My Chemical Romance (for dummies) — a thread

My Chemical Romance is an American rock band founded in New Jersey in 2001 as a response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Gerard Way, the lead singer and founder, witnessed these attacks first hand as he was on a ferry on his way to New York when these attacks were happening.

The band currently consists of lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, bassist Mikey Way and his older brother Gerard Way on vocals.

They debuted in 2002 with their first album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love and have since then released 3 more studio albums. In 2013, the band broke up then later, got back together on Halloween of 2019.

Now, on with the albums. I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love is an album that follows the Demolition Lovers, a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like couple who were gunned down in the desert. The man was sent to Hell and made a deal with the devil, (cont.)

in order to be with his love again, he has to kill and bring the souls of 1,000 evil men. The album also features the first My Chem song created “Skylines and Turnstiles” which is about 9/11 and Gerard’s firsthand witness.

Now, their second studio album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is a continuation of their previous story. Following the man as he goes through this journey of lost, love and death, trying to the gather as many souls as possible. This album also holds other themes and starts (cont)

with “Helena” the song Gerard wrote about his and Mikey’s grandmother.

Moving onto their third studio album, The Black Parade. This story is separate from that of the Demolition Lovers, this one follows the afterlife of the Patient. The patient dies and it now, being lead to the afterlife by The Black Parade, the fictional band made for this (cont.)

album. Not only does this story follow the story of the patients afterlife but of his death and his reflections of his life. This album is a rock opera and very much theatrical. My Chemical Romance would perform as “The Black Parade” during this time. (cont)

Ending their performance as this fictional band with an hour long performance of “The Black Parade is Dead (Live In Mexico City)”

The fourth studio album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. This story is set in California 2019 and focuses on the battle between the Killjoys, a group of colorful rebels, and Better Living Industries, a monochromatic corporation also known as BL/ind. (cont.)

Gerard also created a comic series which takes place after the album and is it’s own story but still revolves around the DD universe, BL/ind and Battery City.

After this album was released, there was speculation of a new album. In February of 2012, MCR revealed that they were building a studio in LA to regord music for their 5th studio album under the title MCR5. Later that year in September, Frank had announced through the (cont.)

bands website of a new project called “Conventional Weapons”. This project involves 10 songs that were created in 2009 before the making of Danger Days. The band then released two songs each month for 5 months.

On March 22, 2013, Gerard announced the bands breakup on their official website. Gerard later tweeted an extended tweet two days after the band’s disbandment.

May Death Never Stop You is a greatest hits album which was released in 2014.

After the band’s breakup, the members continued to pursue music. Gerard announced his debut solo album Hesitant Alien on September of 2014. Frank had an array of solo projects/bands/collaborations during and after his time with My Chem. Mikey formed Electric Century (cont.)

with Sleep Station vocalist David Debiak in 2014. Releasing their self-titled EP in 2015. Ray Toro created a soundcloud account where he released two songs. One titled “Isn’t That Something” on May of 2013 and another titled “For The Lost and Brave” in 2015. Dedicating (cont.)

this song to Leelah Alcorn, a trans teen who had committed suicide.

On July 20, 2016, the band posted on their twitter and facebook a video that had the piano intro of Welcome to the Black Parade that ended with the date “9/23/16”. This video was later published on the bands youtube channel with the title MCRX. Many speculated that this (cont.)

could be the band’s possible reunion until it was later revealed it was a Reissue of The Black Parade with unreleased demos. This reissue is titled The Black Parade/Living with Ghosts and includes 11 demos and live tracks.

On Halloween of 2019, the band announced they would be reuniting in Los Angeles on December 20. The show sold out in 4 minutes. This was believed to be the only reunion show but the band later announced dates in Australia, Japan and New Zealand for 2020. The band revealed (cont.)

over twitter that they have regrouped in 2017 and have been working together since then. The group announced one show in Stadium MK and due to popular demand and tickets selling out within minutes, the band announced two then three shows at Stadium MK.

The band released the dates for a North American Tour (which sold out within hours) using a cryptic video titled “A Summoning...”.