Of the many advantages of having children, a key one is that one’s tastes in music don’t become ossified (the negative corollary being: you know all about Justin Bieber).
For this reason, our home has openly wondered when My Chemical Romance would create their fourth studio album. After turning out one collection after another: 2002’s “I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love,” 2004’s “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge” and 2006’s “The Black Parade,” My Chem (MCR for short), took a break that saw band members marry and start families.
Well, the four year wait is almost over, with MCR scheduled to release “Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys” on November 22, 2010. The first music video from the new album made its MTV premier yesterday featuring the song, “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na).” The “Na Na Na” music video can be seen above.
As with much of MCR’s work, “Na Na Na” sports some profanity, but, the band is from New Jersey, across the Hudson from New York City – it’s how they communicate there. Big Hollywood fans will especially appreciate the song’s explicit (in both senses of the word) political reference.
“Na Na Na” closes with a thought infrequently heard in the often self-centric music world:
“What will save us?”
And the sky opened up
Everybody wants to change the world
Everybody wants to change the world
But no one
No one
Wants to die
Wanna try?
Wanna try?
Wanna try?
Wanna try?
Wanna try?
Now!
I’ll be your detonator!
“Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys” pre-release run up made masterful use of social media, with cryptic tweets hinting at a dystopian, zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic desert base populated by a motley crew of survivors named “Agent Cherri Cola,” “Dr. Death Defying,” “Party Poison,” “Tommy Chow Mein,” and “DJ Hot Chimp,” operating a desert transmitter codenamed “NewsAGoGo.”
A hint of the concept album’s dystopian roots might be found in an August 28, 2008 blog post from Gerard Way:
Gerard here… I’m hanging out with Mikey in New Jersey, relaxing, drinking coffee, talking comics, and getting ready to take a drive down south tomorrow. I don’t know what states I’m passing through but I know where I’m heading. Don’t worry, I’ve got the Clockwork Orange audio-book, a Dr. Pepper air-freshener, and a GPS so I don’t get lost.
Thematic elements from “A Clockwork Orange,” Anthony Burgess‘ 1963 vision of the future gone horribly wrong, can be readily seen in the “Na Na Na” music video. This vein of nihilistic ore has been mined plenty of times in the rock world, but My Chemical Romance has always been more than they seem to the casual observer. So, while this music video appeared to be darkly dystopian, a lighter note was clear as well: sort of like The Monkees meets the zombie apocalypse. Should the rest of “Danger Days” follow suit, rather than burrowing deep to a dark place and wallowing there, the album will likely offer more texture, perspective and hope than the usual post-Obama-meltdown-world-gone-mad genre album.
My Chemical Romance fans know that lead vocalist Gerard Way is also a talented comic book creator of the Eisner Award-winning “The Umbrella Academy.” Thus, it’s not a stretch to understand why Grant Morrison co-stars in “Na Na Na.” Morrison, a comic book author who routinely redefines his field (superhero revisionism is the tamest thing he’s done in the past 20 years) is also a musician in his own right. There’s even what could be a nod to Morrison in “Na Na Na”:
Remember when you were a mad man,
Thought you was bat man.
Morrison made a living for a number of years writing for the “Batman” franchise and his on screen role is a parodic archetype – a sort of “draculoid” zombie king evil foil to My Chemical Romance’s good. Morrison’s foul intent isn’t yet clear in “Na Na Na,” but we suspect he’s after some form of totalitarian domination, probably through national health care, given the medically suspect condition of his blood-thirsty lieutenants.
My Chemical Romance rose out of the ashes of 9/11 when Gerard Way, then 24 and working as a comic book store clerk in New York City, was shaken to his core. Way wrote the lyrics to the song “Skylines and Turnstiles” to work out the personal impact the terror attacks had on him. Not like Way had it easy before 9/11 – at 15, he was held at gunpoint, causing him to remark later, “No matter how ugly the world gets or how stupid it shows me it is, I always have faith.” He would need that faith as he struggled with substance abuse and suicidal thoughts (one of the motivating factors in creating My Chemical Romance is said to have been the other band members concern for Gerard Way). Way has been sober since 2004 and the band often contributes money to suicide prevention non-profits such as The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Given My Chemical Romance’s enormous talent (they’re often favorably compared to Queen), “Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys” should contain several excellent songs, some of which will certainly blaze new ground, and, like the Black Parade concept album, receive wide critical acclaim.
I’ve always cheered for the boys from New Jersey and wished them the best. They have profound talent combined with a creative genius rarely seen in the commercial world. But most importantly the band has a soul untarnished by the cynicism that can consume many in the music industry.