My Chemical Romance Biography

In the new millennium My Chemical Romance brought the angsty punk sub-genre known as "emo" to the mainstream masses. With a sound and lyrical content fusing the teenage rage of early hardcore acts like Minor Threat with the gloomy introspection of the Cure and the Smiths and the over-the-top theatrics of Seventies arena bands like Queen, MCR became the Top Ten's first emo superheroes within three years of forming.

The idea of rock superheroes is key to the band's success: Singer Gerard Arthur Way graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1999 and was working as a comic-book animator when the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 made him to rethink his priorities. Deciding comic books were getting him nowhere, Way quit his day job and along with high school friend and drummer Matt Pelissier formed My Chemical Romance. The band was named after the Irvine Welsh book Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance and its early- lineup was fleshed out by Way's younger brother "Mikey" on bass, Ray Toro on lead guitar, and Frank Iero on rhythm guitar.

Within three-months of forming My Chemical Romance had recorded and released their 2002 debut I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love on New Jersey indie label Eyeball Records (who had also signed fellow Garden State emo rockers Thursday). On the strength of tracks like the pummeling 9-11 lament "Skylines and Turnstiles," the band quickly signed to Reprise Records. 2003's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (Number 28, 2005) produced a string of singles including "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" (Number Four Modern Rock, 2005), "Helena" (Number 11 Modern Rock, Number 31 Pop, 2005) and "The Ghost of You" (Number 9 Modern Rock, 2005) and sold over a million copies. MCR was one of the first bands to successfully pioneer the social networking website MySpace to market their music.

In 2004 Bob Bryar, a sound tech for the Used, replaced Matt Pelissie (who later opened Strong Arm Studios, in Harrison, NJ.)on drums. MCR spent much of 2005 on the road opening for Green Day and co-headlining the Warped Tour with Fall Out Boy. In 2006, as MCR was heading back into the studio to record its third album, the group released the CD/DVD Life on the Murder Scene, a documentary that included videos and live footage and sold 2 million copies.

In 2006 MCR released its most ambitious album to date: a bombastic concept album entitled The Black Parade, which sold 240,000 copies in its first week and propelled it to Number Two on the Top 200 Chart . The album's storyline revolves around the regretful reminiscences of a dying cancer patient (and includes a cameo from Liza Minnelli on "Mama"). The Black Parade polarized critics who either loved the album's grandiosity or hated its excesses though it too went platinum. Its singles included the Top Forty hits "Welcome to the Black Parade" (Number One Modern Rock, Number Nine pop, 2006) and "Teenagers" (Number 13 Modern Rock, Number 39 Pop 100, 2007).

In the spring of 2008 the band was enmeshed in a controversy after a British MCR fan committed suicide and U.K. tabloids labeled emo and the band a "suicide cult." The band released the following statement on its website: "My Chemical Romance are and always have been vocally anti-violence and anti-suicide. As a band we have always made it one of our missions through our actions to provide comfort, support, and solace to our fans...If you or anyone you know have feelings of depression or suicide, we urge you to find your way and your voice to deal with these feelings positively."

In July of 2008 the band released its second live CD/DVD compilation entitled The Black Parade is Dead! featuring outtakes from the band's fall 2007 Mexico City and New Jersey concerts.

Taken From : http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/mychemicalromance/biography