What does "it's an arms race" mean in the song "this aint a scene its an arms race" by fall out boy

Question

i want to know what an arms race is. im not exactly sure.

Answer 1

NapalmGod very eloquently defined the meaning of the phrase "arms race". My understanding is that Fall Out Boy is relating the Hollywood scene and society's obsession with celebrities' outrageous behaviour to an arms race. In order to gain publicity and ultimately fame, people are resorting to crazier stunts to one up each other. From crotch shots to sex tapes to rehab to arrests (not to mention everything related to Britney's recent situation), some of the young stars are becoming more known for their troubles and trevails than their career accomplishments. In the video for this song, Fall Out Boy pokes fun at some of their own incidents that have been highlighted in the media - the photographer motioning for Pete Wentz to remove his clothes refers to when he sent naked pics of himself to a friend with a cell phone that were later leaked on the Internet; at the end of the video where Pete jumps into the crowd refers to when he stage dove in real life but no one caught him and he fell on the floor; trashing the hotel room is self-explanatory; etc.

Answer 2

An Arm's Race is when two sides try to one-up each other by aquiring better or more weapons/technology/etc than the other one has. Historically, the most famous arm's race was between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, when each side built up their nuclear arsenal. Now what this means in relation to the lyrics of the song, I'm not sure.

Answer 3

At the beginning of the song it says "I am an arms dealer fitting you with weapons in the form of words." So the word arms in this song really stands for words or songs. So It's an arms race means that the whole purpose of being in a band is to make music not just to be in the spot light, and that it is a race to see who can come up with the best songs. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Ok for one thing i dont even think the people who anwered this question are even in to fall out boy or even care about them but i do so listen up k? What they mean by scene is the people that where into the band before it was popular and know everything about the band and where they are touring every week and if you arent in the so called "scene" then you are a poser and just jumped on the "band wagon" and in the song lead singer Patrick Stump says "band wagon please catch another" In the begining of the song patrick says "I am an arms dealer fitting you with weapons in the form of words" so what they mean by arms race is that the words he is singing are "weapons" l

Answer 5

"This" refers to the 'emo scene' that Fall Out Boy became the spokesband of, and it's bassist Pete Wentz' frustration with the genre. So, it isn't some kind of 'emo scene' it's an "arms race" in which they battle all other bands (and genres) by upping the stakes with each record. They use music as weapons in their "arms race."

Answer 6

a battle driven by accumulating ammuntion. who can get the most, the biggest, the strongest.

Answer 7

i think its going on about about guns and it talks about a 'scene' which i think is refering to the 'gangster' scene which is just based around violence =\.