My pop-punk phase started out YOUNG. Way back when in 2008, my sister, the emo, scene kid that she was, gave me a gift; the CD’s of the Emo Trinity, that being Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance and, of course, Fall Out Boy. At the time, the most recent album of the latter band was 2007’s Infinity on High, and to put it frankly, I was obsessed with it from my very first listen.
I loaded it up on my bright blue iPod shuffle, chucked my white Apple Brand headphones in, and went on a ride that would stick with me still nearly 13 years later. I still regard Infinity on High as an absolutely magnificent album; it goes hard from start to finish, and I’d maybe even say it’s the best Fall Out Boy album out there (well maybe it’s a tie with From Under the Cork Tree). From that first listen, I was hooked, and still am today. Infinity on High defined the sound of my teen years, becoming a comfort album that I still often return to this day to get me through the bad times. ‘Thriller’, ”The Take Over, The Breaks Over”, ‘Golden’, ‘Bang the Doldrums’, ‘Don’t You Know Who I Think I Am?’, ‘G.I.N.A.S.F.S’; every single track is brilliant and impossible to get out of your head. Not to mention, the album gave us some of Fall Out Boy’s most beloved bangers to date, with songs like ‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race’, ‘Thnks fr th Mmrs’ and ‘Hum Hallelujah’. It also acted as a bit of a gateway drug to other artists in the pop-punk scene, like the aforementioned emo trinity, Paramore, Good Charlotte, Sum 41, All Time Low, Bowling for Soup, all of which became some of my favourite bands. Fall Out Boy helped build up my love of music through Infinity on High, and honestly, I’m really thankful for that.
This absolute obsession with the album peaked when I finally got to see the band live for the first time in 2013, with me breaking down in tears when they opened the concert with the opener of the album, ‘Thriller’. Let me tell you, I have yet to reach that level of sheer ecstasy and emotion again since hearing the opening guitar riff of that song live for the first time. I blubbed so hard a random lady stood near me asked if I was okay, that is the level of obsession we’re talking about here. Honestly, partially for sentimentality, how much it’s helped me through bad times, and how it is actually a really good album, I’d say Infinity on High is still my favourite album to date, to the point that I’m thinking of getting a little baby Franklin (the lovely sheep cover star) tattoo. I have yet to get tired of it, and I must have listened to it a thousand times over at this point. If I don’t know what to chuck on to scream along to, it’s my first choice; the songs are familiar, comforting, like every time I put it on I’m greeting old friends. Sometimes the first thing you encounter can still stand as being the best thing you’ve ever encountered over a decade later.
Infinity on High is available to listen to now via The Island Def Jam Music Group. Check out ‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race’ now down below.
