Did you hear the news? MCR is back as a band (three cheers), but has MCR ever left (sweet revenge)? You decide. Fellow Substream writer Molly Hudelson and I ranked the band’s album catalog below. Fall in romance with our choices:
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I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (2002)
SW: Molly, this mirror isn’t big enough for the both of us.
MH: Scott, this is the best day ever. This album feels like a DIY record from a band that was not meant to be DIY.
SW: Agreed. Great songs. Great vision. “Skylines and turnstiles”.
MH: I love that song. “Headfirst For Halos” is another solid track.
SW: Indeed. Three cheers to that!
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Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (2004)
MH: Thank you for the cheers!
SW: Thanks for the memories even though they weren’t so great.
MH: So. Many. Hits. This album is where the band found its theatrical voice.
SW: I never told you what I do for a living: I’m an actor.
MH: Give ‘em hell, Scott.
SW: What did you just call me?
MH: (looks confused)
SW: I don’t feel okay. (pauses) I promise.
MH: Sounds like the jet set life is gonna kill you!
SW: I don’t want to become the ghost of you.
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Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010)
MH: Look alive, Scott-shine.
SW: Molly, the only hope for me is Kelli.
MH: #couplesgoals
SW: #bulletproofheart
MH: This record is less gothy and more straight up rock and roll than its predecessors.
SW: Molly. Molly. Molly! Did it make you sing?
MH: Na na na (na na na na na na na na na).
SW: Na na na (na na na na na na na na na).
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The Black Parade (2006)
MH: This is a very obvious first choice. It’s an emo rock opera and a total classic. It was ambitious and theatrical, and had a crazy storyline tying it all together – BUT the songs still stand on their own. The problem with a lot of “concept albums / rock operas” is that the band either: gets lost in the concept and makes songs that don’t hold their own weight, or… there’s no actual storyline tying the album together. The Black Parade doesn’t make either of these mistakes. It’s poetic and painful and beautifully artistic. I wrote a paper on Hamlet and talked about “Famous Last Words.” It was dark but it also had a major radio hit in “Welcome To The Black Parade” – I would hear that on Z100 – basically my generation’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” So many musical movements in that one song alone, it was perfectly poetic and elegant.
SW: The end. (pauses) Get it?
Yup. Famous last words: “Danger Days” is underrated. Don’t yell at us but listen this playlist quite loud.