| Fast Times at Barrington High | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 19, 2008 | |||
| Recorded | Spring–Summer 2008 | |||
| Studio | Avatar, New York City, New York | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 43:08 | |||
| Label | Fueled by Ramen, Decaydance, Atlantic | |||
| Producer | S*A*M and Sluggo | |||
| The Academy Is... chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Fast Times at Barrington High | ||||
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Fast Times at Barrington High is the third studio album by American rock band The Academy Is..., released on August 19, 2008. [1] [2]
Fast Times at Barrington High was produced by S*A*M and Sluggo. The title refers to the high school to which William Beckett and Adam Siska went, [3] and is a play on the title of the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High . The album cover photo was taken by William Beckett's sister, Courtney Beckett, and shows William sitting on a couch with Naomi, who was guitarist Michael Guy Chislett’s girlfriend at the time, whom he later married.
Pete Wentz posted a blog entry saying that he heard the demos for the new album and called them, "Mind blowing. Miles away from where they were." [4] Collaborations include Andrew McMahon from Jack's Mannequin; Gabe Saporta, Ryland Blackinton and Alex Suarez from Cobra Starship; and Mason Musso and Blake Healy from Metro Station.
In May 2008, the band performed at SunFest. [5] On June 26, 2008, Fast Times at Barrington High was announced for release in two months' time. [6] Between June and August 2008, the band performed on the Warped Tour. [7] [8] In between dates on this tour, they performed a handful of shows with artists on Decaydance Records. [9] The band performed "About a Girl" and "Summer Hair = Forever Young" on Warped Tour and their Australian tour with Panic! at the Disco and Cobra Starship. Hot Topic released two new The Academy Is... T-shirts, one of which comes with a code for the free download of an acoustic version of "His Girl Friday".
The first single off the album is "About a Girl", which was released on July 15, 2008. On July 23, "Summer Hair = Forever Young" was posted on the group's Myspace profile. [10] "About a Girl" impacted radio on August 12. [11] Fast Times at Barrington High was released through Fueled by Ramen and Decaydance Records on August 19. [6] The Academy Is... held a contest for releasing new tracks, email addresses were entered on a page off the main website page and 8 winners were selected at random to receive a song off the album and also a call from the band and a free signed copy of Fast Times at Barrington High. In October and November, the band went on a headlining US tour, titled Bill & Trav's Bogus Journey Tour. They were supported by We the Kings, Carolina Liar and Hey Monday. [12] In April 2009, the group performed at Give it a Name festival in the UK and Groezrock in Belgium. [13] [14] In August, the band went on a tour of Australia with Anberlin. [15]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AbsolutePunk | (68%) [16] |
| Allmusic |   [17] |
| Alternative Press | [18] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (B+) [19] |
| IGN | 7.5/10 [20] |
| Melodic | [21] |
| The New York Times | (favorable) [22] |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin |  [23] |
The album sold 35,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number 17 on the Billboard 200. [24] It was named the 46th best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone . [25] By October 2009, the album's sales stood at 85,000. [26]
All lyrics written by William Beckett; all music composed by The Academy Is... with Sam Hollander and Dave Katz on tracks 1–6 and 11.
| Country | Release date |
|---|---|
| New Zealand | August 18, 2008 |
| United Kingdom | |
| United States | August 19, 2008 |
| Australia | August 23, 2008 |
| Chart | Position |
|---|---|
| Billboard 200 | 17 |
| Rock Albums | 5 |
| Digital Albums | 17 |
| Alternative Albums | 5 |
Midtown is an American pop-punk band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. Midtown was formed in November 1998 by three Rutgers University students, but quickly became a quartet. The group released three full-length studio albums and three extended plays before disbanding in 2005. In early 2014, Midtown reunited to play three shows, the first as a secret show at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, and the two remaining at the Skate And Surf Festival. They reunited for more shows in 2022 as openers on My Chemical Romance's reunion tour.
The Academy Is... are an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 2003. Before temporarily disbanding, they were signed by the Decaydance imprint of the Fueled by Ramen label. They were originally known as "The Academy", but added the "Is..." in 2004 to avoid legal complications with other established bands already under that name. The band has released three studio albums: Almost Here (2005), Santi (2007) and Fast Times at Barrington High (2008), along with four EPs. The band announced their disbandment on October 8, 2011. In May 2015, lead singer William Beckett announced that the band would reunite at Riot Fest 2015 in Chicago. In addition, the core members of the band, being Beckett, Mike Carden, Adam Siska, and Andy Mrotek, as well as Jamie Reed Schefman and Ian Crawford, reunited for a farewell tour that took place during December 2015. They announced that they would be reuniting again on May 11, 2022, alongside the announcement of their participation in the 2022 Riot Fest. They have since played shows opening for Fall Out Boy and in When We Were Young (festival), however have yet to announce new musical endeavors.
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While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets is the debut studio album by Cobra Starship. It was released on October 10, 2006 in the US, and on October 17, 2006 in Canada. A rough clip of "Send My Love to the Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell ", a finished version of "Snakes on a Plane ", and "The Church of Hot Addiction" were uploaded onto Cobra Starship's PureVolume site. "The Church of Hot Addiction" was also used as the theme song for the WWE's Great American Bash 2007. It has sold more than 69,000 copies to date.
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William Beckett is an American musician who is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the Chicago-based rock band The Academy Is..., who signed to Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen/Decaydance Records. While still in high school in 2003, Beckett and guitarist Mike Carden came together from rival bands in Chicago to form The Academy Is... In addition to founding the band, Beckett and Carden are credited as the primary songwriters. A third core member of the band was Adam T. Siska, Beckett's classmate and friend from Barrington High School.
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