#but also ofherbsandalters' video on the disappearance of richie edwards for a fans' pov

[virtual-macchine]

As a fan of both Folie and The Holy Bible, I feel like there’s more to this line in 20 Dollar Nosebleed than I ever see people discuss, including Mr Wentz himself:

(The picture is cropped because it contains blood but you can see the full thing here.)

I think Pete Wentz related to Richey Edwards for these reasons: (tw for brief discussion of suicide/self harm/eating disorders)

1) The most glaringly obvious reason is Richey Edwards' struggles with ill mental health. Struggling with an eating disorder and depression, he was open in interviews about his self-harming. Now presumed dead, he mysteriously dissapeared in 1995, making him part of the '27 Club.' While he was alive, many people fixated on his mental health issues and he even once recieved a set of knives from a fan, along with a note saying "Look at me while you do it."

Pete Wentz also recieved both praise for being open about his struggles with mental health, especially his suicide attempt, and a weird obsession, writing on Don't You Know Who I Think I Am? "There's a world outside my front door that gets off on being down." Throughout Folie, there are many lines referring to wanting to disappear, including "sometimes I want to quit this all and become an accountant now," like in The (Shipped) Gold Standard, and pretty much all of the song 27 (a reference to the 27 Club, which Edwards is a part of).

2) Richey Edwards was the ideas man of the Manics first and rhythm guitarist second. In fact, it wasn't a secret that he would mime playing, either turned down or just unplugged, especially early on. The band famously had grand plans for their first album, claiming that they would release a debut album that would be the "greatest rock album ever," selling incredibly well, and would then be followed by them splitting up.

3) The Manics were questioned for their authenticity. During an interview with an NME writer, Richey Edwards took a razor (from where, no one's sure) and carved the phrase "4 Real" into his arm. The picture that Pete Wentz chose to include is of this incident. Richie Edwards needed many stitches afterwards and they had to cancel a show on the following day.

4) Richey Edwards and Nicky wire would write lyrics and the other half of the band, James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore, would write the music. Perhaps this reminded him of his creative relationship with Patrick Stump and the rest of Fall Out Boy? Both bands had roots in heavier punk but grew into a more distinctive rock sound.

I feel there are a fair few parrallels between the two, including one or two I didn't mention. Maybe he thought so too.