Let's be honest. Most of us have a My Chemical Romance song stashed away somewhere in the depths of our iPod, probably "Helena" or "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)." Heck, even Diddy likes My Chemical Romance — remember his Video Music Awards introduction of the band last year? For those of you hiding MCR tunes on your iPod, make room for several more from their new album The Black Parade.
Released Tuesday, My Chemical Romance's attempt at a concept album is the follow-up to the surprise smash, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. The first single, "Welcome to the Black Parade," is already a staple on the radio and MTV.
The album itself chronicles the death of its main character, "the patient." While it's true that MCR are their own best PR team, this time they have reason to brag, since the band is largely successful in this ambitious creation. The single of "Welcome to the Black Parade" was accompanied by a 40-minute commentary on each song in chronological order by the band. At the end of each song's preamble, a member of the band would always tack on, "This is the most [insert adjective of praise] song we've ever done." Such adjectives included "epic," "theatrical," "risky," "beautiful," etc. Bassist Mikey Way even said that the song "Cancer" was the best song he had ever heard.
This may be true if Way hasn't heard songs by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Marvin Gaye or Led Zeppelin. But aside from this excessive self-promotion, the other comments are largely true. "Welcome to the Black Parade" is the most theatrical song they have ever done. "Teenagers" is the riskiest track they have ever put out.
Another aspect of the album that may grind a few listeners' gears are the influences that lead singer Gerard Way makes quite clear on the record. When Way talks about these influences, it's largely insulting to the musical knowledge of the listeners who can instantly recognize the blatant Queen, Beatles and Pink Floyd references. The guitar runs in "Welcome to the Black Parade" reek of Brain May — not only structurally but tonally. The song "The End" is a perfect tracing of "In the Flesh?" by Pink Floyd — musically and thematically by its placement in the album. The curious aspect of this ventriloquism is that MCR makes no effort to cover it. They are not ashamed because of one reason — it works. It works really well. The songs may be steeped in T-Rex, Guns N' Roses or Queen, but they are still very much My Chemical Romance songs. This brilliant combination may cause some to have an instant aversion to the music based on the echoes of past albums, but it's done too well to hate.
The songs carry a consistent theme while still retaining their individuality among the whole of the album, averting one of the dangers of making a concept album. While each song makes audible tributes to past musicians, there is still something within that makes it distinctly MCR. The pop-punk sound that has defined the band in the past is still present at key times. For example, "House of Wolves," which takes a "Mr. Brownstone" drum intro and builds upon it to the point where the listener is placed next to "the patient" as he questions whether he is going to hell, carries a feel of "Give 'Em Hell, Kid" while incorporating a new sound altogether.
The two songs the band members say were the biggest risks turn out to be the biggest payoffs on the album. While the first single "Welcome to the Black Parade" is a strong song in and of itself, "Mama" and "Teenagers" are the songs that take the album and the band to a new level. "Mama" is a song with a curious intro and chorus of, "Mama, we all go to hell." Its quirky guitar, which lies somewhere between the Doors and the Polka Kings of the Midwest (from Home Alone), gives the song a surrealistic effect that compliments the gravity of the lyrics beautifully. The song concerns a soldier who is dying and going inside his mind, calling out to his mother. The mother, in this case, is played by Liza Minnelli, who makes a cameo on the song. She replies to her son in two lines that are instantly shattered by a profanity-ridden rebuttal by Way.
But "Teenagers" is the song that really takes MCR to a different plane musically. It sounds like a T-Rex song with brutally real lyrics as Way sings about how teenagers in the United States are kept medicated and stratified in school. Way credits the inspiration of this song to the severe anxiety that he experiences to this day in the presence of high school kids. One line sticks out of this song like a bone through flesh — "You're never gonna fit in much, kid/ But if you're troubled and hurt/ What you got under your shirt/ Will make them pay for the things that they did." Given the recent school shooting tragedies, this line will no doubt raise a few brows. The line concerned Way so much that he took it to American Idiot producer Rob Cavallo and asked him whether it would be "irresponsible" to keep that line in the song. Cavallo said that the line should be kept to preserve the harsh reality of the song.
Where other bands in their genre are relying heavily upon the "shock-rock" ideals simply to sell records, this is clearly not the case with MCR. They are controversial, but with a calculated and intelligent purpose — a purpose that should cause celebrities to fight to introduce them at the next VMAs and listeners to proudly display them on their iPod screens.
Grade: 4.5 of 5
