Last summer, in the chocolate bazaar of Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a friend and I couldn't help but notice scores of elementary school girls bedecked in black eyeliner and pyramid-studded belts. A few whisperers hid behind the shelf next to me and focused on an emo-clad foursome standing in the clearing just beyond. "I think it's them," the girls giggled. "Oh my god! They're so cute." Bewildered, my friend asked the girls who they were talking about and received a retort in unison, "Fall Out Boy, duh!"
Fall Out Boy has been at the forefront of making pop emo-rock more accessible to the casual listener while filling the teenage heartthrob void left empty since the demise of the boy band. With the release of their fourth studio LP, Infinity On High, they push to emulate the success of their previous albums and sound. In order to stay a step ahead of their confusable competitors Panic at the Disco!, they've brought on producer Timbaland to find an innovative direction for their pop dance-punk.
These "new" sounds, however, are anything but.
Their single "This Ain't A Scene, It's an Arms Race" sounds curiously similar to the Backstreet Boys' "We've Got it Going On," with its synthesized vocal harmonies. Their attempt at a make-out ballad, "Golden", blatantly steals the chord progression and melody from John Legend's "Ordinary People," sans the soul. Yet despite these bizarre directions in creativity, fans of Fall Out Boy will be happy to know that there is still a lot of quirky, thought-provoking song titles, palm-muted guitar riffs and foot tapping drum beats to be had.
Ultimately, Fall Out Boy's candy-coated approach to Infinity On High will be lost on listeners with aging taste buds - best left on the Hershey shelves for the kids.
