Could you imagine a story that’s also an album at the same time? That’s exactly what My Chemical Romance’s’ The Black Parade Is. In Europe on October 23, 2006, My Chemical Romance officially released The Black Parade, and was released in the United States on October 24, 2006, it took the band around six months to put together. The Black Parade was recorded from April to September 2006.

My Chemical Romance made The Black Parade because they wanted to challenge themselves artistically and create something both ambitious and conceptually rich, but also to evolve their sound and image. They had already achieved success with their previous albums but wanted to create something that would resonate with fans on a deeper level. Additionally, the band was influenced by classic rock opera albums such as Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Queen’s A Night at the Opera. 

The Black Parade was My Chemical Romance’s third studio album, selling over 4 million copies that feature the successful singles Welcome to the Black Parade, Famous Last Words, and Teenagers. Although the specific amount of money they made from The Black Parade isn’t publicly disclosed, the album was a major commercial success for My Chemical Romance, it debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and received widespread critical acclaim. The album is similar to a rock opera, following the story of a character who goes by “The Patient.” It revolves around his journey through life, death, and all the feelings in between.

The album starts with the energetic feel of The End, the album takes you on a wild ride with songs like Dead! and House of Wolves that make you feel like dancing. Then there are immensely grand tunes like Welcome to the Black Parade and Famous Last Words that feel as if they’re telling you a huge story. But, it’s not all about being loud and fast. Songs like Cancer hit you right in the heart with their sadness, while Disenchanted and Sleep start to slow things down for a moment of reflection.

Famous Last Words was supposedly the last song on the album, but there’s actually a hidden track called Blood. A hidden track is a track where you have to wait after the CD or Vinyl has finished playing, you usually have to wait around 1-5 minutes of silence to actually hear it, the reason for the silence is to make it difficult to discover and therefore classified as hidden. But for Blood it’s only about a minute of silence before it starts playing.

The Black Parade is part of a loose narrative that connects it with My Chemical Romance’s other albums, particularly Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. Here’s a rough chronological order of the albums in the MCR storyline: 1. I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (2002), 2. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004), 3. The Black Parade (2006), 4. Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys  (2010)

MCR worked really hard on The Black Parade, spending months in the studio to get everything just right. Gerard Way, the lead singer, poured his heart into the vocals, making sure that you feel every emotion in the songs.