A Lesson In... 06.30.09: My Chemical Romance

Posted by Alistair McGeorge on 06.30.2009

The theme of bands breaking away from the emo genre continues this week. The Black Parade turned them into huge stars, and was a big departure from anything they’ve done before. Alistair McGeorge returns to look at New Jersey’s My Chemical Romance.

Welcome once again to ‘A Lesson In…', with me, Alistair McGeorge. Last week I looked at Fall Out Boy, and got a couple of interesting comments. As a regular feature starting this week, I'm just going to respond to a couple of the comments I got, to try and keep some reader interaction. This week's lesson…My Chemical Romance.





They have become the standard bearers of thousands of teens all over the world, writing songs that have inspired and helped many. However, they've also got a lot of backlash for glorifying violence, self-harm and suicide. A proper listen to My Chemical Romance's songs show that they are definitely against any form of violence. Plus, musically they've come a long way from song titles like ‘Bring More Knives', ‘I'm Not Okay (I Promise)' and ‘Vampires Will Never Hurt You'.

Like I said with Fall Out Boy last week, My Chemical Romance are another band that has aimed to push away from the emo genre. Indeed, the only thing keeping them classed in this way are the (what I consider) well-crafted lyrics, and power-chords. Really, they have improved and become a sum greater than its parts, and on The Black Parade showed talent not many people thought they had. Before we get underway, here's a look at the quintet live:




FEEDBACK

Alright, thanks to anyone who left comments during the week, and to those who took a guess at this week's band. I got one e-mail a couple of hours after the column went up with just ‘My Chemical Romance' in the body. However, seeing as The Outcast Legend The Wolf was the first to include answers to the clues, I'm going to let them both suggest a future topic (just e-mail it me at [e-mail]).

Thanks to Rose, who left the following:

Wow, that is a great insight into FOB. They have been my favourite band for 3-4 years now, and I became hoo$ked when I heard dance dance. TTTYG is my favourite album.
I love how they always do something different in each album but I do prefer the first 3 albums to the latest one, FAD. At first I didn't like it that much but it grows on you and any fan can see that it's still the same comical, witty lyrics as usual and I can't wait to see what they come up with next.
Rose.

Glad you enjoyed the article, it's good to have a fellow Fall Out Boy fan read it and actually still find it enjoyable. Take This To Your Grave is definitely a great album, but I genuinely love all their stuff for different reasons. The last two have been good, but I'm inclined to agree that TTTYG might just top them.

I also got a comment from Dr. Jones, who provided us with this insightful beauty:

All around awful band, in every respect. The fat guy is one of the worst singers I have ever heard and the greasy, horse-toothed, attention whore, midget bass player is a joke.

Where to start? First of all, I really hope your name isn't an Aqua reference, or you really shouldn't be slamming any artist ever. That aside, thanks for taking the time to read my column, or even if you didn't, thanks for clicking and giving me another view. I'd hardly say Patrick ‘fat guy' Stump is a bad singer- he's got a unique voice with an incredible vocal range. Plus, personal views on Pete Wentz aside, he's a good bass player with a lot of charisma. If you were in that position, I reckon you'd be taking the media attention and enjoying the fame.


Right, shall we get back on track? Shall we further annoy the masses with a look at another ‘emo' band with arguably annoying band members? I'll give it my best shot, so let's slip back to September 2001…



Can we retain our innocence?

After the horrific attacks of 9/11, New Jersey resident Gerard Way was inspired to form a band. My Chemical Romance was founded by vocalist Way and then-drummer Matt Pelissier, and Ray Toro joined shortly after. The first song written was ‘Skylines and Turnstiles', written about Way's feelings after the 9/11 tragedy. The first recordings that exist of the band are known as The Attic Demos, recorded in Pelissier's attic during this time. Four tracks were written and recorded during these session: ‘Early Sunsets Over Monroeville', ‘Cubicles', ‘Skylines and Turnstiles' and ‘Bring More Knives', which was later renamed ‘Our Lady of Sorrows'.

Gerard Way's brother Mikey joined the band not long after the demos were finished. After being signed to Eyeball Records, MCR began to write and record their debut album. Former Pencey Prep vocalist and guitarist Frank Iero joined them just before it was finished, in time to record guitar parts for two tracks. From here, their journey to the top began…



Think happy thoughts…

MCR released I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love mid-2002, and it started to gain them an underground following. While the band didn't reach the mainstream until their next album, Bullets helped them grow their fan-base and begin to establish a following.

The album is generally seen as a concept album, with a loose story of two lovers eventually shot down in a desert. Whilst this might not really be the case (fans of any band will, by nature, over-analyze their lyrics in an attempt to find a deeper meaning), there are several underlining themes of love, loss and, naturally, vampires. As mentioned earlier, ‘Skylines And Turnstiles' was written post-September 11, inspired by feelings of sorrow and loss Gerard Way was feeling at the time.

Many long-term fans of My Chem consider this their strongest work, really capturing the essence of emo-punk. Whilst MCR have changed their style over the years, I think the general themes for their lyrics haven't changed all that much since this first album.

Also, for those who think that The Black Parade was a huge departure from this early work, have a listen to the song ‘Dead!' off that album, and then watch the following video:



Ray Toro showed early on that he was a fantastic guitarist, and the different styles he covers on this album proves it. From a beautiful but short acoustic introduction (‘Romance') to simple pop-punk (‘Cubicles'), a lot of styles are covered on Bullets, making it really less of a surprise that the band became what they did. The album has also sold well since its release, going Gold in the UK and selling 300,000 copies in the US. However, before they fully took over the rock world and fully realized their potential, they had another step to complete to push them on their way…



Sweet revenge…

A year after the release of Bullets, MCR signed their first major label deal with Reprise Records. In 2004, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge was released, and showed a maturing of their sound. The rawness was still there, but to a lesser degree then their debut.

This album was what they needed to move into the mainstream, and the major label debut certainly did just that. Singles ‘I'm Not Okay (I Promise)', ‘Helena' and ‘Ghost of You' all did very well, the former and latter reaching the Top 10 in the US Modern Rock chart, and ‘Helena' peaking at 11. The videos for the three also got considerable airplay on MTV, and Revenge has amassed sales of over 1 million copies in the US, plus being certified Platinum in the UK.

While the critics and new fans of the band received Revenge well, ‘old-school' fans of the group started to turn on MCR. There was a slight shift in styles between the two albums, with Bullets an alternative rock record with a fairly distinct sound. Revenge leaned more towards a pop-punk, mainstream emo sound, and showed MCR's ability to write catchy melodies. That said, tracks like ‘I Never Told You What I Do For A Living' and ‘Give ‘Em Hell Kid' still captured the early My Chem sound, with the rawness and energy still present.

It was during this period that Matt Pelissier left the band to be replaced by current drummer Bob Bryar, another move that maybe started to alienate older fans. While we had to wait another two years for the next My Chemical Romance album, they were certainly kept busy, including a collaboration with long-time friends The Used:



The murder scene…

By 2006, the band's third studio album was within a year of being released, but MCR still had something to keep the fans interested during the wait. In March of that year, they released their first live CD/DVD, called Life On The Murder Scene. This was well-received, featuring a documentary of the band's career, music videos (and ‘making of…' those videos) and live performances.

In April, a month after this release, the band started recording their latest album (and their second with Reprise). At this point there were many rumors around the album name, at one point being thought to be titled The Rise And Fall of My Chemical Romance. This turned out to be more of a joke as a working title than a serious consideration, but rumors and stories about the new album were still being spread around.

As the band were secretly filming two videos for the album (which later became known to be ‘Welcome To The Black Parade' and ‘Famous Last Words'), they suffered a couple of injuries. Gerard Way was forced to use a cane after tearing ligaments in his ankle, and Bob Bryar burnt his leg, causing a staph infection. It all became worth it in October 2006, with the release of My Chemical Romance's most ambitious work yet. There was still more mysteries to be explained before the release though, and the fans were led along for the ride…



Welcome to the Black Parade…

In August, a special gig was played at the London Hammersmith Palais. Street team members carried signs reading ‘The Black Parade' (later confirmed to be the new album name), and people in cloaks (think, The Undertaker's druids…sorry, the wrestling geek in me had to come out at some point) were parading around the venue. The real surprise came for fans at the gig, when it was announced that MCR would not be performing tonight, instead being replace by ‘The Black Parade'. After a few songs, it became clear that it was MCR's new image, a persona they were taking on for the new album.

The Black Parade was finally released on October 23 2006 in the US (and a day later in the UK), and sold extremely well. Peaking at Number 2 in the Billboard 200, as well as the UK Albums Chart, by August 2007 it had reached sales of 1,169,697 in the US alone. While it was well-received by critics and apparently the mainstream, the "true" fans of the band continued to turn their back.

The main argument I hear from people is that MCR aren't talented, are too "emo" and can't write good songs. In my opinion, The Black Parade shows this to be completely untrue. With tracks like ‘Dead!' and ‘Teenagers', Ray Toro and Frank Iero show their skill as guitar players, with Toro proving that he really is extremely underrated. On songs like the highly emotional (not the genre) ‘Cancer', Gerard Way shows that his raw vocals can work on more than simple pop-rock, with the line "baby, I'm just soggy from the chemo/and counting down the days to go" still sending shivers down my spine. It's an undeniably beautiful song- do yourselves a favor and have a listen:



Ignorance is…

Of course, as the band became huge, media all over the world began to take notice and form their own opinions. One such publication is the Daily Mail in the UK, a newspaper that reported on a teenage girl's suicide. The article highlighted "emo" bands like…wait for it…Green Day and My Chemical Romance. Now, I'm sure I'll tackle Green Day on a future date, but needless to say…they're not emo in the slightest.

The article blamed ‘emo' bands- and specifically The Black Parade- for teenage depression, self-half and suicide. I'll try and remain objective, but really- it's utterly ridiculous. If anyone pays more attention to MCR than their image and reading song-titles, they'd know that they do a lot to help against these issues. ‘Headfirst For Halos' has the line "think happy thoughts" repeated, and many of their songs have helped people face these problems with depression. To say otherwise, without doing proper research, is simply quite ignorance.

I apologize for the little rant, and I'll try to get back on track. The band began to tour the new album with an ambitious live set, showing just how far they've come from the small clubs in New Jersey all those years ago. Now completely sober, Gerard Way didn't rely on alcohol to calm his nerves. Instead, the band created a new image- The Black Parade- and became these characters for their live shows. During The Black Parade World Tour, they took a risk and it paid off. Most nights, they would play the entire Black Parade album dressed in their mock-Sgt. Pepper's uniforms, before changing into more comfortable gear and playing a set of songs off their first two albums.

Bouts of food poisoning on the Muse tour, Mikey Way taking time off to be with his new wife, Iero taking a break because a death in the family and Bryar having with wrist problems all combined to make the last part of their tours for 2007 less than the complete thing. However, by early 2008 the band were well and truly back together

The Black Parade Is Dead!

I hate to jump back like this, but during the above, MCR made a release in October 2007 to give the fans something "new". The Black Parade Is Dead! was the band's second live album, featuring a CD and DVD. The CD and first part of the DVD was the concert from Mexico City, which featured the Black Parade album in full. The DVD also included a small homecoming show in New Jersey.

Since then, the band has relied on releasing E.P.'s made up of b-sides and live tracks, although they did record a new track for Watchmen. A fast, punk-rock version of Bob Dylan's ‘Desolation Row' showed that My Chemical Romance can still sound edgy and raw if they want to, and it's given me hope for the next album. A new song has also been debuted live, which is untitled at the moment but is known as "Stay".



Newest release and the future...

The encore of the Mexico City show was released in April this year, on a special bullet-shaped USB (called ¡Venganza!) containing videos of the songs performed. These were 9 tracks off Revenge, and provided a fitting encore for the vast majority of the Black Parade World Tour.

So far this year, the quintet have been writing and slowly starting to record their new, forth studio album. In various interviews, Gerard Way has described it as dark, raw and sounding more like a live band. From what he's said, it should be probably a mix between the band's first two efforts. That said, I can't image My Chem really backtracking, so it should still be a progression in some sense.

Grading… My Chemical Romance

Like Fall Out Boy last week, I only heard MCR with the release of their sophomore album. I still remember the very first time I heard them, watching the video to ‘I'm Not Okay (I Promise)', and realizing I had to get into this band. Revenge never really grew on me at the time, but there were a few tracks I always listened to. After Black Parade, I once again became a huge fan. I bought Bullets not long after that, and it's incredible how far they've come. I can't wait for the new album, to see how MCR will evolve this time, and to have another lot of great rock tracks to add to my collection.


Homework:

Slight change this week- any guesses will have to be sent into the comments section rather than by e-mail. Also, answers must include answers to the clues as well (only because the first answer I got last week was by e-mail and didn't answer the clues). Just like last week, the first person to guess next week's subject will get to suggest a future one. So, here we go:

1. In the beginning, they sang about the ‘little things'.
2. The band's line-up includes two brothers, whose surname can also be linked to NFL.
3. Their father left them during their teens, prompting the lyrics to a number of their songs.


I'll be back next week with another Lesson In…, so hopefully you'll all be here again to join me. Comments, once again, are always welcome, and if I can improve in any area of the column, just let me know. I'm still trying to find a format that really suits me and you, the readers, so just tell me if anything's not working, or there's something you want more focus on. Thanks for joining me, and I'll hopefully see you all in class next week.