Infinity on High is the third studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on February 6, 2007, by Island Records. Recorded from July to October 2006 at Pass Studios in Los Angeles, California, its music was composed by lead singer and guitarist Patrick Stump and the lyrics were penned by bassist Pete Wentz. The album features collaborations with new producers and guest artists, such as Babyface and Jay-Z, and sees the band experimenting with genres including R&B, soul, and flamenco. Fall Out Boy also utilized instruments such as horns, violins, and pianos, which had not been used on previous releases.
As reported by Billboard, the band "[drifted] further from its pop punk roots to write increasingly accessible pop tunes", a slight departure from the group's previous sound. Critics felt that its lyrics served as a response to the band's rise to fame. Fall Out Boy embarked on several tours to promote the album, including the Friends or Enemies Tour, the Honda Civic Tour, and the Young Wild Things Tour.
Infinity on High debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling over 260,000 copies in its first week of sales and becoming the band's first number-one album. It also reached number one in New Zealand and peaked within the top-five of countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Five songs were released as singles, four of which charted on the US Billboard Hot 100; the second single, "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", peaked at number two. The album received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising Stump's vocals and the band's new musical direction, and has sold over two million copies worldwide and over 1.4 million in the United States alone.Fall Out Boy to 'Save Rock and Roll' in May Billboard. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
Background After taking a two-month break following the band's Black Clouds and Underdogs tour in promotion of their 2005 album From Under the Cork Tree, Fall Out Boy returned to the studio to begin work on their follow-up effort. The band began writing songs for the new album while touring, and intended to quickly make a new album in order to keep momentum in the wake of their breakthrough success. Vocalist Patrick Stump stated that he wished to begin working on the record earlier, but the group's management urged the members to take time off to recuperate from their constant touring schedule.
The band's label, Island Records, underwent changes while the group prepared to record, which postponed the studio schedule for three weeks. Bassist/lyricist Pete Wentz asserted that "We're definitely writing all the time, so we're not going to try to squeeze every last drop out of the stone. That's part of what's been wrong with the rock industry: they keep fans waiting far too long, and bands go away and disappear off the face of the planet. That's not the way it's going to be for Fall Out Boy." During this time off, Fall Out Boy contributed a cover of the song "What's This?" for the 2006 rerelease of The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, as well as a remix of their song "Of All the Gin Joints in All the World" for the Snakes on a Plane soundtrack. Wentz also purchased a house in Los Angeles, where he spent much time writing lyrics to new songs.
Recording and production
While writing the album, Fall Out Boy began searching for potential producers. The band sought out R&B singer/producer Babyface, as they admired his work on the soundtrack to the 2001 film version of Josie and the Pussycats. Babyface saw one of the interviews in which the band discussed its desire to work with him and contacted the group. Babyface produced two of the songs, "I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" and "Thnks fr th Mmrs". Neal Avron, who also produced the band's previous album, handled production for eleven of Infinity on Highs fourteen tracks. Before recording, the band began with six weeks of pre-production, which was encouraged by Avron. This period included both rehearsals and writing, as well as working out all the sounds and arrangements. It began in Chicago before the group relocated to the Swing House studios in Los Angeles. Additionally, some rough recordings of songs were created to be used in the studio as a future reference.
Infinity on High was recorded from July to October 2006 at the Pass Studios in Los Angeles. Much of the writing process was done individually by the band members. Generally, Wentz would write his lyrics first and send them to Stump, who would create a melody by playing guitar along to the words to "find a groove". Stump's goal with his songs was to create his music while changing Wentz's original lyrics as little as possible. After a melody was written, Stump would create a general rhythm for the song. Although Fall Out Boy has no specific rhythm or lead guitar roles, Stump viewed himself as more of a rhythm guitarist on the album due to his experience as a drummer in previous bands. Guitarist Joe Trohman often wrote his guitar parts after hearing Stump's work, filling in the "empty spaces" in the songs with "tons of guitars and Johnny Marr-type atmospheric parts". The group felt that this writing process helped create a more full sound.
Upon listening to the finished tracks, the members selected guest appearances they felt would work with the songs. The group "aim[ed] for the stars" on its choices of collaborators, with Wentz stating, "I want to bring in people who no one would expect...This year it's like, we made some new friends, like Lil Wayne. Or let's get Jay-Z on there." Wentz commented on working with Jay-Z, saying "It was insane. We called him up and thought we were gonna talk to his assistant. Then he answers the phone, like, 'Yo, this is Hov,' and we were like, 'Um ...' It just happened like that. And it was pretty crazy." Jay-Z recorded his introduction to the album's opening song "Thriller" while on tour in Australia and sent it to the band, who later put the vocal on the album. At a fashion show in Los Angeles, Wentz met rapper Kanye West, who invited Wentz and Stump to his home to share new music. West then agreed to create a remix of "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" three weeks before the scheduled release of the album. The band was unable to include the remix on the album due to time constraints, but a remix of West's version featuring Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, Travis McCoy, Paul Wall and Tyga was released in July 2007.
During the recording of the album, the band members pursued other various activities. Stump, who co-produced "Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?" from Infinity on High, was also working on fellow Fueled By Ramen act The Hush Sound's album Like Vines. Wentz was conceiving a social networking website called FriendsOrEnemies.com as well as designing for his clothing line, Clandestine Industries. Wentz was often interviewed about the album at Clandestine fashion shows.
Composition
Music
The album marked a departure in Fall Out Boy's sound in which the band implemented a diverse array of musical styles. As reported by Billboard, Fall Out Boy "drifts further from its hardcore punk roots to write increasingly accessible pop tunes," a slight departure from the group's previous more pop-punk sound. Infinity on High has been compared to the work of pop-punk bands such as Green Day, with Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times commenting, "Whatever snot and feedback courses through these songs, sweetness always triumphs, carried forth by bubblegum bass lines, snappy drums and tunes as comforting as lullabies." Stump explained that the album contains a variety of different moods: "It’s one of those things where you get older as a band and you do your own thing...The older Fall Out Boy elements, from the early records, are definitely there, and this album is an extension of that."
The album opens with the song Thriller, which was named after the 1982 Michael Jackson album Thriller, and which itself led with a spoken introduction from Jay-Z, who owned the record label that produced the album, Def Jam Recordings. Pete Wentz told the music television channel MTV that the band called Jay Z on the phone to get his introduction for the song. In an interview with Fall Out Boy, drummer Andy Hurley stated that the opening parts in "Thriller" were copied from "Islands to Burn" by Racetraitor, a band he once drummed for.
The song was created as an reflection on the band's previous two years. Some lyrics reflect on previous mediocre album reviews the band received. The lyrics also call out the rise of the band's popularity, "But by fall we were a cover story". In context the song's opening lines are, "Last summer we took threes across the board, but by fall we were a cover story now in stores. Make us poster boys for your scene, but we are not making an acceptance speech." The song also features the lyric "Fix me in 45" which refers to the way singles were released on vinyl records. Some reviewers complained that the album did not have a hardcore edge, but the song "Thriller" was an exception. Slant Magazine said the song features "a crunching, emo-fied knockoff of the riff from Metallica’s "One"", while Jack Phinney of the Northern Valley Suburbanite reviewed the album and called the song "spectacular". Alternative Press opined in February 2023 that the song was dominated by the soaring vocals of Patrick Stump and his pop arrangement, and described it as the tenth heaviest song in the Fall Out Boy body of work. Writing in August 2023, Tamzin Kraftman wrote that the song's "chugging pulse", played by Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman, "electrifies the track". In February 2013, the band led a concert at Webster Hall with the track; Rolling Stones Andy Greene opined that, upon launching into the song, the audience's "squeals were deafening".
Stump called "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" the "funkiest thing we’ve ever done", and attributes the change in musical style to his love of soul music, which he acquired by listening to oldies stations as a child. Wentz describes the song "a bit of '70s funk mixed with [the band’s 2003 album] Take This to Your Grave with tight verses and big, fat choruses". The song closing sing-along was influenced by Justin Timberlake's "Señorita". Cory Apar of Allmusic compared the Babyface-produced track "I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" to Maroon 5. Wentz characterized Stump's vocal performance on the song as "straight-up Motown", continuing to say "If there wasn't a rock band playing, it'd be straight R&B, and he'd go on tour with just an upright bass and a drum and open up for R. Kelly." "The Carpal Tunnel of Love" has been referred to as "a prime slab of what the boys have become famous for: highly caffeinated pop-punk mixed with a little white-boy soul and some hard-core yelping." The song features Stump singing in a falsetto in the chorus over Trohman's "crunchy" guitars, as well as a breakdown in which Wentz employs death growl-style vocals.