I can’t express with words.
Always do with emotions but i want to say
something so i’m gonna try… I know that
everyone need a break in sometime,
this time get for all of u.. 
You need to see bronx grow up. The kids
grow really fast and you want be there
with him when that happens. I just want
say to you THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES,
FOB&you give me the best moments of
my life, but never had the opportunity to
meet you . I know that FOB someday is
going to be together again. Probably not
today, not in the next week. But maybe in
the following years and I hope that. So
thanks for everything, thanks for the
memories and always remember
believers never die. NEVER. 
Lita.

Dear Pete, 

Sorry my letter is a bit late. I’m kind of generally behind on the times.

I guess it all started when I bought tickets to my first Fall Out Boy concert, my friend was pretty in love with you so I said I’d go with her. little did I know that buying those tickets would change my life and help me find not only my favourite band, but people that I can look up to, people that are my inspiration. Of course, by the time the concert came round Fall Out Boy were the most played on my iPod and your songs had become the soundtrack to my life.

Seeing you was one of the best things I have ever done.

I could tell you the difficulties I’ve experienced in life, because there have been a few, but the important thing is that you know that during those times you made me feel like it could be okay. You’ve helped me on so many levels, in ways I can’t describe. ‘Hero’ doesn’t even begin to explain it. I’m aware you’ve heard this before and in a way that’s half of the reason this is so important. When people say Fall Out Boy helped them or just that Fall Out Boy are their favourite band, I hope you realise how much we mean it.

I’ve never been particularly articulate but I guess what I’m trying to say is I love you and that no matter what happens or what you decide to do in the future, we’ll be here. Your friends and family will be here. I’ll be here.

I’ve cried to your words and laughed to them. I’ve fallen apart to them and rebuilt myself on them. I am who I am today because of you. People keep telling me that eventually the love I have for this band will fade but I know it won’t. This is forever.

Thank you.

Love always,
Rowan.

i worry about stupid things sometimes.
stupid if only because i don’t know the people i worry about, and it’s not my place to worry.
how is it any of my business if ryan ross is killing himself with cocaine and booze, that he’s addicted, an addict, his father?
how is it my business that patrick, marvelous, beautiful, golden, magic patrick stump, might be starving himself, that he looks unhealthy, that he’s the kind of thin thin razor sharp thin that he’s never been, even when he was tiny and young and jailbait?
how is it my business, how is it my place to worry that brendon’s drinking is a problem, that it’s too much, that he could be hurting himself and his friends and his world, loosing them at the bottom of a margarita glass?
and how is it my place to worry that pete wentz is going to self destruct all over again, best buy all over again, that his eyes have gone sad and he’s stopped smiling and atavanhalen all over again?
i worry, even though it’s not my place.
because i’ve grown up on these boys, these faces, these words and voices and passions.
i’ve been influenced by their devotion and talent, taught and caressed through their messages into something new and self sufficient and accepting. 
the fires of my own passions have been stoked and fed into something big and roaring and beautiful by pete’s and ryan’s words, never quite perfect, but so so flawless in their faults.
my voice has rung out high and clear in the sway of brendon’s and patrick’s notes, their musical genius, so total and wondrous.
i feel like i know them so well, although i truly know nothing.
i may never meet these boys and men who have made my life bareable and who have changed me so, but i will worry, it being my place or not.
we all hold some love for them, in all their antics and actions and mistakes and trials.
i love you, though we will never meet.

Dear Pete,
I really wanted to write this letter. Your band, Fall Out Boy is my favourite band ever. There’s a number of reasons for this. The music, the people, your personalities, the lyrics. I’m not going to say you saved my life, because it wasn’t in danger, but you certainly made it a lot better during any tough or unhappy times. It’s not just you, it’s also Patrick and Joe and Andy. I really wish I could’ve gone to a concert or met you guys, but I guess I’ve missed my chance now. I’m really sad about the break, I don’t think anyone can possibly have what you guys have/had. Your lyrics explain perfectly how I feel at times, and other times they don’t, but I can still relate to you. Hehe.
None of my friends really like Fall Out Boy and my friend Vanessa calls you an ass, which I think is completely unfair seeing as she’s never met you. She just doesn’t understand. A lot of people don’t.
So don’t listen to people like Perez (major bully) or Brandon Flowers because there’s always going to be someone who hates you or wants to bring you down even when you’re doing so much good. (Kinda like how Sue Sylvester hates the glee club.)

I have a theory that without Fall Out Boy, I’d be a worse person. Sometimes I feel really bad about myself, to the point of tears, but then I turn on your music and I start to smile. That’s magic. That’s Fall Out Boy.

Sometimes, I get really sad because I know that if I ever met you guys, it’d just be me saying “Hi” and then you forgetting all about me. Then I wish that I could actually become your friend. I know we’d be good friends, all four of you are kind of like me. Or, I’m like the four of you.

I’m not really going to say anything about the break. Though I’d love to persuade you to come back, I know that it’s not up to me. :(

Just… say hi to Patrick for me, please? He’s just really amazing and… yeah.

I hope for all the best with you and Bronx and Ashlee.

Love forever,
Liz.


BELIEVERS NEVER DIE, BIATCH!

Dear Pete
I could tell you I’ve had a hard life, but then no harder then so many other people, I could also tell you about how I was alone for longer then any one person deserves to be, but living in L.A I’m sure you see a fair amount of kids out on the street. I mention this for no other reason then to explain that back in 2004 when you and your band came to my attention and into my life I was all alone and saw no good in the world. I am today in a very different place, I live in a small flat with my closest friend who I meet while waiting in line for a Fall Out Boy gig in 2006 and I have a wonderful boyfriend who I meet when he pulled me out of the crowd (after I got knocked out by a dude crowd surfing wearing steal toe cap boots) while watching Fall Out Boy at Reading Festival in 2007, he then took me to meet you guys, I apparently told Patrick I could see two of him and Andy laughed at me. On January 1st 2010 he asked me to marry him, to which I of course said yes. Because of you and your band I not only have a soundtrack to my life but I have a life, not only that I have a family too. I have so many of the best friends someone could ask for because of you guys, I have a place I belong. If you break up, if Fall Out Boy really is no more, then such is life as not everything lasts forever, but you have brought so much joy into my life and the lives of those around me I don’t even have words to truly thank you. I think Its so very important for you to have some idea of the impact you have had on so many lives around the world. So thank you, thanks for all the good times, the great people I’ve met, people I couldn’t live with out and most importantly thank you for one hell of a ride!

Good luck to you, your family and all those you hold dear.
Love always
Jo

Dear Pete,
I can say with a smile that Fall Out Boy is my favorite band. I can’t say that your band has gotten me through a hard time, because honestly my life is nothing to complain about.  But I can say that your music has made me smile during times when I just couldn’t be happy. The songs and the albums I could sing along to when all I wanted to do was cry, made feel better, they made me feel connected to something.  That’s exactly what Fall Out Boy did.  Fans of the band are all connected. Whether it was laughing at people calling you “The fall out boys” on fobr, or telling stories of past shows in line for concerts, we all had something in common.  I’ll never forget the time I spent talking to members on fobr, and i’ll never forget the lines I skipped school for to sit in all day long. Fans of this band are like a family. We all have these odd inside jokes that anyone who wasn’t a fan just wouldnt understand.  The lines before shows were a place where we all belonged, where we all had something to talk about, and no one was excluded. My first show was on April 1st, 2006. I had been waiting nearly two years to see Fall Out Boy.  My friend and I got a spot near the front, and once the show started I knew that this was something I wanted to see over and over again. And I did, 9 times during the past 4 years. Most of the time with my best friends, and sometimes, when I’d drive a few hours away, my dad would come.  All are memories I’ll never forget. It scares me really, 6 years ago I was just one of a few fans of FOB in my middle school.  I didnt know FOB would be my favorite band, and I didnt know I would wait hours and hours just to get into shows.  Now many of my best friends have moved on from your band, and I still haven’t.  Again, its this connection many of the fans have developed, that wont let us just move on. I’ve been a fan of many bands, and eventually ended up forgetting them, or disliking them, but it never happened with FOB and I dont believe it ever will.  Pete, thank you for being so sweet to me when I met you three years ago. Thank you for the music, the friends, the shows, and the memories.
Much Love,
Madi

dear pete,

reading these thank you notes is probably like listening to a record
skip on the same verse. this is me hoping that maybe that particular
verse is something you can look back on when you’re feeling down and
out.

fall out boy has had a large impact on my life. i first listened to
take this to your grave 6 years ago and honestly, i was 11 at the time
and thought you guys were just the coolest thing ever. i had no
serious attachments to the music at the time, and music at that point
in my life was just something to listen to and enjoy mindlessly. i had
been through hard things, but i’ll admit that i wasn’t exactly the
smartest kid and i was incapable of making parallels between the music
i listened to and my own life, at least consciously.

i find it ironic that as soon as my life was starting to change and i
was gaining my cliche teenage identity, that was when you, all four of
you, were changing. not necessarily changing in the sense that the
music meant something different to you, because i have no way of
knowing that, but you suddenly shot up from becoming steadily popular
to an overnight success.

junior high was when i lost all of my friends, was picked up and
hurled out of the closet, so to speak, and made an outcast. i remember
walking into the locker rooms before gym and having girls leave
because they thought i was going to molest them. which is stupid, but
they were stupid and so it was just to be expected, i guess. junior
high, however, was also when i started listening to music to try to
find my rock. there was nobody there for me, and so i needed
something, anything, that seemed to understand or relate to me. and
that was fall out boy for me.

it was still fall out boy for me when a few months ago, my dad came to
my house to tell me that he was leaving, he didn’t know where he was
going, and that the only contact i would have with him was through
email. he and my mom had separated when i was 7 on my birthday, and it
was hard for me to hear that not only would he not be living with me
now, but i would possibly never get to see him again. as soon as my
dad walked out the door, i broke down. i was so angry that i was
crying because he had left me, had left my brother and my mom and
everyone that meant anything to him. when i had finally calmed down
and turned itunes on shuffle, the first thing that came on was
pavlove. and i cried all over again.

when people talked shit and said you four had changed and sold out, i
stood my ground against that because for me, you guys were up on a
golden pedestal. you still are.

so thank you, pete. thank you for writing lyrics that people can
relate to. thank you for literally saving lives. thank you for being
who you are, and not letting people completely knock you off into the
water. thank you for taking a chance on fall out boy. people who hold
your decisions against you, no matter what they are, aren’t true fans
and you should never listen to them. thank you for being honest and
making what was probably a terrifying decision, even though you knew
you’d get backlash. you’re right; i was glad to hear it from you
instead of through a publicist, and i’m glad that you decided to back
down now instead of staying and not feeling as enthusiastic about the
band years down the road.

best of wishes to you and your family. you seem like an amazing dad,
the kind i wish i had. don’t listen to the gossip sites and the
tabloids and just remember that there are tons of people out there
that will love you no matter what happens. keep your chin up.

love, ashley

Dear Pete,
I just want to thank you for everything. Your music has literally changed my entire life. Before you and your band, I was listening to weird music. After I found out about you guys, my whole world became brighter. I’ve loved every music video you’ve made. You are my hero and my inspiration to always try my hardest and never give up. Whatever you decide to do with Fall Out Boy, I will support you. You are an amazing person and I think you are awesome. I’ve never been to your concerts (sadly) but in my heart I was at every one cheering you on. I really hope whatever FOB decides to do, that you’re always happy. I think you’re super cool. Whatever you do in life, I hope you’re always happy. Say  hi to Ashlee and Bronx for me.
Love,
Katherine

Dear Pete,

Thanks for the past six years. It was a wild roller coaster ride. Your music brought my daughter & I, and my whole family closer together. It was our common ground. We had fun, wonderful, joyous times. All the events, meet & greets and concerts that we attended together are times we will never forget.

Thanks for your songs which broke down barriers that we thought would never yield. We’ll never forget the day we heard my Autistic son in his room singing “Saturday.” We’ll never forget the tears that streamed down our faces.  We’ll never forget the feeling of sheer happiness, because it was a moment we thought we’d never see.    Thanks for his first concert and how nice you guys were to him.     And thank you for teaching this guy in his late 40’s that it’s never too late to enjoy life. That music has no age limits. Neither does going to concerts, shouting, screaming, singing along at the top of your lungs, moshing and having a good time.

Thanks

Overcast Dad

I guess maybe the years don’t amount to much.  Not when there are chunks of them that I would rather forget; I lump together the months and discard them, toss them over my shoulder without a backwards glance.  But that’s today.  That’s how I am now, who I’ve become.

And I would be lying if I said that Fall Out Boy didn’t help me get to this point.

All of us, the tired eyes and down-turned mouths and sleep-heavy limbs that we all share, we are all still standing thanks to you.

Something my mother always tells me is that I should never let the past get so far out of mind that I can’t see it in my rear-view mirror.  My mother is, maybe, a little confused about how metaphors work.  Regardless, she knows what she’s talking about.

I should never forget buying Take this to your Grave and the calmness that I found in those first few chords.  I always want to remember April 24^th, 2009:  The day I finally got to see my band with my best friend and I could feel the bass resounding in my bones, crawling up my spine and settling into my shoulders.

Part of me will always be dead on arrival, a little jaded but still hopeful.  There’s a space in my heart that knows that my insides are golden, golden, golden, no matter what anyone else thinks of me.

I’ve spent countless nights, curled up in bed with your records on repeat.  I hope you know how amazing and beautiful it is to realize that someone out there understands the mess in your head.  Listening to your words makes me feel like mine could maybe amount to something someday.  It’s a hope that means everything.

And I was never that girl who waited outside of a show in the hopes of meeting you.  They say that you should never meet your heroes anyway, right?

The years haven’t been good to any of us.  But I guess that part of what you and your band taught me is that my imperfections and flaws and broken bits make me something worthwhile.

We are all golden.

And I could never thank you enough.

Xo

rachel