Last night My Chemical Romance managed to break the internet. Not in a Kim Kardashian getting her bum out way, but by saying absolutely nothing at all. Nothing. And the hivemind of social media music fans lost their collective shit.
At 18:42 (BST), the below video was posted on the My Chemical Romance Facebook page, and at the time of writing it has had over 10 million views. Ten million views in less than 24 hours. Ten million views of a flag moving in slow motion. But what does it mean?
Let’s break it down, shall we?
Firstly, in the 34 second clip, you can hear piano. And that’s not just any piano is it, My Chem fans? It’s the opening to Welcome To The Black Parade, one of the biggest rock songs of the past decade taken from the album that sent the band stratospheric. The album that turned them from the much maligned “emo poseurs” to a dominant, creative force with a clear vision for art and the power of music. No, it’s not heavy metal, but it’s still played in your local rock club isn’t it? We’ve seen you dancing and singing along with your mates at 2am after one more round of sambucas. It’s not 2006 any more, it’s okay to know the words now.
And that brings us on to the second point – 2006 was ten years ago. And in this day and age if there’s one thing bands love it’s anniversaries. The flag in the video is a nod toward the number ten with MCRX (X being ten in Roman numerals, c’mon guys keep up), and all of My Chem’s social media channels have changed to the new logo.
The final piece of information to note here is the date at the end of the video. September 23, 2016. That’s right, it’s Bruce Springsteen’s birthday! MCR are throwing a big bash for The Boss. Case closed.
Probably not though, eh? As fact fans amongst you will no doubt be aware that September 23, 2016 is just one month away from the 10 year anniversary of The Black Parade’s album release date. Which is most likely not a coincidence.
So what in all of guyliner hell are My Chemical Romance up to?
Well, an unnamed source has confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the band are preparing to release a snazzy reissue of The Black Parade with new demos. Exciting if you’re a die-hard collector and are craving for some previously unheard material but it’s not quite the same as a new album. A decade old demo of Teenagers is hardly going to set the world on fire… unlike a reunion tour.
A reunion tour has been touted since the day MCR hung up their boots. They didn’t part on bad terms, there’s no Axl/Slash fallout to deal with, nobody died, everyone is still active and still very much known for their work with the New Jersey emo giants – but that’s kind of the problem. Because every member of the band has their own solo gig satisfying their creative urges, there’s no real point in getting the band back together except for a big fat paycheck. Of course, everybody likes money, but My Chem have always had integrity and done things on their terms. At their peak, they spawned countless imitators who simply couldn’t keep up with what Gerard Way and co. were doing because they were doing what they wanted, and stopped when they wanted.
Yes, MCR will most likely reunite for a massive stadium tour and festival run at some point. But it’s unlikely that will happen now. Unless the band are reading the tens of thousands of comments on their Facebook and Twitter…
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