Fall Out Boy's dual AP covers, depicting the suckery and rulery of the band and their current status, could not have come at a more perfect time, in this fan's most humble of opinions.

If you have been around this particular scene for any reasonable amount of time, then the "RULE!" cover makes your heart ache unspeakably for the smell of sweaty arm pit hole-in-the-wall clubs (i.e. Chain Reaction) and the ache in your spine that can only come from the unmistakable crush of the ever present, ever kicking crowd surfer. Ah how we now yearn for the bumps, bruises and mosh pits we used to protest so loudly about. I think I can safely speak for the "old school" FOB fan community as a whole when I say that these were the days. And perhaps that "no one will ever feel like this again".

But oh, how times change. Does anyone else remember the day Fall Out Boy made their first appearance on TRL in the summer of 2005? The "SUCK!" cover sort of makes us laugh, but more incredulously than with any kind of sincere joy. With the success of FUCT and IOH (much deserved but much to our collective surprise), and with the advent of Pete getting his own MTV show (what??), and with the paparazzi pics and the crazy wild exposure these guys have been getting over the span of about 2 years, it's almost hard to recconcile the Fall Out Boy who used to sell their own merch with the Fall Out Boy who sells US Weekly mags. Having to stand behind a shrieking girl with a puffy paint PETE'S GROUPIE shirt certainly makes you wish for a crowd-surfer-induced spinal injury like nothin else can.

The thing that has kept us in the old crowd clinging along for the ride, I think, is the fact that no one seems to be more surprised by and unsure how to handle this banannas level of success than Fall Out Boy themselves. If you have ever seen an episode of FN MTV, it's clear as Pete bumbles (endearingly) through the interviews, smiling garrishly as always, that he's wondering how the hell he got there as much as any of us are.

Anyway, sincerity is something that's hard to fake and make real if it's not there. Fall Out Boy has got heart! And as many times as we proclaim that PETE WENTZ IS A DOUCHE BAG!!!!!!, we are more than 75% in love with the way his crazy little mind works. Sort of like we want to get inside and take it apart to see what goes on in there. The words and songs still have that je ne sais quoi (to sample the French theme) that sorta makes me swoon. Okay, more than sorta. Like every time. Perpetually.

So the fame is weird. Whatever! We will all get over it, and Fall Out Boy is going to play a few small shows here and there before the release of Folie a Duex (Dec 16th) to put a little "band"aid (get it?) on our wounds. Consider me appeased.... For now. :)