Having carefully studied the often-sad history of rock 'n' roll, Fall Out Boy singer-songwriter Patrick Stump knew that the odds were stacked against him for Infinity on High.

"We had our first major-label record [2005's From Under the Cork Tree], and it took off with two hits for the whole Cinderella story," says the amiable frontman, speaking on his cellphone from a Los Angeles coffee shop. "But when you sit around and look back through history, there are more failures than successes by a long shot. For every best new artist who went on to be a major player in music, there's been a Milli Vanilli and Jesus Jones and hundreds like them. When you think about that, you also think 'There's a very real possibility that the only person who'll be listening to this record 10 years from now is myself.'"

The goal, then, with Infinity on High, Fall Out Boy's second major-label outing, was to position the band as more than yesterday's emo kings for the text-message generation. As proud as Stump was of smashes like "Sugar, We're Goin Down" and "Dance, Dance", he looks back on them as the work of a group that hadn't quite arrived yet.

"I remember sitting at the Grammys–thankfully we didn't win, but we were nominated–and thinking 'This album wasn't that good,'" Stump recalls. "I mean it was good, but it wasn't that good. So I came to the realization that, at this point, anything we record has to seriously be taken as if it might be our last album. Because, for all you know, you might be forever remembered for it."

Applying himself on Infinity on High wasn't a problem for Stump. The 23-year-old cheerfully confesses to being a workaholic, even if, on the day we talk, he's ready to take a rare weekend off to celebrate his birthday in Monterey. ("I hear they have a really nice aquarium," he says. "It'll be nice not to be busy for a change.")

As with Cork Tree, Stump wrote the music for Infinity, with guitarist Joe Trohman, drummer Andy Hurley, and bassist/emo pinup-boy Pete Wentz contributing to the songs in studio. Rather than ask himself what his fans wanted–which, of course, would have been "Sugar, We're Goin Down, Part II", the singer figured the smartest thing he could do was write for himself. Incidentally, that helps explain Infinity lyrics like the "Thriller" mission statement "Make us poster boys for your scene, but we are not making an acceptance speech."

"You have to think that you are your own audience, because if no one likes the record, you may be the only audience that hears it," he says. "So how I felt about the record is that I wanted to make a good one–for us. And in general, I was pretty pleased with the record–when it was done I kind of ended up sitting there going 'Well, how in the hell am I going to top this now?'"

Stump definitely raised the bar for himself, starting with the dance-floor-friendly, techno-tinted thumper "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race". This time out, Fall Out Boy references everything from herky-jerky U.K. new wave–jacked soul ("The Take Over, The Breaks Over") to MOR balladry ("Golden") to mandolin-swept Americana ("Thnks fr th Mmrs"). But in the end, the beauty of Infinity is the way it takes Fall Out Boy's genre-spanning influences–first-generation emo, Midwest hardcore, sugar-spiked pop-punk, and perhaps most surprisingly, ghetto-fabulous hip-hop–then turns them into something that doesn't sound like a retread of the band's breakthrough. That becomes even more impressive when you consider how generic the group sounded on its pop-punk-lite 2003 debut, Evening Out With Your Girlfriend.

But as well as Infinity on High has been received, it hasn't all been sunshine and rainbow-coloured martinis for Fall Out Boy since the album's release. Once the band finally finished touring for Cork Tree, the record company suggested a break would be good for the group. Although that bit of advice would end up being ignored, it turned out that the suits at Universal knew what they were talking about for a change. A couple of months ago, right when Fall Out Boy was set to go on tour, Wentz suffered a mini nervous breakdown. Considering that the bassist–who writes all of Fall Out Boy's often self-flagellating lyrics–suffers from depression, the episode wasn't nearly as shocking as the fact that he's been romantically linked to Ashlee Simpson.

"The label kept telling me we needed time off, and I ignored them," Stump admits. "Now it sounds like that was a good idea. We had to push back the tour for personal issues, and personal they shall remain."

Despite such glitches, the singer is in a good place these days. What has him particularly inspired is his conviction that this is a creatively fertile period for rock 'n' roll. "I'm really happy to be making rock music right now," Stump says. "I think that when we started, and when My Chemical Romance and Panic! At the Disco started, all of us were pissed off at rock. Rock was just phoning it in back then. What was frustrating was that it seemed you bought a pair of Converses, jeans, and a striped T-shirt, and you wore your hair like the Ramones or David Bowie, and that defined your sound.

"Now I feel like you've got all these bands that want to challenge each other," he continues. "When you read back about how you had the Beatles and the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones all pushing each other to make better records, I feel that's kind of what's going on now. I can't wait to hear the new Panic! At the Disco record so I can do my best to one-up them, 'cause right now they are probably doing their best to one-up us."

Although Stump doesn't say it, you just know that Panic! is worried that the odds are stacked against them.

Fall Out Boy plays the Pacific Coliseum next Thursday (June 28).