On November 12, My Chemical Romance announced that they’re going on a short tour in 2025, hitting cities like Boston, Tampa, Chicago, Seattle, and more. For each tour date, they’ll be joined by a different support band, such as IDLES in Boston and Evanescence in Tampa. Tickets go on sale Friday, November 15 at 10 a.m.
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The emo darlings will be performing The Black Parade in full during this tour. It hasn’t yet been revealed if they’ll be playing other hits or just their 2006 album. However, they did release a teaser for the tour featuring an elaborate storyline. To celebrate the news, as a My Chemical Romance fan for going on two decades, here’s how I rank each track on The Black Parade.
My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade Ranked
14. “Blood”
13. “The End.”
As a dramatic album opener, “The End.” primes listeners for what they’re about to listen to. It’s a little dirge that blends seamlessly into “Dead!,” which then turns the mood on its head with snappy drums and a catchy guitar solo. This is the prerequisite to The Black Parade with lines like If you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see / You can find out firsthand what it’s like to be me and When I grow up I want to be nothing at all.
12. “Cancer”
“Cancer” lands low on the list only because it’s hard to listen to. It’s a masterpiece of narrative, but it’s also heart-wrenching. Lines like But counting down the days to go / It just ain’t living and The hardest part of this is leaving you just hit differently. This song is the most narratively strong besides “Welcome to the Black Parade,” but if you strip the story away and look at it as just a song about death, it’s difficult to process. And that, most likely, was done on purpose.
11. “Dead!”
10. “Sleep”
“Sleep” was inspired by Gerard Way’s night terrors while recording the album in the haunted Paramour Mansion, and even includes recordings of him talking about the nightmares. This is another narrative-heavy track that explores The Patient’s role in the story. However, it’s also a personal track for Gerard Way, as he couldn’t sleep during the recording process. So, while it touches on the main character dealing with the repercussions of his actions as he dies, it’s also literally about not being able to sleep because of nightmares.
9. “This Is How I Disappear”
8. “Disenchanted”
7. “The Sharpest Lives”
6. “Mama”
A personal favorite, I once listened to this song on repeat while on a family road trip in Arizona, staring out the window at the endless rocky landscape and imagining my own music video (I was an emo teenager, what did you expect). The rollicking end of this song is what gets me, as well as the unexpected Liza Minelli cameo. The end of “Mama” always goes hard, crafting a heavy, headbanging rhythm that was essentially my pipeline to actual metal.
5. “House of Wolves”
“House of Wolves” was another personal favorite of mine. There’s something about the drama of the wailing guitar, of Gerard shouting S-I-N I S-I-N at the end that was particularly satisfying. The steady drums and bopping rhythm that make it sound like some sort of zoot suit riot—”House of Wolves” is hard to explain. It’s more of a feeling you get in your chest than a song.
4. “I Don’t Love You”
3. “Teenagers”
This song resonates with me now that I’m in my 30s because teenagers truly do scare the living s–t out of me, but it also resonated when I was a teenager myself. Not that I was scared of my peers, but it somehow felt like being on the outside looking in at how we were viewed at the time, like someone was telling us “teenagers scare the living s–t out of me” and we were expected to react to that. “Teenagers” itself became the reaction.
2. “Famous Last Words”
“Famous Last Words” is one of My Chemical Romance’s best works, and I hold it so close to my heart that I got one of the lyrics tattooed. I am not afraid to keep on living / I am not afraid to walk this world alone hit all of us lonely, misunderstood emo kids right in the gut. No matter what we were going through, Gerard Way was there with us on our path. The Black Parade is a concept album, but I believe at its heart it was a love letter to broken, scared, lonesome kids who found solace within the band. “Famous Last Words” proved that for me, anyway.
1. “Welcome to the Black Parade”
The rumors are true—you can summon an entire generation of emo kids by playing one particular piano note. The ultimate in operatic rock narratives, “Welcome to the Black Parade” sets the scene, plays all the characters, and closes out the production with fanfare all at once, and it’s only track five. I fondly remember being on a bus to a band competition in high school when this song came on the radio, and everyone shouted “to see a marching band” as loud as they could. Personal memories aside, this track is held dearly in the hearts of emo kids everywhere. Some may say it’s overplayed, but it still deserves all the love it receives.
Featured Image by Matthew Simmons/WireImage for AOL Music
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