This week marks the 10th anniversary of one of my all time favorite albums Infinity on High that came out when I was 15 years old & a freshman in high school.
Fall Out Boy record their follow up album to From Under the Cork Tree, Infinity on High in 2007. They recorded it with Island Records and this album was more of a departure from their sound as they mixed funk, R&B and flamenco on the record. According to Billboard, Fall Out Boy “drifts further from its hardcore punk roots to write increasingly accessible pop tunes.” Although their departure from more pop punk sounds, Infinity’s first week was their biggest selling week, selling over 260,000 copies and debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. They charted due to their lead single “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” which reached no. 2 and their second single “Thnks fr th Mmrs” which charted no. 11 and sold over two million copies in the US. The partnered with R&B producer Babyface to help them with this album and even have Jay-Z do a verse on one of their songs.
This album I personally think is Fall Out Boy at their best with Folie á Deux being their next greatest record. Patrick’s vocals are incredible on each & every song on this album and Pete, Joe and Andy just give their all on the instrumentation. Pete’s lyrics are deeply personal on here talking about everything from the pressures of fame to suicide. A+ album!
Favorite Tracks:
Carpal Tunnel of Love: My favorite song off Infinity on High and one of the more heavy songs off their album. It features Pete’s beautiful screaming and a hard guitar riff from Joe with pulsing drum beats from Andy.
I’m Like A Lawyer: This song is truly beautiful. A more stripped down version of the band it show cases Patrick’s vocals a lot and is basically a love story of sorts.
Thriller: This song starts off with an opening from none other then Jay-Z himself which how they pulled that off is incredible. As this is the first track on the album it’s basically Jay opening up the record. With this Jay-Z vocal opening this shows the pure experimentation they were going to do on the album plus shows their love of the hip-hop genera as a whole. The opening guitar riff & drumming combined sound like bullets going off on the song. The lyrics for this song are top notch too talking about the come up of the band and being the face of the “emo” scene at the time. “So long live the car crash hearts” “Yo FOB”
Hum Hallahjah: (which talks about poor Pete’s suicide attempt) Basically the story goes: In an attempt to take his own life Wentz took an excessive amount of prescription anti-depression drug Ativan. Speaking to MTV News the bassist said: “I got in my car. I remember I was listening to Jeff Buckley doing Leonard Cohen‘s ‘Hallelujah’ and sat there and took a bunch of Ativan in a Best Buy parking lot. That is why this song is called Hum Hallelujah as he was listening to it in the car as he tried to take his life. I love how honest and raw this song is and the bridge where they all sing Hallelujah together. “A teenage vow in a parking lot Till tonight do us part/I sing the blues and swallow them too”
Golden: A slow little piano ballet with Patrick’s beautiful vocals singing Pete’s somber lyrics while playing the piano. It gives me chills to listen to it but as this song is only 2 mins & 32 secs it’s still gives off a power to it.
Take Over, The Breaks Over: This track to me is just a fun energetic track that is a little more pop rock then the first song on the album. Very radio frendly but never made it to become a single all though it’s one of the more well know songs by them.
This Ain’t A Scene: This song was everywhere in 2007 and you couldn’t escape it. Not a bad song by any means but at the same time it was just a little bit over played. The guitar and bass from Joe and Pete where a little more on the pop rock side and weren’t as heavy as other songs on this album. This was that radio single that was making Fall Out Boy more and more popular by the minute. They were so famous at this point that I don’t think they could handle it anymore which is why we can’t have this version of Fall Out Boy anymore.
Fame > Infamy: I love the baseline on this track it’s incredible as well as the guitar riffs. Andy’s drumming really pulls it together with Patrick’s vocals which have an extra emphasis on them which I love when he is singing Pete’s lyrics. I think this song is about fame and the way it can seem like it feel good to be fames but it doesn’t always feel that way.
The (After) Life of the Party: This is a shorter track too. I personally think that this song is also about fame and wither or not this could be a long term thing or if something will get in the way. It’s also got great instrumentation & Patrick’s vocals are on point.
Honorable Mentions:
Don’t You Know Who I Think I Am?, Your Crashing, But Your No Wave, I’ve Got A Rining in My Ears and None on My Fingers, It’s Hard to Say “I Do” When I Don’t
Favorite Music Videos:
Carpal Tunnel of Love: This video is just super cute. It stars these two bears and a moose and another bear who keep getting injured. All the first two bears wanna do is go on a date together but the moose keeps getting in the way. They all end up at this dinner to which four cute little Fall Out Boy bears come in and get their heads cut off and die. Then the bears on a date die too. It’s a very twisted music video but cute none the less and very FOB 2007.
This Ain’t A Scene: One word eyeliner. Pete went ultra heavy on the liner in this video. I think this video basically makes fun of Fall Out Boy at the time for being larger then life and being every pre-teen and teen girls everything. Pete even makes fun of his pee pee pic lol that leaked which at the time I was not as internet savy as I am today so I was unable to see it. Basically the boys are just being the rock stars they were made out to be during that time. They even make fun of them working more with hip-hop and R&B producers on this album. Great video.
I’m Like A Lawyer: This video is really real. It takes place in Uganda and fallows this really cute Ugandan kids who fall in love. But due to the war going on at the time one night the boy is captured by the soldiers who want to make a child solider out of him. Luckily he gets away in the middle of the night and is able to see his love again but this video showed the realness going on out there in the world that people don’t always talk about. This was during the time that the band was working with Invisible Children who work a lot around child soldiers and what they are going through. Fall Out Boy donated money to the kids in Uganda which was awesome.
Take Over, The Breaks Over: This video is cute as it features a lot of dogs. Basically Pete falls asleep on the couch with his dog and his dog has this dream about Fall Out Boy performing and there are girls dressed up as cats and mail men brake dancing. In the end some “old” Fall Out Boy fans come over to them yelling at them saying that they’re sell outs and they’ve changed. Pete’s dog has to tell them to give new Fall Out Boy a chance which they do and everything is ok. This is a fun little video.
Thnks fr th Mmrs: At this point this song & video are very played out as this is Fall Out Boy’s biggest song and video to date. They played this song and showed this video to death and it just got annoying. Now I still do like this song and video as it was one of the first songs and videos I saw off this record plus the lyrics from Pete are super clever and the video features a bunch of monkeys which who doesn’t like monkeys. Oh and now Pete Wentz can for ever say he kissed Kanye’s girl lol
Fall Out Boy & My Story:
Basically a kid from the suburbs of Northern Virgina who fell in love with a band who gave her something that was hers. In a house full of too many people, craziness at school and feeling as though your best friend might be going in the wrong direction and how you might be loosing her. I was 14 and I just started 8th grade in 2005. My best friend was turning more dark and listening to a lot more rock music and of course because I wanted to be apart of her new “club” so I started listening to rock too.
Started listening to the radio stations my older sister and brother always listened to and at that time pop-punk was hitting the air waves like crazy. Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, Taking Back Sunday and All American Rejects were hit up the charts and you couldn’t escape it.
I was in my basement and I had an old walkman (yes that shows you how old school I was in 2005) that I was able to listen to the radio on and I had it on DC 101 the DC rock station and their big song Sugar We’re Going Down was on and I took interest and as their fame got bigger and then Dance, Dance came out and their video for it I was sold.
At the time the only rock I really knew was like classic rock and the music my sister and brother listened to like Incubus, Coldplay, Dave Mathews Band, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Foo Fighters and Jack Johnson. This music was a little bit heavier then that but still had this poppieness to it. I didn’t really have a music genera I was really into at the time and I knew that the 2004 Green Day album was doing really well and they were these rock guys who wore black and fit into my best friends circle of music and that Fall Out Boy were like the baby brothers or something. It just kind of grew out of that organically and they kind of stuck with me.
During that time I was also going through a lot with school as my trying to get a handle of my dyslexia (that I had only 2 years before discovered I had) which if you have it you can relate how hard it can be and at home as my house was getting increasing too crowed and crazy. I think at this point was when music really helped me get through the day and why I think I rely on it so much to this day. It was my way of escaping and being in my own little safe world I could control and no one else could tell me my answer is wrong, there is not enough room or that it will leave me.
My favorite person is of course Pete Wentz although I love the whole band. Of course Pete was the most out there in the public eye but as he grew up he started to become a little more reserved. Plus Pete is half black & Hawaiian no wonder I like him so much. 😉 Well he can sport a mean ‘fro too so that’s cool. Wish he would sport it more often.
Basically this album changed my life. So hears to another 10 years and beyond Infinity on High cause I’ll still be listening!
My Thoughts on the Album:
Others Thoughts on the Album:
“Now Repeat!”
http://www.rocksound.tv/news/read/pete-wentz-talks-the-10th-anniversary-of-infinity-on-high
It’s Been 10 Years Since Fall Out Boy’s ‘Infinity on High’ Came Out
http://theyoungfolks.com/music/from-the-record-crate-fall-out-boy-infinity-on-high-2007/96738
Till Next Time…Rock On!
