Smith ate the singer from AFI. So you probably only know that one song and you’re thinking, my god Michele, you’ve really gone to the emo dark side. Pop punk new wave emo Hot Topic music. But really. This is no worse than my Cure phase. Or my Bauhaus phase. Hell, it isn’t even emo. It’s not even goth. It’s just good music.
I gotta say, I hate when people judge an entire album on the basis of one song that may or may not sound like radio-friendly angsty pop music aimed at 14 year old girls who like to draw scars on themselves with Sharpies and write MySpace odes to unrequited crushes.
Sometimes Three Cheers makes me feel like I’m 15 years old and sitting in my bedroom, wearing black pants and a black shirt and a black sweater and black sneakers and carving hateful words into the wooden desk by my window, wondering if life gets any better than this and if that guy I was pining for had any idea that my heart and soul were bleeding for him. Bleeding, I tell you! Or was that yesterday?
Ok, so maybe that Cure phase never really leaves you. Maybe there are times when I still want to dress in black (wait, I do that every day) and listen to some depressing love songs (wait, I do that every day) and write maudlin poetry (no, I don’t do that). But I swear to you, I never dated or pined for a guy who wore eyeliner. Goth/Depression chic was ok for me, but it was lame on guys. It still is. Face powder? Lipstick? Mascara? If I wanted to a guy like that I would have stood outside the midnight showing of Rocky Horror and grabbed the first Frankenfuter.
Where was I? Oh, yea. This album is good. It's lyrically brilliant and musically diverse. Get past the whole I’m Not Ok thing and dig into the rest of it. By the third song you’ll have forgotten that this band previously made you feel like Hot Topic barfed up its contents into your radio.
MCR MySpace
6 comments:
I'll admit that I have "The Ghost of You" on my iPod.
When I saw the video for I'm Not OK, I thought it was clever and liked the song. Loved the video for Ghost of You. (Note: I'm 41 now. Also had a Cure phase) I actually liked this band before my Fueled By Ramen loving daughter did, which I never let her forget. The concert DVD for the Black Parade is fantastic. That dude has some pipes!
Anyway, I'm with you on this one. Almost every genre has bands that are really good, have talent, and transcend the rest of the poppy crap out there. MCR is that band for this type of music.
definitely one of my favorite bands. you're right, the music is awesome. my favorite hoodie is one of theirs: http://bit.ly/11Hvu. if you have a chance to see them live, do it.
I was wondering how other (adult) MCR listeners/fans came to like them. Maybe there's a common thread. I never was goth or costumey, but my tendency toward dark brooding hasn't seemed to dissipate after all these years. I loved Three Cheers, and I bought The Black Parade, too. They're not gothy, or emo-y, specifically. Didn't the guys in MCR say one time that they were influenced more by the big sound of Queen over the Cure? though I went through a Cure phase, too, and a Bauhaus phase, and definitely hold a lifelong candle for Peter Murphy, I think it's more that their kind of musical bloodletting opened the door (for me) to accept the music of this "emo" band.
My favorite song is Helena. I love the part where the chorus swells and gets all crunchy with guitars. "What's the worst that I could say/ it doesn't matter if I stay" - it's not what he's saying, it's the music. Love it.
Bran, I heard Helena from my daughter, borrowed the CD from her and never gave it back.
I love Black Parade as well, I'll get around to reviewing that eventually.
Mcr really is a good band. Their a caring band that always talk about saving kids lives. I don't have a favorite album or song because I honestly love all their songs.
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