''Welcome to the New Administration'' was a viral campaign and mixtape launched by

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurle ...

bass guitarist

Pete Wentz Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (born June 5, 1979) is an American musician best known as the bassist and lyricist for the rock band Fall Out Boy since 2001. Before Fall Out Boy, Wentz was a fixture of the Chicago hardcore scene and was the lea ...

on August 18, 2008 to promote what is now known to be the group's fourth studio album, ''

Folie à Deux Folie à deux ('folly of two', or 'madness haredby two'), also known as shared psychosis or shared delusional disorder (SDD), is a collection of rare psychiatric syndromes in which symptoms of a delusional belief, and sometimes hallucinations, ...

''. The mixtape was made available to stream and download on November 4, 2008, containing snippets and demos from Fall Out Boy as well as various

Decaydance DCD2 Records, formerly known as Decaydance Records, is an independent record label owned by Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy and partners, based in New York City. It was founded as an imprint of Fueled by Ramen. The first band Wentz ...

artists.

Origins

The campaign started when the website for

Decaydance Records DCD2 Records, formerly known as Decaydance Records, is an independent record label owned by Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy and partners, based in New York City. It was founded as an imprint of Fueled by Ramen. The first band Wentz s ...

was supposedly "hacked" by an organization called "Citizens For Our Betterment". A posted link led to the organization's website which was decorated in the colors of the

American flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...

. Links on the page were met with dead ends, requiring specific IP addresses to access their destinations. A post counter was displayed on the page with the number 59,994. Wentz left clues on his personal blog that the 60,000th would reveal something big. The Decaydance site returned to normal the following day. On August 19, his then-wife,

Ashlee Simpson Ashley Nicolle Ross ( Simpson; born October 3, 1984), known professionally as Ashlee Simpson, is an American singer and actress. The younger sister of singer and actress Jessica Simpson, she began her career as a back-up dancer for her sister ...

, was seen carrying a pamphlet for the organization, raising suspicion and sparking many rumors online. New posts appeared on the Citizens for Our Betterment web page everyday, many referring to November 4, the same day as the 2008 US presidential election. Also, Wentz posted more clues on his blog. More and more links were opened to the public as well. On August 24, one such link led to a page saying "FOB - The Return - November Four" in large Stencil font, causing many to believe that Fall Out Boy would release their new album on November 4. Others theorized that this was another one of Wentz's attempts to raise political awareness, as he did by previously holding a rally for then-US

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

presidential candidate,

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. Also, many

Fueled by Ramen Fueled by Ramen LLC is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by 300 Elektra Entertainment. The label, founded in Gainesville, Florida in 1996, is now based in New York City. History John Janick conceived of the l ...

bands posted MySpace bulletins that same day with the title "Welcome to the New Administration". Every bulletin contained one word—"ten". Finally, on August 25, 2008, the Citizens for Our Betterment website was redirected to the band's Friends or Enemies page, which displayed an image of a voting booth featuring ballots with the names of several Decaydance artists. By clicking on each individual ballot, there is an audio clip from the respective artist reciting passages from past posts on the Citizens for Our Betterment website. A mixtape was also made available for download called ''Welcome to the New Administration'' that included songs from several Decaydance bands and an interlude by

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

announcing that ''

'' would be released on November 4. The album's release date however, was delayed until December 16, 2008 in the US.

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2008 mixtape albums Fall Out Boy