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A fan recreates the time when Way messed up his hair and accidentally dyed his roots blue.

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tried to copy the iconic hair misshap that was Gerard's Teal Roots. wild that he did it on mistake yet we've all been copying him ever since. poetry.

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161 votes, 28 comments. 107k members in the MyChemicalRomance community. The Official 𝗠𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 Subreddit

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tried to copy the iconic hair misshap that was Gerard’s Teal Roots. wild that he did it on mistake yet we’ve all been copying him ever since. poetry. from MyChemicalRomance

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Another one for the bucket list... Official tour merch for @MCROfficial. This design is a tribute to that weird time where you'd find MCR in the pages of Tiger Beat– What if MCR had their own special issue in a teen heartthrob magazine?

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Another one for the bucket list... Official tour merch for @MCROfficial. This design is a tribute to that weird time where you'd find MCR in the pages of Tiger Beat– What if MCR had their own special issue in a teen heartthrob magazine? https://t.co/c5TFhh5osX

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Another one for the bucket list... Official tour merch for @MCROfficial. This design is a tribute to that weird time where you'd find MCR in the pages of Tiger Beat– What if MCR had their own special issue in a teen heartthrob magazine? pic.twitter.com/c5TFhh5osX
— Kerin Cunningham ★ (@KerinCunningham) May 16, 2022

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Another one for the bucket list... Official tour merch for @MCROfficial. This design is a tribute to that weird time where you'd find MCR in the pages of Tiger Beat– What if MCR had their own special issue in a teen heartthrob magazine? https://t.co/c5TFhh5osX

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Another one for the bucket list... Official tour merch for @MCROfficial. This design is a tribute to that weird time where you'd find MCR in the pages of Tiger Beat– What if MCR had their own special issue in a teen heartthrob magazine? https://t.co/c5TFhh5osX

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Another one for the bucket list... Official tour merch for @MCROfficial. This design is a tribute to that weird time where you'd find MCR in the pages of Tiger Beat– What if MCR had their own special issue in a teen heartthrob magazine?

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The notorious Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge makeup set, which fans hated at the time due to the high pricing

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r/MyChemicalRomance - Rare picture of Gerard Way with blonde long hair (Damn)

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125 votes and 6 comments so far on Reddit

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The britpop look from Hesitant Alien (2014).

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Former My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way will release his debut solo album, Hesitant Alien, on Sept. 30 through Warner Bros. Records.
PHOTOS Fall Out Boy 'Saves Rock and Roll' in Los Angeles
My Chemical Romance broke up March 22, 2013, one month after the final release in the Conventional Weapons series, which culminated in a series of singles released over the course of five months. A greatest-hits collection, May Death Never Stop You, came out last March.

The new solo album will be available for preorder at all digital retailers beginning Tuesday, Aug. 19. Exclusive album bundles also will be available for preorder on GerardWay.com that same day. Fans who preorder the album will receive the track "No Shows" instantly as a free download. The music video for "No Shows" also will be released Aug. 19.

Working with producer Doug McKean, Way knew immediately what he wanted the new effort to sound like.

"I wanted to make the small things sound big," he says. "My intention was to make 100 percent uncompromised art, using the currently least radio-friendly instrument, the guitar. I knew there would be lots of fuzz pedals. I knew I would play Fender instruments. I knew I would look at who my guitar heroes were in art school, Mary Timony and Carrie Brownstein, and I drew a lot of influence from shoegaze and Britpop. I want the record to sonically galvanize people." Hesitant Alien was mixed by veteran Tchad Blake (Arctic Monkeys, Black Keys).
STORY My Chemical Romance Debuts Final Song 'Fake Your Death' (Video)
Way wrote lyrics about what he knew at the time, "which was struggle, beginnings, finding a newness in the mundane and the abstract," he says. "I looked to the Britpop poets like Jarvis Cocker and Damon Albarn, drawing upon everyday life. I also experimented with the abstract, and looked at Frank Black 's work both with the Pixies, and as a solo artist. There was no concept and no call-to-arms."

Fans will get their first listen of some of the songs on Hesitant Alien when Way performs his first solo shows at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in England. He will perform at Reading on Aug. 22 and at Leeds on Aug. 23.

Listen to "Action Cat" here.

The track listing for Hesitant Alien is as follows:

Bureau
Action Cat
No Shows
Casting Shadows
Millions
Zero Zero
Juarez
Drugstore Perfume
Get the Gang Together
How's It Going to Be
Maya the Psychic

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Gerard Way's Solo Album, 'Hesitant Alien,' Out Sept. 30 (Audio/Video)

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Former My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way will release his debut solo album, Hesitant Alien, on Sept. 30 through Warner Bros. Records. PHOTOS Fall Out Boy 'Saves Rock and Roll' in Los Angeles My Chemical Romance broke up March 22, 2013, one month after the final release in the Conventional Weapons series, which culminated in a series of singles released over the course of five months.

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Way at Riot Fest 2022.

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"this is a local shop for local people!! theyres nothing for you here!!"

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Way at Firefly Festival 2022.

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You guys women's shirts button right over left. They're wearing a women's blouse

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You guys women's shirts button right over left. They're wearing a women's blouse

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Way at Firefly Festival 2022.

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A meme expressing fondness of Way's new persona for the MCR revival.

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stevie. she/he. adult. @wings-of-castiel is my main blog. trans/enby rights🏳️‍⚧️to clarify: i do not condone the shipping of real life people, nor do i condone trying to speculate on their private lives (including gender/sexuality truthing).

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The main cast of The Umbrella Academy, illustrated by Gabriel Bá.

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The Netflix adaptation of the Dark Horse comic.

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A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world. A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world. A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world.

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The Umbrella Academy (TV Series 2019-2023) - IMDb

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A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world. A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world. A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world.

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An article on The Umbrella Academy TV show's origins in the comics for those unfamiliar.

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The Umbrella Academy Explained: What Is the Comic That Inspired the New Netflix Series? - IGN

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Here’s everything you need to know about the comic book that inspired Netflix’s newest superhero series.

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The iconic Black Parade aesthetic.
Left to right: Bob Bryar, Mikey Way, Gerard Way, Frank Iero, Ray Toro.

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Listen: Gerard Way reflects on My Chemical Romance's Welcome To The...

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On the 100th episode of the My Turning Point podcast, My Chemical Romance vocalist Gerard Way celebrates the band's iconic 2006 single Welcome To The Black Parade.

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pic.twitter.com/yDe7qsMymq
— MCR Updates (@gwayupdates) August 15, 2020

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An archived version of the article, which complains about Way doing crowd control between songs. After significant backlash from fans, Kerrang! removed:
"Another seems to be Gerard’s compulsion to repeatedly halt proceedings for the sake of crowd safety. As admirable as it is to prevent any kind of dangerous crush, the habit of pumping the brakes between almost every song at virtually every show has begun to irk, perforating the electric atmosphere and disrupting any real flow."

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What happened when My Chemical Romance headlined Riot Fest

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New Jersey devils My Chemical Romance continue their epic comeback at America's best festival...

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A Kerrang! article about Riot Fest 2022, in which the crowd booed Way for asking them to step back during songs so they don't get hurt.

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What happened when My Chemical Romance headlined Riot Fest

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New Jersey devils My Chemical Romance continue their epic comeback at America's best festival...

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'The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys,' a comic series written by Way as a sequel to the events of the album 'Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys' (2010).

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Way's comic The Umbrella Academy (2007-pres) as listed by its publisher.

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The Umbrella Academy | Dark Horse Digital Comics

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Read your favorite titles for only $1.99! No iPad/iPhone? No problem! Read Dark Horse Digital Comics on your Internet-connected laptop and desktop!

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A Tumblr post by a fan.

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The main antagonist of Danger Days, 'Korse,' is played by Grant Morrison, a friend of Way and a comic book writer for DC Comics, known for their work on Serious House on Serious Earth (1989).

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Korse was the former head hitman of BL/ind's SCARECROW unit. He led a team of Draculoids in their hunt for rebels, miscreants, and others that threaten the peace of Battery City in the Zones. Korse is portrayed by Grant Morrison.

Korse is responsible for the direct death of Party Poison and the indirect deaths of the rest of the Killjoys.

Much of Korse's past is unknown, but he was originally a brighter, more creative child who was abused by his father for not acting "man" enough. He would still have dreams about the abuse as an adult. Korse shows immense guilt after killing Party Poison and, some years after the deaths of the Killjoys, falls in love with a man who he meets in secret in the Battery City Privacy Gardens. The emotions he gains as a result, deemed unfitting for a scarecrow, leads to his position at SCARECROW being revoked. His lover is discovered and killed after Korse lets Blue escape from a BL/ind pursuit and he is sent to have his emotions removed.

Originally resigning himself to his fate, his spirit is recharged with righteous anger after the BL/ind head implies that his relationship with his lover meant that something was wrong with him and escapes to find her. He confronts the head of BL/ind about her actions and resists her manipulations. As Battery City falls to the efforts of The Girl, Blue, and DESTROYA, he chooses to spare the desperate head after she asked him to kill her. He's last seen driving out into the desert with a picture of him and his lover on the sun visor.

Events in the SING video indicate that he may be partly cybernetic or otherwise manipulated by radio control.

He and his partner are one of two queer couples featured in the Killjoys comic along with Blue and Red.

References

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Korse was the former head hitman of BL/ind's SCARECROW unit. He led a team of Draculoids in their hunt for rebels, miscreants, and others that threaten the peace of Battery City in the Zones. Korse is portrayed by Grant Morrison. Korse is responsible for the direct death of Party Poison and the indirect deaths of the rest of the Killjoys.

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My Chemical Romance as the Fabulous Killjoys from Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010).
Left to right: Frank Iero as Fun Ghoul, Ray Toro as Jet Star, Gerard Way as Party Poison, Mikey Way as Kobra Kid.

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A tattoo of Way's art of the lovers from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004) on a fan's calves, a common tattoo among MCR fans.

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Press J to jump to the feed. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts

r/MyChemicalRomance

Found the internet!

Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations.
Join Reddit
The Official 𝗠𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 Subreddit

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my new calf tattoo of three cheers for sweet revenge by Diego Cordova ( ig @diegocordovatatto)

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Press J to jump to the feed. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts r/MyChemicalRomance Found the internet! Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Join Reddit The Official 𝗠𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 Subreddit

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my new calf tattoo of three cheers for sweet revenge by Diego Cordova ( ig @diegocordovatatto) from MyChemicalRomance

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A fan's tattoo of the skeletal parade leader from the cover of The Black Parade (2006).

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My chemical Romance | By @gata_incs | Done at Aztlan Arts Tattoo | Feb 11th 2021 | 1525312

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Way on his addiction issues in Life on the Murder Scene (2006)

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Way on his addiction issues in Life on the Murder Scene (2006)

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It made me suicidal. Which is, you know, I had been suicidal a couple times in my life, and not this bad. To the point where you start thinking about it as an escape route, that’s when it gets serious. When you’re like, if anything really bad ever happens, I’ll just, yeah, I’ll just do this and it’ll be fine. I’ll be able to go away. So that was where booze and pills had gotten.

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"It took about a little less than a year and he hit rock bottom. So when he hit rock bottom, it was about a week worth of rock bottom-ness in July of 2004. [...] They were in the midwest which was Central Time, and I was in brooklyn which is Eastern Time, and so a lot of 5AM phonecalls. [...] The first couple times were him, I think, opening up a little bit and saying, 'I have a problem.' Second couple times were him fighting that he had a problem, and the last time was him wanting to kill himself. [...] I don’t think I got off the phone until 7:30 in the morning or so. And he had done a lot of drugs and he had admitted to me that it wasn’t just the pills and the booze, he had moved onto cocaine, and that’s… its like a slap in the face. You kinda go, oh shit. [...] And that last phone call, where he was going to kill himself, I had to talk him out of it. I talked him down and I waited till some of the drugs had worn off, and told him to go wake up his tour manager, who was out sleeping. And he went and woke up the tour manager and they went for a walk.

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Brian Schechter, the band's manager, in Life on the Murder Scene (2006): "Intervention wasn’t working at that point. My discussions with him just weren’t… his band’s discussions with him weren’t… he wanted to be drunk. Okay. That's, you know, he’s a growing boy with this weird position he was in where he was singing in this band that had grown up a little too fast."

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Scary Party Poison much by The-MCR-Fan-Club on DeviantArt

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Gerard Way 5 by xXMsPhantomPunkXx on DeviantArt

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Gerard Way appreciation post

#mcrxx #mychemicalromance

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Gerard Way appreciation post

#mcrxx #mychemicalromance https://t.co/nBD1DQYkAq

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Gerard Way appreciation post#mcrxx #mychemicalromance pic.twitter.com/nBD1DQYkAq
— My Chemical Romance Updates 🪰 (@MCRupdates1) March 11, 2020

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Gerard Way appreciation post

#mcrxx #mychemicalromance https://t.co/nBD1DQYkAq

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Gerard Way appreciation post

#mcrxx #mychemicalromance https://t.co/nBD1DQYkAq

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Gerard Way appreciation post

#mcrxx #mychemicalromance

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THAT revenge gerard photoshoot — a thread

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THAT revenge gerard photoshoot — a thread https://t.co/DJtrH3D5EY

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THAT revenge gerard photoshoot — a thread pic.twitter.com/DJtrH3D5EY
— hourly gerard way (@everyhourgerard) February 16, 2021

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THAT revenge gerard photoshoot — a thread https://t.co/DJtrH3D5EY

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THAT revenge gerard photoshoot — a thread https://t.co/DJtrH3D5EY

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THAT revenge gerard photoshoot — a thread

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An AMV - 'anime music video' - based on the Japanese animated children's series Sonic X (2003), using the opening song 'Helena' from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.
Published Jan 30, 2009.

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A fan-run archive of My Chemical Romance magazine scans.

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My Chemical Romance article for NME, November 13, 2010 by Luke Lewis, photography by Dean Chalkley.

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Way's early comic art featured in Life on the Murder Scene (2006), 16:15.

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An excerpt from the NY Times interview.

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Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004)

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A reflective article recounting the sudden breakup of My Chemical Romance in March of 2013

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My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way in 2004. Picture: L. Cohen/WireImage for Yahoo!_PR, Music/ Getty Images

As MCR frontman Gerard Way celebrates his birthday and releases a new solo collection, we delve into when the band first split and why.

My Chemical Romance delighted their legions of fans around the world when they announced their full reunion this year.

The Welcome to the Black Parade band - who are comprised of Gerard Way, Frank Iero, Mikey Way and Ray Toro - confirmed they were getting the band back together for dates across the globe this year.

Things may have taken a back seat somewhat, but it doesn't mean we won't see the emo rockers again soon. In fact, their frontman has made it clear he's been busy by sharing a collection of solo tracks called the Distraction Or Despair collection.

But as frontman Gerard Way celebrates his birthday this week, we ask: when did MCR first split and why?

My Chemical Romance at MTV's TRL in 2005. Picture: Stephen Lovekin/FilmMagic/Getty Images

When did My Chemical Romance split?

MCR officially announced their split on 22 March 2013.

According to setlist fm, their last live show was in New Jersey, USA at Bamboozle 2012.

In a statement on their website, they told their fans: "Being in this band for the past 12 years has been a true blessing. We've gotten to go places we never knew we would. We've been able to see and experience things we never imagined possible. We've shared the stage with people we admire, people we look up to, and best of all, our friends. And now, like all great things, it has come time for it to end. Thanks for all of your support, and for being part of the adventure.

"My Chemical Romance."

Seems simple and succinct enough, but was there more to the story? Was there a Gallagher-style beef behind the scenes?

My Chemical Romance at Gerard Way in Sydney. Picture: Don Arnold/WireImage/Getty Images

Why did My Chemical Romance split?

A year on in 2014, Gerard Way insisted the split was "nobody's fault".

As NME reported at the time, speaking to Zane Lowe, the rocker revealed that despite the band being "pretty upset," they felt "It was time."

He told the DJ, "I think because it was so special and it was such an amazing thing... to keep going and let it rust out on the rails? That was not the way that band was supposed to go out."

The Na Na Na rocker added: "It wasn't an easy thing to come to. It was sad, because it wasn't a situation where anybody hated each other. It was nobody's fault.

"You should always be doing new things and changing and growing as a human being," said Way, adding with Chemical Romance it was "Mission accomplished!"

My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way in 2011. Picture: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

However, years later the real reason for their break-up became more apparent, with frontman Gerard Way revealing it just stopped being fun.

"It wasn't fun to make stuff any more," the Helena singer told The Guardian. "I think breaking up the band broke us out of that machine."

And break out of "that machine" they did, with the rocker going on to release his debut solo effort Hesitant Alien in 2014.

Gerard Way at Leeds Festival 2014. Picture: Andrew Benge/Redferns via Getty Images

Whether or not the band are sticking around or if there's new music on the cards, fans can delight in the knowledge that they they'll at least be seeing more of My Chemical Romance in the future.
Coronavirus: Which gigs and festivals have been cancelled?

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The story of My Chemical Romance's split

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As MCR frontman Gerard Way celebrates his birthday and releases a new solo collection, we delve into when the band first split and why. My Chemical Romance delighted their legions of fans around the world when they announced their full reunion this year.

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A fan's makeup tutorial for Way's Revenge hair and makeup.

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Gerard Way, época de "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" (2004/2005).
#GerardWay #MyChemicalRomance #ThreeCheersforSweetRevenge

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Gerard Way, época de "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" (2004/2005).
#GerardWay #MyChemicalRomance #ThreeCheersforSweetRevenge https://t.co/hdFfy8DIB1

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Gerard Way, época de "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" (2004/2005).#GerardWay #MyChemicalRomance #ThreeCheersforSweetRevenge pic.twitter.com/hdFfy8DIB1
— fanatikrock_agg1 (@fanatikrockagg1) June 14, 2021

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Gerard Way, época de "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" (2004/2005).
#GerardWay #MyChemicalRomance #ThreeCheersforSweetRevenge https://t.co/hdFfy8DIB1

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Gerard Way, época de "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" (2004/2005).
#GerardWay #MyChemicalRomance #ThreeCheersforSweetRevenge https://t.co/hdFfy8DIB1

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Gerard Way, época de "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" (2004/2005).
#GerardWay #MyChemicalRomance #ThreeCheersforSweetRevenge

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Way's outfits and hairstyles over the years have somewhat transcended himself

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A brief account of the popular TBH Creature meme.

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Tbh or Tbh Creature also known as Autism Creature or Yipee refers to an MS Paint drawing of a white, four-legged creature with a large head, neutral expression and big black eyes. A drawing of the creature was first posted to Twitter in January 2021 and became popularized on Tumblr in early 2022, in…

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Martin Shingler, 2012. Star Studies: A Critical Guide. Chapter 5, p121.

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Martin Shingler, 2012. Star Studies: A Critical Guide. Chapter 5, p121.

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"It is virtually an impossible task to distinguish between the character and the star, the public persona and the private personality of the actor, as these separate and overlapping identities are both revealed and disguised from moment to moment."

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Howard Benson in Life on the Murder Scene (2006)

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Howard Benson in Life on the Murder Scene (2006)

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"I liked the fact that Gerard was into comics. It sounds crazy again, but he had a vision. He was into comic books and the whole vision of comic books. And I know he wanted to impart that whole vision to his music and his band."

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A clip of Way taken from Life on the Murder Scene (2006), documenting his visible struggle with alchoholism.

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The True Lives of My Chemical Romance (Tom Bryant, 2014)

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The True Lives of My Chemical Romance (Tom Bryant, 2014)

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"The singer had considered it an escape route - an easy way to knock his problems on the head. Possibly, too, he was attracted by the idea of being the fucked-up singer in the band, the tortured frontman who had just released a brilliant album and went down in a blaze of glory. But Gerard once told me that he doesn't know how serious he was about killing himself.
'I've always wondered whether I was flirting with the romanticism of it or whether I really wanted to do it,' he said. 'I've never truly been able to figure that out. The fact is, either way, it's dangerous.'"

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Way in The True Lives of My Chemical Romance (Tom Bryant, 2014)

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Way in The True Lives of My Chemical Romance (Tom Bryant, 2014)

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"He (Way's therapist) wanted me to understand that the show is the show and my life is my life and that they were two separate things. He was saying I was so high on performance because I thought it was what kept me alive. He said I was permanently in-character but the character was going to kill me."

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Tom Bryant in The True Lives of My Chemical Romance (2014)

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Tom Bryant in The True Lives of My Chemical Romance (2014)

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"The therapist talked to Gerard, asked him about himself, and listened. And he realised something early on - it was that Gerard was unable or unwilling to draw a line between the singer onstage and the person off it."

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"The message, we’ve always been pretty vocal and adamant about our message. Just to know that it’s okay to be messed up, cause there are five dudes who are just as messed up as you and we’ve overcome that in order to do what we do."

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"The message, we’ve always been pretty vocal and adamant about our message. Just to know that it’s okay to be messed up, cause there are five dudes who are just as messed up as you and we’ve overcome that in order to do what we do."

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Way in Life on the Murder Scene (2006)

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"What does your shirt say, dude? ‘MCR saved my life.’ That’s the fucking point of all this."

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"What does your shirt say, dude? ‘MCR saved my life.’ That’s the fucking point of all this."

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Way in archival footage from a concert in Life on the Murder Scene (2006).

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In a genre of music heavily focused on violence and death, Way spends much of his time promoting positive mental health in a punk-rock fashion.

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"It is through a particular kind of employment, involving a form of performance which is not perceived as acting, that the celebrity who is not ordinary seeks a new kind of authenticity."

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Fan-made artwork that combined Way's cover art for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge with a popular online meme, 'TBH Creature.'

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gender crisis (@mychemicalyippee)

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A surrealist meme of Way.

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A post shared by certified gerard way swag account 😎 (@gerardwayswagaccount)

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Addiction, suicide, and a downward spiral

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Way's struggle with addiction and mental illness

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The backlash against Way and his work on My Chemical Romance in the 2000s

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Way's likeness and creations are used to sell merchandise and build a brand

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Pre-MCR work with Cartoon Network, their creative vision for MCR, and their work on The Umbrella Academy

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Way's gender and sexuality as a source of speculation from fans and news outlets

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Way's iconic looks across the years, primarily regard the various My Chemical Romance concept aesthetics

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Way goes against the norm at every possible turn

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Fans across the years make countless of artworks, fan videos, blogs, etc. dedicated to his work.

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My Chemical Romance and Hesitant Alien

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Way did one tour for Hesitant Alien, then a few festivals throughout 2015/16. They have yet to return as a solo act.

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Way plays on the perspective of himself an an anarchic cult leader, encouraging fans to riot in a cover of Bob Dylan's famous song about depravity.

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My Chemical Romance - Desolation Row [Official Music Video]

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A fan excitedly reacts to a 2010 article where Way says that the look for Danger Days was inspired by popular queer film My Own Private Idaho (1991).

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Fan-made artwork of Way in a photoshoot for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.

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The Rose On Your Coffin Door by UNTILitFADEStoBLACK on DeviantArt

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Fan-made artwork of Way's Hesitant Alien look.

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Gerard Way - Hesitant Alien by EvaFaithHorror on DeviantArt

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YouTube upload of The Black Parade is Dead! (2008)

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My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade Is Dead! [Full Concert Video]

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The Black Parade is Dead! (2008), a fully recorded version of My Chemical Romance's final performance as the Black Parade.

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Life on the Murder Scene (2006), a 2-hour documentary about My Chemical Romance until and during the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.

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The Black Parade (2006)

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YouTube upload of Life on the Murder Scene (2006).

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My Chemical Romance - Life on the Murder Scene (Video Diary)

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Between 2015 and 2020, Way downscaled the extreme aesthetic he had been cultivating for over a decade.

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Gerard Way at his home in Los Angeles. The former singer for the band My Chemical Romance, Way is also a comic book writer, whose Umbrella Academy has been adapted for a Netflix series. Credit... Adam Amengual for The New York Times

The adopted siblings of "The Umbrella Academy," which debuts Friday on Netflix, are not your typical superheroes.

They have offbeat superpowers - the Rumor can cause things to happen just by saying them aloud - and they were raised by an emotionally distant father, an android mother and a kind, talking chimpanzee.

A trailer for "The Umbrella Academy." Credit... CreditNetflix

Most of this is revealed in flashbacks: The series picks up when the team, which fractured under the weight of its crime-fighting responsibilities, reunites after the mysterious death of its adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore). Across 10 episodes, viewers learn whether the family members can sufficiently get past their shared baggage in order to prevent an apocalypse foreseen by their time-traveling brother.

[Read our critic's review of "The Umbrella Academy"]

Readers of the comic book, written by Gerard Way and drawn by Gabriel Bá, may feel they have a head start, but this is only somewhat true. The Netflix series, the cast of which includes Tom Hopper, Ellen Page and Robert Sheehan as members of the gifted but quarrelsome clan, will include moments not yet covered in the comic, which began in 2007. (It won an Eisner award in 2008 for best finite series.)

"I wrote this 20-page document that explains kind of everybody and how their powers work and where the story's heading," said Way, who, like Bá, is an executive producer on the show. (They've weighed in on everything from the story to costumes to set design, Way said.)

Despite the success of the Umbrella Academy comic, Way is perhaps most popularly known as the former singer of the theatrical rock band My Chemical Romance - he recorded a cover of "Hazy Shade of Winter" for the show. In a recent telephone interview, Way discussed both versions of "The Umbrella Academy," the comic books that have influenced him and, naturally, Liza Minnelli. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

How did the Umbrella Academy comic originally come about?
My initial inspiration was a few different things. I had been such a fan of the Marvel Silver Age, and I grew up reading Chris Claremont's X-Men. Marvel characters had a lot of issues and problems, but I wanted to give them deeper, more complex problems. I was also reading Hellboy by Mike Mignola, and to me that was a postmodern horror comic. There was nothing like that for superheroes. I usually try to make things that I wish existed that I would want to listen to or read.

When did you sense that it was connecting with readers?
It connected really early. The first issue came out, and I think a lot of people expected it to be pretty bad. I mean, I came from a rock band. Not a lot of people knew my history of having written a comic at 15, going to the School of Visual Arts for cartooning and illustration, studying comics for many years, then interning at DC Comics. A lot of people just expected some sort of vanity project. I don't fault them for that.

The cover of the first issue of the Umbrella Academy, published in 2007. Right, when the Effiel Tower comes to life - and goes insane - the students of the Umbrella Academy step in to help. Credit... Gabriel Bá

Is it weird to have someone else steering the Umbrella Academy now, at least on TV?
I never felt like I lost control so much as I relinquished a bit of control. At the beginning, I was asked how closely I wanted to work with a showrunner, if I wanted to be on set every day. I was really focused on the book and creating the mythology that the show would pull from. I also started an imprint with DC Comics, so I had quite a lot of things going on. When I go in on something, I go all in. I would have been sleeping on the set. I didn't think it was the right time for me to dive into TV that way. That may change in the future. But at that stage I kind of relinquished control to Steve Blackman [the showrunner] and all the people making the show. I never felt like we were not heard.
The TV family is much more diverse than in the comic. Did you have an influence on that?
I did, and the greatest change is that the casting was so much more inclusive and diverse than the source material. I thought that was a massive improvement. It was something we all talked about really early on. We have this really great opportunity because these kids are adopted from all over the world, and they could really be from anywhere.

From left: Cameron Brodeur, Blake Talabis, Eden Cupid, Dante Albidone, Aidan Gallagher and Ethan Hwang in "The Umbrella Academy." Credit... Christos Kalohoridis/Netflix

Why didn't you take that approach in the comic?
I wasn't a very good listener. I spent a lot of years just shouting and being on stage and being in control of things. I didn't understand other people's stories, and what I learned to do over the years is kind of shut my mouth and listen to people of different ethnicities and take a look at their struggles. Diversity is something we're addressing in the Umbrella Academy comic. It's something Gabriel and I actively work on.

How involved were you with the music choices in the show?
I didn't have a lot of say in the soundtrack. Steve has a very distinct vision of the songs he wants in the show. He actually writes the songs in the script. So I didn't get to weigh in much on music, though I am a fan of Queen, obviously, and I really like that Tiffany song. I tend to skew toward things that are maybe a little more underground or things that maybe people haven't heard before.
You've shifted from music and performing to writing comics to giving notes on a TV show. Do the different skills inform one another?
I've always considered myself a visual thinker. I've always seen Umbrella Academy as a comic, but in my head I saw it play out like a film. But all these jobs feed into each other, and I learn from all of them. It's interesting to, let's say, give notes on screenplays and TV and apply that to the notes you give yourself on the comic, and vice versa.

Way performing with My Chemical Romance in Reading, England, in 2011. Credit... Simone Joyner/Getty Images

What comic creators have influenced you? Grant Morrison was in one of your videos.
He was gracious enough to play the villain in the story of the last My Chemical Romance record, "The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys." I'm dear friends with Grant. I consider him to be not only a friend but a mentor. The biggest thing I borrow from what he does is, when you read a Grant Morrison comic, per page you get more ideas than sometimes in a whole issue or graphic novel. One of the best pieces of advice he ever gave me is "Don't save up your ideas, just use them all because you'll just come up with more." I've kind of always stuck with that. And his wild imagination has inspired me to kind of try and tap into my own imagination.
What's the biggest obstacle for your various creative pursuits?
It's the time to get there. That's the biggest obstacle. My family is also important to me, and one of the really big positives of getting to write comics is I've been able to spend a lot of time with them and watch Bandit [his daughter] grow and be there for her as a father. That made me shy away from touring. But I'm really focused on comics because I'm home. Hopefully, I'll have the time to finish the series out properly.

This is off-topic but I have to ask: How did you end up working with Liza Minnelli on the "Black Parade" album?
I love Liza Minnelli. "Black Parade" was very theatrical, and we had this song "Mama," and I said, "You know, it would be really great in this one part to get Liza." Rob Cavallo, the producer, made a couple of calls and she said she would love to do it. We recorded that remotely - we were in Los Angeles, at Capitol, and she was in New York with a different engineer. It was really cool. The first time I got to speak to her was through the mixing board.

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Gerard Way on 'The Umbrella Academy,' My Chemical Romance ... and Liza Minnelli (Published 2019)

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Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Give this article Give this article Give this article The adopted siblings of "The Umbrella Academy," which debuts Friday on Netflix, are not your typical superheroes.

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Martin Shingler, 2012. Star Studies: A Critical Guide. Chapter 5, p121.

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Martin Shingler, 2012. Star Studies: A Critical Guide. Chapter 5, p121.

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"The individual’s attainment of stardom rests on being pigeon-holed, labelled, publicly dissected and analysed, scrutinised, exposed, charted, mapped, positioned, identified and evaluated. This is made all the more challenging and interesting by the fact that stars possess several identities and several different kinds of identity, determined by the various aspects of their character and the various characters that they play."

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A Q&A about Danger Days where Way elaborates on 'Vampire Money' - "It’s not really an anti-Twilight song as much as it’s anti-anything you don’t want to be a part of anymore that people keep asking you to be a part of that you’ve grown out of." Nov 22, 2010.

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Something In The Way: A Q&A With My Chemical Romance

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As the frontman of My Chemical Romance and the author of the comic series The Umbrella Academy, Gerard Way is a busy man. He certainly knows what it’s like to have too much on his plate. Following their 2006 rock opera album The Black Parade, the alt-rockers toured relentlessly, leading to well-publ…

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Mad Gear and the Missile Kid (2010, EP)

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May Death Never Stop You (2014), released post-MCR breakup as a best-of compilation

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Hesitant Alien (2014), Way's first and only solo album

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Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010)

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I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (2002)

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An MCR fan comments on the state of the fanbase on Tumblr, particularly the parasocialist way fans talk about the band.

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The top-voted comments on the official Genius lyrics for 'Every Snowflake is Different (Just Like You).'

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A YouTube video analysising the narrative metaphors throughout The Black Parade.

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"Like many life changing storiesof the 21st century, it all began on September 11, 2001. On that clear-blue-sky day, Way - who had graduated from New York’s School ofVisual Arts to a sunlight-free existence drawing in his mom’s basement - was coming into Manhattan, unaware of the tragedy. “Something just clicked in my head that morning,” he says. “I literally said to myself, ‘Fuck art. I’ve gotta get out of the basement. I’ve gotta see the world. I’ve gotta make a difference!'"
From SPIN Magazine, May 31, 2005.
https://web.archive.org/web/20151106195055/http://www.spin.com/2005/05/my-chemical-romance/

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The correct mask design (from the 'Na Na Na' music video): yellow upper half-face mask, black diamonds over the eyes, two blue dots on the cheekbones, and one blue dot on the forehead.

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An article on the amateur creative writing website Mibba about the death of Hannah Bond.

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About The Black Parade, to NME Magazine (from Elle Canada)

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About The Black Parade, to NME Magazine (from Elle Canada)

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"Originally, what we did was take goth and put it with punk and turn it into something dangerous and sexy. Back then nobody in the normal punk world was wearing black clothes and eyeliner. We did it because we had one mission, to polarise, to irritate, to contaminate. But then that image gets romanticised and then it gets commoditised.”

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Tom Bryant quoting Way and bandmate Frank Iero in 'The True Lives of My Chemical Romance: The Definitive Biography.' Chapter 7: Party Poison, page 106.

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Tom Bryant quoting Way and bandmate Frank Iero in 'The True Lives of My Chemical Romance: The Definitive Biography.' Chapter 7: Party Poison, page 106.

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"The whole thing with me and Frank onstage was really just to irritate people," said Gerard. "And it was funny for a brief period. If you boil down the DNA of My Chemical Romance, the base would be this: what do you want us to do? Because we're going to do the opposite. But people started getting into it, so we stopped."
"You'd see these quintessential jock dudes beating each other up to our music," said Frank, "and you'd think, "Wouldn't it be funny if they turned around and saw that they were beating each other up to us two kissing?"

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An article recounting MCR Detroit 2022, where Way debuted their "classic all-white nurse's uniform."

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My Chemical Romance feels the love at sold-out Little Caesars Arena

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It’s been more than 10 years since the rockers last played the Motor City, but MCR made up for lost time at Tuesday’s concert.

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A fan reaction to Way's nurse outfit from MCR Detroit 2022.

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Way at MCR Nashville 2022, the first time he had worn a dress onstage.

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A tweet regarding Way's cheerleader uniform from My Chemical Romance's Nashville concert.

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"And nothing is worth hurting yourself over. Nothing is worth taking your life over. Do you understand?"

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and nothing is worth hurting yourself over. nothing is worth taking your life over, do you understand?!

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A fan-made gifset compilation of Way's outfits and costumes from My Chemical Romance's 2022 North American tour.

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GERARD'S OUTFITS - TOUR 2022 NORTH AMERICAN LEG europe + sources

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A hostile fan interaction between a Tumblr user discussing Way's gender and another user who is disinterested.