The cover of the My Chemical Romance single, “Welcome to the Black Parade.”
I think of it as New Jersey’s answer to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” “Welcome to the Black Parade,” from My Chemical Romance‘s 2006 album The Black Parade, is an over-the-top rock epic that you can listen to, over and over, and yet never fully understand. But at its core, it’s about a boy and his father:
“When I was a young boy/My father took me into the city/To see a marching band,” Belleville native Gerard Way sings. “He said, ‘Son when you grow up/Would you be the savior of the broken/The beaten and the damned?’ ”
So the son takes on this larger-than-life task — “The world will never take my heart!”, he vows — and the video, below, adds darkness and mystery with its post-apocalyptic scenes.
Or is this all taking place in the afterlife? That’s definitely a possibility, especially in light of some of the other songs on the album. Whatever is happening, though, it’s a wild ride.
The first single from The Black Parade, “Welcome to the Black Parade” rose to No. 9 on Billboard magazine’s singles chart, and was the only Top 10 hit of the band’s career. My Chemical Romance broke up in 2013, and band members are now pursuing a variety of solo projects.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday in 2014. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, from September 2014 to September 2015 — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. To see the entire list, click here.
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