Entertainment Article:
By Ben Reisig Entertainment Writer 10/12/22 “When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a marching band…”
These are the opening lines of My Chemical Romance’s song “Welcome to the Black Parade'' appearing on the album with the same name. The album was released in 2006 as the band’s second studio album. The album is what’s known as a concept album. An album that either tells a story or explores a certain theme. Some popular examples of this include Green Day’s American Idiot, The Wall by Pink Floyd, and 2112 by Rush. The album’s main themes are the exploration of death, cancer, and the idea of getting into heaven or hell. While this may seem bleak, the album presents several different perspectives. I highly recommend listening to this album. Even though it has become the stereotypical “emo” album, it does have a lot of variety in its tracks. Songs range in genre from metal, pop punk, to even 1920’s jazz. The lead singer of the band, Gerard Way, says he was inspired mainly by Freddie Mercury when writing the album, according to the Lancer Spirit. The influence is easy to spot with songs quickly changing from one tone and genre to another like Queen’s famous style. Not only do the songs flip tones, the album as a whole flips from tone to tone. Songs like “cancer,” someone discussing why they don’t want to die, are immediately followed by songs like “Sharpest Lives” about how pointless death is and only living for fun matters. |
Because of how many references the album has to death and the afterlife, many listeners felt there had to be more to it. Fans have debated what the album is about for years, with the most popular idea believing it’s about a single cancer patient slowly passing away. While this interpretation works, it struggles to place a few songs like the WW1 inspired balad “Mama”.
My personal favorite theory, popularized by YouTuber Wendigoon, is that the album is the story of a dead WW1 soldier who acts as a parading guide to the afterlife, watching someone pass away from cancer. In the start of the album, the patient is clinging onto life and is not ready to go, and the parader is indifferent to the suffering he’s been surrounded by for so long. By the end of the album, the idea flips with the patient realizing his time has come and the parader encourages him to cling to life, noticing the similarities between them. The album continues to get new fans to this day. Fans are drawn in by the album's grim imagery and the band's recent revival. Even though it’s constantly referenced and mocked, The Black Parade holds up as one of the best concept, if not regular, albums of all time. |