The Black Parade

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This article is about the My Chemical Romance album The Black Parade. For My Chemical Romance's live DVD, see The Black Parade Is Dead!. For the My Chemical Romance single, see Welcome to the Black Parade.
The Black Parade
The Black Parade cover
Studio album by My Chemical Romance
Released Flag of the United Kingdom October 23, 2006
Flag of the United States October 24, 2006
Flag of Australia October 28, 2006
Recorded April – August 2006 at El Dorado Recording Studios in Burbank, California
Genre Alternative rock, disputed subgenres
Length 51:57
Label Reprise
Producer Rob Cavallo
My Chemical Romance
Professional reviews
My Chemical Romance chronology
Life on the Murder Scene
(2006)		 The Black Parade
(2006)		 AOL Sessions (2007)
Alternate cover
Black cover, slipcase, available alongside white cover.
Black cover, slipcase, available alongside white cover.
Limited Edition
Limited edition box set.
Limited edition box set.
Singles from The Black Parade
  1. "Welcome to the Black Parade"
    Released: September 12, 2006
  2. "Famous Last Words"
    Released: January 22, 2007
  3. "I Don't Love You"
    Released: April 2, 2007
  4. "Teenagers"
    Released: July 9, 2007

The Black Parade is the third studio album by the rock quintet My Chemical Romance, released in October 2006.[1] It is a concept album, and a rock opera centering on a character known as "The Patient", who dies during the course of the CD. The album presents the story of his passage out of life, and his subsequent reflection on his life.[2]

The album was produced by Rob Cavallo, who has also produced albums for Green Day. The Black Parade is also the first album for which Bob Bryar played drums, as Matt Pelissier played drums for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Though several reviewers have dismissed the album as a display of showmanship,[3][4] The Black Parade has, overall, been a critical success, the limited edition boxed set earning My Chemical Romance a Grammy nomination.[5][6]

The album spawned "Welcome to the Black Parade", "Famous Last Words", "I Don't Love You", and "Teenagers" as its first four singles.[7] My Chemical Romance has embarked on a global tour promoting The Black Parade, consisting of two separate North American trips and a European leg.[8] It now is available in both CD and vinyl.

Contents

[edit] Influences

Lead singer Gerard Way has cited the bands Queen and Pink Floyd as a major influence on the album.[1] Similarities have been noted between the guitar orchestration in "Welcome to the Black Parade", and the arrangements of Queen. Additionally, the band members have cited Pink Floyd's The Wall as a major influence for the album, which is especially noted when comparing the album's opening track, "The End", to the first track on The Wall, "In the Flesh?".[9] "The End" also closely resembles David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust opener "Five Years". Also, in several interviews Gerard Way has said that one of their biggest influences were The Smashing Pumpkins, often giving credit for their thematic videos to the creativity of Billy Corgan.

[edit] Chart performance

The Black Parade debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, behind Robbie Williams' Rudebox.[10] In the United States, it also debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. In its first week, the album sold 240,000 copies, far surpassing the 38,000 best-week sales of the band's previous album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.[11] The album debuted on the United World Chart at number one, selling 381,000 copies in its first week.[12] The album debuted at number three on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart and was certified platinum after shipping more than 70,000 copies. It debuted atop the charts in New Zealand and was certified platinum there, with shipments of more than 15,000.[13] The Black Parade has also been certified platinum by the RIAA for selling over 1,100,000 copies.[14] It has been certified 2x Platinum in the UK, and has sold just over 600,000 units there to date. As of August 18th, the album has sold 1,169,697 copies in the U.S.[15] In 2007 the album spent multiple weeks at no.1 on the UK Rock Albums chart.

[edit] Reception

The Black Parade received generally favorable reviews from critics. Some of the most positive reviews came from All Music Guide, New Musical Express, IGN, and Rolling Stone.[6] Dan Martin from NME compared the album to Green Day's American Idiot, positing that "it's a piece of work that will challenge every preconception you ever had about the people who made it."[5] Tim Karan of Alternative Press called The Black Parade "MCR's whole raison d'etre rolled up into one mega-decibel calling card". Ed Thompson of IGN stated, "The Black Parade is a rock and roll gem that celebrates everything that was over the top about the 1970s rock scene."[16] David Fricke of Rolling Stone praised the classic rock feel of the album.[6] Rolling Stone went on to rank The Black Parade #20 in its "Top 50 Albums of 2006" feature.[17] Spin magazine named it the 5th best album of 2006.[18]

EW states that "On their third studio album, a musical H-bomb of an effort, the Jersey quintet combine the rock-opera pomp of Queen with the darker, dirtier tones of their screamo past: Call it a Bro-hemian Rhapsody. Even without its broad concept — a dying cancer patient seeks revenge and redemption — Parade stands as one of the most cohesive, engaging rock records of 2006." It ranks The Black Parade the third best record of the year, being surpassed only by Gnarls Barkley and TV on the Radio.[19]

The album wasn't without its share of criticism, and was panned by such publications as The Observer and Aversion. Stated Jamie Hodgson of The Observer, "...it reeks of a band with ideas above its station."[4] Matt Schild of Aversion thought the album was "over-the-top" and "lame".[3] Theon Weber of Stylus praised the album's use of Queen influences, but went on to summarize the album as "...a goofy record of bubblegum punk, with Queen lapping at its edges and enough good tracks to justify the smattering of empty screamfests."[20]

The album holds a 79/100 score based on 24 reviews at Metacritic, which equates to the site's categorization of "generally favorable reviews".[21]

[edit] Versions

There are three versions of The Black Parade that have the same tracks and album art. The difference between two is that one bears white text on a black background, while the other had black text on a white background. The third one is considered to be quite rare, it features the same track listing but instead of the marching skeleton, a picture of the parade drawn by James Jean. Inside the booklet you may find also lyrics and quite a big photo of a band and characters from the album.

[edit] Limited edition

There is also a limited edition of the album, the product description for which is as follows:

"The Limited Edition special packaging features an 11-11/16" × 5-13/16", long skinny box with hinged lid, wrapped in black velveteen material, with an impressed design on the top. The 64-page bound paperback book inside the box is modeled after a Victorian-style photo album, and contains art by James Jean, making-of-the-album notes, and more."[22]

[edit] Japanese version

The version of The Black Parade that was released in Japan contains more content than the other regular editions. It contains 14 tracks, but the 14th track contains the song "Heaven Help Us" (which was released with the single version of "Welcome to the Black Parade"), instead of the song "Blood". The Japanese version is also an Enhanced CD and has the music video of "Welcome to the Black Parade".[23]

[edit] Vinyl versions

On December 11, 2007, The Black Parade was released in 12" vinyl format, the first of the band's albums to appear on vinyl. Two versions were released, the regular edition and the special edition. Both editions contain two discs, the first disc has tracks one to four on the a-side and five to seven the b-side. The second disc has tracks eight to ten on the a-side and 11 to 13 on the b-side. The special edition comes in a slip-case box with two 15-page books; only 2,500 copies were made of the special edition. Only 2,000 copies of the regular vinyl edition were made.[24]

[edit] The Black Parade World Tour

Main article: The Black Parade World Tour

My Chemical Romance began The Black Parade World Tour on February 22, 2007 in Manchester, New Hampshire's Verizon Wireless Arena. Rise Against opened for the group on the first leg of the tour. Thursday opened European shows, and Muse opened on the second North American leg. The tour ended on May 22, 2007 in Portland, Oregon's Memorial Coliseum. There was a 10 day stop before the band continued on to various festivals and international concerts, before returning to the States for the Projekt Revolution tour.[8] Although the bassist of the band, Mikey Way, took a temporary break from touring due to his marriage on March 7, 2007, the tour continued with a replacement (Matt Cortez, the band's guitar tech.) Mikey Way joined the band for one song during a show towards the end of the Projekt Revolution tour and rejoined the band permanently from October 4, 2007 onwards.[25][26]

[edit] Track listing

All songs written and performed by My Chemical Romance.

The Black Parade
# Title Length
1. "The End."   1:52
2. "Dead!"   3:15
3. "This Is How I Disappear"   3:59
4. "The Sharpest Lives"   3:20
5. "Welcome to the Black Parade"   5:11
6. "I Don't Love You"   3:58
7. "House of Wolves"   3:04
8. "Cancer"   2:22
9. "Mama"   4:39
10. "Sleep"   4:43
11. "Teenagers"   2:41
12. "Disenchanted"   4:55
13. "Famous Last Words"   4:59
14. "Blood" (hidden track) 2:53
B-sides
# Title Length
1. "Heaven Help Us"   2:54
2. "My Way Home Is Through You"   2:59
3. "Kill All Your Friends"   4:28

[edit] Credits

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Alternative Press Magazine. AP Article. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
  2. ^ "My Chemical Romance Unveil Black Parade Track Listing, Album Art", VH1, 2006-09-13. Retrieved on 2007-04-04. 
  3. ^ a b Schild, Matt. "My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade Aversion.com Review", Aversion.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  4. ^ a b Hodgson, Jaimie. "My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade", The Observer. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  5. ^ a b Martin, Dan. "My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade", NME. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  6. ^ a b c Fricke, David. "Rolling Stone : Welcome to the Black Parade : Review", Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  7. ^ "My Chemical Romance Discography - The Black Parade", Billboard.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-27. 
  8. ^ a b "MCR TOUR", My Chemical Romance. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  9. ^ Collis, Clark. "The Black Parade", Entertainment Weekly, 2006-10-20. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  10. ^ "Album Chart For Week Up To 28/10/2006", Chart Stats. Retrieved on 2007-04-04. 
  11. ^ Hasty, Katie. "'Hannah Montana' Trumps My Chem, Legend At No. 1", Billboard.com, 2006-11-01. Retrieved on 2007-04-04. 
  12. ^ http://www.mediatraffic.de/albums-week45-2006.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-30.
  13. ^ RIANZ. RIANZ Charts. Retrieved on November 16, 2006.
  14. ^ "Bilboard Album Charts - Top 200 Albums", Billboard.com, 2007-03-31. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  15. ^ UKMIX - Forums - View topic - US Billboard Charts :: 25/08/2007
  16. ^ Thompson, Ed. "My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade", IGN. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  17. ^ "Rolling Stone : The Top 50 Albums of 2006", Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  18. ^ "SPIN.com: The 40 Best Albums of 2006", SPIN.com, 2006-12-14. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  19. ^ Collis, Clark. "EW Black Parade Review", ew.com, 2006-12-14. Retrieved on 2007-04-06. (English) 
  20. ^ Weber, Theon. "My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade - Review", Sylus. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  21. ^ "The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance", metacritic.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  22. ^ "The Black Parade [LIMITED EDITION]", Amazon.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  23. ^ My Chemical Romance The Black Parade Japan CD ALBUM (379256). eil.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-05-24.
  24. ^ BLACK PARADE ON VINYL!. My Chemical Romance.com (2007-11-16). Retrieved on 2007-12-16.
  25. ^ "MCR Tour", My Chemical Romance. Retrieved on 2008-04-03. 
  26. ^ "MCR News", My Chemical Romance, April 23, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-04-24. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
My Chemical Romance
Gerard Way • Ray Toro • Frank Iero • Mikey Way • Bob Bryar
Touring members: Matt Cortez • James Dewees
Former members: Matt Pelissier
Studio albums
DVDs
EPs
Demos
Singles
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