The ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Gang Is Officially Feuding With Fall Out Boy
The Paddy’s Pub Gang just had a brilliant, thoughtful and foolproof scheme foiled by Pete Wentz — again.
In tonight’s premiere episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17, fans got to watch what the Gang was really up to when they visited Willard R. Abbott Elementary School in the Abbott Elementary mid-season premiere “Volunteers” back in January. While completing their court-ordered community service, Mac, Dennis, Charlie, Dee and Frank descended on the dilapidated West Philadelphia public school to test out some 9/11 conspiracy theories, attempt to hijack the ABC sitcom’s in-universe documentary and, weirdly, brew some coffee.
Over the course of just one week, the Gang squeezed so many schemes into what was supposed to be their reparations for their crimes against society, but, of all the actual fires that the Always Sunny cast started in the school, their lone semi-educational scheme actually managed to put smiles on the teachers’ faces as they recorded a sequel to Billy Joel’s hit 1989 single “We Didn’t Start the Fire” featuring some Abbott staffers.
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Then, in “The Gang F***s Up Abbott Elementary,” Dennis and Charlie learn that the wildly popular pop-punk band Fall Out Boy already did that scheme, prompting Dennis to scream the funniest line of the entire episode: “Every goddamn time we try a single thing, this goddamn Fall Out Boy! Always a step ahead of us!”
In “The Gang F***s Up Abbott Elementary,” Dennis and Charlie get the idea to update Joel’s musical overview of world history since the start of the Cold War after realizing that the students of Abbott aren’t properly educated on the events of September 11, 2001. Vowing to “never forget” the national tragedy (and testing the melting point of steel on some gymnasium bleachers), the Gang gets to work writing and recording an updated version of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” that includes important historical events post-1989, and they recruit a handful of teachers to help record what they’re sure will be a viral music video.
While Janine, Jacob and Ms. Howard are elated to be included in the educational music project, Dennis and Charlie suddenly go stiff when Jacob lets it slip that Fall Out Boy already did a 21st century “We Didn’t Start the Fire” cover in 2023. The pair retreat to the boys’ bathroom (or the volunteers’ lounge, as they prefer to treat it) to inform the rest of the Gang that, once again, their dreams are going down swinging.
“Oh, I mean, the Ed Hardy jeans! The spiked hair!” Charlie rages at Fall Out Boy.
Mac joins in, “Plus, the eyeliner! That was my look, you stole it from me!”
Vowing to overcome Fall Out Boy’s flagrant theft of their sound and aesthetic, the true “We Didn’t Start the Fire” cover artists release their rendition of the classic song on YouTube under the video title, “Fall Out Boy Can’t Stop Us.” And, at least at Abbott, the real updated music video was a big hit — maybe not as big as “Thnks fr the Mmrs” or “Centuries,” but as Principal Ava Coleman put it, “I wasn’t mad at it. It was a bop.”
Despite Fall Out Boy’s best efforts to keep the Dennis, Charlie, Mac, Frank and Dee down and steal all of their best ideas, the massively successful rockers will never be able to steal the Gang’s fire.
