For a dude in one of the most famous rock bands of all time, Pete Wentz has surprisingly good manners. After riding the glass elevator to meet me at the sky lobby level of the Jimmy at the James New York hotel, and introducing me to his burly body guard, the parched Fall Out Boy lyricist and bassist was offered a glass of water. As it arrived, I was also asked if I'd like some. When I said yes, Wentz, who at 36 looks 23, politely pushed his own frosty tumbler at me. "Here," he said sweetly. "Take this one." It's a small gesture, but one that was not lost on me. Chivalry, as it were, is not only undead but comes in the shrunken T-shirt, frosted tips, Calico-colored eyes variety. And every moment, every instinct, every self-aware confession he made throughout the course of our 20-minute conversation further impressed upon me that this Fall Out Boy is a capital-M Man. Here, over a round of absurdly strong Forty Niners, we talk about the TRL days, college-age angst, and the proper way to smudge your eyeliner just so.

Elizabeth Griffin

Now, Pete, I don't want to age you (or myself), but I vividly remember your song "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" being featured on an episode of Laguna Beach...Is that as fond of a memory for you as it is for me?



Yeah! That was when I first learned the word "chyron."

What does that mean?



[Laughs] It's when they put your album cover up on the screen as the song plays. I remember it was a big deal to our manager. All the time he'd be like, 'They're going to chyron the album. It's gonna be great!' And I was like, 'I have no idea what that means.'

That's funny. Actually, after researching your Twitter feed and interviews, I realized that you are, in general, a pretty funny guy. Do other people know that about you?



You know, I've never understood why guys in rock bands have to pick one or the other. I see all these serious guys at festivals and stuff and I'm thinking, 'They must go back to the room and make fart jokes or something!' You can't be like that all the time, right?

One thing that separates these festival acts from Fall Out Boy is that a lot of your fans have grown up with your music. Do you have a wide variety of people at your shows?



It's pretty crazy, yeah. So we played at Jones Beach [on Long Island] last night and you like look out and see that now it's young families and kids. I feel like the way we interact with pop music in America is, you know, you find some bands you like in high school, you go to college—I went to DePaul for a little bit—and there you experiment with bands you think are cooler than you. Like, I didn't get the bands all my friends were listening to at the time. But when you go back into the real world where life's hard sometimes, you think, 'I can listen to Bon Jovi or whatever.' If I like it and it makes me feel good, why not?

Do you ever listen to Top 40?



I do, yeah. I listen to a lot of Satellite radio with my son. We'll listen to classics, rock and roll, and we listen to pop radio. And you can really, really tell how good a pop song is if a six-year-old gets it.

Is that true?



We'll be listening to '80s on 8 and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" will come on. And to my son I'm like, 'You know how you feel about that 5 Seconds of Summer song? That's how I felt about this song.' I explained to him that it was the first song that was mine, and he said, 'I'm glad that people can make better music now.' It kind of broke my heart but part of me was like, 'That's how it goes.' Otherwise you become the old man yelling at the kids to get off your lawn.

Elizabeth Griffin

It's crazy to think that Eminem will soon be on the oldies channel. Where does Fall Out Boy fall on the spectrum, you think?

It's interesting because we're not in this esteemed class. I know it because we inducted Green Day into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and they're up there alongside The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, and Foo Fighters. So that's this upper tier, and then there's young, up-and-coming bands, and I think we're kind of in the middle somewhere. It's like having to fight a war on two fronts. Our legacy is important but I also think it's important for kids to go out on these summer tours and get to see a band whose songs are being played on pop radio right now. It's a really weird spot. It's like we're at the awkward, acne stage in our career.

Well, to that end, your recent singles "Centuries" and "Uma Thurman" have millions more listens than "Sugar We're Goin' Down" on Spotify, so it seems like you are making an impact on younger listeners...

I think that it shows us how much more music people are listening to these days. It just deflates the argument that music is less powerful and less listened to.

Right. But what about fame? You've been doing this for 15 years. Being recognized, having to have a bodyguard, that all must get so old...

Listen, I would never...I mean, when we were doing TRL and all that stuff, it was at this level that was unsustainable. I look at One Direction—and we've hung out with those guys and they're really nice kids—but I wouldn't want to do it again. It's too crazy, you know. There's, like, four years of my life I can't really remember because there was too much stuff happening for my databank to hold.

Maybe that level of attention depletes the neurons that insist upon stimulation?

Yeah! And you atrophy basic human muscles. Like, if I had to go to the airport back then, I wouldn't know how. It's so stupid. But, that said, I do have an appreciation for that moment when a kid gets up the courage to approach you. I know my own kids are going to do that to somebody one day and hopefully that person's not gonna be an asshole. The other day my son and I went to FAO Schwarz because it's closing. We played the Today show that morning and I was sooo zombie. This guy comes up to me and is like, 'Hey, Pete from Fall Out Boy. Good job on the Today show.' And I was like [nodding appreciatively], '...cool.' And he was like, 'John Bongiovi.' And I was like, 'No fucking way.' We could have had a Big moment on the floor piano together!

So you mentioned you went to college for a little while. What were you like back then?

I feel like I was a bit lost, actually. I was studying political science and aspired to be an idealistic person. I played in all these punk rock bands, but I just couldn't figure out the direction. You know all that stuff about figuring yourself out in college? I think I was trying to do all that.

Like, almost too purposefully?



Yeah, like out of a movie or something. I think I was like a really forgettable person in college. I also had a really hard time being away from my parents so I would always come back and sleep at home, which drove my parents crazy. There was something about my childhood—the ThunderCats, and the Garbage Pail Kids, and all of that—that was really safe to me and shielding. I think I missed that.

Speaking of throwbacks...At one point your were, like, the pioneer of guyliner. Any way you might practice your skills on me?



[Laughs] I'm not that good at doing it! I feel bad. I'm gonna mess it up. We could try if you want, but I've literally never put eyeliner on someone else before.

Elizabeth Griffin

It will be even better if you're bad at it!



I'll tell you how I did it, too. I actually didn't use eyeliner. I used eye shadow and I would apply it with my fingers. Sometimes I would put liner on my inner eye [Ed's note: I think he means the waterline]. Are you sure you want this to be done to you?

It's exactly what I want.



Oh my god, I'm so bad at this. So bad. Not good. It's so bad. [Laughs] And I just smeared it! This is how I would do it though.

Elizabeth Griffin

What prompted you to use it in the first place?



Um, I don't know. I feel like it was like a Halloween costume or something. I, like, love not being myself sometimes...Oh my god, it's a heavy line. You're gonna go back to work with margarita breath and terrible eyeliner. Your colleagues are gonna be all like, 'What happened to you?'

I bet it looks perfect.



I could give you some wings or something? It's so bad. It's so uneven. I would put eyeliner on but then I would also use eyeshadow to kind of blow it out.

Would you use colors?



Yeah, all of it. But the problem is that I'm 36 now. You really don't want to be the guy who stays at the party too long. You know what I'm saying?

Elizabeth Griffin

Elizabeth Griffin and Jen Baumgardner

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