I Don't Love You

"I Don't Love You"
Song

"I Don't Love You" is the third UK single and sixth track from My Chemical Romance's third studio album, The Black Parade. It is the eleventh overall single from the band. It was released April 2, 2007, to the United Kingdom, following "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words", both of which were successful hits for the band. The band opted to release "Teenagers" as the third single in the U.S. instead of "I Don't Love You". It is currently unclear if the band will eventually release it outside of the UK. The band released the single in Canada, on MuchMusic on March 19. The song nabbed a positive 4/5 star review from music site Pitchfork Media, who claimed: "..it's the band's first proper power ballad and, well, they should definitely think about writing dozens more."

The song's intro seems to bear more than a passing resembalence to that of Breakfast in NYC by Northern Irish band, Oppenheimer.

History

While the band was on their touring bus in 2005, they began to record using the bus's recording studio. "I Don't Love You" was one of the only songs to be used on the album from the tour bus recording sessions. The band can be seen playing an early version of the song from the tour bus sessions on the 2006 DVD Life on the Murder Scene.

Track listing

Version one:

1. “I Don't Love You”

Version two:

1. “I Don't Love You”
2. “Cancer” (live in Berlin)

Version three:

1. “I Don't Love You”
2. “House of Wolves” (live in Berlin)

Version four:

1. “I Don't Love You”
2. “Cancer” (live in Berlin)
3. “House of Wolves” (live in Berlin)

Version five:

1. “I Don't Love You” (live from Sessions@AOL)

Version six:

1. “I Don't Love You” (live from Sessions@AOL)
2. “Cancer” (live in Berlin)
3. “House of Wolves” (live in Berlin)

Music video

File:IDon'tLoveYouVideo1.JPG

A screenshot of the video, also showing Gerard's newly-dyed black hair.

The music video was directed by Marc Webb who also directed three previous My Chemical Romance music videos, from their Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge album. Webb was chosen instead of Sam Bayer who directed "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words" from their third studio album The Black Parade. The music video is about two lovers in a strange abstract world, and the video seems to tell the story of how their love slowly withers away until one leaves the other alone. Towards the end of the video, one of the band's amplifiers explode along with two guitars. On March 7, 2007, the band exclusively premiered the video on their YouTube channel, and on their MySpace. The video is in a black and white format, most likely to simulate more contrast between the two lovers. The music video also shows Gerard with his newly-dyed black hair, which he has sported since late December. There were also reports by some observers of Gerard wearing a wedding band (as can be seen in the video), although this fact is the cause of some dispute. The video appeared on Kerrang! TV in the UK on March 9th, 2007, and on Channel 4 in the UK on March 8th, 2007. The clip also shows the band members falling but not landing, in the order of Mikey Way, Ray Toro, Bob Bryar, Frank Iero, Gerard Way. The video was made available on March 19, 2007 for purchase on the iTunes store. The video also faced some controversy due to one of the protagonists being covered in blackface. The video was released in New Zealand on March 13, 2007.

Charts

"I Don't Love You" debuted at number sixty-six on the UK Singles Chart on downloads alone on March 25th, 2007. It climbed twenty-three places to number forty-three, still on downloads alone, on April 1st, 2007. It rose to number thirteen in its physical release.

"I Don't Love You" is a hit in the Philippines, being the band's current single to hit radio airwaves and music channels. The song, following "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words", consecutive chart-toppers on MYX and MTV Philippines, as well as local mainstream and rock radio stations, is currently rising the charts. In the MYX Hit Chart dated April 8, 2007, the song leapt from #8 to #3, matching the peak position of "Helena", the band's previous highest-charting video before the first two videos from "The Black Parade". One forum at Friendster describes this song and the band as "The Biggest International Rock Band to hit the Philippines since The Beatles". My Chemical Romance also won the Best International Video for Welcome to the Black Parade in the recent 2007 MYX Music Awards, beating out competition "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake and 2006 winners, The Pussycat Dolls with "Buttons".