My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance, American alternative rock band credited with helping to popularize the emo style of music, a subgenre of punk rock fusing confessional lyrics and punk aggression.

Singer Gerard Way (b. April 9, 1977, Summit, New Jersey, U.S.) founded My Chemical Romance in 2001 in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, citing the tragedy as a motivation to “make a difference.” The group’s original lineup consisted of Way, brother Michael James (Mikey) Way (b. September 10, 1980, Newark, New Jersey) on bass, drummer Matt Pelissier (b. February 3, 1979), and guitarists Ray Toro (b. July 15, 1977, Kearny, New Jersey) and Frank Iero (b. October 31, 1981, Belleville, New Jersey). The quintet began touring prior to releasing its first album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, on independent label Eyeball Records in 2002, building a reputation on its darkly striking look and dramatic performance style. The following year the band signed with Reprise Records.

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004) featured the rock-radio hits “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” “Helena,” and “The Ghost of You.” Alongside other anthems of adolescent angst, the songs earned My Chemical Romance a devoted following, and the album ultimately sold more than one million copies in the United States. That year Pelissier departed from the band; his replacement, Bob Bryar (b. December 31, 1979, Chicago, Illinois), remained a member until 2010.

The Black Parade (2006), a bombastic rock opera about the reflections of a dying cancer patient, was produced by Rob Cavallo, who had worked previously with pop-punk group Green Day on its similarly ambitious American Idiot. The ensuing multicontinent concert tour found My Chemical Romance at its most theatrical, with Gerard Way opening shows by being wheeled onstage on a hospital gurney and the rest of the band wearing matching black uniforms. On Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010), a concept album about a postapocalyptic society that functioned as a critique of consumerism, the group combined its glam rock tendencies with an upbeat power-pop sound. The album proved to be a commercial disappointment, however, and in 2013 My Chemical Romance announced that it had broken up. The remaining four original members of the band reunited quietly in 2017, and in December 2019 My Chemical Romance performed to a sold-out crowd in Los Angeles.