I BROUGHT YOU MY BULLETS, YOU BROUGHT ME YOUR LOVE (2002)
The beginnings of My Chemical Romance can be traced back to the events of 9/11. Gerard Way had been working as an intern for Cartoon Network in New York City when the attacks happened, and having a first hand view of the tragedy deeply affected him. He quit Cartoon Network and wrote what would be the first My Chemical Romance song, "Skylines and Turnstiles", where he expressed his feelings about the attacks. The song lyrics go into graphic detail about what it must have been like for those involved, either as a victim or a helpless onlooker. At the same time though, there's one lyric I feel is the heart of what My Chemical Romance truly means: "...if the world needs something better, let's give them one more reason..." MCR came about because Gerard wanted to make a difference in the world after seeing the worst of humanity. It's an instance of something good coming out of something bad, and the fanbase that continues to grow for the band even after their break-up is a testament to that.
Sure enough, the band would form, sign with Eyeball Records, and record their first album, "I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love". Being an independent record means the album has a very raw sound to it, and it's the evident by the heart and energy being put in from everyone in the band. Compared to what would come later from the band, you really have to appreciate the humble beginnings.
The concept of the album focuses on a "Bonnie and Clyde" like couple who break away from their normal lives to go on a crime spree, which based on the lyrics involves murder and drugs, with the two ultimately being gunned down in the desert. The events of said fate are depicted in my favorite song from the album of the album, "Demolition Lovers." The song begins with a slow dark melody that gradually builds up as it goes on, with Gerard's vocals going from soft to screaming in relation to the beat. One of the best things in this song to me are how it's split in half with a moment of silence and the second half begins with an altered tempo from how the song began, not to mention the instrumental that follows before the finale. Above all though, it's a love song. The character is telling his lover, who have been through so much together by this point, that he's with her no matter what, all the way up to when they're riddled with bullets. It's a song about true commitment and dedication, even if the characters aren't exactly good people.
My other favorite songs from the album include "Vampires Will Never Hurt You", "Drowning Lessons", "Our Lady of Sorrows", and "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville". "Vampires" has a definite horror feel to it, with its soft intro and outro as well as whispers and screams in the background. And of course, there's the whole idea of surviving an army of vampires, which can also be viewed as a metaphor for those who use others. "Sorrows" is the shortest song on the album, but it makes up for it by being very fast paced with lots of screaming; it's definitely a song to listen to if you want to get pumped. "Drowning Lessons" and "Early Sunsets" both have dark content to them but at the same time comes across as kind of sweet; it's really better to listen to them as simply describing them don't do them justice enough.
"Bullets" is often overlooked since it wasn't the band's first mainstream album, but it did gather them an underground following and attention from Reprise Records, who the band signed with a year later. As for the album itself, despite not listening to the whole thing until years after its initial release, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would compared to their mainstream releases. Maybe it has something to do with it being their first album, meaning they had a lot to prove at that point. Like I said, there's a lot of heart in it.
THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGE (2004)
As their first major record label release, "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" has a much cleaner sound compared to "Bullets". That's probably part of the reason a portion of their fanbase from the first album felt the band had sold out (though to be fair, that's been said for each album after "Bullets"). I really hate the term "selling out" since it's sometimes used by fans to justify their negative opinion of a new direction a band takes. It may be valid in some cases, but unless it's a major departure from what the band is known for, it's not a good excuse. The term is also used when an unknown band becomes more popular. I mean, you'd think they'd be happy more people would get into a band they like, but I guess there's some hipster "I liked them before they were cool" logic to it. My point being, "Revenge" may sound different from "Bullets", but it still carries the unique sound and dark and heartfelt themes they became known for. And if it wasn't for them hitting the mainstream, I wouldn't have become part of the large fanbase that spiked with "Revenge".
In addition to being cleaner, the songs on the album have a lot more energy to them, like the band poured their heart into it even more than before. The high pace of each song results in none going up to four minutes. Seriously, it can be quite a work out singing along, especially when it's "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison", "I'm Not Okay", and "Ghost Of You" back-to-back-to-back.
The concept of the album is a continuation from "Bullets", and if you listen to both albums, you'll notice a lot of connective tissue. In a story of love and loss, after being gunned down, the two lovers are separated between life and death, so the man makes a deal with the devil that he can be with her again, but in exchange for the souls of a thousand evil men. So he basically goes on a killing spree, and given the title of the album, seeks revenge on those who gunned him and his lover down. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I've tried to think of an overall title for the story both albums tell. There's a simple route with "Bullets and Revenge" (which would also make a great band name). "Demolition Lovers" is also a good choice, since the album cover artwork for "Revenge" (drawn by Gerard) shares the name of "Bullets"' last track. Finally, since it is technically a love story, maybe it's the titular "Chemical Romance". Those are just my crazy fan theories though.
The conclusion is bitter sweet though in the album's final track "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living", as the lyrics suggest he failed in his mission. As he's dying, it's like he's begging with the devil that he "tried" and asking for "one more night". In the end though, he takes some solace in that he will be reunited with his lover: "And we'll love again, we'll laugh again, we'll cry again, and we'll dance again. And it's better off this way, so much better off this way". Considering our protagonist actually loses though, it kind of explains the structure of the song. It doesn't start out like a grand conclusion to the story, but it at least ends that way. In that regard, it's actually my least favorite final track from their albums, but it works given the context.
While the band had already done music videos for the first album, the ones they did for "Revenge" allowed them to get more creative, and in my opinion had the most memorable out of all their albums. We had the high school outcast centered video for "I'm Not Okay."
(For the record, my favorite part is probably Ray's solo when he's banging his head and his hair goes back and forth.)
Not only was this a great mainstream introduction, but I think it helped the song become what many consider to be the "emo kid anthem". I actually sang this in my high school talent show junior year. To this day, I still get into this song whenever it comes on the radio. Either it's stood the test of time, it reminds me of old times, or I'm just still not okay.
After that, we had "Helena" (named after Gerard and Mikey's then recently passed grandmother), which no description can do justice.
This video was my first real exposure to My Chemical Romance (and let's take a moment to remember the good times when MTV still played music). It pretty much became the staple of the band's "Revenge" era, particularly the red/black fashion scheme (I even had a red/black tuxedo for my junior prom). You have to appreciate all the work that went into the video too, from the set design to the dance choreography. They practically put the fun in funeral.
Finally, there was the World War II centered video for "Ghost of You."
In regards to the song itself, I feel it's the best emphasis of the album's theme of love and loss. I feel it can be applied to past relationships as well. And recently, mostly thanks to the video, I've come to think of Captain America and Agent Carter's relationship in the MCU with this song as well. Though in my search of tributes to them on YouTube, apparently more people think of Cap and Bucky instead.
While the video's a great departure from what people think of with the band, it's still pretty damn good in its own right. Who doesn't love the transition of the beach waves coming over the dance floor? I also love how the tone shifts in the song connect to what's happening, with the slow parts happening during the dance compared to the boom of the chorus over the warzone. Connecting the song's sudden end to Mikey's death also adds to the tragedy that the song tries to convey.
It's needless to say that the singles from the album are great (and let's not forget "Thank You For the Venom" which had a single release in the UK; the meaning behind it is brilliant as well as the guitar solo). So when it comes to my favorite non-single songs from the album, those include "Give 'Em Hell, Kid", "Hang 'Em High", and "It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish." "Give 'Em Hell" is a lot like "Our Lady of Sorrows" in that it's also the shortest song of the album but still does a lot in its short time. "Hang 'Em High" has a western like intro before going into the usual MCR style, but the seed was planted, and I can't help but picture wild west imagery when I listen to it. As for "Deathwish", I think what I love about it is how it's about the impact one person can have on another, and I think we've all been there at some points in our lives.
"Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" was a major success for the band, allowing them to attract new fans and helped them to grow as artists. For me personally, this put the band on my radar, but it wasn't until their next album where they hooked me for life.
THE BLACK PARADE (2006)
For their next album, it seemed the band had the need to reinvent themselves...literally. Similar to the Beatles' approach to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", My Chemical Romance created an alter ego band known as the Black Parade; they even had their own marching band uniforms. The separate band idea was also applied to their tour for a good while, with the Black Parade performing the entire album, followed by My Chemical Romance after an intermission to play older songs.
The concept this time around focused on a character called "The Patient" who is dying of cancer, with the album detailing his passage out of life as he comes to terms with his past actions and relationships. The eponymous Black Parade comes from Gerard's notion that death comes to a person in the form of their happiest memory; for the Patient, it was of his father taking him to see a parade as a child.
Compared to their other albums, "The Black Parade" is classified as a rock opera. At the time this album came out, I was starting to get into Green Day thanks to their own rock opera, "American Idiot". When I heard "Black Parade" was also a rock opera, my interest was piqued. There was also the fact that the music videos for "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words" were directed by Samuel Bayer, who also directed all of Green Day's videos from "American Idiot."
I didn't really appreciate the video for "Welcome to the Black Parade" when it first came out. After learning the context, I loved how it captures the story of the album, from the designs of the city and the Parade itself with all the characters, even though its not as outlandish as in Gerard's drawings in the album art.
The song itself is also considered one of the band's most iconic, from just the piano beginning alone.
As for the sequel video in "Famous Last Words", something about it drew me in immediately. It's very simple with the band playing with fire behind them, but there's the sense that everything is falling part, including the band itself. Considering "Famous Last Words" is the final track of the album (not counting the hidden bonus track "Blood), it makes sense that the video would be done as such a grand conclusion as the song itself does for the album. It's honestly my favorite My Chemical Romance song period; much like "I'm Not Okay", I also sang this at my senior year talent show.
As the videos show, this was a point where the band included more theatrics in their live performances. Initially in the tour at the start of the show, Gerard would come out as the Patient on a gurney and wearing a hospital gown to sing the opening stanza to "The End." before ripping it off when the rest of the band kicks in. Other effects included confetti shooting out during "Welcome to the Black Parade" and pyrotechnics during "Famous Last Words" to match the video. This level of theatricality is one of the reasons I would have loved to see the band perform in person; even without the theatrics, live MCR has a much different energy compared to album MCR. It's worth noting that the band released their last performance as the Black Parade on the live video album "The Black Parade is Dead!" It is just a live version of the album, it's still worth watching as it adds more to the experience in my opinion.
Something I've realized during my re-listening to the albums is that Black Parade has a theme much different from the others: isolation. Within the dark lyrics in "Bullets" and "Revenge", there's still this idea of wanting the best for others, even if it means you have to suffer yourself. Black Parade however has a much more selfish tone. There's conflict in the Patient, as while he wants to make peace with his past, it's very hard to so with what little time he has, and it causes him to lash out at others; in addition to fear of death, it's possibly fear of redemption as well. Between "Disenchantment" and "Famous Last Words", the end of his life marks his acceptance of both his selfish nature and that it's his time of passing.
I was so enthralled with this album that I actually wrote out a script for a musical based on it. There was a lot of research involved, making sure I understood the meaning of each song and that I could include enough characters to warrant it as a play, with some characters featured in the music video (Fear, Regret, Mother War) as well as some new ones I felt were needed that fit with certain songs and help the story (like a doctor and a priest). One of my intents was to pitch it to my high school drama club. Part of that involved cleaning up some of the lyrics where I could, and the biggest challenge was with "Mama"; that's probably the darkest track on the album, even without the "We all go to hell" line constantly repeated. I even had this idea that below the stage could be an actual band playing the songs, acting as a kind of orchestra pit. Alas, nobody really went for it, thinking of just the music video and not really listening when I tried to explain how much deeper it was. It was probably just as well though, since I'm not sure if my vision would have been properly brought to life. The script itself though was lost when the computer I wrote it on crashed. It's really something I should return to at some point, and it may be the writer in me never fully satisfied with my work, but I always thought it could have used a polish even before I lost it. All in all, I really think even if not me, someone should attempt a Black Parade musical; it certainly worked for "American Idiot."
It's really hard to pick other favorite songs from the album as "The Black Parade" is just so epic that each song has something to love about them, like each chapter in a book. As one of my all-time favorite albums, I highly recommend checking it out to those who haven't.
DANGER DAYS: THE TRUE LIVES OF THE FABULOUS KILLJOYS (2010)
After Black Parade, My Chemical Romance wanted to scale things back and be more of a rock band again like the first two albums. This lead to "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys." Like the previous albums, there's a concept behind it. "Danger Days" takes place in a post-apocalyptic Battery City, California, and focuses on a band of rebels called the Killjoys (portrayed by the band members in the music videos) as they battle the evil corporate forces of Better Living Industries, also known as "BL/Ind", who control the populace. The story of the album is told through the music videos for "Na Na Na" and "Sing".
A couple fun facts: 1) The bald villain known as Korse is played by comic book writer Grant Morrison, who has done groundbreaking runs on Justice League, Batman, and Superman. 2) This story apparently takes place in 2019, so we have about 9 more months for this to come to pass.
Between the music videos and album art, not to mention the album interspersed with broadcasts from pirate radio DJ Dr. Death-Defying, the band does a great job at world building much like they did with the Black Parade.
If it isn't clear, "Danger Days" is drastically different from the previous albums. It shows from the "Na Na Na" video that they certainly wanted to have some fun, which goes with how they were just wanting to be a rock band again and do something simpler after such a grand endeavor with "The Black Parade". It can be described as the most "poppy" sound from the band, and I myself even consider it to be a "party album." There's also much less focus on death and horror, and fans who were drawn to that could be disappointed. As for me, I instantly loved this album when it came out. Even if the sound has changed, "Danger Days" doesn't lack My Chemical Romance's ability to connect to fans on a personal level. The struggle of the Killjoys against BL/Ind. is symbolic of that. BL/Ind.'s control of people can be seen as a stifling of individuality and creativity. The songs on the album include the themes of the Killjoys' mission statement: don't be afraid to be yourself, stand up for what you believe in, let truth reign over the lies, stay vigilant of those who would do harm, and be there for your friends.
All the songs on the album have a fun sound to them, though these are the ones that stood out to me:
* Bulletproof Heart: This is probably my favorite song of the album. It just has a great structure from start to finish, with the music rising and falling when it needs to. It also contains the "be yourself" message I talked about in a more "us vs. the world" nature. I also included this song on a playlist I made for the first "Amazing Spider-Man" film when it was coming out.
* Summertime: For what is their most poppy album, "Summertime" is the most poppy song, but not in a bad way. It's definitely a love song set within the "Danger Days" world, and it's probably the sweetest MCR song. I also like to think it's called "Summertime" as if it's their attempt at a "pop song of the summer". It's kind of a shame it wasn't a single, as I think it would have succeeded as one.
* Vampire Money: This song was written in response to My Chemical Romance being asked to and refusing to do a song for "Twilight". It's basically about not wanting to do things just because they're popular at the moment. And let's be honest, "Twilight" really was just a fad; hardly anyone talks about it anymore compared to "Harry Potter." The only good things to come from it were songs like Paramore's "Decode" and Muse's " Neutron Star Collision".
* The Kids From Yesterday: To me, this song is about reflection. I like to apply it to school graduations or bidding farewell to a friend moving away, as they can evoke a lot of memories as one era ends and another begins. I think the band views it the same way, since the music video is made up of clips of past live performances.
"The Kids From Yesterday" and "Danger Days" overall are a testament to the artistic evolution of My Chemical Romance. No longer were they a bunch of young men full of pain, but a well-rounded rock band who have changed not only their lives, but those of millions. I think the simplest way to describe the band from album to album is summed up in this image.
CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS (2012-13)
I'm technically cheating on this one in a couple of ways. For one, it's not a true album but a series of singles released between October 2012 and February 2013. Secondly, these songs were recorded prior to "Danger Days", so it's technically their third and a half album. Nevertheless, I still treat "Conventional Weapons" as if it were an album in its own right.
Tonally, "Conventional Weapons" is the bridge between "Black Parade" and "Danger Days." There's a harder sound and somewhat darker imagery, with the best example I think being someone going through a windshield in "Surrender the Night." As these songs were written during production of "Danger Days", there's a lot of connective tissue:
* "Boy Division" contains the "We got the bomb" lyric from "Vampire Money."
* "Make Room" contains "Na Na Na"'s lyrics of "Everybody want to change the world but no one wants to die", as well as some similar background vocals from "Party Poison."
* Some songs between the albums have similar messages, even if they are tonally and structurally different: "Bulletproof Heart" and "Ambulance", "The Only Hope For Me Is You" and "The World is Ugly", and "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back" and "The Light Behind Your Eyes."
Whether you call it a prototype, darker version, or bonus material, "Conventional Weapons" is definitely connected to "Danger Days", and these are just the most blatant examples I can think of.
My overall favorite song from the album is "The World is Ugly", and I also consider it my second favorite MCR song behind "Famous Last Words". It has a beautiful melody from start to finish that's easy to get into. When the song was released, I viewed it perfectly summed up the way I felt about someone I had strong feelings for at the time. And though those feelings weren't reciprocated, the connection I make with the song doesn't take away how great it is. Plus, the ending lines have callbacks to "Vampires Will Never Hurt You", "Demolition Lovers", and "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison."
For an album with only ten songs, it's real easy to have other favorites, those being "Boy Division", "Gun", "The Light Behind Your Eyes", and "Burn Bright."
* "Boy Division" starts the album out strong, and much like "Our Lady of Sorrows" and "Give 'Em Hell, Kid", has a lot of energy in its short run time.
* As far as I can tell, "Gun" seems to be the only obvious political song from the band. It's very anti-war, particularly the Middle East conflict ("Can I bleed enough to fill up what the engine takes?") The song seems to be about a young recruit who goes from being excited about enlisting, from getting his gun and uniform, and later realizing the traumatic effects and dangers of combat, like not having a family.
* To me, "The Light Behind Your Eyes" is a song about friendships from past and present and how important they are. You miss the ones that were lost and would do anything for those currently in your life, with the passion about it showing through Gerard's vocals as the song goes on. In the context of "Danger Days", I see it as a song about the Killjoys' struggle, how they've lost comrades but are still willing to put their lives on the line for others all the same; that's why I see "Light Behind Your Eyes" as a more somber version of "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back."
* "Burn Bright" has a real sense of finality to it. While I think it can apply to a break-up, it closes out the album in grand fashion, and for a time, it was essentially the last MCR song before their break-up.
For a non-album album, it's a worthy addition to the My Chemical Romance library and shouldn't be overlooked.
A month after the final "Conventional Weapons" release, My Chemical Romance announced their break-up on March 22, 2013. A year after that, they released a greatest hits album, "May Death Never Stop You", including one last new song, "Fake Your Death." Many fans feel the song title is the band's way of saying it's just a break and that they could return someday. There's nothing wrong with being hopeful, though as we're now on the sixth anniversary of their break-up, there's no telling when that could be. The band members have gone their separate ways within the music industry, as well as Gerard giving more attention to his comic book career. Everyone seems to still be on good terms with each other, as Gerard says he's open to a reunion someday, though everyone is happy doing their own thing right now.
Even if the band doesn't come together again, My Chemical Romance still lives on through their music and the fans they continue to make through it. They will always have a place in my CD rotation. Should the day come where they do go back on tour again, you can be damn sure I'll bite at the chance to finally see them live. Until then, continue feeling the revenge, long live the Black Parade, and Killjoys, keep making noise.
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