My Chemical Romance
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My Chemical Romance |
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My Chemical Romance (also known as My Chem or MCR) is an American rock band from New Jersey. Formed in 2001, the band consists of Gerard Way (lead vocals), Mikey Way (bass), Bob Bryar (drums), Frank Iero (rhythm guitar), and Ray Toro (lead guitar). The band members hail from Belleville and Kearny, New Jersey, except drummer Bob Bryar, who is from Chicago, Illinois. Bassist Mikey Way coined the band's name from a book entitled Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance, by Irvine Welsh.
Biography
Early career (2001–2002)
The band was formed by frontman Gerard Way and ex-drummer Matt "Otter" Pelissier around a week after September 11, 2001 attacks. Gerard had witnessed the planes crashing into the World Trade Center. It influenced his life to the extent that he decided to start a band. Gerard wrote the song "Skylines and Turnstiles" to express his feelings about September 11th. Shortly thereafter, Ray Toro was called up and asked to join the band because Gerard could sing, but couldn't play the guitar as well as he felt Toro could.[1]
The first recording sessions were done in Matt's attic, where the songs "Our Lady of Sorrows" (then called "Bring More Knives") and "Cubicles" were recorded. Mikey Way, the younger brother of Gerard, loved the demo so much that he decided to learn to play the bass and join the band.[1] The band immediately started playing numerous local shows in basements in Montclair and New Brunswick, VFWs like Boonton Elks, and clubs such as the Loop Lounge in Passaic and the Bloomfield Ave. Cafe & Stage, in Montclair, New Jersey.[citation needed]
My Chemical Romance was signed with Eyeball Records and played in the same room as Pencey Prep and Thursday. It was there that the band met Frank Iero, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pencey Prep. After Pencey Prep broke up in 2001 or 2002, Frank became a guitarist for My Chemical Romance, just days before the band's debut album was recorded.[1]
Just three months after the formation of the band they recorded their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, subsequently released in 2002 on Eyeball Records. Despite only joining the band a few days before the album recording sessions began, Frank Iero played guitar on two of the tracks, one of them being "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville".
Major career (2003–2005)
In 2003, the band signed a deal with Reprise Records. Following a tour with Avenged Sevenfold the band began work on their second album, entitled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Released in 2004, the album went platinum within a year. The band released three singles from the album: "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "Helena" and "The Ghost of You".
It was during this time that the band replaced their drummer, Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar, after they went to Japan in August 2004. The true nature of Pelissier's departure was due to an argument with band member Ray Toro or as a result of mistakes made by the drummer during live performances.
At the start of 2005, the band was directly supported on the first ever Taste of Chaos tour, and was also the opening act for Green Day on the American Idiot tour. Later that year MCR co-headlined and headlined their own tour,with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect, around the US.
That same year My Chemical Romance and The Used collaborated on a cover of the David Bowie and Queen classic "Under Pressure" that was released as a benefit single on iTunes and other Internet outlets.
Recent and future plans (2006—)
On March 21, 2006, a 2 DVD/1 CD set entitled Life on the Murder Scene was released. It includes one DVD chronicling the band's history, and a second DVD with music videos, the making of their videos and a couple of live performances. An unauthorized biography DVD Things That Make You Go MMM! was also released, on June 27, 2006. The DVD does not actually feature any My Chemical Romance music clips or performances, but contains interviews with those who knew the band before much of their fame.[2]
The band started recording their third studio album on April 10, 2006 with Rob Cavallo, producer of many of Green Day's albums.[3][4]
It was originally thought to be titled The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance, but in an interview with Kerrang! magazine Way suggested this was just the album's working title, stating "It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke."[5] The title was eventually revealed to be The Black Parade (the lyrics "And through it all; the rise and fall" in Welcome to the Black Parade is a reference to this former title).
On August 3, 2006, the band finished shooting the videos for their first two singles from The Black Parade, "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words", to be released on Janurary 22, 2007.[6] The video was directed by Sam Bayer, director of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Green Day's American Idiot videos.[7]
During the shoot for "Welcome to the Black Parade", band members Gerard Way and Bob Bryar were injured. Way suffered a burn to the leg and torn ligaments in his ankle and Bryar a staph infection that needed constant monitoring in the hospital. Consequently the band was forced to cancel a couple of shows. While these injuries were reported by several news agencies to have been the result of a car accident, a statement released by the band on their website and MySpace has confirmed that these injuries occurred on the set of the video.[8][9]
On August 22, 2006, the band played a special one-off show at the 1800-capacity London Hammersmith Palais. The show sold out in 15 minutes prompting tickets being sold on eBay well over the tickets' face value. The band is known to make an interesting creative appearance at these types of shows, such as arriving in coffins. The name of the album they promoted was announced and 20 people dressed in black capes with their faces obscured paraded around Hammersmith, followed by a large group of fans and street team members with signs saying "The Black Parade". Later during the show the album title and the UK release date were confirmed. Posters and stickers and a very small number of Black Parade T-Shirts were also given to people in the queue by the street team members. Prior to the band taking the stage it was announced that "My Chemical Romance" were unable to play, but they would be replaced by "The Black Parade". After initial crowd hostility it became clear the band were simply performing under a pseudonym in keeping with the theme of the album. When the set began, the backdrop art displayed the words "The Black Parade". New songs played included "House of Wolves", "The End", "Dead!", and live debuts for "I Don't Love You" and "Cancer".
On September 2nd 2006, My Chemical Romance posted "Welcome to the Black Parade" on their Myspace page and their purevolume page. It can also be heard on the official website. [8] "Welcome to the Black Parade" had its first radio airing on September 11th, 2006. On September 26, 2006 the "Welcome to the Black Parade" music video was released in the UK, and on September 27in the US. [5]
On October 9th, 2006, My Chemical Romance played at Spike TV's 2006 Scream Awards. Various street team members dressed up in white masks and others played drum cadences as the band was introduced. They played "Welcome to the Black Parade".
On October 12th, 2006, My Chemical Romance made a rare in-store performance to 500 fans at Virgin Megastores on London's Oxford Street. During the bands 35 minute set, they played "House of Wolves", "Famous Last Words" and "Welcome to the Black Parade" from The Black Parade, alongside a handful of songs from the band's back catalogue. In order to get wristbands for the event, many fans slept outside the shop the previous night. British band Towers Of London caused trouble at the event when the Towers guitarist, Dirk Tourette, allegedly flicked a cigarette butt at Bob Bryar while he was performing.[10] After the live performance, the band met fans and signed records for several hours.
"Welcome to the Black Parade" reached number one on October 15th, 2006, in the UK, giving them their first number one.
October 21, 2006 marked their first appearance on Saturday Night Live as the musical guests.
The Black Parade was released on October 24th, 2006 in the USA and October 23rd, 2006 in the UK.
My Chemical Romance are playing six dates from January 19 to February 4, 2007 in the world renowned Big Day Out festival in Australia and New Zealand. They are billed alongside Tool, Muse, The Killers, and Jet.
Genre disputes and influences
The band has been described variously by the media as "emo"[11][12], "indie", "pop punk", "post-hardcore" and "punk revival"[13]. The band themselves have described their music as simply "rock" or "violent, dangerous pop", as well as rejecting the term "emo"[14] to describe their style. But another source quotes Gerard stating they are "What else you got emo".[1]
My Chemical Romance cite their main influences as Queen, Thursday, Iron Maiden, The Misfits, and Morrissey/The Smiths. [15] Geoff Rickly, the lead singer of Thursday, has also compared them to Ink & Dagger.[1] Growing up, they were also very influenced by horror films and comic books, and therefore their music, lyrics, and image all have overt elements of fantasy, storytelling, horror, and theatricality.
Criticism
Fanbase
My Chemical Romance was initially lauded as a band with a strong "grassroots" or "cult" following. It was among the first bands to achieve prominence by offering free downloads through PureVolume[16] and the "social networking" site MySpace, where MCR gathered its first 100,000 fans.[17] The band has clearly grown well beyond those initial numbers, expanding their fan base beyond the typical fans of their musical style and direction [18], partially helped by the more mainstream sound of their 2004 album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. MCR are sometimes maligned by the "grassroots" fans for the expanded fan base, due to attracting fans they claim are "teeny boppers", after the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Many critics say that My Chemical Romance and similar bands play generic, MTV-friendly music meant for mass consumption rather than artistic innovation[citation needed]. Due to the increased amount of new fans, some of the old fanbase considers the band a "sellout" and the new MCR fans "posers". The fans are particularly vocal on online forums. [19] [20]
Fan fiction about MCR has become common online on fansites, LiveJournal groups, fan fiction sites, and Quizilla. These stories are about the band members having some connection with the underworld or Hell, or dealing with various parts of life. However some if not most of these stories promote the band as "sex icons". These stories usually have the band having sexual relations, or relations in general, with either original characters, bandmates, or other bands (a common band mentioned in fan fiction would be The Used). However, some feel different, which led to a large feud among users of Iconator. The feud on Iconator was based on the fact that "the members of My Chemical Romance do not deserve to be treated like "sex icons", and do deserve to be treated like normal people, because that's what they are." [21]
Image
Much of My Chemical Romance's music is 'horror film' based, and their photos and art rather bloody. Due to this, MCR are often criticized for their appearance being emo.
The band Guttermouth was supposedly removed from the 2004 Warped Tour for insulting My Chemical Romance, stating that the band were more concerned about their clothing and making money, rather than the artistic merits of the music they make. This is denied by Guttermouth, who claim they left of their own accord and not due to a complaint by My Chemical Romance.
In October 2006, the British Indie Rock band Kasabian criticized My Chemical Romance, labelling them "clowns" and "emo kids" who "don't have anything positive to say" and "should get out more and try and have a good time instead."[22]
Bottled
My Chemical Romance played the main stage at the 2006 Reading and Leeds Festivals - this was the largest show they have ever played in the UK. They were not received warmly by the crowd at Reading, as the band was subjected to heavy concert bottling. Large sections of the audience threw bacon, tangerines, golf balls, and drink bottles filled with urine at the group as they played. This reportedly upset frontman Way, who then introduced a track saying, "This song is called Thanks For All The Bottles, Thanks For All The Piss, Thanks For All The Golf Balls, Thanks For All The Apples And Thanks For All The Sticky Shit."[23] In NME's highly laudatory review for 'The Black Parade', Dan Martin referenced the actions of the Reading crowd, stating Long live My Chemical Romance, the outrageously-camp, loud and righteous new kings of the world. Those bottle-chucking haters are just going to have to get used to it. [24]
Relationship with The Used
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The Used is known to have both a personal and a professional relationship with My Chemical Romance. The lead singer Gerard Way and Bert McCracken were rumored to have been particularly close. [citation needed] My Chemical Romance and The Used have covered "Under Pressure" (originally by David Bowie and Queen) in concert on multiple occasions. Bert also sings on the track "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison," off of My Chemical Romance's "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge." Critics, however, have often criticized this relationship saying that My Chemical Romance used their relationship with The Used to gain a more international and wider audience. However, on My Chemical Romance's DVD, "Life On The Murder Scene", the band's manager, Brian Schecter, stated that he introduced the two bands to each other, as he had once been The Used's tour manager.
In recent months, however, the two lead singers of both bands seem to have had a fallout due to disagreements over the addition of "Under Pressure" to In Love and Death. Most of this evidence comes from an interview with Bert and a recent song by My Chemical Romance entitled "Disenchanted". (Which may also be about former drummer, Matt Pelisser)
In a magazine article, it was said that the last time the two bands spoke was on the warped tour, where McCracken was said to have been shouting into a megaphone, trying to stop people from watching My Chemical Romance. [citation needed]
The two bands have made references to each other's names in their work. For example, The Used's song, "Take It Away", contains the line "and I've lost all doubt in a chemical romance". Similarly, in the music video to My Chemical Romance's song "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", the line "If You've Ever Felt Used" is displayed. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this latter reference is deliberate and it is more likely to be a mere coincidence.
Tribute Acts
A number of tributes have been made to the work of My Chemical Romance. A one off project called "The Not Okay Kids" covered of a set of My Chemical Romance's songs from their first two albums. Another act that took on the task of creating a CD of tribute to the band was the Da Capo Chamber Players. They produced an album playing instrumental versions of a selection of tracks, again, from the bands first two albums.
Discography
Albums
| Album Cover | Date of Release | Title | Label | US Billboard Peak | US sales |
| June 23, 2002 | I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love | Eyeball Records | |||
| June 8, 2004 | Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge | Reprise Records | #28[25] | Platinum | |
| March 21, 2006 | Life on the Murder Scene | Reprise Records | #30[25] | Gold | |
|
October 23, 2006 (International) October 24, 2006 (US) October 28, 2006 (Australia) |
The Black Parade | Reprise Records | #2[25] |
Singles
Other Performances
My Chemical Romance have also produced a number of other tracks that didn't appear on any of their released albums (to date). Such titles include:
- "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (Kevin and Bean's Christmastime In The 909)
- "Astro Zombies" (Misfits Cover, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland)
- "Jack the Ripper" (Morrissey cover)
- "Song 2" (Blur cover)
- "Under Pressure" with The Used (was sung for the Boxing Day Tsunami victims)
- "Sister to Sleep"
References
- ^ a b c d e November 2004 issue of the Alternative Press
- ^ "Things That Make You Go MMM Product info". cduniverse.com.
- ^ "Upcoming Albums". Pause & Play.
- ^ "My Chemical Romance". Punknews.org.
- ^ a b "The Black Parade". Theblackparade.com.
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?pid=489806&aid=812296
- ^ "My Chemical Romance". VideoStatic.
- ^ a b "My Chemical Romance News". Mychemicalromance.com. Cite error: The named reference "mychemicalromance" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "My Chemical Romance". My Chemical Romance Myspace Blog.
- ^ "My Chemical Romance News". nme.
- ^ "The Black Parade on Metacritic.com". Metacritic.com.
- ^ "The Black Parade review on ukmusic.com". ukmusic.com.
- ^ "My Chemical Romance". All Music Guide.
- ^ ""I dont think Emo ever fit us ... even in the beginning ... maybe geographically but at that time, when we would play VFW halls...we were always odd man out"". music.aol.com.
- ^ "My Chemical Romance Bio". ArtistDirect.com.
- ^ "Music fans reach for the stars". USA Today.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Bands Embrace Social Networking". Wired Magazine.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "A Mixed Set to a Mixed Crowd". Punknews.org.
- ^ "My Chemical Romance". My Chemical Slash, an MCR LiveJournal community.
- ^ "My Chemical Romance Fiction Section". Fandomination.net.
- ^ "Fan fiction". Quizilla.
- ^ "Kasabian slam My Chemical Romance". NME.com.
- ^ "My Chemical Romance shelled by crowd, Way upset". NME.com.
- ^ "Reviews - My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade". NME.com.
- ^ a b c http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=489806&model.vnuAlbumId=798775
External links
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| Singles |
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| Other songs | |
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| Related articles | |
