Editor’s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.
Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student worker Olivia (class of 2019) and features The Black Parade, the third studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance, aka MCR. Thanks, Olivia!
If you would care to, imagine a flustered 13 year old girl who cut her own ragged side bangs, refused to wear colors other than red and black, and printed out pages and pages of My Chemical Romance lyrics to memorize before bed each night.
This was my reality in middle school. My parents hated it. I loved it.
When I began listening to MCR, they had recently released their 2006 album, The Black Parade, a musical narrative telling the story of ‘The Patient’ who falls ill and dies, experiences the afterlife and reflects on the life he led. With the album came the platinum hair of Gerard Way (he had a different hair color for almost every album) and the peak popularity of the band’s career. The most popular song on the album, “Welcome to the Black Parade,” I played during my 7th grade piano recital, to my parents’ horror (ahh memories). The music video very accurately characterizes the theme, energy, and story continued throughout the album.
One of the things I love most about MCR is how they weave each album’s music into a crazy, creative and awe-inspiring narrative, and continue that narrative through music videos and live performances. It makes listening to their music an active experience. This was also demonstrated through their 2010 album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, which featured a corresponding comic book series published by Dark Horse as well as a full
character costume for each band member – and cherry red hair for Gerard Way.
MCR Danger Days promo photo
You know I have every issue of that comic series in my room at home, by the way.
The extent to which I immersed myself in The Black Parade, (along with all of MCR’s albums) has made such a lasting impact on me. Twelve years later and I still consistently listen to my favorite band from middle school – those years are impactful and to this day I have not felt the same connection to any artist or group as I felt and still feel to My Chemical Romance.
