On initial glance, Fall Out Boy bassist, lyricist and de facto band leader Pete Wentz is kind of a douche. The guy’s shown his junk online, married Ashlee Simpson, and is responsible for some of the worst emo cliches ever. While Fall Out Boy are more of a pop band now, they personify emo, and many shitty mallcore bands have taken the worst parts of what they do (the horrible haircuts, song titles that are a paragraph long that have nothing to do with the song, etc.) and made a career out of it. But there are a few things he’s done lately that have given us newfound respect for him.
For one, he did some backup vocals on Every Time I Die’s new album, New Junk Aesthetic. While it wasn’t said which song it’s on, Epitaph had some fun with it and launched a contest for fans to figure out what song it was. It’s cool enough that he’s still in touch enough with heavy music to make an appearance on ETID’s album, and hopefully will make some Fall Out Boy fans realize that Every Time I Die is awesome.
And then there’s the issue of his hair. While onstage at New York’s Madison Square Garden during a concert a few weeks ago, Blink 182 bassist Mark Hoppus cut his hair off. “Jay Z had the death of autotune, this is the death of the emo swoosh,” he stated on his Twitter account. Hey metalcore bands, take a look at this. Live it, love it, and cut your stupid hair off. And while we’re at it, ditch the guyliner too. Seriously. Ever the entrepeneur, Wentz is actually selling locks of his hair as part of the $129 deluxe edition of their greatest hits album, Believers Never Die: Greatest Hits. The first 400 girls/gay dudes that are fan club members can take the band up on that offer.
