My Chemical Romance
by Francesca Basile
Everyone has an opinion on the current state of rock music. It’s falling apart, every band uses the same three chords, singers whine about their broken hearts. For the most part, that is true. When there are so many bands, there can only be so many differences between what each of them is doing. With their latest album, Welcome to the Black Parade, My Chemical Romance has proved that they can do something different. Welcome to the Black Parade has much more depth than the average “hardcore / punk / emo” record. MCR experienced overwhelming success with their sophomore effort, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, allowing singer Gerard Way to pursue something more adventurous. The band leader, wearing more make-up than a West Village drag queen, embarked on a theatrical concept album. He tells the story of a young man who succumbs to cancer in the second track and chronicles what he sees as his life flashes before his eyes in the hospital ward throughout the rest of the album.
Musically, the album rises above the trite offerings of many of MCR’s fellow Warped Tour comrades. They channel 1970s glam rock with wailing guitars, varying the tempo as should be done on a concept album, treating each song as a small vignette, stylistically different from the one before. “Cancer” stays short and simple with vocals and piano; “Mama,” a vaudeville-esque track, goes as far as featuring a duet with Liza Minelli; and “Sleep” has heavy metal overtones.
The fact that MCR attempted a concept album says a lot about the band’s ambitions. It could be compared to Coheed and Cambria’s series of concept albums, although not as musically progressive or inventive in fantasy storylines. Overall, it’s a solid effort and succeeds in transcending much of the recent work done by groups that MCR is usually associated with.
The messages Gerard Way sends through his story of “The Patient’s” life are overwhelmingly depressing. Aside from the background story of a young man dying from cancer, which is sobering enough on its own, his flashbacks are full of emotional pain. Way’s introduction beckons the listener, “Come one, come all, to this tragic affair…. What’s in is despair.” The tone is carried throughout the album. The Patient’s teenage claims of, “When I grow up, I want to be nothing at all,” are especially unsettling with the knowledge that he never actually has the chance to grow up.
MCR’s lyrics act as a rallying cry to their fans. They have received letters from teenagers across the country, thanking them for saving their lives. Apparently, depressed high-schoolers find solace in band they can identify with and a community of fans that experience the same social ostracism in their daily lives. Optimism can sometimes be found in the lyrics. One track off Welcome to the Black Parade, “Famous Last Words,” repeats, “I am not afraid to keep on living; I am not afraid to walk this world alone.”
At the same time, I can only help but wonder if MCR’s glorification of despair works towards perpetuating the problem of depression. These kids, claiming to be lost and forgotten in their suburban high school hells, search for an accepting community and find it with My Chemical Romance. Could they just as easily find some kind of kinship with a more uplifting message? Maybe I’m just a little too happy-go-lucky, but I find that listening to upbeat music tends to keep me in a good mood.
Then again, a quick look at today’s headlines outline these prospects: increasing violence in the Middle East, genocide in Africa, and a deteriorating global environment. Maybe teenagers do have a reason to be depressed about the future.
