This is a tough post to write, considering My Chemical Romance have always been my favourite band and saved my teenage life countless times with their songs. Call that a cliche, but it's impossible to accept they've gone now, so I'm always finding clues to prove that the end of MCR is a publicity stunt, and Fake Your Death is the biggest so far.
Showing posts with label my chemical romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my chemical romance. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Monday, 25 March 2013
Playlist For The Week #2
Sorry this isn't posted on a Sunday as always, I was ridiculously busy yesterday! This week has flown by in a whirlwind of essay writing and helping out at open days, and of course the bad news which I blogged about on Saturday, but in case I'm overloading you with MCR grief, I'll only briefly mention them in this week's playlist.
Tom Jones - It's Not Unusual.
Yes, I did say last week that I'd tone down the cheese. But I've been watching Mars Attacks every time it's been on TV this week, so Tom Jones has been residing in my brain for the majority. I'm not even sorry.
Andrew WK - Got To Do It.
I can't quite explain why this appeared this week of all weeks, but I found the chorus dancing around my head when I was writing an essay, so for the sake of satisfying my clearly deprived mind, I kept it on loop throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.
Billy Talent - Fallen Leaves.
I've been having severe Download withdrawals lately because I know I'm not going this year and this saddens me greatly. However, I've kept my head high with Fallen Leaves, which reminds me of the drive home from last year's festival, I can remember driving through Derby to the tune of this as if it were yesterday.
Falling In Reverse - The Westerner.
Thanks go to Katie for reminding me how amazing this song is. It's one of those revenge tunes you can whip out whenever you're down and it gives you that empowered 'bitch please' mood. Works like magic, I'm telling you.
My Chemical Romance - The Light Behind Your Eyes.
For me, this song defines My Chem's entire career. The message that you should never let someone 'take the light behind your eyes' is insanely powerful in the light of their split. I could go on for ages about how much they've meant to me for the last decade, but that's all in my post from this weekend. No doubt I'll be writing another of those kinds of posts soon, but that's to be expected when a band such as MCR saved my life as a teenager, and to see that band disappear in front of my eyes through an uncharacteristically short blog post (and now a lengthy tweet from Gerard Way), I'm devastated to say the least.
What were you listening to last week?
My Chemical Romance - The Light Behind Your Eyes.
For me, this song defines My Chem's entire career. The message that you should never let someone 'take the light behind your eyes' is insanely powerful in the light of their split. I could go on for ages about how much they've meant to me for the last decade, but that's all in my post from this weekend. No doubt I'll be writing another of those kinds of posts soon, but that's to be expected when a band such as MCR saved my life as a teenager, and to see that band disappear in front of my eyes through an uncharacteristically short blog post (and now a lengthy tweet from Gerard Way), I'm devastated to say the least.
What were you listening to last week?
Saturday, 23 March 2013
So long and goodnight.
As with a few other bloggers, I was hesitant to write this post today. I daren't venture to Tumblr and see the teenage angst pour out in front of my eyes. But as MCR were such a massive part of my life, and still are, I couldn't ignore it.
Back in my first year at secondary school, age 11. I'd been listening to things like KISS and Ozzy Osbourne when I was younger, but nothing that appealed to my feeling of being lost in a world that didn't quite understand me. Then two of my closest friends introduced me to a band who were just about to release an album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. I loved the title, so I gave their previous album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love a listen. I fell in love with Early Sunsets Over Monroeville, the soft lull of a song that has a lot more meaning when you listen to the lyrics. Their style just appealed to me, it wasn't the kind of 'emo' tag they received from the popular press, it was deep, meaningful, emotionally driven and powerful. Just like music should be, to me anyway.
Three Cheers came out, and I spent countless days and nights playing it on loop, blabbing about it to friends and boring them stiff, trying (and failing) to doodle the album art, the usual things a teenage girl does when she falls in love with a band. What most appealed to me about My Chemical Romance was the way they presented death as a topic that shouldn't be skirted around, which is exactly how I viewed it growing up. I've never been scared of dying, I've more or less welcomed it as a consequence to all our lives, and MCR addressed it the way I've always thought about it. Helena became my anthem for my teenage years, and I didn't care that people thought I was morbid for it. I'd had rough times in school and I caved on a few occasions, but My Chemical Romance are the reason I didn't give up entirely. I never took it one step too far because I knew there was something to live for. Because there were people out there feeling the same way as me and they were powering through it. Because there were five men that would speak for us and show them that the best revenge is staying alive.
The Black Parade will always remain my favourite album of all time. This point in MCR's career showed us fans that we were a part of a community, even if we didn't fit in with the rest of society. Every single track on that album speaks for us, and lets us know that we can keep going.
Famous Last Words will too remain my all time favourite song, and I was fully intending on getting the lyrics tattooed this year, so while tinged with poignancy, I'll still be getting that done this summer. No song in my eyes will compete with this, I can't even begin to describe how much it's meant to me.
Danger Days came and went for me, while it was a natural progression for a band to start embracing the positivity of life, I wasn't ready for it, my life didn't allow for positivity. I carried on listening to the Black Parade. I was ignorant, I refused to believe that optimism was the way forward for my favourite band. I refused to believe that Bob Bryar wasn't there anymore. More to the point, I refused to accept that anything could improve on Famous Last Words. In the past few months, I had accepted the Conventional Weapons releases and really got involved with the new wave of MCR fans, understanding what brought them to the band in the first place. I never disregarded new MCR fans as glory supporters, they're not lesser people just because they didn't jump on the MCR wagon as early as some of us did.
I was sat on the bus this morning checking Twitter as always, and I saw someone had retweeted the words 'my chemical divorce'. At first I thought it was the usual play on their band name, so I scrolled down for more. Alternative Press confirmed it. I had to spend the next six hours helping out at university, so I tried to ignore it, but I was hard pushed to force a smile. I got on the bus home and burst into tears.
I've had friendships and relationships built on my love for MCR, one of the first things an ex boyfriend gave me was The Black Parade Is Dead! on DVD, and I watched it consistently for weeks. I've also lost relationships because others don't understand how I feel about them, and that's their opinion, I'm not objecting to it, but disregard of my own feelings about a band that's saved my life more times than I care to remember, that's not welcome in my life.
What hurts most about this situation for me is the fact I always turned down opportunities to go see them live with my two friends I mentioned at the beginning of this post. I always disregarded their gigs as 'too expensive' for a schoolgirl living off her pocket money, 'too far away', 'there'll always be the next tour'. There won't be a next tour now. I have nobody but myself to blame for that.
If you've seen Apollo 13 then you might remember the daughter who's found crying in her room because The Beatles have split up, screaming her hatred for Paul McCartney for breaking her favourite band up. There are all sorts of fingers that can be pointed in these situations, I too have my finger pointed at a factor, and that's time. Time and life has taken these four men onto different paths and while I can stay mad at that for however long it takes to get over it, it's not anybody's fault. I'll just be cursing the time-space continuum for a long time.
I realise how whiny this entire post was, but everyone who's passionate about music has a band or artist that has supported them through the times they've felt down, so I'd love it if, even if you don't appreciate MCR, to not leave comments insulting them. After all, this is my blog, it's about my opinions. I've unfollowed plenty of people on Twitter today purely because I don't wish to have spiteful hatred of my favourite band on my feed, like I said, you're more than welcome to your own opinions, but I'm voicing mine by unfollowing. We MCR fans are humans too, we have feelings, probably more so than most.
Of course, the old debate reigns that they could come back. We've seen it with Fall Out Boy, but they were intentionally on hiatus. The optimistic comments floating around will always say:
'Even if they never come back, just remember, at least they existed'.
So Gerard, Frank, Mikey, Ray and of course Bob, thank you for the adventure, and I wish you all the best of luck in the future. But if you're going to come back someday, just remember - sooner rather than later, eh?
The Black Parade will always remain my favourite album of all time. This point in MCR's career showed us fans that we were a part of a community, even if we didn't fit in with the rest of society. Every single track on that album speaks for us, and lets us know that we can keep going.
Famous Last Words will too remain my all time favourite song, and I was fully intending on getting the lyrics tattooed this year, so while tinged with poignancy, I'll still be getting that done this summer. No song in my eyes will compete with this, I can't even begin to describe how much it's meant to me.
Danger Days came and went for me, while it was a natural progression for a band to start embracing the positivity of life, I wasn't ready for it, my life didn't allow for positivity. I carried on listening to the Black Parade. I was ignorant, I refused to believe that optimism was the way forward for my favourite band. I refused to believe that Bob Bryar wasn't there anymore. More to the point, I refused to accept that anything could improve on Famous Last Words. In the past few months, I had accepted the Conventional Weapons releases and really got involved with the new wave of MCR fans, understanding what brought them to the band in the first place. I never disregarded new MCR fans as glory supporters, they're not lesser people just because they didn't jump on the MCR wagon as early as some of us did.
I was sat on the bus this morning checking Twitter as always, and I saw someone had retweeted the words 'my chemical divorce'. At first I thought it was the usual play on their band name, so I scrolled down for more. Alternative Press confirmed it. I had to spend the next six hours helping out at university, so I tried to ignore it, but I was hard pushed to force a smile. I got on the bus home and burst into tears.
I've had friendships and relationships built on my love for MCR, one of the first things an ex boyfriend gave me was The Black Parade Is Dead! on DVD, and I watched it consistently for weeks. I've also lost relationships because others don't understand how I feel about them, and that's their opinion, I'm not objecting to it, but disregard of my own feelings about a band that's saved my life more times than I care to remember, that's not welcome in my life.
What hurts most about this situation for me is the fact I always turned down opportunities to go see them live with my two friends I mentioned at the beginning of this post. I always disregarded their gigs as 'too expensive' for a schoolgirl living off her pocket money, 'too far away', 'there'll always be the next tour'. There won't be a next tour now. I have nobody but myself to blame for that.
If you've seen Apollo 13 then you might remember the daughter who's found crying in her room because The Beatles have split up, screaming her hatred for Paul McCartney for breaking her favourite band up. There are all sorts of fingers that can be pointed in these situations, I too have my finger pointed at a factor, and that's time. Time and life has taken these four men onto different paths and while I can stay mad at that for however long it takes to get over it, it's not anybody's fault. I'll just be cursing the time-space continuum for a long time.
I realise how whiny this entire post was, but everyone who's passionate about music has a band or artist that has supported them through the times they've felt down, so I'd love it if, even if you don't appreciate MCR, to not leave comments insulting them. After all, this is my blog, it's about my opinions. I've unfollowed plenty of people on Twitter today purely because I don't wish to have spiteful hatred of my favourite band on my feed, like I said, you're more than welcome to your own opinions, but I'm voicing mine by unfollowing. We MCR fans are humans too, we have feelings, probably more so than most.
Of course, the old debate reigns that they could come back. We've seen it with Fall Out Boy, but they were intentionally on hiatus. The optimistic comments floating around will always say:
'Even if they never come back, just remember, at least they existed'.
So Gerard, Frank, Mikey, Ray and of course Bob, thank you for the adventure, and I wish you all the best of luck in the future. But if you're going to come back someday, just remember - sooner rather than later, eh?
Monday, 11 February 2013
My Top 10 Music Videos
Music videos have changed my life, that's a fact. But it takes a lot for a video to make me stand back and rethink life. Eminem's Like Toy Soldiers made me weep as a teenager, and The Darkness' Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End) made every single Christmas perfect, but what videos changed me?
1. 30 Seconds To Mars - From Yesterday
This will always be my No. 1 favourite video of ALL TIEM. I'm sure you've guessed why already. It's set in China, filmed in the Forbidden City in Beijing, and it's set around the time of Emperor Puyi, who I'm about to write a 5000 word essay on. Every aspect of this video is perfection - the costumes, the setting, the culture clashes, the flawless direction, everything.
2. My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade
As an all-time fan of the Black Parade album, this shouldn't be a surprise entry. The idea of the Patient moving on to the world where the Black Parade come to collect the lost souls still astounds me. This song stole my heart as a teenager and I don't even want it back, it's in a better place with MCR.
3. The Used - I Caught Fire
The video that defined my teenage years, I Caught Fire brought me into a world where The Used existed, and it's a much better world than before. This song in itself gave me so much confidence as a teenager, and instantly raised my standards impossibly high for future relationships. The video showed me that Bert McCracken was my future husband, at whatever cost, I was going to marry him.
I'm still waiting for him.
4. Fall Out Boy - What A Catch, Donnie
First off, who's excited they're back together? I AM! I missed out on tickets for the London gig but in all honesty, I'm just glad they're back making the music I've loved since I was 11.
This video would be me if I had enough money for a boat. Just drifting between places, living with a seagull. Life couldn't get much better than that. This song morphs together all the greatest songs from their back catalogue and in turn creates possibly the greatest song they've ever made. What's great about Fall Out Boy is their immortality, this song brought other singers like Brendon Urie from Panic At The Disco and the great Elvis Costello to sing the top lines from songs such as Dance Dance. It's perfection.
5. Foxy Shazam - Unstoppable
Along with the song, this video glues a smile on my face for the entire day. I'm so grateful I saw them perform this song live, because it's one of those songs I'll remember for years to come and it'll never, ever get boring.
The video defines Foxy Shazam as a band - breaking the mould. It speaks for itself. It's fantastic.
6. Queen - These Are The Days Of Our Lives
You might be wondering why I picked this over classics such as Bohemian Rhapsody and I Want To Break Free, but the truth is I find those videos come second to the ultimate emotion and beauty that is These Are The Days. While it breaks my heart to see Freddie Mercury at the end of his era, when he whispers 'I still love you', I instantly smile through it all and it's one of the very few videos that gives me perspective on life, how short it is, and how we have to live while we're here, because nobody knows when the pen's going to run out of ink drawing out our timeline.
7. Death Cab For Cutie - Title and Registration
Strangely enough, I'm the most squeamish girl in the world, yet I love this video of a paper open heart surgery procedure because of its emotional value. The direction of this video is amazing, and the paper organs are little works of art. This band are so criminally underrated, so if you've never heard of them, please, I implore you, give this video a watch.
8. Maroon 5 - Payphone
9. Poets Of The Fall - Carnival Of Rust
I used to have a recurring dream that I was running away from the police. Not that it's a sign of a guilty conscience or anything, I just have an irrational phobia of police authorities.
I fell in love with this video not only because Adam Levine's all geeky one minute then all hot and rogue-y the next, but because of the motif of escaping a monotonous life to find another.
Of course, I couldn't forget the song. Easily becoming my favourite song, it reminds me of everything that I am. Escaping my life to find another.
I discovered this band in college and while I haven't heard many of their songs, this video absolutely changed my life. When I was writing my coursework, I took inspiration from this idea of a carnival of nightmares. The man in the fortune teller's box was a genius idea - what if the fortune teller is trapped inside that box forever, and all he can do is warn others that their fate could be similar?
Psy - Gangnam Style
And finally, the humorous entry. The novelty's worn off for most, but for me, it just keeps getting better and better. I was known in school for catching onto crazes such as Crazy Frog quite late and then consistently annoying the shit out of everyone by putting them on repeat years later. Gangnam is no exception. I'm still as much in love as the first time.
What are your top 10 music videos?
What are your top 10 music videos?
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