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

Infobox Single
Name = This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race


Artist = Fall Out Boy
from Album = Infinity on High
A-side =
B-side =
Released = January 16, 2007
Format = CD single, digital download, 7" single
Recorded = 2006
Genre = Pop punk
Length = 3:32
Label = Fueled by Ramen, Island Def Jam
Certification = Platinum (ARIA) Platinum (RIAA)
Last single = "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More "Touch Me"" (2006)
This single = "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" (2007)
Next single = "The Carpal Tunnel of Love" (2007)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = single


Lower caption = Remix cover

"This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" (also known as "This Ain't a Scene, It's a Goddamn Arms Race") is the first single from pop rockcite podcast| url = http://www.mtv.com/bands/f/fall_out_boy/news_feature_053106/index.jhtml
title = MTV News Raw: Fall Out Boy| website = MTV.com| host= John Norris | date = June 5, 2006 | accessdate =| accessyear = 2006] /pop punk 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). This song was #42 on "Rolling Stone"'s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. [No byline (December 11, 2007). [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17601363/the_100_best_songs_of_2007/11 "The 100 Best Songs of 2007"] "Rolling Stone". Retrieved 2007-12-21]

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. [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2006/11/16/exclusive-fall-out-boy-album-deets/ "Exclusive: Fall Out Boy Album Deets"] , Rollingstone.com, November 16, 2006.]

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.

The song was released as a downloadable track for the video game Rock Band on May 6, 2008. [ [http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47631 DLC Week of May 6th - Rock Band - Forums ] ]

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 cutouts. The video portrays the band in a series of "celebrity" situations such as dealing with paparazzi, as well as recording their song in a very out-of-character hip-hop studio. It culminates with the death of Pete via defenestration. At his funeral, cameo appearances are made by several characters from their previous music videos, such as Pete's date in "Dance, Dance," their stunt man and close friend Dirty, the deer-boy from "Sugar, We're Going Down," William Beckett's vampire from "A Little Less Sixteen Candles...," and Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, (who also danced in "Dance, Dance"), celebrities Seth Green and Michelle Trachtenberg, among others. Joe Trohman is performing a guitar solo on top of Pete's (somewhat mocking that of Synyster Gates' solo in their video for Seize The Day) coffin as the it rises out of the burial, before Pete bursts out of his coffin. The end reveals that the entire video is nothing more than a dream. Andy (who was sitting next to Pete) then realises that they are late for a performance and as they make their way on stage, they continue playing the rest of the song from the last chorus skipping the interlude Trohman would have played on the single.

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 censor was also kept on the Rock Band downloadable track of the song, though it was not censored in the United Kingdom or on United States Rock radio.

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 remix to this 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 and can be found partially [http://www.friendsorenemies.com/web/foe/videos/mrswalker/22429191/ on this link] .

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, [http://billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003537795 "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.

The song was the 37th most successful song of 2007, with 2.230.000 points on the United World Chart.

References

External links

* [http://www.buzznet.com/web/foe/pages/armsrace/ Listen to "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"]
* [http://top40.about.com/od/singles/gr/falloutarmsrace.htm Review of "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"]
* [http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/f/fall_out_boy/this_aint_a_scene_its_an_arms_race_ver3_tab.htm Guitar Tabs for "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"]
*MusicBrainz release|id=ea031f21-ab34-437b-be42-dc611e9ead39|title="This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"
* [http://music.aol.com/artist/fall-out-boy/533936/main Fall Out Boy at AOL Music]
* [http://www.falloutboyrock.com/falloutboy/ Official Fall Out Boy Website]

succession box
before = "Lips of an Angel" by Hinder
title = RIANZ New Zealand number-one single
years = February 26 2007 – March 5 2007
after = "The Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani featuring Akonsuccession box
before = "Irreplaceable" by Beyoncé (second run)
title = U.S. "Billboard" Pop 100 number-one single
years =
after = "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado