| Fall Out Boy – This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I'm sure that someone has already put this down, but I think that Fall Out Boy may have had some influence for this song from Chuck Palahniuk's book "Lullaby": “You turn up the music to hide the noise. Other people turn up the music to hide yours. You turn yours up again. Everyone buys a bigger stereo system. This is an arms race of sound. You don't win with a lot of treble. This isn't about quality. It's about volume. This isn't about music. This is about winning. You stomp the competition with the bass line. You rattle windows. You drop the melody line and shout the lyrics. You put in foul language and come down hard on each cussword. You dominate. This is really about power.” -Lullaby [pg. 17 The "drop the melody and shout the lyrics" line is reinforced by Patrick shouting the hook "I'm a leading man..." and also comes "down hard" or puts extra emphasis on the cussword "God Damn." If that enough isn't convincing, "This is an arms race of sound" quote could have inspired the song title, "This ain't a Scene, it's God-damn Arms Race." With this quote, Fall Out Boy's song could be a critique on the direction of scene today, with bands concerned more about being flashy and loud than with the substance of the song itself. |
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| Fall Out Boy – This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Music Video Commentary: A quick commentary on the music video: through out the song there are snapshots of the band getting into trouble all across brightly colored magazine covers, which look very close to the Teen Beat & whatever girly magazines that pre-teens read. The video could be poking fun at all the posers who think they are down with the scene, but only because their Teen Beat magazine told them that that music was cool for that particular week. By the way: is that badass head vampire dude in the video (also from “A little less sixteen candles…”) the lead from the Academy Is? It’s just been bugging me, the guy is so skinny…and I love their derbies, very Clockwork Orange. |
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| Fall Out Boy – This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Part II: “Bandwagon’s full…” to the end “Bandwagon’s full, please catch another” is, I believe, the strongest line in the entire song. It openly ridicules the sell-out bands and their nonsense music, how the scene is infested with perpetrators. It speaks of the core fan base fed up with all the posers that literally jump on the bandwagon after a new band has a hit song. “Please catch another” talks about the whimsy of the posers, how they are quick to jump ship when the “next big thing” arrives, leaving the scene gutted and trivialized in their wake. “All the boys who the dance floor didn't love, and all the girls whose lips couldn't move fast enough, sing, until your lungs give out.” This could be a representation on how large record labels bring in new talent, forcibly change their image to match the passing music phenomena, then throw their (metaphorically) withered bones to the dogs after the public has chewed up their music and spit them out. Also, with the singer urging “all the boys…and all the girls…” to “sing, until your lungs give out” creates in further irony, probably mocking the so-called fans that only like their music because it’s the flavor of the month, not because they enjoy the sound itself. The people they call out in the song seem to be socially awkward to the scene in some way, with the boys who “the dance floor didn’t love” and the girls “whose lips couldn’t move fast enough.” This is probably Fall Out Boy’s way of pointing out/ridiculing the posers and fakes in the scene. And even more ironic is that most of the people that they are ridiculing in this part of the song are the ones that will probably sing the loudest with the chorus . I believe that Fall Out Boy intended the song to be pop-y, to reinforce the irony of the lyrics themselves, not unlike the lyrics from Nickelback’s “Rockstar.” At first I was confused by the song b/c it’s really pop-y, but the beat is just so damn catchy that I find myself humming it in some form or another every day. Many of Fall Out Boy’s songs are so catchy that we tend to overlook the lyrics, which is quite a clever way of not only getting your message out there but appeasing the record companies and the posers as well. By releasing this song, Fall Out Boy can reach directly to their core fan base, or at least those who interpret their songs with more meaning than bubblegum pop. Perhaps this is a subversive attempt to get more posers out there singing the song, but when they check out the lyrics, they too may come to understand the deeper and sometimes sinister underlying theme of the song. |
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| Fall Out Boy – This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Part I: Beginning to “…p-p-p-parties” It seems to me that the song is about calling out/ridiculing some of the so-called punk artists who distort the music scene by producing thoughtless, pointless “nonsense” music, and how said nonsense music is what the record companies push on the radio. The listeners then associate the scene/music genre with the nonsense music over the radio, which in turn causes the radio to play more of it. A lot of the “real” punk bands, seeing that they aren’t getting the proper airtime they deserve, must decide to either sink or swim by reforming to make their music listener-friendly/sellable or maintain their lyrical standards. The beginning starts: “I am an arms dealer / fitting you with weapons in the form of words / and (don’t really care which side wins) / as long as the room keeps singing / that’s just the business I’m in.” The introduction of the song seemingly paints a portrait of a sell-out band, but it also could be referring to large record labels that don’t allow their bands much freedom/creative license. The record company “arms” their band with “weapons in the form of words,” hinting that the record company hires writers to compose the band’s song [not referring to Fall Out Boy, I know P. Wentz writes the lyrics, but hypothetically speaking] instead of letting said band write their own lyrics. “And (don’t really care which side wins)” further illustrates the dubious nature of the record company. A large label with many bands may not care about the bands themselves since they have so many other back-up options to choose from, that “as long as the room keeps singing, that’s just the business I’m in.” This line screams, ‘The bands’ integrity/creative license be damned, as long as the crowd is pleased and the cash keeps rolling in.’ “I wrote the gospel on giving up” could refer to a band giving into the whims of the large record label. “Looking pretty sinking” because their fan base collapses after they give up their values, even though the studio polishes up their music and pushes their CDs. “But the real bombshells have already sunk (primadonnas of the gutter)” is reinforcing the looking pretty aspect of the previous line. It’s saying that a band without creative license is basically worthless, already sunk so far that the core fan base has no more respect for them than the trash in the gutter. No matter how much the record label reinvents a sell-out band’s image, they will still go down the drain like all of the rest. “At night we’re painting your trash gold, while you sleep” may be a reference to the tweaking done to a song in the studios. Everyone’s been to a concert where the band, quite frankly, sucks ass, but the CD they put out is banging hot (ahem hem Ludacris) and you look at your peers like, “What the hell is this?” Music that would make your ears bleed if you heard it on the street is polished, revamped, and pre-packaged for the masses over the radio, and now you can’t get enough of it. I know there are some songs that I totally hate, but through constant exposure over and over again through radio, television, parties etc. there’s nothing you can do but learn to like it. Which brings us to the next line, “crashing not like hips or cars but more like p-p-p-parties.” The intolerable nonsense music is then insinuated into every form of media available (for example a large portion of Green Day’s Am Idiot songs were overplayed way too much) for mass consumption. I interpret “crashing not like hips or cars” as the nonsense music isn’t racy/cutting edge (“cars”), and personal/intimate (“hips”) with their fan base, just music locked, loaded, and shot out at the masses not to be enjoyed for its musical validity but for its effervescence. Even the redundancy of “p-p-p-parties” tells of the stuttering stupidity of the nonsense music, how it’s pushed upon the ignorant and ill-bred. |
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| Taking Back Sunday – Liar (It Takes One to Know One) Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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In reference to the "26 days" being repeated over and over again in the song: could it possibly be in reference to the female mestruation cycle? Hold on, let me explain. I first thought of this when I heard the song: 26? what an odd number to sing about. As everyone is well aware, some months contain 31 days. Quick math: 31-5=26 (5 days is the 'normal' time period for a woman of age to begin & complete her menses). "We've got 26 days to work with (it moves, it moves, it moves)" I know this is a shot in the dark, but perhaps the songwriters are referring to the path of the 'discharge' (trying not to be too graphic or gross about this) through his girlfriend, how he's got 26 days of 'normalcy' before it's "back on that island that you swear by." When his girlfriend is in menses, he feels isolated on the "island," perhaps self-seclusion from his girlfriend's hightened state of emotionality, which sometimes accompanies the menstrual cycle. Evidence of this can be seen in the "liar, liar" refrain of the song, which symbolizes the many arguments that the couple has, possibly on a cycle of 26 days since they're "keeping score." Another reference is the "all our secrets they are tailored trouble draped loose now around your hips" line, which could be a direct reference to the menstual cycle and the boyfriend's frustration of being denied carnal pleasure until the 5 days are complete, hence his lamenting/bitching about the 26-day cycle. In closing, I think the vidoe for "Liar" is awesome, the polygraph motif is a unique touch and really brought out the lyrics of the song. |
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