This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race

"This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" is the first single from pop rock band Fall Out Boy's album Infinity on High. It was first played on November 16, 2006, on Indianapolis radio station, 93.1, and leaked onto the Internet soon after. It was officially debuted on November 21 at the American Music Awards and was shipped to radio stations that night (with an impact date of December 5 in the United States).

The song is reportedly about lyricist/bassist Pete Wentz's frustration with the ever growing 'emo scene'. As he told Rolling Stone, "There may be other songs on the record that would be bigger radio hits, but this one had the right message." Wentz got the idea for the arms-dealer metaphor from the Lord of War movie. "Exclusive: Fall Out Boy Album Deets", Rollingstone.com, November 16, 2006. The song consists of a disco/rock sound during the verse and bridge, which is then followed up with a more pop-punk style chorus.

The website that bassist Pete Wentz promotes, FriendsorEnemies.com, made "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" available to the internet community on November 17, just after its radio debut in Indianapolis.

The single was released as a CD single and also as a 7" blue vinyl and 7" purple vinyl. There is an official remix featuring Kanye West.

Track listing

CD single

"This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"
"The Carpal Tunnel Of Love"

7" Blue Vinyl

"This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"
"It's Hard To Say I Do, When I Don't"

7" Purple Vinyl

"This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"
"G.I.N.A.S.F.S."

Music video

The video was directed by Alan Ferguson. Beginning with the end of the "Dance, Dance" video, it shows the band members leaving the video shoot among the supposed "fans", all but a few of which turn out to be cardboard figures. Pete Wentz is shown getting into a Lamborghini Murciélago among the paparazzi and the fans.

As the singing starts, the video moves to the next scene in a underground hip-hop recording studio. This scene was intended to parody the hype surrounding the news that hip-hop producer Babyface produced some tracks with the band. As they begin recording the song, the singer/guitarist Patrick Stump is seen flailing his arms to imitate an 'R&B' method of singing. The others in the room begin to laugh, jeer, and mock Patrick. As the chorus comes in, and the singer mounts his guitar, Joe Trohman, the lead guitarist, and Pete Wentz start spinning, and the other people in the room start to enjoy the music. While doing his signature 'Trohmania' move, Trohman accidentally hits and breaks a " forty" that belonged to one of the hip-hop moguls. A magazine ad on the screen flashes news of a beaten up Fall Out Boy, extricated from the hood'. In the picture, Wentz is giving everyone the finger.

The next scene begins with Wentz being photographed by a "famous" photographer armed with a Sidekick cell phone in front of a wallpapered set, while unzipping his shirt and starting to remove his belt. This is followed by a shot of three girls looking at the photo on the internet and reacting in shock. (This scene is tongue-in-cheek making fun of Wentz's nude photos, also taken in front of the same wallpaper in his parent's bathroom). The following scenes are taken at parties: both at a "honey mansion" and at a trashed hotel room. Hurley is seen putting a sock in his pants behind the door of the SUV they arrived in. Note that when the band enters the honey mansion, Wentz is wearing a fake mustache, possibly a disguise after the leaking of the nude photos. The boys all socialize, but Hurley in particular is shown in a hot tub with three girls. A magazine cover is then shown with a picture of the scene with a questionable photo of the drummer in a speedo in the bottom right corner. The words "Andy makes HUGE splash at honey mansion!" are printed on the cover.

The one in the hotel also features cameos, both by "Dirty", who works for Clandestine Industries, and by Butch Walker and the backup singers for the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites. There is even a little scene where it's possible to see Hemingway (Wentz's dog). Then, in that room, Wentz is launched out of a window by some chubby guy, while he and Joe are jumping from bed to bed playing their guitars. The next scene implies that Wentz died from falling out the window (Wentz actually hurt his back while shooting this stunt).

Next, Stump is shown leading a church choir with the backdrop of a midday funeral for the departed Wentz. This scene contains a few characters from the band's other videos, such as: the priest, played by their security manager, Charlie, from "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More 'Touch Me'", the vampire played by William Beckett of The Academy Is... from "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More 'Touch Me'", the "girl next door" from the "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy" video, the cameo dance by Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes from "Dance, Dance", and Justin, the antler boy from the "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" clip, who is making out with Lee Lytle, the actress who played Pete's date in the video for "Dance, Dance". Michelle Trachtenberg makes a cameo with Seth Green. Another character that appears in this scene is the MTV Video Music Awards Moonman.

Trohman rises onto Wentz's casket in the song's guitar solo. Originally, the scene appeared to make fun of Avenged Sevenfold's guitarist, Synyster Gates, as depicted in the video for Seize the Day. The band claims otherwise, stating that the scene was a tribute to Slash from Guns & Roses.

The casket then opens, and the shot switches to black and white very quickly. The song stops playing and shows Wentz sitting up in a bed, sweating after waking up from a nightmare. Hurley says, "Dreams again?" (a reference to Wentz’s recurring childhood nightmares)The camera shows a wider shot, and a subtitle says, "Des Moines, Iowa, 2003" (a reference to the shows played after "Take This to Your Grave" was released. This may be a reference to Slipknot and Stone Sour because the majority of the members of each band lived in Des Moines). We see a tiny room with two beds, one that Hurley and Wentz were sharing, and another where Trohman is clinging to Stump.

Hurley says, "We're late", Stump throws Trohman off, and they all rush to their van. The scene changes to the band playing another small venue, where all of the fans know the lyrics. At this point, the song continues from where it left off back at the funeral. The video ends with Wentz jumping into the crowd and the screen cutting to black, a sardonic reference to Wentz's 'stagedive to concrete' at a 2006 show, where he fell onto the ground.

Censorship

In most public performances of the song, as well as in radio edits, the word "God" is removed from the song, to avoid using the profanity " Goddamn", although "damn" is not simultaneously removed. This was not censored in the United Kingdom.

Remix

Fall Out Boy tried to rush the remix for the song featuring Kanye West onto "Infinity on High", but it didn't make it in time. Recently, a longer remix leaked on FriendsorEnemies featuring Kanye West, Paul Wall, Skinhead Rob, Lupe Fiasco, Tyga, Travis McCoy, and Lil' Wayne. This remix was performed at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, along with Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco.

Charts

The single became available on iTunes on January 16, 2007. Just two days after its release, it reached 1 on the iTunes chart. It debuted at 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest Hot 100 debut for a single by a rock band since Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" debuted at 1 on the Hot 100 in 1998. The song kept the 2 spot for two weeks in a row behind "Irreplaceable" by Beyoncé until it was overpassed by Nelly Furtado's Say It Right. In addition, it jumped 85 spots in a week from 86 on the Pop 100 to 1.Jonathan Cohen, "Beyonce Slips By Fall Out Boy To Remain Atop Hot 100", Billboard.com, January 25, 2007. The song was also a 1 hit in New Zealand. The song debuted at 6 in the UK Singles Chart on downloads alone, climbing to 2 the following week, and debuted at 32 also on downloads alone in the Irish Singles Chart, before climbing to 8 in its physical week. It has moved 1,126,377 digital downloads in the US in 12 weeks time, and was 1 on the Digital Chart for its first 4 weeks. The single reached number four on the ARIA Singles Chart in February 2007 in its fourth week on the chart. In the Philippines, it became the first Fall Out Boy video to appear on the MYX Hit Chart, the weekly Top 20 chart of the music channel MYX. It debuted at 20, behind Panic! at the Disco's "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" at 19. It peaked at 16 on its sixth week.

References

External links

Category: Wikipedia articles needing style editing Category: Fall Out Boy songs Category: 2007 singles Category: Music videos Category: Number-one singles in New Zealand Category: Jason Nevins remixes

cs:This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arm Race en:This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race es:This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race pt:This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race sv:This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race

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