A Cliché Coming of Age Story

Today's post is going to date me a bit.  Since the start of college back in 2003, I've greatly enjoyed the music of My Chemical Romance.  I realize now that one could say their music had a level of immaturity and theatrics that leaned on the side of contrived, but I bought into it somethin' fierce.  For better or worse, I thought that they had a good mix of catchy pop hooks and rock attitude.  Granted, some of their "goth" look didn't really jive with me, but their music always did.  I dove into their back catalog, bought concert dvds, saw live shows anytime they were anywhere in the state.  I was edging on "superfan."

I know a lot of people rag on MCR and don't give them much credit.  That was fine with me then, it's fine with me now.  I can see why some would come to that conclusion.  For me though, it was all about fun.  I wanted music that was fun to listen to.  I didn't care about whether the lyrics were thought provoking or if the song was complicated to perform or written in 7/16 time.  I just wanted to enjoy quick, dirty and fast music.  That still holds true for the bands that I listened to while "coming of age" in high school and college.  You could say that I have rose-tinted glasses for MCR, New Found Glory, Blink-182 and the like.  They're my high school sweethearts and they always get a free pass when they put out a new record.

Fast forward to today and I've moved on a bit in my music preferences.  I'm listening to artists with (debate-ably) a bit more substance, though from time to time I've thrown on some MCR.  After their five year hiatus, they're back with their new album, "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys," and it's safe to say that they've moved on from their youth as well.  However, even though they've moved more and more towards the pop side of their sound with each record, they've still maintained enough of their rock vibe to keep away from the full-on crossover.  They had yet to put out their "American Idiot."  But this time is different.  Not to say they're comparable albums, but this is MCR's attempt at getting acceptance from parents.  Songs that can get remixed and played in clubs.  Songs that are catchy as hell and will have you humming along even if you hate them.

Leading up until now, they've always had a couple of tracks on each album that surprised me and were constantly changing as the song progressed.  Songs like "Vampires Will Never Hurt You," "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison," and more recently, "Mama." They always caught me a bit off guard.  Not that they're a huge departure from the band's sound, but they stepped away from the feel of each of their respective albums to offer something different.  A departure.  A reprieve.  Whatever you want to call it; they told a story that built a connection between the band and the listener (at least for me).

Granted, I've only been listening to, "Danger Days..." for a couple of days, but I feel like that record is missing that one song.  As they've said in multiple interviews, the whole album is the story this time around rather than each track giving a mini-story around a central theme.  They say rather than a concept album it's a, "high-concept album."  However, I feel like each song fits almost too well.  There aren't any more surprises that I remember from my college days.  Nothing is catching me off guard.  There's no "spark."

That's not to say that it's a bad album or I'm not enjoying it; I just feel like there isn't any more mystery in the relationship between MCR and myself.  We're not high school sweethearts meeting up on the way to class any more.  We've gotten to that "comfortable" phase where we either exchange rings and watch "Dancing With the Stars" with each other or move on to something more exciting.  I plan on giving the new album a few more listens, and I'm sure I'll jump into their back catalog here-and-there, but I think it's another piece of my youth that hasn't stood the test of time.  I'll always remember the good times we've had and wish them nothing but the best.


Here's today's Web Waster:

TVTango - Not only are they a site to give you a comprehensive lineup for television each and every night, they have a fantastic write up on what holiday specials you can check out for Thanksgiving week.