The Tragic Early Days of My Chemical Romance 

They actually adressed the "save kids lifes" thing in one of the grammy museum interviews that are on the official mcr channel. I don't remember the excact quote but it was Frank who said something like "you should give yourself more credit, we might have worked as a soundtrack for it but it was you who saved your life" or something like that

The whole ‘save kids lives’ thing is less about lyrical content and more about creating a space and a community

Based Early Sunsets Over Monroeville enjoyer

Was and am a huge fan of theirs. Saw them at a bar before 3 cheers came out with like 20 people.. and the next year at warped tour playing to 2000.. the absolute wildest overnight success story ever.

I think the “saving lives grift” isn’t really a grift, I think it was something the band actually believed (and ended up being kinda true). Considering the members and their relationships to music, I think it’s fair to say that (especially in the early days) they felt like certain artists/albums had saved their lives, and since they were basing their own sound and careers on those artists, “saving lives” really was their goal since it was what they thought those other artists did. Especially since thousands of people were constantly explicitly saying that they saved their lives. I think you can tell that later in their careers they all realized it wasn’t quite as literal as they used to think, like how Frank said that their music was just the soundtrack to people saving themselves around the Danger Days era. Going from being the depressed kid stuck at home idolizing an artist, to being the artists that other depressed kids idolized probably gave them a sense of perspective, and also a ton of pressure because all these kids were essentially saying their lives were in their hands.

12yo me was not ready for the punch in the face that bullets is, and I’m really glad I revisited it later on when I could actually appreciate how much of a banger it is ❤

Early sunsets and demolition lovers are literally so powerful tho. Like 🤌🤌🤌

I had really hoped at the “elephant in the room” part you were gonna address Gerards addiction and alcoholism in the early days

mads summoning all the mcr stans with this, rile 'em up 🫶

My favorite album of all time is Bullets,, so this video was fun as hell to watch. Really great job talking about their early days in depth

As a resident, New Jersey got hella weird after the Revolution.

I completely agree with your take on Monroeville and Cubicles. Those tracks are so good and are way too underrated. The ending of Monroeville is such a beautiful a cut to just pure vocals with the line “but does anyone notice, there’s a corpse in this bed.” It hits so incredibly hard.

Not that I think MCR saved me. I went through a lot after graduating high school. I joined the military and married my high school sweetheart. We fought a lot, my professional life was in the toilet, and most of the people i served with secretly hated me or made fun of me. I listened to MCR in high school and really enjoyed it. I started to understand it in my early 20s. MCR made that part of my life bearable. It might not be as grandiose as they put it, but it helped.

24:47 would love it if you could do a whole video on all franks other projects! they aren’t talked about enough and I absolutely love them, especially death spells, parachutes and barriers. you can also hear his different influences on mcr’s sound.

I’ve been a fan of MCR for quite some time now, and I’m glad that Bullets has been getting some love over the years. I’m also especially happy that the band still plays a handful of songs from their debut, which a lot of bands don’t do. Amazing video as always, and here’s to hoping that the band works with Goeff Rickly again.

I was a young teen around 2008 when I started listening to them. Those were hard times for kids; technology was booming, the internet was a wild west, teens were self-harming, the world was in a recession, and all I wanted to do was pursue art. You can imagine how my boomer parents felt about that. I was the picture-book fan of them. I just had little to no emo or punk clothes; back then, at least where I lived, it was looked down upon for people who 'looked emo' or listened to 'emo bands.' I was legitimately afraid to tell even my close friends what music I was into. Those were strange times; teens now have more freedom to express themselves however they like.

I feel like a lot of the bullets songs are so very underrated. The entire album is so raw and feels so emotional. It’s my favorite album from mcr, it’s helped me a lot mentally. I can’t wait to see your 3 cheers video!! :3

I actually have an original copy of bullets on cd. Glad you've done a deep dive on their early days and struggles

every time i try to escape mcr something always drags me back. this is an insanely good deep dive for new fans! even as someone who has self-proclaimed seen everything there possibly is to see in relation to mcr, i learned some new things.💗

im so so happy cubicles was mentioned you have no idea

So happy that Cubicles is getting the love it deserves!

Great video! Looking forward to the others you make on MCR. Hot take, but after reading “Sellout” by Dan Ozzi and listening to their discography a ton over the past year, I’ve come to the conclusion that “Danger Days” is their best album. I think the “making music to save kids” thing is totally sincere at least when it comes to MCR. They got Rob Cavallo to produce Danger Days and Black Parade because he produced “Dear You” by Jawbreaker. That inspiration combined with the lyrical references to the song “Save Your Generation” crystallizes what they mean about “saving kids with music” imo. “Save Your Generation” by Jawbreaker is all about actively choosing to live instead of committing suicide, and how living a good life can save those around you. I think that is the core message of Danger Days and MCR at large. MCR’s avatars in that album’s story aren’t the heroes: they are just there to save “the girl,” whom I interpret as a stand in for their fans. And the girl is the one who is ultimately going to go on to save the world. So to me, Danger Days is all about telling the fans “the world needs you in it. We’re the backing band that’s gonna throw a party at the end of the world for you, and you’re gonna use that energy to help the people in your life.” Danger Days is the culmination of the message they wanted to send all along: that life is worth living and “if you can save yourself you could save us all.” Plus they just are tight as hell on that record. The years of tour really show in their performances. Looking forward to the next video!

I'm obsessed with Sunsets and Demolition Lovers. You can just feel the importance and extra love put into these tracks compared to the others. Where has MCR been all of my life? Idk, but I'm glad I'm starting to finally get into the band now. I haven't heard one album I was iffy with yet, and I've listened to three of theirs now, good stuff.

okok, just finished the vid dude, the editing is AWESOME, also the storytelling, the presentation of the info, even the bits of humor, it's amazing as someone whose entire flavor of autism is mcr(/hj) i really appreciate the effort and research that you put into this, and i find it so fucking cool that mcr is getting this talked about even in 2024 can't wait for the rest of the series covering the other albums!! im especially excited for the next one, as three cheers is my all-time favorite album keep up the great work, i'll see if i can support you any further, but for now, you got a new sub!

For what you said about the "save kids lives" thing, I think it was unfair. It could definitely be seen as a bit grand or dramatic, but saying it was just a "half-hearted grift" honestly hurt to hear. MCR is a big reason I'm here today. Listening to their music gets me through really rough times with how powerful and emotional it is. The things they have said (and continue to say) in concerts about mental health, lgbtq+ rights, etc. has helped me a ton when coping with the stuff I have going on in my life. I understand that if you haven't had a similar experience with their music that it could be hard to see how it helps, but for me, it definitely has. Especially with how many people constantly thank them for saving their lives, I don't see how that was a fair thing to say. Overall I loved the video, it was super well researched and produced! I just personally feel that one section was unnecessarily cynical.

my parents were quite the emos in high school and loved early mcr. so naturally i grew up on bullets, three cheers and black parade.. its cool to get some insight on a band that’s been so instrumental in me growing up :) thank you for this!

I didn’t even realize this video came out today. PLEASE MAKE MORE! I can’t wait to see your in-depth review of Three Cheers and potentially The Black Parade. Def earned a sub!

thank you so much for this video, Bullets is so criminally underrated

Love the level of depth, research and narrative writing you put into this! I'm kinda averse to other channels covering My Chem with baiting fandom engagement, covering only surface-level info and the lack of a critical eye but knew you'd do it justice, especially for Bullets. Can't wait for the Revenge one

Their first record is so underrated

bullets is the album that turned me into a crazy mcr fan

i’ve been blessed with a long video essay about my favorite band i am jumping around in circles and cheering rn

As someone who's favorite band has been MCR for almost 3 years now, I really enjoy video essays on them like these, keep up the good work

most of my friends didn't like MCR, but they all loved Thursday.

this is really good! so many of these types of videos about mcr repeat the same lore whereas I can see this was well researched. nice one.

Honestly, I’m in love the way you layout your videos and honestly they way you tell stories

thank you so much for making this video!!! i cant wait for your videos about mcr's albums!!

I love that people are still making videos about MCR after all these years 🖤

I dont think they saved my life, but they do make life more bearable. I've found a reason to live multiple times from music. Yeah the pain would go away, but so would music, and Id like to be here to experience it some more.

Love the deep dive! Will be here for the rest of the MCR journey!!

I became a fan right before three cheers came out. Got called all kinds of things because i loved them and AFI throughout high school.

Bullets is my favorite mcr album and I just can't get enough of it, I'm so glad I got to learn more about it and the band, I've been a big fan in my early teen years but didn't know the majority of things in the video. Thank you so much for the work you put in this, can't wait for the next videos!

This is the first video I’ve ever seen of yours, Fantastic! Loved it. Looking forward to more

Mads covering MCR? This'll be interesting

Thank you for this. I didn’t know I needed it until I saw it ❤

i love your editing style, very good video!!

Huge fan of the band. Sadly couldnt go to their concert back in 2022 because I had band comp. However I really want to make concept albums some day.

Been a massive MCR fan for almost 2 years now, this is a great and informative video. I can’t wait to see the videos on the next albums!

I was hoping that this video came out a while ago so that the others would already be out but just looked and saw that it came out only nine days ago, guess I’ll have to wait for the others 😭 Great vid man!!

Dude!! This was such a great video. Keep doing what you’re doing!!

Great video! I've been listening to MCR for a lil while now, but a fair chunk of this was info I hadn't heard before.

Woah, did not need that flashbang of MDE THAT early into the video

I love this and I’m so excited for more! I do have to say though, my chem definitely did save kids lives and probably still does.

All those comments and just thinking about MCR make me feel as happy like I‘m in love, haha I just fucking love them and their music and message really helped me through a lot ❤ I‘m thankful for them and the fandom they‘ve created, giving people like us a place to be ourselves and connect with others through (not only) their music 🙏

im so happy i got reccomended this vid its so good

early sunsets, cubicles, and demo lovers are my all time fav released songs im so glad to see someone actually talk about them

Early sunsets is their most gut wrenchingly beautiful song. I remember reading from the true lives of mcr book. Geoff rickly recalled how emotional Gerard was when doing vocals for the song. Here’s the quote, “the band was left shaken in the aftermath of the rage-fueled session. "Afterwards, everybody just left and went outside to smoke cigarettes because they couldn't deal with looking at him after he had sung that," he explained. "He had just ripped himself open in front of everybody. He'd taken it so far that it was uncomfortable for anyone who was friends with him. They hadn’t seen him as Gerard the singer, they still saw him as their buddy Gerard. It's a little scary to see someone do what he did." Early sunsets will forever be my favorite mcr song because of how raw and emotional it is. You can really hear the passion Gerard puts into his singing. In some aspects, imo, this song ties into the “saving kids lives” narrative. Hearing Gerard get so vulnerable is somehow comforting. Not to be like that but early sunsets actually saved my life 🤪

loved MCR growing up, know all the lore, but I love your vids so I never skip one

Cubicles is a fucking beautiful song glad you like it as much as me and my buddies do

I had the dvd of this doc lol. I used to watch it over and over daily on my family’s portable dvd player.

Sunsets Over Monroeville has always been extra cool to me because Monroeville is right by where I live (technically not in Pittsburgh but may as well be with how close it is) :)

Thanks for reminding me how much I love this album

loved the video thanks for talking about one of my favorite bands ever. Would love to see a Thursday vid one day :)

Brought back so many memories. I was 13-16 around this time and my sister was 18-20. She had the privilege of going to Warped Tour/Taste of Chaos in its early infancy..but MCR was her and I’s favorite band and we would listen to them in her car often. I knew they were a bunch of nerds, and that’s what drew me to them. I was also into comics,horror,video games and the emo aesthetic..something I tried to change in my young adult years but now have come back too. MCR wasn’t like other bands, they didn’t have “swag” they didn’t have songs about meeting girls and sex. They had this weird geeky horror montage of this I enjoyed as a teen and still do till this day. It really was the last great rockstars of our generation, they fit in because they didn’t even try to fit in. They knew they were clowning around and being stupid..it reminded me a lot of my friend group back then

early sunsets over monroeville has been my favorite song since i was 12 and it will be the song i walk down the isle to i stg

One of my personal favourites bands and the black clothes I wear are the reason I listen to MCR and a reason why I click to black and white clothes with the exceptions to red or green.

i will be seated for the upcoming mcr album videos :3 AND i’ll be binging all of the others, i love love love these styles of videos

6:37 “because my heart is in oooohhhiioooo!” 🎶

Early Sunsets Over Monroeville is one of my favorites and I wish it was appreciated more

YEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH BABEY dedicated album videos!!! 2024 ROCKS

I am ready to relive the My Chem lore.

Always heard about them as a kid. Never got to REALLY listen to them until recently. With pandemic existing I thought MRC would finally be inspired to write another album and rejoin. Sadly they never did. I hope we get more music from them someday

Funny you show Billy Corgan when mentioning bands led by one person. The smashing pumpkins have been my favorite band for close to 30 years and my chemical romance become another one of my favorites because they are the first band I could tell were heavily influenced by the smashing pumpkins.

Recently got into their music after being told that they suck, love the music. I learned so much from this video, well made stuff! Thank you

I got into MCR in 2023 and they are now my favorite band :) This is a great video, and although I watched lotms many times, I still learned a few things from this video so thank you

I needed this

this is the content i want on RU-vid

Although The Black Parade is their greatest masterpiece and probably one of the greatest rock albums from the 2000s, Bullets is my favorite MCR album. I spent all my teenage years listening to the band, living in a small town, dreaming about getting out and now that I am in the city, I feel like this album sounds exactly like my hometown, with its nostalgia and rawness. When I miss home, this album feels like a big hug, all my memories from my younger days come flooding. Early Sunsets in particular is the one that hits me most.

I remember randomly finding “I brought you my bullets….” at tower record and my life changed forever.

omg graymads mcr video FINALLY.. !!! theyve been my favorite band for SO long and im p sure theyre my special interest too this is RAD teehee

Luved this. Subbed

Graaaaaan análisis. Amé todo, y esperaré por la saga de MCR 🌹gracias por tanto ❤

Love the video, bullets is my favorite album, since i hop into the mcr train in 2022, and my tastes always were heavy, mostly metal, bullets was a smooth introduction to this band and its more softer sound (in contrast)

You have my attention. Bullets is my favorite mcr album.

Man my youtube just bounces back and forth between Emo and Goth Rock. It's kind of interesting. That and black metal, sometimes.

I was there for their first two albums 😏 yes I am old haha. I know fans love black parade but I listened to it once and never listened to it again. I’m sure now I could appreciate it from a music standpoint but I loved their first two omggggg they were heavenly to my 13 year old mind.

i think the reason why my chem is how they are today would be how they took on very heavy subject matter that a lot of rock artists didn't. the way my chem did it was "Hey you're going through a lot of crap!! lets talk about it and what emotions you are feeling!" but on the other hand whenever you hear a song that has meaning of "i am going through something, so i will write a song that talks about it." it might make the song about the singers problems and not problems that everyone could go through. but with my chem each song has a different vibe that makes you think about how you're life is, with giving you this sort of comfort that is more of you wanting to talk to someone.

I solemnly believe that mcr stuff is indeed genius material, and ive been a fan for about 10 years. I could not be grateful enough for this band. Loved the video dude, keep it up!

You should totally make a Thursday video. Super underrated band/discog. Plus one of three good things about Jersey

Your videos are very interesting and the subjects very varied Could you make one on wipers?

очень качественная и интересная работа. долгое время являюсь фанатом этой группы, но было очень интересно узнать о многих фактах из их ранней биографии. спасибо! :))

I’m so ready for the next videos on mcr

Great vid, really enjoyed the editing and graphics. I love the thumbnail! Do you happen to have a version for download anywhere?

I have been summoned oh my god 😂

I didn’t even realize Pencey Prep was with Frank I’ve just been listening to them blind

will you ever dive into the Way's and their being raised catholic and the trauma that manifests itself through the music, and just in general? i think that's a very interesting/important thing to take into account when speaking about the band. Anyways, i am looking forward to the rest of your MCR videos. This was great!

Cubicles will forever be my fav off Bullets, if not one of my fav MCR songs ever (though nothing will ever top Summertime lol)

Could you do a video on Taking Back Sunday’s first real album “Tell All Your Friends”? They’re my favorite band ever. For 17 years. I’ve seen them in concert in Boston and I’m seeing them again in August this year. They are everything to me. Every album was an era of my life throughout the last 17 years.

I need the Frankie iero video now!!!

Bryan Stars should interview you