We’re all for reinvention here at DiS; heck, we embrace it like a brother. Nothing pleases us more than when Band A morphs into Band M via X and Y between albums, particularly when the band in question is supermassivesuccessful. But this… this is amazing.
Fall Out Boy have benefited from a fair-sized slice of luck – their last long-player, From Under The Cork Tree, spawned a couple of hits and made the band an unlikely household name. Their pop-punk-lite has rarely been grossly offensive, but neither have they ever written anything radical; they’ve lifted from their melodic forefathers and surfed ill-informed emo hype all the way to the bank, without breaking a sweat (okay, that little internet penis thing aside). A few hooks, some unlucky in love lyrics, a name accidentally derived from a sometime Simpsons character: bingo.
This is their stab at evolution, at development, at mutation: ‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race’ thuds and thumps like an ‘N Sync arrangement, all bluster and bombast for no fucking reason. The repeated title lyric makes little sense – if anything’s to be taken from it, it’s that Fall Out Boy are aware that they’ve spawned a rash of successors, many of whom have creativity enough to outshine them (step forward, Panic! At The Disco) – and a spoken-word instruction to sing-along at home is just unbearable. A multitude of half-formed song structures are squeezed into just three-and-a-half minutes, but the result’s nothing like the disjointed and pompous splendour of a recent Muse offering: ‘This Ain’t A Scene…’ is a mess of muddled ideas and misjudged artistic license.
Still, at least it’s got a shit-load of whoops in it. Whether the kids’ll lap them up though, what with all the surrounding shock and bore, remains to be scene.
is this ht esingle with the amazing video?!
.
I've seen a snippet ot it...
...plays up on all the fun times they've had so far... and has them in a studio trying to impress some hard-looking hip-hop dudes.
i quite like the video
but the song is tommyrot.
oh of coarse
thats a given
I think it's alright
However, the tune always reminds me of Mull Historical Society by Mull Historical Society.
Shite
Biggest Pile of Shite I've Heard Since McFly Released Their Last One.
No, I Love McFly. They're Like the Dum Dums!
If you want to rip someone off, do it good. They have, you can imagine the BackStreet Boys body popping to this tripe back in the day and using it as a freaking b-side. I'd rather listen to "BackStreets Back" over this anyday.
Plus, whats with all the spinning guitars, you wanna get dizzy? How about i smack you in the head.
I was at Club NME after My Vitriol and saw some tosser dressed and looking identical to that one wiht the tiny wanger. I was so tempted to punch him in the face repeatedly until he didnt look like Wentz and i could stop, but i thought he wouldnt appreciate such brutal face alteration and might be sad enough to enjoy living the dream as a look a like for a man notorious for releasing shit music, creating fake emo and having a tiny wanger.
Now I love DrownedinSound
and although I know you're not all that fond of Panic! at the Disco, how you can slag off Fall Out Boy for their similarly squeaky-clean studio-enhanced pop-punk smacks of hypocrisy to me.
How P!atD have 'creativity enough to outshine them' is unclear; I'm a pretty big fan of both bands, but if you're discussing P!atD's penchant for cabaret and circus-style theatrics it's something the band can't pull off live (musically, that is - aesthetically, they can).
sod all that
how much does the font on the cover look like the Carling font.
wonder if that's on purpose.
hmmm
"‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race’ thuds and thumps like an ‘N Sync arrangement, all bluster and bombast for no fucking reason"
you've basically pointed out the exact reason why this IS brilliant.....
you're wrong there
because N sync SUCK.
These points are fair
But I can never take someone seriously when they're defending a band that's in their user name.
Absolute shite shite shite
and has nothing on last album's singles, but it's still better than Supermassive Black Hole (which I presume is what the Muse comparison is all about) because that was even shiter.
Surely
It's about Knights of Cydonia.
Dirge
I wanna like them but I here the music and then I retire into a comfortable chair for my pipe and slippers.
I just don't get it. The video did look amusing but when i heard the song it was like, ah, right, ok. Not my bag.
But the kids love this stuff a whole heck of a lot and I can't figure out why.
The production is unbelievable, it's so shrill. It'll sound loud on any old tin pot. Listening to an album of that would be quite challenging.
I'm trying, god love me i'm trying.
However bad you may think it is
I knew from the moment I first heard this song that it is going to be massive. I almost respect it for that alone.
whats with
the logo? its fucking shit. looks like its a poster for one of those final destination films
who the hell is cody jefferson?
some token american who writes for you just cos he's American?
sack him, immediatly.
^
Marry me.
He gave My Chemical Romance's album 9/10.
He rocks.
I was a bit baffled when I heard it.
I feel a bit sorry for them.
They had some really nice tunes.
Context?
It's a given Fall Out going to blow. It's Music as Product(R). Expecting creativity and orginality from a Corprock band is like expecting tight 3min pop songs from Magik Markers. Yeah, it might be cool, but there's no earthly reason to assume it will ever happen.
FOB should be rated within the context of what it's trying to achieve, not according to criteria they have no chance of meeting. Otherwise, it's just too easy to shoot them down. Do they deserve a 3 on the Corporate Suckmeter(R)?
I actually quite like this.
I'm not sure why, it's just pleasing to the ears.
Am I the only one..
Who thinks it sounds like Maroon 5?!!
Ah
Its 'arms race'.
I'm sure they censored it on the telly.
Regardless, its bloody horrible.
censored
this song annoys me, mostly because they bleep out 'god' on tv/radio. not 'goddamn', just 'god'. explain that one to me!
its pc gone mad i tell you.
Because
You can say DAMN on television/radio, but you can't say GODDAMNED.
For the record, it IS goddamned-- not goddamn.
not a massive fan but...
...it sounds different to the other musical detritus out there in radioland. And that, my friend, is no bad thing.
I will buy this.
I like Fall Out Boy.
I liked them in 2004 when no-one knew them...
I accept it has no musical merit
yet I like it anyway. It's just so dumb and gratuitously shouty that it makes me laugh, and I do enjoy shouting into my cornflakes of a morn.
Sigh
I remember that-- the good old days when you could go around singing 'Where is Your Boy' and no one would make fun of you.
I'll Just Bite My Lip and Keep Quiet
I bet whoever wrote this hasn't taken time to listen to all four of their albums and their EP's-- I hate it when people judge a band by their singles. Arms Race isn't the best song on Infinity on High and yet everyone says they suck just because it doesn't bleed emo like all the other shit on the market right now.
Listen to the lyrics of their songs, they all have a meaning. Arms Race is about being competive when it's not needed (So says lead singer, Patrick Stump.) People who don't understand their songs are too thick to sit and listen to them to TRY and find a purpose. Personally, I find that having to dissect a song to find the meaning makes the song worth more to me.
Fall Out Boy was just a bunch of kids that got together to try something different (different for them). I think they've done amazing for a band that really had no goal.