| Fast Times at Barrington High | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Fast Times at Barrington High | ||||
| ||||
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 |
