During my early morning Facebook and Twitter check yesterday (yeah, yeah, I know, but I couldn’t sleep) I heard that MCR had split up. Now these sort of rumours appear all the time about various bands so my first thought was ‘hoax’, but then I checked their website for news and the Kerrang! blog.
‘Tis a great shame, and rather unexpected, since I’d heard they were working on some new songs. I’d hoped to see them live next year. It’s no secret that until mid-2011 I had no interest whatsoever in music, it had just never been a part of my world, but now it is. MCR was/is one of my favourites. I like everything they’ve done.
I know people who have been fans for years, who say MCR saved them and who have their own preferred eras; it’s quite interesting that some people seem to prefer the album they heard first. I feel that in coming to them late, after they put out Danger Days, it means that rather than comparing an album to the one before, or a favourite, I’ve been able to see each album as the distinct entities they are, rather than having an expectation of more of the same. I can hear the transition between ‘Black Parade’ and ‘Danger Days’ in ‘Conventional Weapons’, and the increased polish between ‘Bullets’ and ‘Revenge’. Each album is enjoyable in it’s own right, yet all have the same message of hope to those in pain.
Decried as dangerous by tabloids and insulted as ’emo’, this band paired introspection and emotional lyrics with an almost punk aggression in their style of performing. They started out quite dark in song content and band imagery but changed and, importantly the music continually evolved as the Way’s and their friends grew up and changed themselves.
In the last twelve years MCR have made some memorable music. I personally love ‘Thank you for the venom’, ‘I’m not okay’ and ‘Boy Division’ as well as ‘Na, Na, Na (Na, Na, Na)’ and ‘Welcome to The Black Parade’. The lyrics are powerful and occasionally make me cry, for the pain the writer must have gone through to write something so beautiful, and for those who have been brought back from the brink by the music. For all that the videos for ‘Danger Days’ are in the same melancholic vein as their earlier work, the songs themselves never fail to make me smile. I love the graphic nature of the songs and the strong imagery they evoke.
But my opinion on My Chemical Romance’s musical style and image is not important right now; what I want to say is My Chemical Romance were one of the first bands I was ever a fan of, one of the first bands in who’s members I ever took an interest beyond ‘that sounds good, I suppose’. The music they made means a lot to me, and has been a great help to me at times. The band and their music also mean a great deal to some of my closest friends (including my 5 year old godson who, when I went to visit, announced before I had my coat off, ‘Rosie, we have bad news; MCR have split’; apparently he wailed when he was told by his mum. He’d wanted to go to see them next time they toured, his favourite song is ‘Sing’ and he adores the videos for ‘Danger Days’).
So, I’d like to thank them for the music.
And MCRmy/Killjoys; ‘You get a lifetime’, make the best of it. Keep going; they’re still living and creating so we will hear from them again, just maybe not as MCR.
Bye
Rose
Everything Is Better With Dragons 