Many speculations have been made on which genre the band My Chemical Romance falls under. A popular speculation denotes that My Chemical Romance falls under the emo subgenre. But others challenge this, by saying that the band falls under the punk rock genre.
Needless to say, this matter should not be that much of an issue, you know. Whichever genre My Chemical Romance falls under, they still make chart-hitting tracks that have caught the fancy of people who are not even mildly interested in the aforementioned genres! And the success of the band's latest album, The Black Parade, can attest to this!
The band is actually a product of the 9/ll terrorist attacks in the city that never sleeps. In fact, My Chemical Romance was formed barely a week after the attacks, by vocalist Gerard Way and former drummer Matt Pelissier. The morbid aftermath of the attacks and the attacks themselves are a clear suggestion on how the band's lyrics have been influenced.
Ever since the release of their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love back in 2002, the band has been producing tracks that are of somewhat a dark and melancholic nature. Take the track, Demolition Lovers, for example. The track follows the storyline of Bonnie and Clyde leaving a trail of crimes as they make their way from state to state. The song ends with the two criminals dying in the desert. One word for this song? Morbid. Absolutely morbid.
The band's sophomore album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, pronounces morbidity and melancholy even more. Songs like Helena, The Ghost of You, I'm Not Okay (I Promise), To The End, and Thank You for the Venom focus on the concept of death and heartache, nonetheless. The following words are mentioned in the lyrics to these songs: hearse, die, end of the world, ghost, tomb, coma, bury, cyanide, poison, pills, and kill. If these words don't scream morbid or morose, then I don't know what does. Still wondering why the band is tagged emo?
And then came the band's most successful album to date, The Black Parade. As usual, the album was laden with death-related content. The album title itself is associated with death. The color black denotes death in itself. But "parade" is associated with the act of celebrating. Thus, as explained by the band, the album denotes the celebration of death.
Upon the release of The Black Parade, it didn't waste time scaling the charts in the US, the UK, and even in Australia and New Zealand. In fact, the album was able to score record sales of 240,000 in just its first week of release! To date, The Black Parade has already reached platinum status, which was granted by the RIAA.
And who wouldn't be taken in by the latest album? With the concept revolving on a cancer patient, simply know as The Patient, the album is comprised of tracks that still discuss death. These tracks include Welcome to the Black Parade, Famous Last Words, Cancer, Dead!, Mama, The End, and I Don't Love You. Out of these many popular tracks, three tracks have been released from The Black Parade, and these include Welcome to the Black Parade, Famous Last Words, and I Don't Love You. Rumor has it that the 4th single to be released is Teenagers.
The music video of the lead single Welcome to the Black Parade demonstrates how The Patient dies of cancer, and how he is welcomed into death by the Black Parade. Figuratively speaking, the Black Parade is the persona of Death. The video went on to become a massive success, as did the track itself.
Overall, the band's latest album has been welcomed by positive reviews, and has even been ranked as 2006's 5th best album. Not bad for a comeback album, wouldn't you say? And for such an album that discusses the morbid matter of death, as it is!
