Blending goth tropes (Vampires Will Never Hurt You) with tongue-in-cheek narcissism (Honey This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Two of Us, You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison) , My Chemical Romance certainly knew how to write catchy song titles. Released a year after their demise, this collection highlights a genre band that not only knew its own mind, but knew how to create songs that ably married (and perhaps too readily referenced) punk rock, pop and hardcore. Highlights include the band-defining Welcome to the Black Parade, Mama, Teenagers and Sing. Occasionally (especially on earlier material) you hear a band searching for a core identity, but MCR cracked that from 2006 onwards, and then split up. Go figure. mychemicalromance.com
Download: Helena, Welcome to the Black Parade, Teenagers, Sing
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7WEEPWFRO3AXN2HN7P4DDYRMJI.jpg)
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/5824937e-a16e-4f9e-bb1c-62513100375f.png)
Tony Clayton-Lea
Tony Clayton-Lea is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in popular culture
IN THIS SECTION
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/SJQTLMCMMRC2PLALXUKEWWS6HU.png)
Book Club
Sign up to the Irish Times books newsletter for features, podcasts and more