My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance climbed out of the East Coast underground and into the vanguard of contemporary rock in the opening years of the 2000s, propelled by emo-punk songcraft, dramatic vocals, and a neo-goth visual style. Mainstream traction arrived in 2004 with their platinum-certified sophomore release and first album on a major label, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. The ambitious rock opera The Black Parade arrived two years later, earning triple-platinum certification while spawning the hit singles "Welcome to the Black Parade," "Famous Last Words," and "Teenagers." Narrative-driven Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys surfaced in 2010, folding '70s power pop, psych rock, and proto-punk textures into the band's palette. My Chemical Romance formally disbanded in 2013 yet reassembled in 2019 for a reunion concert in Los Angeles and a brief slate of overseas dates. Their first new song in eight years, the expansive "Foundations of Decay," emerged in 2022.

Catastrophe marked the origins of the group whose best-known singles, among them "Helena," "I'm Not OK (I Promise)," and "Welcome to the Black Parade," carried a tragic charge: frontman Gerard Way resolved to assemble the band after witnessing the September 11, 2001 collapse of the World Trade Center. Drummer Matt Pelissier enlisted one week afterward, guitarist Ray Toro followed shortly thereafter, and the quintet locked into place once bassist Mikey Way (Gerard's younger brother) and guitarist Frank Iero completed the roster. With the lineup secured, the members launched into touring and began mapping their first album.

Eyeball Records of New York issued My Chemical Romance's debut, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, in 2002. Frequent comparisons to Thursday arose because both acts originated in New Jersey, both had recorded for Eyeball, and both merged punk-pop drive with introspective, confessional lyrics. The record cultivated a modest underground audience, prompting the band to sign with Reprise Records in 2003. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge followed the next year, a platinum-certified set whose cover art was created by Way himself. Despite divided critical notices, the album yielded multiple radio singles and widely aired MTV videos, including "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)," "Helena," and "The Ghost of You."

Pelissier exited in mid-2004 and was succeeded by drummer Bob Bryar, who had previously encountered the group while handling sound for the Used during an earlier tour. Further road work ensued, encompassing co-headlining runs with Alkaline Trio, an opening slot on Green Day's American Idiot tour, and shared bills with Story of the Year and Taking Back Sunday. As the band readied its third album, it released the interim collection Life on the Murder Scene, a mix of rarities and live footage that sustained fan interest until My Chemical Romance (now featuring a sober, bleach-haired Gerard Way) unveiled the conceptual, expansive The Black Parade in October. The set reached platinum status by early 2007 and was succeeded by the live document Black Parade Is Dead! in 2008.

Following exhaustive touring in support of The Black Parade, the members paused to regroup, most notably the Way brothers, who each navigated personal shifts as Mikey confronted touring-related anxiety and Gerard became a father. These private developments prompted a parallel professional pivot. Returning to the studio, the band discarded its gothic imagery for a brighter aesthetic, supplanting prior darkness with fresh exuberance. Initial 2009 sessions with producer Brendan O'Brien proved unsatisfying, leading the group to abandon the material and reunite with Black Parade producer Rob Cavallo. Reinvigorated, they demolished and rebuilt the earlier recordings, resulting in the 2010 release of Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, another concept album marked by manic, Day-Glo energy and a pronounced punk-pop orientation. Drummer Bob Bryar departed that same year.

Conventional Weapons, a series of five 7" singles issued between October 2012 and February 2013, constituted the band's final output and gathered unreleased tracks from the Danger Days sessions. Shortly afterward, on March 22, 2013, My Chemical Romance announced its dissolution. Almost exactly one year later came the posthumous best-of compilation May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits 2001–2013, which Way characterized as the group's "epitaph." The package drew from all four studio albums, added three demos, and closed with the final finished studio recording, "Fake Your Death." Two years afterward, a period that also included the release of Gerard Way's debut solo album Hesitant Alien, the band marked the tenth anniversary of The Black Parade with the deluxe reissue The Black Parade/Living with Ghosts, appending a second disc of demos and live material.

The group reconvened in 2019 for live performances across Los Angeles, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. A planned full-scale North American and European tour for the following year was curtailed by COVID-19. In May 2022 the band issued the explosive, stadium-sized single "Foundations of Decay." Drummer Bob Bryar died unexpectedly in late November 2024 at age 44.