Scott's Spotlight #5-- My Chemical Romance

May 19, 2025

Scott's Spotlight #5-- My Chemical Romance

Originally posted to Facebook on October 3, 2024.

Link to post:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/F3PVpDjVK991e3wv/

Welcome to Scott’s Spotlight #5 (#scottsspotlight). For more information about what I’m doing, see this post: https://www.facebook.com/share/Gc2VkwHQWGLdeaDd/?mibextid=oFDknk

Today in the Spotlight, I will feature My Chemical Romance (aka MCR). Much like 21 Pilots and Panic! At the Disco, whom I featured earlier in this series, MCR are a band with a big fan base that may not be on prog fans’ musical radar, but have some music that prog fans may find of interest.

The band was founded in September 2001 in New Jersey in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Singer Gerard Way decided to go after his dream of being a musician after seeing the twin towers fall. Way recruited drummer Matt Pelissier, and shortly thereafter guitarist Ray Toro, Way would soon write the song “Skylines and Turnstiles,” to express his feelings about 9/11. Not long after that , Gerard Way’s younger brother Mikey, while stocking books for his job at Barnes & Noble, noticed a book titled: “Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance,” by Irving Welsh. He suggested the name My Chemical Romance to be the name of Gerard’s band. The three band members would soon record a demo tape in Pelissier’s attic with two of songs “Our Lady of Sorrows,” and “Cubicles.” After hearing the demos, Mikey Way dropped out of college and became the band’s bassist. On the strength of the demos, Independent label, Eyeball Records signed the band. Another artist on Eyeball records was a band called Pencey Prep. Upon the breakup of that band in 2002, former member Frank Iero joined MCR as a second guitarist, just before MCR was to record their first album, “I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.” Iero appeared on two tracks. The album was produced by Geoff Rickley, of the band Thursday. The song “Early Sunsets over Monroeville” began to gain the band some attention while they were booked at a club called Big Daddy’s. The album would go on to produce three singles: “Vampires Will Never Hurt You,” “Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us,” and “Headfirst for Halos.” At the time MCR was considered to be a “punk” band, and this album is the closest to that in style. During this time period, MCR offered free downloads on a site called PureVolume, as well as building a big fanbase on the then popular Myspace.

The first album’s success got the attention of major label Reprise records who signed them and released their second album “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge,” in 2004. It was this album that turned the band from cult status to major stars of the early 2000s. Shortly after the album’s release drummer Matt Pelissier would be replaced by Bob Bryer, and Frank Iero would appear on all tracks on rhythm guitar. The album, while still having a hard edge to the sound, had songs that were more accessible to a wider audience in structure. The album can be seen as a rock opera. The concept, as described by Gerard Way, is a “pseudo-conceptual horror story.” The single “I’m Not OK (I Promise)” and its accompanying music video, brought the band a lot of success. The song has a very catchy hook in the chorus, and has more of a classic rock vibe. There is a fantastic harmonized guitar solo that is reminiscent of Queen’s Brian May. Two more singles would follow in the US (and a fourth in the UK). One of those, “Helena,” was inspired by the death of the Way brothers’ grandmother who passed away while the band was on tour and they were unable to attend the funeral. Another single, “The Ghost of You,” is in a big, dramatic, heavy rock ballad. These songs and their associated videos really brought MCR to a wide audience, but the best was yet to come.

Following “Three Cheers…,” the band would release a combination live/compilation album and DVD called “Life on the Murder Scene,” in March of 2006.

Later in October of 2006, MCR would release what many, including myself, consider to be their masterpiece, “The Black Parade.” The album is a rock opera. The story is based around a character only known as “The Patient.” In the story, “The Patient” dies and death takes him in the form of a parade. Gerard Way says that he believes that death comes to people in the form of a favorite childhood memory, which was, in his case, seeing a marching band in a parade. The music on the album is influenced by Queen, Pink Floyd and David Bowie, among others. The band would also don black, (Beatles) Sgt. Pepper style costumes in that album’s videos and tour. Some even consider the album to be progressive rock in nature, but with a slight punk edge. I highly recommend the album’s centerpiece, “Welcome to the Black Parade,” as a starting point when learning about MCR for prog fans (see link in the comments). I heard a millennial on YouTube refer to this song as their generation’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” In fact, Brian May even performed the song live with the band (I’ll also link to the video of this in the comments). Other well-known tracks from the album include “Dead!” “I Don’t Love You,” “Mama (Feat. Liza Minelli),""Teenagers,"(which to me has a T-Rex, “”Bang a Gong,” vibe to it), "Famous Last Words,” and hidden track, “Blood.” Following the release of the album, the band added a touring keyboardist, James Dewees. During the video shoot for “Famous Last Words,” shot later on the same day as “Welcome to the Black Parade,” video, drummer Bob Bryer suffered 3rd degree burns, and frontman Gerard Way suffered torn ligaments in his ankle, which caused some tour dates to be canceled. The tour was presented with the band members in caracter, and was a very theatrical production. This album took the band to a whole new level. I highly recommend giving it a listen. The final show of the tour, which was in Mexico City, was released as a live album and DVD called “The Black Parade Is Dead!” in 2008.

Between 2007-2009, Gerard Way, along with illustrator Gabriel Ba, published the original series of the comic book “The Umbrella Academy.” They would go on to publish more issues from 2018-21. The very popular Netflix series of the show would premier in 2019.

After a period of less activity, the band released their fourth album in 2010, called “Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.” The album is, interestingly, another rock opera. I say interestingly, as Gerard Way stated during interviews in the interim between albums that the next album would be a stripped-down affair, with “no characters, no concepts, no costumes and no extra instrumentation,” going back to their roots. They did record several tracks with Pearl Jam producer Brendan O’Brien, but the band decided that they were holding themselves back too much and the album was shelved (more on that later). They decided to return to rock operas again and start over. They reunited with the “Black Parade” producer, Rob Cavallo and recorded “Danger Days...” Drummer Bob Bryer would leave the band in March 2010, six months prior to the release of the album, although he receives writing credits on many of the tracks, it seems that session drummers were used, uncredited. The opera’s concept is about a post-apocalyptic California in 2019 (I know, right?), where a group called the Killjoys battles against an evil corporation called, “Better Living Industries,” (BL/Ind) which uses various “Draculoids and Exterminators.” Each band member had an alter ego character in the concept as well. Additionally, a narrator, in the guise of a pirate radio DJ known as “Dr. Death Defying,” voiced by Steve Montano from the “electropunk” band called Mindless Self Indulgence. I would say that this is my second favorite MCR album. Standout tracks include: “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na).” (especially when preceded by the opening “Look Alive Sunshine,” from Dr. Death Defying (my favorite on the album), “SING,” “Planetary (GO!),” and “S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W.” The Bridge of “Na Na Na…” has a backing part that reminds me of the solo in Deep Purple’s “Burn,” Ray Toro is a highly underrated guitarist in my opinion. The band also released a related 3-song EP called “Mad Gear and Missile Kid,” at around the same time as “Danger Days…” which serves as the name of a fictional band that the Killjoys are said to listen to in the car while having gun battles, according to rhythm guitarist Frank Iero. The EP is the only release from MCR to feature drummer Michael Pedicone. Gerard Way would release a related comic book series in 2013-14 called “The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.”

Following “Danger Days,” the band seemed as though they would be making a 5th album, and even built their own recording studio in LA and announced that touring keyboardist James Dewees was joining as an official member. They also released a single for the song “Every Snowflake is Different (Just Like You),” for a Christmas special of the Nickelodeon kids show “Yo, Gabba Gabba.” Next up from late 2012- early 2013, they released the songs from the pre-”Danger Days” sessions as a series of double A-side vinyl singles, accompanied by digital downloads, purchased on their website. When the fifth one was sent, it came with a special box to store them in as a boxset. The overall name of the project is “Conventional Weapons.” It is considered a compilation album now. At around the same time as those singles were to start being released in October of 2012, Frank Iero reported that sessions for the new album were underway with a new drummer named Jarrod Alexander. Suddenly, however, on March 22, 2013, the band posted a statement on their website that they broke up, without any explanation. Two days later, Gerard Way confirmed the breakup on Twitter, and denied that altercations between band members was the reason, but elaborated no further. The following year, in 2014, the band released a greatest hits compilation, called “May Death Never Stop You,” which included previously unreleased song, “Fake Your Death,” (hmmmmm?) which is the only recording with keyboardist James Dewees.

Between 2013-2019, the band members released various music as solo artists, and in collaboration with other artists (sometimes with 2 MCR members on the same project). In 2016, the MCR website got fans hopeful for a reunion with a cryptic announcement. However, it turned out to be a 10th anniversary special edition of “The Black Parade,” with bonus outtakes and live tracks.

In 2019, MCR made their fans' dreams come true, announcing a reunion show in Los Angeles on December 20 of the same year. It was later revealed that the band had regrouped and been working together in secrecy since 2017. Tour dates were announced for 2020, However, like most things that year COVID-19 put those dates on hold and they toured between 2022-23. A single called “The Foundations of Decay", was released in May of 2022, but it is the only post-reunion song released to date. (I was not a fan of this song.)

I look forward to the band releasing material on par with their earlier material in the near future, but I am not aware of any work in progress. See links to songs in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Links for Listening are in the comments.

Links for Listening:

From: “I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love”:

“Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcTTwpMSQAg...

“Vampires Will Never Hurt You:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1FHpCs8tD4...

From “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge”:

“Helena”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCCyoocDxBA...

“I’m Not OK (I Promise)”