My Chemical Romance: История Американской Рок-Группы

American rock band formed in 2001

My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way. They are considered one of the most influential rock groups of the 2000s and a major act in the pop punk and emo genres, despite the band rejecting the latter label. Founded in September 2001 by Gerard, Mikey, Toro, and drummer Matt Pelissier (and later joined by Iero), the band signed with Eyeball Records and released their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, in 2002. They signed with Reprise Records the next year and released their major label debut, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, in 2004. Shortly after the album's release, Pelissier was replaced by Bob Bryar. The album was a commercial success, attaining platinum status over a year later. The success of the band's previous albums was eclipsed by that of their 2006 rock opera concept album, The Black Parade. A major commercial success, its lead single "Welcome to the Black Parade" topped the UK singles chart. The album solidified the band's following, despite negative coverage in the Daily Mail generating controversy. The band's fourth studio album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, was released in 2010. Bryar departed the band prior to the release of the album, and in 2012, they added touring keyboardist James Dewees. In 2012 and 2013, the band released a series of singles they had recorded in 2009 under the collective title Conventional Weapons. My Chemical Romance announced its breakup on March 22, 2013. In 2014, a greatest hits album titled May Death Never Stop You was released and a tenth anniversary reissue of The Black Parade was released in 2016. On October 31, 2019, the band announced a reunion show, which took place in Los Angeles on December 20, 2019. In January 2020, they announced additional shows and a Reunion Tour, which commenced in 2022 after a two year postponement due to the COVID 19 pandemic and concluded in early 2023.

The band was formed by frontman Gerard Way and drummer Matt Pelissier in Newark, New Jersey, soon after the September 11 attacks. Witnessing the World Trade Center towers fall influenced Way's life to the extent that he decided to start a band. Shortly thereafter, Ray Toro was recruited as the band's guitarist because at the time Way could not sing and play the guitar simultaneously. Way has said, "Music was this thing I secretly wanted to do" and later wrote the song "Skylines and Turnstiles" to express his feelings about September 11. After hearing the demo and dropping out of college, Mikey Way decided to join the band. While with Eyeball Records, the band met Frank Iero, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pencey Prep. Following Pencey Prep's split in 2002, Iero became a member of My Chemical Romance, just days before the recording of the band's debut album. Iero played guitar on two of the tracks, one of which was "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville". During this time, the band was booked at the infamous venue Big Daddy's, where it began to receive more attention. My Chemical Romance offered free downloads through PureVolume and the social networking website MySpace, where they gained an initial fan base.

On August 31, 2003, the band announced via their website that they had signed a deal with Reprise Records. The band's second album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, was released on June 8, 2004. A month after the album's release, the band replaced Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar. The album went platinum in just over a year after its release. At the beginning of 2005, the band was featured on the first Taste of Chaos tour along with The Used and Killswitch Engage. The band also was the opening act for Green Day on their American Idiot tour. They then co headlined Warped Tour 2005 with Fall Out Boy and co headlined a tour with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect around the US. That same year, My Chemical Romance collaborated with The Used for a cover of the Queen and David Bowie song, "Under Pressure", which was released as a benefit single for tsunami relief on iTunes and other Internet outlets. In March 2006, the album Life on the Murder Scene was released, incorporating a CD and two DVDs. It included one documentary DVD chronicling the band's history, and a second DVD with music videos, the making of their videos and live performances. An unauthorized biography DVD Things That Make You Go MMM! was also released in June 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. A biography titled Something Incredible This Way Comes was also released, written by Paul Stenning and published in 2006. It features information on their beginnings right through to their third album, The Black Parade.

My Chemical Romance started recording their third studio album on April 10, 2006, with Rob Cavallo, producer of many of Green Day's albums. It was originally thought to be titled The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance (in reference to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie), but in an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Gerard Way suggested this was just the album's working title, stating "It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke." On August 3, 2006, the band completed shooting the videos for their first two singles from the album, "Welcome to the Black Parade" and although not released until January 2007, "Famous Last Words". Both videos were directed by Samuel Bayer, director of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Green Day's American Idiot videos. During filming for the second video, band members Gerard Way and Bob Bryar were injured. Way suffered torn ligaments in his ankle, and Bryar suffered third degree burns on his hands and legs. Consequently, the band was forced to cancel a few tour dates. On August 22, 2006, the band played a special one off show at the 1,800 capacity London Hammersmith Palais. The show was sold out in 15 minutes. Later during the show, the album title was confirmed. The band were bottled during a performance at the Reading Festival by fans of the band Slayer, who performed before them at the festival; Way later described it as their "greatest victory as a show". "Welcome to the Black Parade" was released as a single on September 11, 2006. On September 26, 2006, the music video for "Welcome to the Black Parade" was released in the UK, and on September 27 in the US. In the US, "Welcome to the Black Parade" reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the band's only top ten hit to date on the chart. The Black Parade World Tour commenced on February 22, 2007, with the eventuating 133 shows featuring Rise Against, Thursday and Muse as support acts. Reggie and the Full Effect frontman James Dewees joined the band to play keyboards and synthesizer from there on. In April 2007, it was announced that Mikey Way would temporarily leave the tour to spend time with his new wife, Alicia Simmons Way. Way's temporary replacement was Matt Cortez, a friend of the band. During the third leg of the tour, as a support act for Muse, members of My Chemical Romance and their crew, along with members of Muse's crew, suffered food poisoning, and consequently had to cancel six shows. The band later featured on Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour in 2007, along with Placebo, Mindless Self Indulgence, Saosin, Taking Back Sunday and HIM. My Chemical Romance received a range of accolades for The Black Parade. Kerrang! rated The Black Parade as the fourth greatest album of 2006. In Rolling Stone magazine's ranking of the top 50 albums of 2006, The Black Parade was voted the 20th best album of the year. My Chemical Romance went on to win the award for Best International Band at the 2007 NME Awards, and Gerard Way also won the Hero of the Year award. My Chemical Romance was also nominated for Best Alternative Group at the 2007 American Music Awards. The band announced in a blog on their website that they would be going on a final tour in the United States before taking a break. At the same time, they announced they will be releasing a live DVD/CD collection titled The Black Parade Is Dead!, which includes two concerts from October 2007, the final Black Parade concert in Mexico, and a small show at Maxwell's in New Jersey. The DVD/CD was meant to be released on June 24 in the United States and June 30 in the UK, but was postponed to July 1 because of a technical fault with the Mexico concert. On February 3, 2009, an EP of B side songs from singles on The Black Parade was released, titled The Black Parade: The B Sides. The band then announced that they would be releasing "a collection of nine never before seen live videos, straight from the encore set of the Mexico City show from October 2007" during their Black Parade World Tour, titled ¡Venganza!. The release came on a bullet shaped flash drive and also contained exclusive photos of the band from the show. It was released on April 29, 2009.

On March 25, 2014, the band released a greatest hits collection, titled May Death Never Stop You, containing material spreading their entire career, as well a single unreleased track. The track "Fake Your Death" was made available digitally on February 17. It is the only song in MCR's discography having James Dewees playing on keyboards. Following the band's breakup, the members of the band continued to pursue music. Lead vocalist Gerard Way announced his debut solo album Hesitant Alien with the release of an advance single, "Action Cat". Hesitant Alien was released on September 29, 2014, in the UK, and a day later in the U. S. Hesitant Alien was a moderate commercial success, topping the US Billboard Alternative Albums chart and reaching No. 16 on the US Billboard 200. Hesitant Alien also topped the "Ten Essential Albums Of 2014" list in Alternative Press. Rhythm guitarist Frank Iero sporadically collaborated with My Chemical Romance keyboardist James Dewees, forming Death Spells and performing in Reggie and the Full Effect (alongside Ray Toro), releasing No Country for Old Musicians on November 19, 2013. Afterwards, he announced via his official website that he signed to Staple Records and would be releasing a full length solo album titled Stomachaches under the moniker of "frnkiero andthe cellabration". The album featured former My Chemical Romance touring drummer Jarrod Alexander. Stomachaches was released worldwide on August 25, 2014. Bassist Mikey Way formed Electric Century along with Sleep Station vocalist David Debiak in 2014 and released their debut single "I Lied" in February 2014. The duo announced their debut self titled EP on March 10, 2015, and it was released on Record Store Day on April 18, 2015. Lead guitarist Ray Toro posted a song on his SoundCloud account titled "Isn't That Something" on May 24, 2013. On January 1, 2015, he posted a new song, titled "For the Lost and Brave", on his website, dedicating the song to Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teen who committed suicide. On July 20, 2016, the band posted on their official Twitter and Facebook pages a video with the piano intro from "Welcome to the Black Parade", ending with a cryptic date, "9/23/16". The video was also published on the band's YouTube channel with the video titled "MCRX". This led to numerous rumors and reports on the band's possible reunion until it was revealed to be a reissue of The Black Parade with unreleased demos. The reissue, titled The Black Parade/Living with Ghosts, includes 11 demos and live tracks. Two months before its release, an early version of "Welcome to the Black Parade", titled "The Five of Us Are Dying", was made available for streaming. In a discussion of his work on the comic book Doom Patrol, Gerard Way told Billboard, "I wouldn't count (a reunion) out, but at the same time everybody's doing stuff in their lives now that they're really enjoying."

On October 31, 2019, the band announced they would be reuniting in Los Angeles on December 20 and a new merchandise line. The announcement was accompanied by the captions "Return" and "Like Phantoms Forever ". The show sold out almost immediately. Believed initially to be a one off show, almost a week later, the band announced more dates in Australia, Japan and New Zealand for 2020. They later revealed that they had first regrouped in 2017 and had been working together since then, before the official 2019 announcement. The concert grossed $1,451,745, with an attendance of 5,113. In January 2020, the group announced plans to present one, then two, then three concerts at Stadium MK (Milton Keynes, England), on the 18th, 20th and 21 June 2020, as tickets for each day sold out within minutes. Later in the month, the group premiered a cryptic video on YouTube which ended by announcing a North American tour. The North American shows went on sale on January 31, 2020, and sold out in less than six hours. Due to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic, all of the shows on the tour that were set to begin in 2020 were postponed to 2021, including the North American leg. These tour dates were later rescheduled again to 2022. The tour commenced on May 16, 2022 at the Eden Project, and concluded on March 26, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. On May 12, 2022, the band released "The Foundations of Decay", their first new song since 2014. My Chemical Romance is set to headline When We Were Young Festival 2024 in Las Vegas alongside Fall Out Boy. The band will perform their 2006 album The Black Parade in its entirety.

Gerard Way said to Rolling Stone, "we love bands like Queen, where it's huge and majestic, but also bands like Black Flag and the Misfits, who would go absolutely crazy." Way has stated that the band is heavily influenced by Queen, Iron Maiden, Misfits, Black Flag, At the Gates, Descendents, Pantera, Van Halen, the Cure, Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Smiths, Morrissey, and Thursday. The Smashing Pumpkins also impacted the band's trajectory, with Way stating that My Chemical Romance has patterned their career after the Pumpkins'. In a 2007 issue of Kerrang!, when asked to list the songs that influenced the band's music the most, they listed Taking Back Sunday's "MakeDamnSure", Say Anything's "Alive with the Glory of Love", Thursday's "Understanding in a Car Crash", Kill Hannah's "Lips like Morphine", Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown", the Misfit's "Dust to Dust", the Bled's "You Know Whose Seatbelt", Killswitch Engage's "Fixation of Darkness", Idlewild's "Love Steals Us from Loneliness", Alkaline Trio's "Radio", Thrice's "Red Sky", Denali's "Surface", Soilwork's "Bastard Chain" and Helloween's "Twilight of the Gods". Frank Iero's guitar work draws from Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore and Jack White, while Ray Toro cites Megadeth, Metallica, Pantera, and Iron Maiden as influences. My Chemical Romance's other influences include the Stooges, Ramones, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Minor Threat, Nirvana, and Operation Ivy. They also have noted that their lives, childhoods, books they've read and movies they've seen have influenced their music.

According to Rolling Stone, the band played "somewhat of an anomaly in New Jersey's then burgeoning pop punk and emo scene", before achieving their breakthrough with an "instant emo classic" Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. In 2016, Nylon wrote that the record "took the idea of a concept album and exploited it for the digital age", while being musically a rock opera "as ambitious as any post Queen rock opera could be". Speaking on the band's reception and criticism during the early 2000s, NPR Music wrote that, "at a moment when mannered indie pop and roughshod garage rock were infiltrating the mainstream, [the band] was earnest, dramatic and unapologetically massive, in a way that made it conspicuously uncool," and deemed The Black Parade a "defining album" for a generation of pop punk fans. In 2020, Kerrang! deemed the band "the rock superstars of the 21st century" while stating that "no other band has had such a musical or cultural impact over recent years." The magazine also noted their influence in "the current music scene" of alternative rock. Vice named My Chemical Romance the "artist of the decade", with writer Hannah Ewens commenting that they "influenced rock throughout the 2010s—even though they were inactive for most of the decade." In Paste magazine, Eli Enis wrote that "it is pretty much accepted canon at this point that My Chemical Romance are one of the most significant rock bands this side of the millennium." James McMahon of The Independent stated that Gerard Way "set a blueprint for emo's image of pale face, raven black hair and perhaps a red tie, for almost 20 years." Writing on the band's influence, Entertainment Weeklys Kyle Anderson stated that they "offered up spiritual solutions to real problems, and they did it with huge riffs and big theatrical stage shows, with rarely a hint of irony or detachment it's unlikely there will ever be a band quite like them again."

In Archer, Vince Ruston commented on the band's popularity in the queer and LGBT communities: "My Chemical Romance wanted to speak to and raise up every person who had ever felt outcast, downtrodden, or alienated. Queer teens were a huge part of that demographic". Similarly, Michelle Hyun Kim described Gerard Way as a "queer icon" in Them, and that "after the band announced their reunion on Halloween 2019, I saw tweets from LGBTQ+ folks around the world claiming, in some way or another, that MCR either served as a queer awakening or fostered their queerness." The band have long been supportive of LGBT rights

My Chemical Romance played in many major tours of 2005. The band toured with Green Day in 2005 on the "Green Day Presents American Idiot Tour". They were also part of the Warped Tour in the same year. "For a lot of kids, it's the one thing they look forward to all year," said Gerard Way of the Warped Tour. "They save up for it. They get to see all the bands they like in one shot." My Chemical Romance co headlined the main stage with The Used on the Taste of Chaos tour, before starting their first headlining tour, simply named the "My Chemical Romance Tour". The tour launched September 15 in Ohio, stopping at 30 locations in the United States, to promote their album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Supporting acts included Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect. During the tour, Gerard Way married Mindless Self Indulgence bassist Lindsay "Lyn Z" Ballato. Following the Projekt Revolution tour, they opened for Bon Jovi in October 2007.