Fellow cancer survivor here. Gen X goth punk rock kid in my youth and big fan of MCR. The song Cancer, obviously, is incredibly meaningful for me, as it (along with Dear Prudence) was on my "memorial service list" if you get my meaning. It is truly one of the most honest and truthful songs about terminal cancer I've ever heard. "The hardest part of this is leaving you."
I think "Cancer" does what it needs to in the context of the album, The Patient is dying, in pain, contemplating everything he'll never get to experience, facing all of his regrets and saying goodbye to the people he loves. He's tired, depressed, wants it all to be over and the whole song conveys exactly that, from the lyrics to the music, it's honest and doesn't try to make his death something else, it's not gonna sugarcoat it or dress it up as anything other than the slow draining of his life coming to an end.
Damn, that came out longer that I intended! 😄 Anyway, great reaction guys, love that Ryan liked Disenchanted! Also thank you to whoever was that requested this album, one of my all time favourites
Oh, quick note re: Teenagers… I respectfully disagree it could have hit the same when we were growing up. Some teenagers these days shoot up schools or kill their parents more frequently than before and that really makes this song chilling. Our generation’s version was “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam, but teens these days can really feel more dangerous. “If you’re troubled and hurt, what you’ve got under your shirt will make them pay for the things that they did” wasn’t an option in my day. The music video’s great, there’s a message at the end with, “violence is never the answer” and a number teens can call “if they feel like acting out”.
so I think "Famous Last Words" is perfect for a single but it's also how the song speaks to me as it spoke to a lot of people. Keeping it vague for TOS reasons, when you're in a dark place, a song like that is a call to keep on living. "I am not afraid to keep on living. I am not afraid to walk this world alone" is a very powerful message for the people who need it ;
Fun fact as well about Famous Last Words: it's never disclosed if he actually makes it back to life/Heaven or stays dead and goes to Hell, but apparently there are two versions of the song where the final note ends on a major and one ends on a minor and that's apparently how you know, so you can basically choose your own ending.
I remember as a teen listening to Teenagers in my room on fool blast, having my mom coming in asking me to get her that song because she absolutely loved it.
SO glad I found out you guys reacted to this whole album!! I haven't seen enough reactors I enjoy reacting to the whole thing. I don't have any skips, but mostly at this point the only time I listen to these songs is when I'm purposefully listening to the whole album start to finish. I had the CD growing up, and got the LP a few years ago. Such a wonderful feeling to put that on the turn table and go back in time to 2006!
I think the reason Famous Last Words was a single was because a target audience for this album was teenagers. These young, impressionable teenagers, a lot of whom suffered from awful thoughts, probably needed to hear that "I am not afraid to keep on living; I am not afraid to walk this world alone." Therefore, the song was made a single in hopes of getting it out there as thoroughly as possible. I'm just guessing, though.
Another great reaction and analysis. I did miss having the lyrics on screen though. It was a favourite album of mine, and saw them in person twice in 2007 (January & November in Australia). Having the lyrics in the last video just refreshed my memories and made it hit that much harder once again. Last time I listened to this album in its entirety was maybe 7 or 8 years ago so thank you!
Teenagers is no way a party song. It has a light tone with dark subject matter when you listen to it. They are singing about bulling and school shootings. I think Cancer is a good song and as someone who watched their grandparents slowly die from cancer, it embodies everything that happens to them.
Teenagers is absolutely a party song sonically. The lyrics are about a violent nature in the youth, but the instrumental, melody and hook are meant to subvert that and get you going. Party style
I just want to mention a feeling I have always had. Mama always reminded me of The Trial - Pink Floyd. They are both incredibly theatrical and dark. The Story of the song progresses to a similar shouting.
IM SO GLAD WHEN U HEARD SLEEP U CALLED IT UR FAVORITE 😭😭😭😭 EVERYTHING U SAID ABOUT THE SOUND AND LYRICS MATCH MY FEELINGS ON IT and to top it all off tje way the wake up refrains get drowned out is obviously symbolic so when u hear the pummeling drums after the last time he screams it really captures the feeling of being swallowed by the nightmares (or anything really . its just such a consuming ending and its cathartic while also in my opinion Not an exhausting experience
also sleep and mama are gerards favorite songs to perform live (in that order actually) which is entirely unsurprising . he gets so into that shit and their black parade is dead tour performance on youtube is probably exactly what youre hoping for when you say it seems great live
I don’t know if anyone has told you but they have a recorded concert video of the entire black parade album called “The black parade is dead” here on UA-cam. It’s DEFINITELY worth a watch because SLEEP IS SO GOOD TO WATCH LIVE!
As much as I love Black Parade, Sleep is my favorite song from this album. I suffer from insomnia and this song is what insomnia feels like... desperation and bordering hysteria. Thats how some nights are for me... so desperate for sleep but I can't reach it until my brain is so exhausted that I pass out. It feels how this song sounds.
Their b-sides are also amazing! Kill All Your Friends, Boy Division, The World is Ugly… this is a band like the ones we grew up with who sometimes had better b-songs than singles.
Also, if you are going to react to any more of their music videos you really should react to the official music video for The Ghost of You. IMO it's one of the best produced music videos of the entire decade: ua-cam.com/video/uCUpvTMis-Y/v-deo.html Edit: One more thing - I find it funny that you brought up Bon Jovi and White Lion as influences because MCR also hails from New Jersey so it makes total sense that these bands would have had some contributions to their musical style and direction.
MCR honestly doesn’t make bad videos, period. It was actually their music videos on UA-cam that got me into the band! I’ve got all their music and have seen them live and it’s really been uplifting.
Starting with Cancer on a part 2 was a mistake. It’s fucking gorgeous, but going in expecting a hard hitting “opener” ruins it. It wouldn’t have been “out of place” if this was all one part.
I always skip Cancer (and right now as I’m grieving my best friend I grew up with dying from cancer earlier this year, it’s been stuck in my head and I haaaate it) and listen to Blood (fun one when you’ve finished donating some). I don’t skip Sleep, it’s brilliant. Famous Last Words is my favorite on the album because it’s such a healing song for me. The line, “I see you lying next to me. With words I thought I’d never speak awake and unafraid: ‘asleep, or dead?’” makes me feel so SEEN as someone who’s had a few loved ones (both parents and bff) I’ve visited on their death beds and had that moment of wondering, are they asleep or dead right now? And being shocked that I’m so in shock that I’m wide awake and not afraid when I ask the hospital staff that question. The chorus of “I am not afraid to keep on living” really helps me scream/cry it out, because OF COURSE you’re afraid to keep on living without them, but it becomes true with time that you keep going until you’re not afraid to keep going, and that song really helps me feel better when I grieve. Any band can write a love album, but writing a meaningful album about death is a service to the fans, because we’ll all lose people we love and eventually we’ll all be a version of “the patient”. MCR’s fantastic in concert, too; I’ve seen them twice and would love to see them again. Thank you very much for reviewing all of these songs! I appreciate your time and insights. ♥
It was so unfair on every other band in this scene back in 2006 to lump my chemical romance in with them because with all due respect (and i love a lot of those bands) my chemical romance were in a completely different league
Everyone rate the album tracks in order of your personal best to last. I'll go first (they are all great IMO): Disenchanted Sleep Welcome to the Black Parade Cancer I Don't Love You Mama Famous Last Words House of Wolves The End/Dead! (really this is one song...) The Sharpest Lives This is How I Disappear Teenagers Blood
Here's mine!! House of Wolves Sleep Welcome To The Black Parade The Sharpest Lives Disenchanted Dead! Famous Last Words Teenagers Mama Cancer The End I Don't Love You This is How I Disappear Blood
disappear that low is crazzzzzyyyy lmaoo anyway mama sleep disappear house of wolves sharpest lives the end disenchanted dead teenagers cancer famous last words welcome to the black parade blood i dont love you
This is how I disappear Mama Sharpest lives Sleep Dead House of wolves Famous last words The end Cancer I don’t love you Disenchanted Teenagers Welcome to the black parade Blood
I don’t love you Mama Famous last words Welcome to the black parade Teenagers The end & Dead! This is how I disappear The sharpest lives Disenchanted House of Wolves Cancer Sleep Blood
the guitarist ray toro invented the special guitar riffs for the sleep song. thats why that song sounds like nothing similiar to things we have ever heard.
Ironically my teenage self could not listened to Disenchanted, mostly because I like the faster paced tempo songs better. Its fascinating that I can recite every song on the album except that one. I wanna shake myself to say it picks up after the slower intro.
No! You're not going far enough back! You keep talking about hair metal, but the real influence is 70's glam metal! Queen, Bowie, Thin Lizzy, that kind of stuff. So what you're hearing is the shared influence!
you should definitely react to 'sleep' live performance, but idk what to recommend.. i love all the performances from their reunion tour, but these are fan videos. they also do this magical outro for 'sleep' which i adore
Fellow cancer survivor here. Gen X goth punk rock kid in my youth and big fan of MCR. The song Cancer, obviously, is incredibly meaningful for me, as it (along with Dear Prudence) was on my "memorial service list" if you get my meaning. It is truly one of the most honest and truthful songs about terminal cancer I've ever heard. "The hardest part of this is leaving you."
I’m glad you’re still around, stranger! You sound awesome
I think "Cancer" does what it needs to in the context of the album, The Patient is dying, in pain, contemplating everything he'll never get to experience, facing all of his regrets and saying goodbye to the people he loves. He's tired, depressed, wants it all to be over and the whole song conveys exactly that, from the lyrics to the music, it's honest and doesn't try to make his death something else, it's not gonna sugarcoat it or dress it up as anything other than the slow draining of his life coming to an end.
Damn, that came out longer that I intended! 😄 Anyway, great reaction guys, love that Ryan liked Disenchanted!
Also thank you to whoever was that requested this album, one of my all time favourites
Thank you! Most people don't get this. Happy I am not alone.
I will defend Blood with my life.
I have a trigger whenever someone says blood to end a sentence, my brain follows up with "Gallons of the stuff"
Oh, quick note re: Teenagers… I respectfully disagree it could have hit the same when we were growing up. Some teenagers these days shoot up schools or kill their parents more frequently than before and that really makes this song chilling. Our generation’s version was “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam, but teens these days can really feel more dangerous. “If you’re troubled and hurt, what you’ve got under your shirt will make them pay for the things that they did” wasn’t an option in my day. The music video’s great, there’s a message at the end with, “violence is never the answer” and a number teens can call “if they feel like acting out”.
so I think "Famous Last Words" is perfect for a single but it's also how the song speaks to me as it spoke to a lot of people. Keeping it vague for TOS reasons, when you're in a dark place, a song like that is a call to keep on living. "I am not afraid to keep on living. I am not afraid to walk this world alone" is a very powerful message for the people who need it ;
Hey, back again! lol Here ya go!
Cancer 1:28
Mama 7:26
Sleep 18:32
Teenagers 29:09
Disenchanted 36:22
Famous Last Words 46:21
Blood
I always viewed the album as the movie and Blood as what would play during the end credits
Fun fact as well about Famous Last Words: it's never disclosed if he actually makes it back to life/Heaven or stays dead and goes to Hell, but apparently there are two versions of the song where the final note ends on a major and one ends on a minor and that's apparently how you know, so you can basically choose your own ending.
I remember as a teen listening to Teenagers in my room on fool blast, having my mom coming in asking me to get her that song because she absolutely loved it.
SO glad I found out you guys reacted to this whole album!! I haven't seen enough reactors I enjoy reacting to the whole thing. I don't have any skips, but mostly at this point the only time I listen to these songs is when I'm purposefully listening to the whole album start to finish. I had the CD growing up, and got the LP a few years ago. Such a wonderful feeling to put that on the turn table and go back in time to 2006!
I think the reason Famous Last Words was a single was because a target audience for this album was teenagers. These young, impressionable teenagers, a lot of whom suffered from awful thoughts, probably needed to hear that "I am not afraid to keep on living; I am not afraid to walk this world alone." Therefore, the song was made a single in hopes of getting it out there as thoroughly as possible. I'm just guessing, though.
You guys should absolutely react to their album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
So much more punkier and raw 🔥
Another great reaction and analysis. I did miss having the lyrics on screen though. It was a favourite album of mine, and saw them in person twice in 2007 (January & November in Australia). Having the lyrics in the last video just refreshed my memories and made it hit that much harder once again. Last time I listened to this album in its entirety was maybe 7 or 8 years ago so thank you!
Teenagers is no way a party song. It has a light tone with dark subject matter when you listen to it. They are singing about bulling and school shootings. I think Cancer is a good song and as someone who watched their grandparents slowly die from cancer, it embodies everything that happens to them.
I can think of a lot of “party” songs that have very dark subject matter
Teenagers is absolutely a party song sonically. The lyrics are about a violent nature in the youth, but the instrumental, melody and hook are meant to subvert that and get you going. Party style
I just want to mention a feeling I have always had. Mama always reminded me of The Trial - Pink Floyd. They are both incredibly theatrical and dark. The Story of the song progresses to a similar shouting.
I've always felt like "The End." was similar to "In the Flesh" in their sound and role in the album.
They have this entire album played live in mexico city, with the pro sound, one of the best live performances ive ever scene
IM SO GLAD WHEN U HEARD SLEEP U CALLED IT UR FAVORITE 😭😭😭😭 EVERYTHING U SAID ABOUT THE SOUND AND LYRICS MATCH MY FEELINGS ON IT and to top it all off tje way the wake up refrains get drowned out is obviously symbolic so when u hear the pummeling drums after the last time he screams it really captures the feeling of being swallowed by the nightmares (or anything really . its just such a consuming ending and its cathartic while also in my opinion Not an exhausting experience
also sleep and mama are gerards favorite songs to perform live (in that order actually) which is entirely unsurprising . he gets so into that shit and their black parade is dead tour performance on youtube is probably exactly what youre hoping for when you say it seems great live
I had the CD for this album and listened to it practically every day driving to school and I'm still not tired of it
3 of the boys’ mothers sang a small part (“we’re damned after all) in Mama.
I love the hidden track. It reminds me of the final track on “The Wall” by Pink Floyd
I don’t know if anyone has told you but they have a recorded concert video of the entire black parade album called “The black parade is dead” here on UA-cam. It’s DEFINITELY worth a watch because SLEEP IS SO GOOD TO WATCH LIVE!
Sleep live is un fuckin real
The hidden track was played in the concert during their wardrobe change from the black parade to the classic black suit red tie MCR.
As much as I love Black Parade, Sleep is my favorite song from this album. I suffer from insomnia and this song is what insomnia feels like... desperation and bordering hysteria. Thats how some nights are for me... so desperate for sleep but I can't reach it until my brain is so exhausted that I pass out. It feels how this song sounds.
Their b-sides are also amazing! Kill All Your Friends, Boy Division, The World is Ugly… this is a band like the ones we grew up with who sometimes had better b-songs than singles.
Also, if you are going to react to any more of their music videos you really should react to the official music video for The Ghost of You.
IMO it's one of the best produced music videos of the entire decade: ua-cam.com/video/uCUpvTMis-Y/v-deo.html
Edit: One more thing - I find it funny that you brought up Bon Jovi and White Lion as influences because MCR also hails from New Jersey so it makes total sense that these bands would have had some contributions to their musical style and direction.
MCR honestly doesn’t make bad videos, period. It was actually their music videos on UA-cam that got me into the band! I’ve got all their music and have seen them live and it’s really been uplifting.
I love all their videos, all are amazing quality however, I fully agree and think that Ghost of You just holds a special place.
please react to their live in mexico & their 3rd album Conventional Weapons!!
Just saying: Live in Mexico. You need to see. It has all theese epic songs done perfectly and you'll shit yourselfs. For real.
Famous last words are the song I want to be played to me on my fucking death bed. Not a single? You are crazy. 😅
Omfg that performance in 2007 Mexico was fucking legendary. The crowd, the outfits, the sound-literally perfect, don't even get me started
Starting with Cancer on a part 2 was a mistake. It’s fucking gorgeous, but going in expecting a hard hitting “opener” ruins it.
It wouldn’t have been “out of place” if this was all one part.
welp, you have a time machine?
@@WelpHereWeAreOnUA-cam yes actually
@@WelpHereWeAreOnUA-cam alright the mama critique redeemed the cancer L.
Good series.
I think you'd really like Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge as well. Should do a reaction to that as well.
I always skip Cancer (and right now as I’m grieving my best friend I grew up with dying from cancer earlier this year, it’s been stuck in my head and I haaaate it) and listen to Blood (fun one when you’ve finished donating some). I don’t skip Sleep, it’s brilliant. Famous Last Words is my favorite on the album because it’s such a healing song for me. The line, “I see you lying next to me. With words I thought I’d never speak awake and unafraid: ‘asleep, or dead?’” makes me feel so SEEN as someone who’s had a few loved ones (both parents and bff) I’ve visited on their death beds and had that moment of wondering, are they asleep or dead right now? And being shocked that I’m so in shock that I’m wide awake and not afraid when I ask the hospital staff that question. The chorus of “I am not afraid to keep on living” really helps me scream/cry it out, because OF COURSE you’re afraid to keep on living without them, but it becomes true with time that you keep going until you’re not afraid to keep going, and that song really helps me feel better when I grieve.
Any band can write a love album, but writing a meaningful album about death is a service to the fans, because we’ll all lose people we love and eventually we’ll all be a version of “the patient”.
MCR’s fantastic in concert, too; I’ve seen them twice and would love to see them again. Thank you very much for reviewing all of these songs! I appreciate your time and insights. ♥
You should react to black parade live with Brian may on guitar it is wonderful
It was so unfair on every other band in this scene back in 2006 to lump my chemical romance in with them because with all due respect (and i love a lot of those bands) my chemical romance were in a completely different league
Everyone rate the album tracks in order of your personal best to last. I'll go first (they are all great IMO):
Disenchanted
Sleep
Welcome to the Black Parade
Cancer
I Don't Love You
Mama
Famous Last Words
House of Wolves
The End/Dead! (really this is one song...)
The Sharpest Lives
This is How I Disappear
Teenagers
Blood
Here's mine!!
House of Wolves
Sleep
Welcome To The Black Parade
The Sharpest Lives
Disenchanted
Dead!
Famous Last Words
Teenagers
Mama
Cancer
The End
I Don't Love You
This is How I Disappear
Blood
disappear that low is crazzzzzyyyy lmaoo anyway
mama
sleep
disappear
house of wolves
sharpest lives
the end
disenchanted
dead
teenagers
cancer
famous last words
welcome to the black parade
blood
i dont love you
This is how I disappear
Mama
Sharpest lives
Sleep
Dead
House of wolves
Famous last words
The end
Cancer
I don’t love you
Disenchanted
Teenagers
Welcome to the black parade
Blood
I don’t love you
Mama
Famous last words
Welcome to the black parade
Teenagers
The end & Dead!
This is how I disappear
The sharpest lives
Disenchanted
House of Wolves
Cancer
Sleep
Blood
the guitarist ray toro invented the special guitar riffs for the sleep song. thats why that song sounds like nothing similiar to things we have ever heard.
Ironically my teenage self could not listened to Disenchanted, mostly because I like the faster paced tempo songs better. Its fascinating that I can recite every song on the album except that one. I wanna shake myself to say it picks up after the slower intro.
As a teen I’d always cry to disenchanted when I went through a breakup lol
No! You're not going far enough back! You keep talking about hair metal, but the real influence is 70's glam metal! Queen, Bowie, Thin Lizzy, that kind of stuff. So what you're hearing is the shared influence!
I would love to see someone do this then go back and listen to Bullets. The growth and change is crazy
please react to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, it's their second album (2004)
you should definitely react to 'sleep' live performance, but idk what to recommend.. i love all the performances from their reunion tour, but these are fan videos. they also do this magical outro for 'sleep' which i adore
the only good quality option is their corona capital performance 2022
@@o5liviate I think the concert in Mexico is better
@@jimthecactus7425 it's old and there's no magical outro which i adore ☺️
@@jimthecactus7425corona capital was also in mexico, btw
@@o5liviatealso right outside the arena they played at in 2007😭
Another great concept album you should react to is Queensryche Operation: Mindcrime.
I did on my first channel. :)
This album saved a lot of us from suicide. You don't understand it.
I understand the concept
You guys would love Revenge!
React to Danger Days by My Chemical Romance
bummer that the songs were in mono and missed the lyrics, other then that great follow-up
We were reading lyrics. Not shown in video
@@WelpHereWeAreOnUA-cam I wanted also, like in the 1st video
How does cancer just fly past you? Wow
Guess we’re just lame. Welp
Lmao wtf??? I wasn’t expecting a take is bad as this. Cancer is a throwaway track?
Glad you enjoyed our reaction to the other 14 songs or how many also.
Great review. If you get chance, check out the videos of the singles they tie in the theme and the performances are brilliant.