Soundtrack Of My Life – Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz On Slayer, Metallica and Major Lazer

Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz talks NME through the songs and albums that made him who he is, from Slayer and Metallica to Rancid and um, Ace of Bass…

The First Song I Remember Hearing

‘Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay’ – Otis Redding: “It was on AM Radio, which is all talk radio now. I was in the back of my dad’s car sitting in the middle seat, definitely without a seatbelt on. You know when you have memories that are more sensory? If I heard the song it would put me back in that time. It pre-dates when I could actually process a memory. I was probably like, four or five, like when you first really can have a memory you can hold on to. The song reminded me of something warm, like a warm feeling.”

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The First Song I Fell In Love With

‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ – Def Leppard: “This may be embarrassing! I was maybe 10 or 11. It just sounded so awesome to me. I remember me and my friend Mick were going to be in a talent show and we were going to play cardboard guitars and to that song and just run around. I know that it didn’t end up happening but I remember how awesome we thought it was going to be.”

The First Album I Ever Bought

‘Decade Of Aggression’ – Slayer: “I was in this place called Coconut Records that doesn’t exist anymore in Illinois, my hometown. I didn’t have any other Slayer stuff and I remember that my friend thought Slayer were cool and I was like, ‘this one seems cool…’. I didn’t know it was going to be a live album – there was a bunch of live stuff and there was a bunch of songs that I really liked and a bunch of songs that I didn’t really recognise. I guess it was a good insight into the fact that the first album you buy should not be a double live album.”

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The Song That Made Me Want To Make Music Of My Own

‘Enter Sandman’ – Metallica: “I guess it was around the ‘Black Album’ era. I remember being in the back of my parents’ station wagon and blasting ‘Enter Sandman’, and it was cool because it was like ‘this is my music.’ ‘Enter Sandman’ was so pervasive because it was played on this radio station in Chicago called B96, which usually played more urban music but they played ‘Enter Sandman’ because everyone had to play it because it was such a big song. There was something about it that made me be like, ‘I can make music, the kind of music that I want to make.’ I think following Metallica and other metal bands and punk rock bands lead directly in a linear way to making music myself.”

The Song I Can No Longer Listen To

Anything from ‘Evening Out With Your Girlfriend’ – Fall Out Boy: “You know when you go through an awkward time in your life and take a weird picture? You look back at that picture and you’re like, ‘wow, I was so weird’. Making some strange decisions with my hair and my clothes and stuff… This is like having an album worth of that. It’s cool and it got us to where we are and stuff, but it’s really hard to have that awkward time memorialised forever. I’m sure that there’s people who have similar feelings. It doesn’t change how the fans feel about the record, it’s just me and I could go the rest of my life without listening to that record and I would be alright.”

The Song I Sing At Karaoke

‘I Saw The Sign’ – Ace Of Base: “I think pre-two drinks I can do an ok rendition of it, but after two drinks, I think in my head I can do a fantastic version of it but I would hate to see the video footage documenting that stuff.”

The Song That Makes Me Want To Dance

‘Lean On’ – Major Lazer ft. MØ: “I think if I was a dancing person this is the song that I would dance to. If I was out with my friends and we were just having a fun night or whatever, this is the song that would probably make me want to dance. I really like to have a partner – my girlfriend is a pretty good dancer and it’s more fun to dance with her because she does more of the actual dance work and I can just hang out and sway with the rhythm a little bit. Ten years ago it was only mosh pits for me.”

The Song I Can’t Get Out Of Your Head

‘Trap Queen’ – Fetty Wap: “He’s just insane. I feel like I don’t know what he says a lot of the time but when I do catch the words, they’re pretty crazy. You know when a song comes on in a club or in the car and everyone is like ‘aahhh’, it’s definitely got that kind of intro. I like the idea that there’s something kind of romantic about it. Like, he’s singing about this girl that he takes drugs with maybe? There’s a Bonnie and Clyde romantic vibe.”

The Song I Wish You Had Written

‘I Can See Clearly Now’ – Johnny Nash: “There’s something about that song. He sneaks in some lyrics that are so interesting to me. He just kind of made this amazing, uplifting song that’s not cheesy. How is it not cheesy?! It’s very tricky. I really wish that I could have written that song.”

The Song I Want Played At My Funeral

‘November Rain’ – Guns N’ Roses: “Two guitar solos! It’s sombre but it’s exciting, it says it all.”

The Song That Reminds Me Of Forming Fall Out Boy

‘Ruby Soho’ – Rancid: “I just remember listening to that song a lot. There were these little nuances like the pick slides that they were doing. It was so punk rock but it had this catchy spirit to it. They could sing but they didn’t really want to sing. There are so many things about it. I didn’t really know what the song meant but I just liked it. I remember when we were driving in the van that was one of the songs being blasted. It was definitely something we wanted to emulate for sure.”


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