Aaron’s Best Albums Ever: My Chemical Romance

I am going to do a series of my favorite albums of all time. I figured the best place to start was with what might be my favorite album of all time. Ask me any given day and it could 1 of a few different albums, but My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade will always be in the top 5.

It came out October 20^th 2006. I have only lived away from the PNW and the Wenatchee area 2 years of my life. Those 2 years were July 2006 to July 2008. I went to Target, saw this album on the shelf and was immediately drawn to the cover art. Remember when we used to go to stores to buy CD’s? I judged a book by its cover if you will and purchased it without having heard any of it. Got in my 2003 Honda Civic and popped in the disk. The 1^st sounds of The End. started, the sounds of a heart monitor and ventilator. Then the rigid strumming of a guitar and the voice of Gerad Way. It slowly builds to a crescendo of musical sounds. I knew I was in for something special. What I heard was a spectacular rock opera. It was fun and fast, but also heart wrenching and powerful. I did not stop listening for the entire 51 mins and 53 seconds. Then repeat… repeat again… and again. It did not get turned off in my car for months. 14 perfect tracks.

It was the modern version of a concept album in the vein of Pink Floyd, Green Day and Queen. It is glam rock, pop rock, punk, arena rock, hard rock, pop, punk, emo & everything in between. 4 singles were released, "Welcome to the Black Parade", "Famous Last Words", "I Don't Love You", "Teenagers", but almost any track off the album could have been released as a single and been a hit

17 years later and I can still turn this album on at any time and listen to the whole thing top to bottom. In an era where everything feels disposable, The Black Parade is ever lasting. I proudly own the album on vinyl as is displayed here. Trust me, it spends its fair share of time spinning on my record player. Whenever I play it, my mind go back to a very different time in my life. A time capsule of a different life entirely.