Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz explains how Green Day influenced their new album
Fall Out Boy founding member Pete Wentz has revealed how Green Day influenced the band’s new album, So Much (for) Stardust.
Speaking on the Artist Friendly podcast, hosted by Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden, Wentz noted how Green Day didn’t try to recreate Dookie with American Idiot, and explained why he found it an inspiring move. The bassist told listeners how Fall Out Boy wanted their latest album to be reminiscent of their early work, but not a replica.
Wentz said: “I always thought they could’ve put out a record that aped what we were doing, but instead they put out American Idiot, which was this thing that reminded everyone like, ‘Oh, Green Day. They were the band that put out Dookie. It was adjacent to what we were doing, but it reminded the world what Green Day was. That’s what we thought about with the record.”
The release, which arrived last month, marked the band’s first LP since 2018’s Mania. Meanwhile, in another interview, Wentz claimed the current “post-pandemic, pre-Armageddon” climate also shaped the album.
He said: “It feels like the whole world’s about to blow all the time. You’re watching people freak out, people wanna dictate their opinion to each other but they’re really in an echo chamber just dictating it back to themselves. Any time they interact with somebody who has a different opinion, they’re freaking out at each other and one of them’s filming the other one. It just feels like everyone’s on edge all the time…it feels like we’re on a precipice.”
Listen to the Artist Friendly podcast below.
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