Fall Out Boy This Ain`t a Scene, It`s an Arms Race Video

"This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" is the first single from alternative rock/pop punk[1] band Fall Out Boy's upcoming album, Infinity on High. It was first played November 16, 2006 on Chicago radio station Q101, 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 on that night, (with an expected impact date of December 5- [specify]), although it has already begun airing in some areas.

The song is reportedly about lyricist/bassist Peter 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." [2] The song consists of a hip-hop/R&B sound during the verse and bridge, which is then followed up with a more 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 the 17th of November, just after its radio debut in Chicago.

Beginning with the end of the "Dance, Dance" video, it leads smoothly into the band members leaving the video shoot among the supposed "fans", all but a few of which turn out to be cardboard figures. The bassist for the band, Pete Wentz is shown getting into an expensive car amongst the paparazzi and the fans.

As the singing starts, the video moves to the next scene in a underground hip-hop recording studio (a possible nod to the band recording with Babyface and Jay-Z). As they begin recording the song, the singer/guitarist Patrick Stump is seen flailing his arms continuously as if trying to play a guitar, although it is an R&B moment in the song. The rappers around the room start laughing and making fun of him. As the chorus comes in and the singer actually plays his guitar, Joseph Trohman, the other guitarist, and Pete Wentz start spinning and the other people in the room start to actually enjoy the music.

While spinning, Joe Trohman accidentally hits and breaks a "forty" (a reference to the 40 oz. of alcohol in the bottle) that belonged to one of the hip hop moguls. A magazine ad on the screen flashes news of a beaten up Fall Out Boy. The next scene begins with Pete Wentz being photographed by a "famous" photographer 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 (this scene is making fun of Pete 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. The one is the hotel also features cameos, both by "Dirty", who works for Clandestine Industries, Pete Wentz's clothing line, and by Butch Walker and the back up singers for the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites. In the hotel room, Pete Wentz dies after he gets launched out of window a by a big heavy man in a fire fighter outfit while he & Joe are jumping from bed to bed playing their guitars. (Pete actually hurt his back while shooting this stunt but said that it would not effect the Friends or Enemies tour)

The next scene is Pete's funeral, where Patrick Stump is leading a church choir. This scene contains Andrew Hurley, the band's drummer, and a few characters from the band's other videos, such as: the priest, played by Sean O'Keefe from 'A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me, the vampire played byWilliam Beckett from 'A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me, Antler boy (from Sugar, We're Going Down), who is making out with Pete's date from Dance, Dance , the "girl next door" from the 'Grand Theft Autumn/Where is Your Boy' video, and the cameo dancer by Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes) from 'Dance Dance'. Michelle Trachtenberg because Pete was rumored to be dating her, and Seth Green also make a cameo in this scene. Another character that appears in this scene is the MTV Video Music Awards Moonman.

Joe Trohman rises onto Pete's casket in the song's guitar solo in an ode to Slash from Guns N Roses. (There was some controversy over this, after it was believed to be making fun of Avenged Sevenfold's 'Seize The Day' Video. But Wentz himself confirmed it was an ode to Slash, not making fun of a7x) The casket then opens and the shot switches to black and white very quickly. The song stops playing and shows a subtitle which says "Des Moines, Iowa, 2003" (a reference to the shows played after "Take This to Your Grave" was released). Pete sits up in a bed, sweating after waking up from the nightmare [that was the video].Andy Hurley says: 'Dreams again?'. The camera shoots a wider shot, showing a tiny room with two beds, one that Andy and Pete were sharing and another where Joe is clinging onto Patrick.

Andy says, "We're late", and they 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 Pete jumping into the crowd.

Mild controversy was reported from a MTV.com article that the scene in which Joe Trohman gets upon the coffin for a guitar solo looks very similar to a scene of one of Avenged Sevenfold's videos, Seize The Day, in which Synyster Gates does a similar thing. Pete Wentz has denied all claims to this. It has also been stated that it isn't a nod to Avenged Sevenfold, but that it in fact is a nod to Guns n Roses guitarist, Slash, as Trohman is donning the iconic guitarists' trademark tophat.