It's so hard sometimes to pick a favorite album; that is, until you find that one album that you can't forget. I've been reminiscing on different music from my teenage years for the past week, and it really got me to thinking about the album that started the love for it all: My Chemical Romance's "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge".
Growing up, I listened to all kinds of music. Living in Philadelphia, I grew up on salsa and bachata that I heard at my Uela's or my Titi's house whenever I would go over there. Even hearing Latin music now gives me flashes of my childhood-going around the corner to a house that was handing out juice boxes and cheese danishes to all of the kids on the block; driving in the car with my Uela yelling at the other drivers; and the heat of the hot city pavements. When I was 4 and my mom and I moved to Wildwood, it was all about country music and classic 20's, 30's and 40's; a strange mix, but a result of living with my mom and my Nana (my great grandmother). I got into R&B and hip hop when I was around 12; I was still caught up in the pop phase of Backstreet Boys and NSync, and I listened to a little bit of Matchbox Twenty and some other light rock. But for some reason, no one artist or album really struck a chord with me until the Spring of 2005.
I was going to a performing arts school and still trying to figure out my "musical identity". My natural singing voice was deep for a girl, and the only time I sung higher was when singing soprano notes in choir. I couldn't belt. I had a hard time singing songs by female pop singers. I couldn't sing R&B. In addition to this, I was going through the normal teenage struggles: I had a boyfriend who I was always arguing with; I had schoolwork that was never finished; and I knew for sure that I was going to fail algebra and have to come up with 200 bucks for summer school. I also lost my after-school job at a deli mid way through the school year, so I was basically frustrated and angry all year. I was frustrated with the world and everyone in it. And my only escape, singing, was turning into a chore because of my lack of ability to identify any kind of music that I could sing well and that touched me enough to want to sing it. And then "Helena" came out.
I had seen the video for "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" a few months before on MTV, and I knew who My Chemical Romance were. I would hum "I'm Not Okay" and we talked about how funny the video was. But one day, as I was brushing my teeth for school, I saw a flash of red, white and black and heard a bass line that caught my attention. I stared at the TV in wonder, watching Gerard Way in a black suit and red tie perform with dancers-dancers!-in black suits and dresses, doing the most emotive dances every. The coloring of the video was unique, the ballet section incredible. And the song was a monster. Coming in like a train in the distance with a distinctive bass line and Gerard's raspy voice somewhere between a whisper and a haunting lower register, then grabbing your full attention with Frank and Ray's guitars and an unrelenting drum line. The bridge was suspenseful-if you could ever imagine a section of a song to be suspenseful-and the ending to the song slammed to a close, leaving you wanting more even after the last stray guitar chords dropped off. I wanted to hear more.
I borrowed the CD from a friend (I can't remember which) and immediately burned myself a copy. I brought it to school in my CD player every day, listening to it on a loop throughout any breaks in classes I had, on my way home on the NJ Transit, and sometimes even in class.
"Helena" was just the first song on the album. The second track "Give 'Em Hell, Kid" had an even more unrelenting bass guitar line and lyrics that spawned merchandise and a nickname for the MCR fan base: The NJ Murder Scene. "To The End " begins with Gerard Way over one strong guitar that sounds like the epitome of rock and roll electric guitar riffs. As he whispers the fourth line of the song, then swoops into the next line ("Let's go down"), the second guitar chimes in with a dizzying guitar loop that sets the pace for the rest of the song, which doesn't slow down until it screeches to a halt. On one of my three personal favorites, "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison", the band quiets down a bit, letting Gerard's Freddie Mercury-esque vocals take the spotlight. Guest singer Bert McCracken, from the Used, adds a giddy dynamic that escalates the songs status from simply a theatrical rock song to something unique, something that's both smooth and honest and mental-asylum insane at the same time. There's endless standouts on the album. "I'm Not Okay" is a frenetic pop-punk song that cements the band's true identity. "The Ghost of You" is a haunting ballad about lovers and war that will make you choke up and stick in your memory for a long time. "Thank You For The Venom" is a screaming, stomping anthem for the early 2000's pop-punk movement, and gave My Chem fans another tag line: "Hallelujah, lock and load". " The closer (and rounding out my three favorites), "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living" grabs you with the opening 30 seconds and doesn't let you go, taking you on a hard rocking, shouting story that doesn't sound like anything else in the music scene circa 2005. Quite simply, there was nothing like My Chemical Romance. There was nothing like aggressive rock, punk rock, hard rock, pop punk-rock music was mine. It was for me. It was what I connected with. And ever since then, I have been a die hard My Chemical Romance fan. Every song on that album defined my sophomore and junior year of high school and helped me make it through into the next year feeling a little bit better about who I was. I loved rock and roll. It shaped me as a person, helped me find my identity, and became therapeutic as the years went on. Rock music is still my favorite kind, and I can't wait until my next mosh pit. And it's all because five guys from Jersey said "f*** the system" and made the music that they wanted to make, leading the pop-punk movement and creating a new culture of rock fans.
My Chemical Romance will always be my favorite band because they define the misfits, the socially awkward, the people who think outside the box. And that's something that we need a little bit more in life. "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" is a fantastic album that truly embodies everything that the new wave of unrelenting alt-punk-rock is all about.
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