It revitalized Fall Out Boy's commercial success and received generally positive reviews, although most music critics were hesitant to categorize it as a pure rock record.

The band's, specifically bassist/lyricist Pete Wentz, every movement had become fodder for gossip in tabloids, and lead vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump recalled that "We found ourselves running on fumes a little bit -- creatively and probably as people, too.

"[1] In addition, the constant touring schedule had become 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.

Near the end, Blink-182's Mark Hoppus shaved Wentz's head in a move Rolling Stone would later describe as a "symbolic cleansing of the past, but also the beginning of a very dark chapter for the band.

[6] 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.

[8][9] 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.

Stump revealed that fans harassed him on his solo tour, hurling insults such as "We liked you better fat", and noted: "Whatever notoriety Fall Out Boy used to have prevents me from having the ability to start over from the bottom again.

"[10] 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.

[9] 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.

[9] 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.

[13][14] "The Phoenix" was inspired by Soviet Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich and drum loops, both of which Stump was interested in at one point in the recording process.

The same orchestral snippet was employed as a sample by German hip-hop artist Peter Fox in his 2008 single "Alles neu" from the album Stadtaffe.

[3] Keeping the secret was difficult, especially for a group so visible on social media; Hurley stayed away from Twitter, and all members got as far away from one another in public as possible.

[9] The band remained tight-lipped until the very end; when the Chicago Tribune asked Wentz a week prior to the announcement whether a Fall Out Boy reunion was happening, he replied: "It's not.

[22] The title originated as a tongue-in-cheek remark after Wentz envisioned album reviews that would sarcastically state that the band "came back to save rock and roll."

The quartet's announcement included a photo of them, taken earlier that morning, huddled around a bonfire, tossing copies of the band's back catalog into the flames at the original location of 1979's Disco Demolition Night.

[25] The band performed an "intimate" show the same night at Chicago's Subterranean, followed by two more club slots in New York City and Los Angeles the same week.

[3] It 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".

[32] It officially impacted radio in the United Kingdom on November 4, coinciding with the band's performance at the O2 Academy Islington,[32] and later peaked at number 64 on the UK Singles Chart.

[33] Inspired in part by Daft Punk's Electroma, the band released a music video for all eleven songs on the album in a series titled The Young Blood Chronicles between February 2013 and May 2014.

[35] As soon as Fall Out Boy came off of its hiatus, a tour supporting Save Rock and Roll was announced for the summer of 2013, in addition to the one-off comeback dates in selected cities.

[37] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic commended the record's compositions as "ambitious, admirable, and sometimes thrilling, particularly because the group never fears to tread into treacherous waters, happy to blur the distinctions between pop and rock, mainstream and underground.

[38]Dave Simpson of The Guardian was positive in his description of the music on the album: "Each track fuses punk-pop, boyband production values and heart-style power-balladry to make a big enough noise to accompany fireworks in stadiums.

"[41] Rolling Stone's Simon Vozick-Levinson characterized the record as full of "over-the-top ambitions", summarizing by saying: "Does rock's future depend on this overheated nonsense?

"[46] Johan Wippsson of Melodic gave a more critical review, writing that "Fall Out Boy is not the band that will save rock and roll".

[49] 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.

Initially, industry sources had forecast both albums to sell around 150,000, but Save Rock and Roll pulled ahead by the end of the tracking week.

[50] The arrival of Save Rock and Roll posted the quartet's then-third biggest sales week, and earned the band its second career number one on the chart.

On the Canadian Albums Chart, Save Rock and Roll debuted at number one with 8,000 first week sales,[55][56] and later achieved Gold status for 40,000 shipments.

"[15] All songs written and composed by Fall Out Boy (Andy Hurley, Joe Trohman, Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz), except where noted.