"My Chemical Romance is this generation's Nirvana"

oh wow this is pretty fantastic! gerard’s vocals are weirdly buried in the mix though (not that I’m complaining, I kinda prefer it like this?)

it’s like a polished version of their Bullets era, right up to the 9/11 references

Very, very good indeed.

gerard’s vocals are weirdly buried in the mix though (not that I’m complaining, I kinda prefer it like this?)

Vocals were pretty low in Hesitant Alien, although that was a while ago now. Then he did that black metal thing a couple months ago.

i don't know why i resisted i brought you my bullets for so long. i've definitely listened to it more than a few times, but it's only now dawning on me what an emo classic it is

i think from three cheers-on they become more distinguished, more of their own thing that i can't get other versions of, but also: they started off with an awesome regular-ass emo album

more of their own thing

That's the thing about Bullets for me - it's really good, but it reminds me so much of bands that I was already a fan of, like Thrice and Thursday and Saves the Day.

New song doesn't do anything for me.

I never quite got the appeal of this band and it's crazy to me that they've become so huge, esp in 2022. I was much more of an AFI guy haha

I HATED Welcome To The Black Parade back in the day. Detested.

But then I met Gerard and he's a darling. He was interviewing Grant Morrison, who I was fortunate to have accompanied reading a prose poem on stage @ the Opera House (I improvised cello + laptop) and various MCR fans contacted me afterwards saying they loved it. Aww. [Sincere apologies for this humblebrag]
I also really liked Gerard's reboot of Doom Patrol, I must admit.

So I went into this with an open mind and yeah, it's a great song. Nice one.

That’s really cool, raven! WTTBP also kept me from checking them out for years though I always thought “Helena” and “I’m Not OK” were jams. Finally won me over just before the reunion.

anyway, even cranky mfs like Billy Corgan have nothing bad to say about Gerard - SP posted this on their tiktok yesterday lol

goin through the discog

this is the greatest band of all time

i reach that conclusion once i hit "the sharpest lives" on the black parade every time

looks like they performed Boy Division at their first gig on tour <3

I like that article, and I also like that it reiterates the claim that launched this thread 16 years ago.

(The Annie Zeleski article, I mean.)

love this new track - goddamn they still know how to do a big fuckoff chorus <3

I remember the buzz around their first album (I Brought You My Bullets) and just thinking kinda..."meh". The buildup for Three Cheers was kind of interesting as the major label signing was out of left field for me. Definitely some jams on that one. The Black Parade kinda took me by surprise (in a good way) with its almost classic rock theatrics. I was really interested in the proto-punk album they were supposed to put out, which I think came out later as Conventional Weapons. The Danger Days album did very little for me and they kinda just fizzled after that. Anyway that's been my journey with MCR and it's been wild to see how much nostalgia there is for them. Maybe I'll see them at When We Were Young or the Forum, but I ain't paying top dollar. lol

i started listening to some of frank iero's stuff recently and my impression was that the guy can't sing or write lyrics worth a damn, but he's a massive part of why MCR is so good - stylistically all over the place but really great at song structures, choruses, playing around with riffs and rhythms.

gerard gets a lot of credit obviously, but i think it's the combo of him and frank that really makes the band work

Brought You My Bullets didn't really hook me but I honestly feel the band hasn't placed a wrong foot since. like not just the albums, but the Conventional Weapons releases, Mad Gear and Missile Kid, Black Parade b-sides... I love it all. Hesitant Alien just as good, but some of Gerard's recent singles aren't quite at the same level

absolutely hilarious and great and very much in character: https://www.them.us/story/my-chemical-romance-merch-tramp-stamp-shirt

Awesome. That's very sweet.

Here's a fan video of the live debut of Foundations of Decay (the channel also has videos of many more songs from the concert). Some unfortunate audience singing basically drowning out Gerard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkl8_vs6tl4

The thing about this song is that on my first listen, I was like, ok, this is good. Maybe not the best MCR song I've ever heard, but it's definitely a return to form. Only listened to it a handful of times on the day it came out because I haven't been on an MCR tangent lately. But then a few days later, the chorus popped back into my head out of nowhere, which I took as a good sign.

listening to conventional weapons today, still think they were right to shelve it, but there are so many incredible hooks on it ("boy division," "ambulance, "gun.") that i'm glad they put it out anyway. imo the bare bones garage rock approach gets ropier the further they get into ballad territory

even then i'm just getting picky, like i don't think "the world is ugly" has the impact it intends but i don't really hate any of this band's songs

ugh i cannot deny it, danger days is still my favorite

from "save yourself" on it is just a steady program of the best songs ever

“Ambulance” is soo good, it’s their Jimmy Eat World moment.

have you heard the earlier version of “the world is ugly” Brad? there are one or two performances on YouTube from 2008 or so. it doesn’t have the verses from CW, basically launches straight into the chorus and a different bridge and is all the better for it.

anyway it seems like they’re switching up the setlists on this tour and playing a ton of CW and other deep cuts - “Surrender the Night”, “Make Room!!!” and “Boy Division” on day 1, “Mastas of Ravenkroft” on day 2

i have mixed feelings about the tour version of "the world is ugly" as it is clearly an unfinished song but is also gorgeous and feels like it points toward a post-rockier path the band ultimately didn't take

'cause you only live forever in the lights you make
when we were young we used to say
that you only hear the music when your heart begins to break
now we are the kids from yesterday

;_;

<3

i've never listened to the danger days b-sides before!!! uhhhh these songs are all great!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zU_QjjjyCs

yo!!!! i love it when this band pretends to be the pixies

I haven’t heard the DD b-sides or other rarities either, will get there at some point.

Mostly just still in awe at how good “The Foundations of Decay” is esp as (as noted upthread) aside from Hesitant Alien, their respective solo output hasn’t been impressive. some kind of magical band chemistry.

oh roz you gotta hear "kill all your friends" if you haven't

oh that one I have!!

It's amusing how blatant they were with their hero worship too - Gerard's vocal runs at the end of "The Sharpest Lives" are a pitch perfect impression of Matt Bellamy/Muse, who I suspect he was listening to a lot while they were recording this. But not terrible! One of their best choruses. And then there's like "Kill All Your Friends" which is so clearly "Where is My Mind?" run through a Britpop filter lol.

― Roz, Tuesday, 16 June 2020 22:05 (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

yo!!!! i love it when this band pretends to be the pixies

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, May 18, 2022 10:47 AM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I will listen to that tmr! am actually about to go bed - it’s late here in Asia

for an NJ band, they do have a lot of songs about California though lol

I always appreciated how in the Quietus interview for Danger Days they mentioned being huge Suede nerds, which I approve of greatly.

it just makes sense

Lol did not realize they are an East coast band. I also assumed they were from California, since like RHCP, they sing about it so much

imo the bare bones garage rock approach gets ropier the further they get into ballad territory

I'm not sure if you were also referring to "The Light Behind Your Eyes", but it's probably my favorite track from Conventional Weapons, even if it's a bit of a misfit with the other material. I also like "The World is Ugly" but they've done some better songs in that style on other albums

yo!!!! i love it when this band pretends to be the pixies

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, May 18, 2022 10:47 AM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

ok i have heard this now - omg even gerard's singing style on this lmao! it IS great though

Ned, MCR are massive Anglophiles - they've covered Blur and Pulp in the past, some of their songs reference Smiths lyrics, so being into Suede is completely unsurprising

I mean Gerard's early hair was "I think I'm Robert Smith" so I should damn well hope they're Anglophiles!

one nice thing about getting into this band so late is discovering how quietly revolutionary they've always been

so easy for ppl to dismiss them as a band for preteen girls back in the day, but i can't imagine how incredible it must have been for a preteen girl who was into pop-punk/emo to have seen gerard way say this in 2005:

"If you ever see shitty ass rock dudes in shitty ass rock bands asking you to show them your tits for backstage passes, I want you to spit right in their fucking faces and yell FUCK YOU!"pic.twitter.com/wV1ddK2XGX

— grace (@vintageemisery) January 7, 2020

lots more examples like that in the twitter thread

gerard looking absolutely adorable performing “Mama” in a cheerleader’s outfit <3

THIS IS THE BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE pic.twitter.com/0ulEMYGEMR

— nati | mcr in 3 days (@nataliawraggm) August 24, 2022

lol. God bless him. Wish I had tickets.

My daughter was at the show last night in Nashville. She's never been much of a concertgoer but would have run through a brick wall to get to this one, and I gather it totally delivered.

Lucky her! Definitely looked like it was a total blast