Fall Out Boy: This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race Meaning

Song Released: 2007

This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race Lyrics

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.

This ain't a scene, it’s a god damn arms race
This ain't a scene,...

1. oldschooljedi314

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   Feb 11th 2007 !⃝

   This song is about, obviously, the Scene. Most particularly the emo/pop-punk scene. Fall Out Boy was and is a fan band. Fall Out Boy fans are incredibly committed, if they got started when TTTYG came out. They talked up Fall Out Boy, gave it to their friends. Now they are calling them sellouts because of their own actions, selling them to everybody they know. So the line "I am an arms dealer, filling you with weapons in the form of words" makes more sense. But this scene does what it can to make a band popular and then hates them when they do.
2. anonymous

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   Feb 4th 2007 !⃝

   It's a subliminal message to Panic at the Disco. FOB is mad at Panic and are trying to kick them out of the "scene", and the only reason hot topic will not be stocking FOB's new album is because Brendon is having a "secret affair" with the CEO of Hot Topic.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. anonymous

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   Feb 4th 2007 !⃝

   What is an arms dealer? REALLY? And what is this bandwagon they speak of? A bandwagon can never be full....silly FOB

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
4. anonymous

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   Jan 26th 2007 !⃝

   it has even been -by FOB that it is response to the emo scene
   
   Pete who wrote the song was/is sick of the scene created and with all of the hostility it has created
5. anonymous

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   Jan 16th 2007 !⃝

   I think it's about how everyone in the scene is accusing each other of being posers and fakes for stupid reasons like happening to sell a lot of records. They try and push you out and it's like a constant battle with everyone trying their hardest to be "true" to the scene which causes a lot of friction because the whole point of being in a scene is people sharing things in common, not desperately trying to stand out and fit in at the same time.
   
   That could be a whole lot clearer but really don't have time to edit it just now!
6. anonymous

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   Dec 30th 2006 !⃝

   i think the last one is right. Its an "arms race" because you have to fight to stay in it.
7. timb89

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   Dec 27th 2006 !⃝

   its pretty easy this one, I reckon they are saying that their genre watever they classify themselves as has sold out,or they want this to themselves and are sick of people copying them. "Bandwagon's full Please, catch another", pretty simply the "scene" is full, go home.
8. anonymous

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   Dec 23rd 2006 !⃝

   I think it's about record companies who take advantage of bands to make money.
   The first verse is about how they race to find the best bands and sign them to their own label before someone else can.
   The second verse is about how when the band's popularity starts to wane, they dump them (the bombshells have already sunk) and move onto worse bands. (we're painting your trash gold).
   The title line is pretty obvious the meaning: the scene isn't us trying to hit it big, it's the record labels trying to use us to make a buck.
9. pic3232

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   Dec 20th 2006 !⃝

   I believe this song is in response to all the people who said that Fall Out Boy sold out with their last album.

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