Category Tier 1
Blog Thumbnail
Slug URL
my-chemical-romance-welcome-to-the-black-parade-almost-not-released
Show in home news block?
Off
My Chemical Romance's 2006 single Welcome To The Black Parade is one of the most iconic emo tracks of all time, but according to lead singer Gerard Way, it nearly missed out on featuring on The Black Parade and seeing the light of day.
Speaking about the track to Apple Music 1 host Travis Mills, Gerard says that the song liked the song, but were struggling to connect with it. “Originally, that song was called The Five of Us Are Dying. We played it and we really liked it, and I had felt that we needed that one song on the record, that touchstone that kind of introduces your concept, and the lyrics and the themes of that song kind of embody the themes of the record.”
The band liked the song, but they were struggling to find a way to make it work. He explains, “All the other songs had really strong themes and titles and things like that. But we didn’t want to just give up on the song, so then I started to bring the concept into the musical side of things, where I was like, ‘I want to call this Black Parade, I want there to be a parade on the record’, and we started breaking the song and reconstructing it.
“Anytime it got brought up before we started breaking it, any time it kind of got brought up, especially by my A&R, Craig Aaronson, I would just kind of shoo him away about it and be like, ‘Yeah, that song’s about nothing. I’m not interested in that one.‘”
Of course, the song would go on to be the first single from The Black Parade, with Gerard explaining, “Once we re-approached it from the perspective of starting with a completely new introduction and a new way to start the song, it helped us fix the rest of it.” Writing the piano melody for the track re-invigorated the track, and the rest is history.
READ MORE: Meet Chloe Moriondo, Who's Making Pop-Punk That's Edgy, Gory And Very Endearing
If you've forgotten what Welcome To The Black Parade sounds like, then press play below and re-live your emo teen memories. We're not sure what the world would have been like without this track, but we're very glad we're not in that reality.
