When a lot of people think about music from the 2000s and so-called emo music, there is one band that comes to mind first, My Chemical Romance. Best known for songs like “Welcome to the Black Parade”, “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”, “Vampires Will Never Hurt You, and ”Helena” among others, My Chemical Romance enjoyed huge success.
Even though My Chemical Romance mostly seemed to be on top of the world from 2001 until 2013, things took a very unexpected turn when they broke up. After all, at that time word broke that My Chemical Romance had decided to split, there were no indications that the group’s members had suffered some kind of severe falling out.
In the years since My Chemical Romance split, they continued to be referenced most of the time when so-called emo music was brought up online. Despite the band’s ongoing relevance, many people continue to have no idea why My Chemical Romance split up and what has been going on in the members’ lives since then.
Going Their Separate Ways
Considering how popular My Chemical Romance was at its peak, it makes sense that the band’s former members continued to be asked about the group years after they split up. During a 2019 interview with The Guardian, My Chemical Romance’s frontman Gerard Way was asked once again about the reasons for the band’s split. According to Way, the writing was on the wall during the recording of the band’s final album to date, 2010’s “Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys”. “When things start to succeed and go really well, that’s when a lot of people start to have an opinion and that’s when you run into struggle.”
Continuing to talk about his frustrations with My Chemical Romance in the runup to the group’s 2013 split, Gerard Way still seemed mad that everyone wanted to control the band. “Everybody had a f*****g opinion about what MCR should be. So it made it difficult to figure out what direction to take next. You get caught up in this trap of ‘Is it ever gonna be good enough?’”
Even though Gerard Way still seemed upset in some ways during the aforementioned interview with The Guardian, he appeared to have no regrets about My Chemical Romance’s split. “It wasn’t fun to make stuff anymore. I think breaking up the band broke us out of that machine.”
Post-My Chemical Romance
A lot of the time when major bands breakup, some members of the group leave the spotlight forever. In the case of My Chemical Romance, however, everyone who was part of the band when it split went on to remain busy.
After leaving MCR, the bands’ lead guitarist and backing vocalist Ray Toro joined a group called Reggie and the Full Effect, and released a solo album called “Remember the Laughter”. In the case of MCR’s bassist Mikey Way, he went on to join a group called Electric Century. Then there was MCR’s rhythm guitarist Frank Iero who already had several side projects, including the group Leathermouth, when the group split and he would go on to release solo music as well.
When it comes to My Chemical Romance’s frontman Gerard Way, he stayed very busy when the band broke up. Musically speaking, Way released his solo album, “Hesitant Alien”, he guested on a lot of artists’ songs, and he occasionally would release a new tune. Also a successful comic book writer, Way famously co-created “The Umbrella Academy” during his MCR tenure and after the group split, he penned the series’ 3rd volume. Additionally, Way also serves as an executive producer on Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, and the show has become so successful that fans are coming up with theories about it.
Coming Back Together
After several years apart, in late-2019 My Chemical Romance suddenly announced that they would be reuniting and releasing a new merchandise line. To say that the band’s legions of fans were overjoyed is a massive understatement. Remarkably enough, shortly after word broke that My Chemical Romance was back, the band revealed on Twitter that they’d actually reformed in 2017.
Following My Chemical Romance’s reunion, Kerrang put together a retrospective about the band that was introduced by longtime friend of the group and Thursday vocalist Geoff Rickly. After speaking to Gerard Way about the reunion for the retrospective, Rickly spoke about how MCR’s singer felt like the band needed to take their time with the reunion.
“I spoke to Gerard [Way, vocalist] about the reunion a little bit recently and he said it felt like it was the right time. One of the things he said was, ‘I don’t know if it would have happened if it wasn’t now.’” Unfortunately for My Chemical Romance fans and the band itself, their reunion proved to be ill-timed as the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to postpone their planned tour.