Not really, because Mama is easy to love. When you hear excitement for Cancer and Disenchanted (tracks that are considered as monotonic) than you know someone is into the album 100%. Every song in this album is masterpiece (not speaking of hidden ones obviously).
@@shampoo37everyone has their opinions ik, but my god sleep is one of my favourite mcr songs 😭maybe I’m just not good w ppl not entirely liking things I do LMAO
Blood (the hidden track) is definitely worth listening to IMO. It’s just such a goofy little epilogue with surprising layers. It’s definitely not to everyone’s taste, but I like the jaunty carnival/old timey radio announcer feel.
Respectfully disagree with your calling Cancer the weakest track on the album. Yes, its a ballad and very stripped down, but as a cancer survivor myself I find it extremely nuanced and insightful into what the experience of a cancer diagnosis and treatment can be like. Gerard's understanding of such a complex experience is laudable, imho.
Mama still follows the patient, mama, and sleep talk about the bad things he did (mama talking about how he’s evil cause he killed people on war) the soilder who’s attempting to mend his broken relationship is the patient
i think wendigoons interpretation of mama is the best and makes the most sense that mama is the backstory of the guy who's guiding the patient through the afterlife, the guy leading the black parade, who was a soldier that died in ww1
Thematically, musically, and 100% subjectively. Sleep is a masterpiece. It is the perfect synopsis not only of the themes of this album, but if depression. Constantly hearing that voice in your head saying you can't come back from "the monsters that I've been", just sleep. Just sleep. Then at the end you hear the subconscious screaming to wake up, the need to try to get back up and fight all over again
I've heard it suggested that the length of cancer was purposefully cut short (life cut short, leaves you thinking of all the moments that could have been, etc)
I think if you shift your framing from "pop punk" to just ROCK, that might aid in your enjoyment of MCR alot more too. They were very firmly always too heavy or too genre-blendy to ever fit into that category, like there's a VERY large football field of genre between Blink 182 and MCR haha! This is because while MCR's influences are diverse, there's alot of metal and CLASSIC classic punk among those influences, so their interpretation of the sounds is way more pure and less commercially driven. FYI "Edge" is also not inherently a bad thing, it's a dark concept album about some dark topics, and the lyrics should reflect as such, it is not just for the sake of edginess nor is it a generic breakup album or "I hate this town" LP! TLDR MCR could write American Idiot but Green Day could NEVER write Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (or even like, just a single track, like MAMA)! And lastly, like another wise one has said in these comments, can't be cliche if they're the origin of the cliche :)) Just don't put MGK and MCR in the same sentence ever again and I think you'll do well 🤣💓
lol im kinda late but the tracks after wttbp are telling the life story of the dead patient fun fact: gerard's brother (mikey, mcr's bassist) would whisper "disenchanted" to them when the were asleep cause they werent sure if they wanted to put it on the album, but he really wanted them to
If you have time, go back and listen to the album in this order: The End Dead! Teenagers The Sharpest Lives Cancer House of Wolves I Don't Love You This is How I Disappear Disenchanted Mama Sleep Famous Last Words Welcome to the Black Parade In this order, it tells the story of Death walking The Patient through the stages of his life, from being a teen who contemplates a shooting, to being an alcoholic, to his cancer diagnosis, and to his pushing away loved ones after failing to find peace through religion. Death then shows him the lives of others who are coming to terms with death, and eventually The Patient finds his own peace and moves on.
In my view Mama does fit into the main story and the patient is potentially in the military or ex military, and I think other parts of the album subtly point to this too with themes of violence/war appearing in some other places. It is quite ambiguous overall though, and it could be metaphorical too I think.
Yo, Cancer is supposed to be an emotional, more stripped back ballad. I don’t think expecting a song titled “Cancer” to be as energetic as the others is a good call. The relatively simple, yet beautiful simplicity of the piano as the main instrument of the track makes this one of the greatest songs on the album imo. And also imo, one of the saddest and most beautiful songs ever written. It’s an absolute masterpiece. I think going back and appreciating the meaning behind the song-along with the beautiful vocals and incredible chord changes-would hopefully change your opinion on this song.
They played my town in the summer, sunny Milton Keynes( one hour north of London) I got a couple of guest tix(sorry). and I was super sceptical but surprised how many songs I recognised, surprised how many young people were there amongst original fans, all singing aloud... and was witnessing a pilgrimage to see the Kings of emo!! I survived haha
Fun fact: If you pay attention to the tracks, you will notice that this album is a concept album about a dying cancer patient, their past and present memories, and their journey into the afterlife. This is a video explaining a theory that I really like about the album: m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CfUgBbuSTPQ.html
This is an album you have to listen to multiple times. The lyrics are dense and dark, and if you aren’t used to this kind of music it can come off as odd or weird. In my first listen when I was 13 I looked over I Dont Love You, Mama, and Cancer specifically, but even as I listened to it more back then as a teen I started to appreciate those tracks so much more. I think I Don’t Love You is the best song on the album, with Famous Last Words and Black Parade following. The End+Dead, Disappear, Cancer, Mama, Sleep, and Disenchanted are all great but I liked them all equally. Only ones I don’t listen to much are Sharpest, Wolves, Teenagers and Blood. I guess those are the weakest, although Blood doesn’t really count. I was lucky to hear Wolves live and their performance of that is so much better than the album version.
I wonder if part of the reason this album feels nostalgic to you is because you subconsciously remember hearing it when I would blast it full-volume it in that very bedroom 15 years ago 😭 right around the time your little 6 year old self was constantly playing “move along” by the all-american rejects on the mini drum kit in the basement 😂 full circle moment! ♥️
I've seen a couple of reactions of this album or songs from the black parade, and it funny how at least 80% of these guys tell they don't like Gerard's voice at the beginning, but he is such a showman. You gotta love him, and they end loving him. And yeah, they got inspiration from Queen.
I think you’re younger than me, but this album came out when I was 13, in 2006. And I hated it when it came out. I loved the first two albums and was getting into punk rock and hardcore, and I thought this album was baby stuff. I love it now. But at the time I was so disappointed it wasn’t heavier
Ah! This album, so many memories... Probably similar to many other emo kids, this band was such a gateway drug for me & this album was probably one of the first albums I was actually obsessed with (and paved the way for some things I've grown to love a lot, like concept albums and hidden tracks). I do agree with most of your critical notes, especially about the second half being weaker to the first (sometimes I'm even tempted to say the album peaks already with 'Dead!' which is one of my personal favourites), but it also aged quite well, and with everything this band did and stands for, I haold this album close to my heart. Lastly to answer your question: I'm not sure whether it has ever been stated explicitly, but it's quite generally accepted that the patient and the I are the same person; still tho the singer tends to pick up several characters along the way, sometimes switching perspective mid-song. If you're interested there have been some great video essays on it tho, like the one already mentioned in a different comment (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-C02IM72Ikk4.html) Thanks for the video's, great as always
There are several theories for the weird moments in the album’s. I like a certain theory that the Patient is the main protagonist and their journey is the main story we’re following, but that there is also a ghost of a veteran that follows his journey to welcome the patient into death. And Mama is thought to be the back story of that ghost. Also most of the distorted songs are the ghost mocking the patient, though in Sleep you can hear the ghost at the end screaming through the distortion for the patient to wake up and in famous last words the ghost is pleading for the patient to try to live. Personally I like how many stories you can take from the entire album.
Damn y'all need to let up a little. People are allowed different opinions... nice reaction bro ^^ nice to see you enjoying yourself with my favorite album
When something comes along first, it can't be a cliche. It's the fact that it was later picked up by a lot of other people that turns something into a cliché. Also, I think you don't yet have life experiences that would make Sleep, Cancer, or Disenchanted seem more meaningful. But it sounds like you're making progress -- you said you reacted differently than you would have only a year ago. And since you're nowhere near an age where people might start wondering if they've accomplished anything significant or if, instead, they have been and still are in a lifelong wait for a hospital stay, it's not surprising that some lyrics don't resonate with you.
I disagree with a lot of what Genius says about TBP But to give a broad but still somewhat detailed explanation the album is about a character with cancer named The Patient experiencing a near death experience where he gets to see a sort of purgatory in-between heaven and hell. He sees a parade of lost souls, unable to move on lead by a former soldier named Pepe along with Mother War and her daughters Fear & Regret Fear & Regret judge The Patient's past actions whilst Pepe gives more broad observations. It's discovered The Patient had a lover who he wanted to convince to leave him so she can't see him die of cancer Mama details how Pepe died in the war and how Mother War is a manifestation of his own issues Teenagers is about The Patient's troubled past being bullied in school At the end The Patient gets to choose to either get a second chance at life or let the parade march him to his eternal fate
Honestly I can take someone criticizing it. I can see why somebody wouldn’t like it (for me it’s not one of my favorites from this album but it isn’t bad by any means)
If you have enough of an interest, you definitely need to check out windigoon's RU-vid video where he lays out all of the tracks in a reasonable order and gives his interpretation of what is going on in the album. It may or may not be what the band fully intended... Gerard likes to let people make their own conclusions. But it does make a lot of sense. And if someone were to put this together into a stage play on Broadway with the songs in that order... I would definitely pay to see it. Also... His interpretation gives you that growth that you are looking for.
Okay real quick this RU-vidr Wendigoon made a video about this album that I really like. It basically theorizes that there’s two characters. The patient (The End., Teenagers, Cancer, I Don’t Love You, Disenchanted, Sleep, part of Famous Last Words) and The Parader (Dead!, Sharpest Lives, House of Wolves, How I Disappear, Mama, part of Famous Last Words, Welcome To The Black Parade). Basically, The Parader is a boy who died in WWI who’s job it is to take spirits into the afterlife, which is why he kinda takes death as a joke, while The Patient is a young man dying of cancer. The Patient wasn’t that good of a person in his life, and as he is dying he regrets it. The Parader however doesn’t really think it matters and constantly mocks The Patient. This changes when The Patient’s death starts to remind The Parader of his own, and The Parader starts trying to convince The Patient to stay alive. This doesn’t work, however, and The Patient accepts his death. Welcome To The Black Parade, which is the last chronological song in this theory, is basically The Parader talking about both him and The Patient’s struggled with life, death, and remembrance as he leads The Patient to the afterlife
