2024-11-03
Note: No sponsoring here, I'm just really passionate about music.
If you can't tell already, I'm a huge My Chemical Romance fan. I've been thinking a lot about them recently, especially their legacy. In my opinion, they've never released a bad album, and they've never released a bad track either. Of course, it's highly subjective on whether or not you like their music to begin with, but I think it's hard to deny that their artistic vision from album to album is tight.
A lot of that is due to Gerard Way, MCR's vocalist. He is a creative force to reckon with. Besides singing, Way is also an artist. Before MCR, he interned at Cartoon Network. After MCR, he created the comic book series Umbrella Academy (which became a Netflix series) and just recently launched another comic book series, Paranoid Gardens. He's has several writing credits for DC and Marvel comics as well. His craft is not limited to just singing but also visual arts and story telling. This is highly evident in MCR's discography, as each one has some sort of story or visual palette.
In one interview, Gerard revealed that he had a long term plan for MCR. He was thinking several albums ahead and he had a message that he wanted to convey for each album. The Black Parade was the last album he planned for. The album after that, Danger Days was less about a message, and more about telling a story. Of course, the creativity of MCR is not just limited to Gerard. They are a group of people highly dedicated to their craft. Frank Iero, one of their guitarists, talked about how they would practice and write music while on tour, 4 to 5 hours a day.
What I find admirable about all of this, is that everything about MCR is deliberate. It can be argued that after The Black Parade, they had nothing to say. And after the less successful Danger Days, which did not have a specific message, they decided to call it quits. Of course, there were a lot of other variables contributing to the breakup, but I think this was the reason why MCR has a good legacy today: they didn't force themselves to create more than they had to.
This is something I think about in contrast to Green Day's legacy. Green Day's last successful mainstream album was American Idiot, twenty years ago in 2004. Since then, they haven't made anything as significant. I'm a big Green Day fan but as the years went by, I kept getting disappointed with every subsequent release after American Idiot. A big part of why I think post-American Idiot Green Day doesn't land with me as much anymore, is because it feels like they have anything new to say.
American Idiot, the album, while a little contrived at times, said a lot about living in post 9/11 America, living in a dysfunctional family, addiction issues, and heartbreak. After American Idiot, it felt like Green Day just kept trying to recapture that spark from the album, rehash the same topics without any fresh takes, or they would go the opposite direction and just release mindlessly fun tracks (not that there's anything wrong with it, but it's nothing innovative).
This is why I think Dilemma, a song released at the beginning of 2024, is the best single Green Day has released in years. The song is about frontman Billie Joe Armstrong relapsing back to drinking alcohol, and all the ups and downs that come with it. There is something incredibly heartfelt and genuine about the song. I'm sure their discography since 2004 included personally relevant songs as well, but this one is just somehow a cut above the others. Unfortunately, the rest of their 2024 album did not have the same quality, but I clung to this single so hard when it came out. It made me think, "they still got it."
A lot of My Chemical Romance fans have been clamoring for another album. With all of this in mind, I say, release an album, but only if they can guarantee the same quality, the same execution in creative vision, and the same depth. It's a lot to ask from a band, but I would like to think that they have the same standards for themselves.