FROM THE DESK OF MR. HARDY: Why The Black Parade Is My Second Favorite Album

*Sad piano intro*

When I was a 23-year-old man, my father hopefully read my blog...

Several weeks ago, I talked your ears off about why Green Day's American Idiot is my favorite album of all time, so I thought I should do the same thing for why My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade is my second favorite album of all time. I think it's pretty undebatable that few albums have had an equal or bigger effect on modern punk music (and rock in general) than American Idiot and The Black Parade.

   However, American Idiot doesn't leave much of the story up to interpretation. It certainly helps that there was literally a Broadway musical adaptation. But with The Black Parade, a lot is left to interpretation. MCR really just gave us the general story, and fitting all the pieces and meanings together is really up to us, using the lyrics and meanings behind them as clues. So as you read this, keep in mind that some of it is confirmed story details, some of it I learned from Reddit, and some of it is my own personal interpretation.

   The story is about a man known only as "The Patient", who dies of cancer and is shown through the afterlife by a ghostly march known as the Black Parade. 

  The story opens with "The End.", where the Patient is in his deathbed and relaying his final thoughts and cynical attitudes about death and his life. "Dead!" sees him actually die and start descending to whatever is waiting for him on another plane. Realizing that he is now dead and all of his unfinished business on Earth will truly remain unfinished, the Patient looks back on his life and relationships in the songs "This Is How I Disappear" and "The Sharpest Lives". He is ushered into the afterlife by a parade of phantoms. They are in the form of a parade because one of his most significant memories is of his father taking him into the city to see a marching band when he was a young boy, in "Welcome To The Black Parade". 

    As he is walked by the Black Parade, he continues to reflect on the life he lived, especially how he left things with the love of his life, in "I Don't Love You". The afterlife starts to get to the Patient and he starts getting soured, "House Of Wolves" seeing him become full of hatred and resignation to his apparent damnation. This is the darkest and edgiest song on the album. "Cancer" is a terrifically sad song taking us back to his death, showing how sick and weak he was and what his final wishes were. In "Mama", the parade shows him a relationship between a WW2 soldier and his mother, and this soldier's similar worldview upon dying, and the Patient reflects on his relationship with his own mother. Realizing his life is done and he has to accept his fate, the Patient tries to accept this horror in "Sleep". 

  Next up is a song that seems entirely unrelated. I think MCR just wanted to throw a normal song into the mix. But, perhaps "Teenagers" is showing us that the parade has caused the Patient to have a bitter and spoiled view of the living.

   Now, I personally see "Disenchanted" as the leader of the black parade taking a pitiful look at the Patient and starting to think that maybe he shouldn't be down there with them. Which leads us to the true ending of the story and my personal favorite My Chemical Romance song, "Famous Last Words". Here, in my interpretation, the leader of the Black Parade decides to give the Patient another chance at life, or at least give him time to finish his business, and sends him back to Earth. The Patient, having seen what the parade and the afterlife has in store for him, decides that he is not afraid to keep on living no matter what life will bring him. 

    Now, there is a hidden track called "Blood" at the end. To me, this song is from a salty member of the parade who slings blood to thirsty phantoms and is disappointed because he was hoping he and the others could torture the Patient some more and so he's upset the leader sent him back. Freaky, I know.

   All in all, The Black Parade is an amazing album and I can jam out to it start to finish. But, it is very dark and edgy so if you're not okay with hearing songs about death and punishment and sin and remorse, I'd recommend staying away from it.