ali was among those who attended the private funeral services for Frazier in Philadelphia. Jesse Jackson, who spoke during the service, asked those in attendance to stand and "show your love" and reportedly Ali stood with the audience and clapped "vigorously".


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier lived in Philadelphia, where he owned and managed a boxing gym. Frazier put the gym up for sale in mid-2009. Before the gym was put up for sale, Frazier, with the help of Peter Bouchard, formed the Smokin Joe Frazier Foundation, whose purpose was to give back to troubled and in-need youth. Peter Bouchard volunteered to run the foundation for Frazier. Once Frazier's health declined, the foundation was shelved.


title: Joe Frazier

text: He was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure. He and his nemesis, Muhammad Ali, alternated over the years between public apologies and public insults. In 1996, when Ali lit the Olympic flame in Atlanta, Frazier told a reporter that he would like to throw Ali into the fire and felt that he should have been chosen to light the flame. Frazier made millions of dollars in the 1970s, but the reported mismanagement of his real estate contributed to some financial difficulties.


title: Joe Frazier

text: The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named Joe Frazier's Gym in its 25th list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2012. In 2013, the gym was named to the National Register of Historic Places.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier continued to train young fighters, although he needed multiple operations for back injuries sustained in a car accident. He and Ali reportedly attempted a reconciliation in his final years, but in October 2006, Frazier still claimed to have won all three bouts between them. He declared to a "Times" reporter, when questioned about his bitterness toward Ali, "I am what I am."


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier attempted to revive his music interests in late 2009/2010. Notably popular for singing "Mustang Sally", both Frazier and manager Leslie R. Wolff teamed up with Welsh Rock Solo artist Jayce Lewis to release his repertoire in the UK, later visiting the Welshman there to host a string of after-dinner speeches and music developments. It would notably be Frazier's last appearance there.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier was diagnosed with liver cancer in late September 2011. By November 2011, he was under hospice care, where he died on November 7 at the age of 67.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Upon hearing of Frazier's death, Muhammad Ali said, "The world has lost a great champion. I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration."


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier's private funeral took place on November 14 at the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia and in addition to friends and family was attended by Muhammad Ali, Don King, Larry Holmes, Magic Johnson, Dennis Rodman, among others. Floyd Mayweather Jr. paid for Frazier's funeral services. His body was buried at the Ivy Hill Cemetery, a short drive from the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church.


title: Joe Frazier

text: In the late 1970s, Frazier created a soul-funk group called "Joe Frazier and the Knockouts", mentioned in Billboard and recording a number of singles.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Joe toured widely in the US and Europe including Ireland, where among other places he performed in Donegal and Athy, County Kildare with his band. Joe Frazier and the Knockouts were also featured singing in a 1978 Miller beer commercial.


title: Joe Frazier

text: Frazier sang at the 1978 Jerry Lewis Telethon and he sang the United States national anthem before the rematch between Ali and Leon Spinks on September 15, 1978.


title: Culture

text: Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. Culture is often originated from or attributed to a specific region or location.


title: Culture

text: Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies.


title: Culture

text: A cultural norm codifies acceptable conduct in society; it serves as a guideline for behavior, dress, language, and demeanor in a situation, which serves as a template for expectations in a social group.


title: Culture

text: Accepting only a monoculture in a social group can bear risks, just as a single species can wither in the face of environmental change, for lack of functional responses to the change.


title: Culture

text: Thus in military culture, valor is counted a typical behavior for an individual and duty, honor, and loyalty to the social group are counted as virtues or functional responses in the continuum of conflict. In the practice of religion, analogous attributes can be identified in a social group.


title: Culture

text: Cultural change, or repositioning, is the reconstruction of a cultural concept of a society. Cultures are internally affected by both forces encouraging change and forces resisting change. Cultures are externally affected via contact between societies.


title: Culture

text: Culture is considered a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human societies. Cultural universals are found in all human societies. These include expressive forms like art, music, dance, ritual, religion, and technologies like tool usage, cooking, shelter, and clothing. The concept of material culture covers the physical expressions of culture, such as technology, architecture and art, whereas the immaterial aspects of culture such as principles of social organization (including practices of political organization and social institutions), mythology, philosophy, literature (both written and oral), and science comprise the intangible cultural heritage of a society.


title: Culture

text: In the humanities, one sense of culture as an attribute of the individual has been the degree to which they have cultivated a particular level of sophistication in the arts, sciences, education, or manners. The level of cultural sophistication has also sometimes been used to distinguish civilizations from less complex societies. Such hierarchical perspectives on culture are also found in class-based distinctions between a high culture of the social elite and a low culture, popular culture, or folk culture of the lower classes, distinguished by the stratified access to cultural capital. In common parlance, culture is often used to refer specifically to the symbolic markers used by ethnic groups to distinguish themselves visibly from each other such as body modification, clothing or jewelry. Mass culture refers to the mass-produced and mass mediated forms of consumer culture that emerged in the 20th century. Some schools of philosophy, such as Marxism and critical theory, have argued that culture is often used politically as a tool of the elites to manipulate the proletariat and create a false consciousness. Such perspectives are common in the discipline of cultural studies. In the wider social sciences, the theoretical perspective of cultural materialism holds that human symbolic culture arises from the material conditions of human life, as humans create the conditions for physical survival, and that the basis of culture is found in evolved biological dispositions.


title: Culture

text: When used as a count noun, a "culture" is the set of customs, traditions, and values of a society or community, such as an ethnic group or nation. Culture is the set of knowledge acquired over time. In this sense, multiculturalism values the peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between different cultures inhabiting the same planet. Sometimes "culture" is also used to describe specific practices within a subgroup of a society, a subculture (e.g. "bro culture"), or a counterculture. Within cultural anthropology, the ideology and analytical stance of cultural relativism hold that cultures cannot easily be objectively ranked or evaluated because any evaluation is necessarily situated within the value system of a given culture.


title: Culture

text: The modern term "culture" is based on a term used by the ancient Roman orator Cicero in his "Tusculanae Disputationes", where he wrote of a cultivation of the soul or ""cultura animi,"" using an agricultural metaphor for the development of a philosophical soul, understood teleologically as the highest possible ideal for human development. Samuel Pufendorf took over this metaphor in a modern context, meaning something similar, but no longer assuming that philosophy was man's natural perfection. His use, and that of many writers after him, ""refers to all the ways in which human beings overcome their original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human.""


title: Culture

text: In 1986, philosopher Edward S. Casey wrote, "The very word "culture" meant 'place tilled' in Middle English, and the same word goes back to Latin "colere", 'to inhabit, care for, till, worship' and "cultus", 'A cult, especially a religious one.' To be cultural, to have a culture, is to inhabit a place sufficiently intensely to cultivate it—to be responsible for it, to respond to it, to attend to it caringly."


title: Culture

text: Culture described by Richard Velkley: ... originally meant the cultivation of the soul or mind, acquires most of its later modern meaning in the writings of the 18th-century German thinkers, who were on various levels developing Rousseau's criticism of "modern liberalism and Enlightenment." Thus a contrast between "culture" and "civilization" is usually implied in these authors, even when not expressed as such.


title: Culture

text: In the words of anthropologist E.B. Tylor, it is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." Alternatively, in a contemporary variant, "Culture is defined as a social domain that emphasizes the practices, discourses and material expressions, which, over time, express the continuities and discontinuities of social meaning of a life held in common.