15 Years Later: Remembering MCR’s The Black Parade
The 2006 VMAs opened on a g note. Well, not technically. But they did open with an epic introduction to a new era of My Chemical Romance — The infamous Black Parade era. I still remember Gerard and company stepping into that gold elevator donned in their black & white marching band uniforms. They rode the elevator all the way to the top of the Rock — or rather the top of the GE building in NYC. From there, Gerard took command of the stage as he unveiled the band’s brand new song, “Welcome to the Black Parade”, under appropriately gloomy skies. It was quite a scene. You had to see it to appreciate it. And oh, I did. Oh, I did.
Up until that point I had known of MCR as the band that did that awesome video “Helena”. I also knew them as the guys who packed like 1000 +people into their Warped set, a set which I only got a glimpse of from way, way, way in the back because I got there too late. But they were pretty damn amazing live.Gerard has a ton of stage presence. And he knows how to bring the drama. I knew that MCR were definitely on their way to being the next big thing. But it wasn’t until I saw that performance of “Welcome to the Black Parade” at the 2006 VMAs, that I was like, okay, Gerard has rockstar power on the level of Bowie or Freddie Mercury. He wasn’t some guy fronting another scene band, it was obvious he was a freakin’ icon.
About a week after that epic performance on MTV, I heard “Welcome to the Black Parade” on the radio. It was so weird hearing a song of that length by an alternative rock band like My Chem on top 40 radio, but when I listened to it again, I realized the song was like a gothy-emo reincarnation of “We are the Champions”. As much as it was catchy, it was epic. And as much as it was rock, it was pop rock. The song crossed genres and bled easy into the mainstream the way Avril and Good Charlotte had in years prior.
The top 40 radio stations played the hell out of “Welcome to the Black Parade” and when the video came out, the music channels did too. It wasn’t until I saw the video that I realized there was a lot more to the song than what played out on the radio or on my MP3 player. There was a bigger story to The Black Parade, complete with characters and a concept. And once I found that out, you have no idea how badly I wanted the album to come out. I wanted to hear the rest of the story. And I also wanted to figure out if “Welcome to the Black Parade” was featured in the beginning of the album or the end or what that deal was. October 23, 2006 came faster than I thought it would and before I knew it, I was tearing the plastic off the cd and popping it in the cd player in my car. I was still buying cds at that point. I sat there in the mall parking lot listening to the album for 45 minutes, occasionally drawing some odd ball looks from passers by, while I full on headbanged with some of the songs.
After one complete listen, I discovered The Black Parade was a rock opera, a story beginning at “the end” exploring the journey of what happens to “the Patient” as he transitions from life to death over the course of the 12 songs that make up the album. The songs tell the story in a very direct format. And the concept was definitely intriguing and very Halloween-ish. Musically, MCR blurred the lines between alternative and rock. I wouldn’t classify the album as emo (Okay, maybe in aesthetics) but I saw it as more alternative rock. Way held his own while he channeled his inner Freddie Mercury, and it was equally as tragically beautiful as it was captivating. Every song was unique. Every song helped further the story. Things got really intense towards the very end of the album, as the climax of the journey to the dark side intensified.
“Sleep”, “Disenchanted” and “Famous Last Words” are among my favorites from The Black Parade. I remember being a little more than overjoyed when I found out “Famous Last Words” would be the second single off the album because at the time FLW was my favorite song. I loved everything about that song and in my opinion it’s bit underrated. It really is second in epicness to “Welcome to the Black Parade” and the video (which I saw the debut in January 2007) was almost as epic as the “Welcome to the Black Parade” video was. Gerard’s dramatics on screen are just priceless. I can’t think of another rockstar or pop star since then who has put that much heart and soul into a performance music video as Gerard did during “Famous Last Words” video. It is just incredible.
Throughout 2007 The Black Parade was definitely my #1 and #2 go to album. I listened to it pretty much every day. Gerard’s fashion sense inspired me to dye my own hair platinum blonde, wear red and black eye makeup, wear lots of black and white striped shirts, and fingerless skeleton gloves. I even bought a jacket similar to the jacket Gerard donned during has time as lead parade master. I was pretty obsessed with The Black Parade during 2007. I wasn’t even trying to deliberately be emo. I just loved everything about the concept of the album — the fashion, the makeup, the music, the drama. I wanted to be in The Black Parade! That’s the effect this album had on me. And I kept up with that image well through 2008.
But eventually I outgrew that phase and The Black Parade just became a “classic” in my music library — one of those albums I look back on and am I like, “oh, I remember the Black Parade era when I bought that Gerard inspired jacket and dyed my hair platinum blonde and wore all black every day with striped shirts and wrote the lyrics to like all the songs of The Black Parade in the side of my notebook or on my converse. I remember how I changed my Myspace name to be Savior of the Broken at one point.” Like I said this album meant a lot to me and I’ll never forget that.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve found it interesting to see the impact this album is having on future generations. I remember Gerard said in an interview way back something about how he wanted this album to be the album you pass on to your kids. I find it so interesting that the kids today are loving and appreciating the songs with the same intensity that I loved and appreciated 15 years ago. I find it interesting that blog sites are still fascinated with this album, too. I always knew The Black Parade was epic and made MCR emo icons, but I always thought they were only icons within our generation, not the next or future ones. But MCR have stood the test of time with this album. And that’s pretty damn awesome.
I still listen to The Black Parade from time to time, but nowhere near as often as I used to, with the exception of “Famous Last Words”. That song still hits hard every time. But regardless of how much I listen to the entire album of The Black Parade these days, when I hear those songs, or I hear a g note, I reminded of the epic rock opera MCR pulled off on this album. I’m reminded of the outfits the band wore in every performance — The Black Parade outfits. I’m reminded of Gerard’s dramatic and passionate performances in the videos And of Frankie’s black and white skeleton fingerless gloves that he wore on every single guitar performance. And then I’m reminded of how emo was back in 2006 -2007 and how MCR really were at the forefront of bringing the Myspace mall emo to a new place. And I feel warm and fuzzy inside thinking about how I got to live through these times and experience it all firsthand while it was happening. MCR changed the scene with The Black Parade. And they left a deep imprint on the scene with this album, so deep that 15 years later people are still talking about it, playing it, watching interviews and still downright fascinated with this album. I’ve even heard rumors there are talks of a Black Parade Broadway musical (which I really hope happens, it would be long overdue). So you know an album has to be pretty damn amazing if it’s left that deep of an impression. But it’s easy to see why people are still loving this rock opera from 2006 — it’s a damn amazing album with unique concepts that truly do stand the test of time. But of course, I knew that back then.*
