The Letter

It’s been widely spread in the internet and in the newspapers the story of the young Hannah Bond, a 13 year-old girl who hanged herself because she was an “emo”.
The journalists and her own parents said she was a huge fan of the band My Chemical Romance, and she killed herself to join “The Black Parade”, which is the place where all emos go when they die.
We’re an Italian community of My Chemical Romance fans, and we are just disgusted from what we’ve read.
We want to tell THE WHOLE TRUTH about what MCR is.
They’re a band that SAVES LIVES, and we’re going to tell you all why.
We all are very young, and most of us have been fans for years, way before the “emo trend” exploted between young kids. (please, forgive any grammar mistake, we are not english speakers)

1) ” She had secretly chatted to “emo” followers online all over the world, talking about death and the glamorisation of hanging and speaking about “the black parade” – a place where “emos” believe they go after they die. “

That’s not the correct interpretation of the album’s concept.
This is the story according to what singer Gerard Way said (you can also find it in the book in the special edition of the album).
The Black Parade is the story of a young man who dies tragically young due to cancer.
The songs talk about life seen from another point of view, from someone who’s not alive anymore.
Why a “black parade”?
Singer Gerard Way said that, for the concept of the album, he liked to think that “death comes to you in the form of your strongest memory”.
And the strongest memory of The Patient (the main character, as we said) is his father taking him to see a marching band when he was a little child.

The album is no incitation to suicide.
Indeed, tha last track of the album is an invitation The Patient gives to us: to LIVE OUR LIFE, whatever it gives to us!
“I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone. Honey if you stay I’ll be forgiven, nothing you can say can stop me going home” (Famous Last Words).

There is nothing that talks about “a place where all emos go when they die” and no invitation to suicide.

2) Everyone can interpretate music according to his mind. A 13 year-old kid is still a child, and can be impressed and get obsessed by everything.
And, by the way, they put the “parental control” logo in their cd covers for a reason. If somebody tells you to wear an acid-green tutu and dance techno music in Times Square, you surely (I hope, ahah) won’t do it, though you may find it fascinating (come on, it’s an example ). The same with music, if you hear a song about a dude killing someone, you surely won’t go killing people, though you may find it fascinating.
If you kill people after having heard a song, you are INSANE.
You just have to be enough responsable and grown-up, no matter how old you are.

My Chemical Romance’s music has always been made to undersand the fans.
All of the band members were “losers” when they were at high school.
They were alienated, pushed around. They felt useless, failures. They felt ALONE.
They just turned into music what they used to feel at that time, their revenge fantasies.
Obviously, this is not an “educative” thing.
But being understood makes you feel that you’re not the only one who’s messed up.
Everyone wants to be understood.
My Chemical Romance understood the uncool kid who wanted to kill the cheerleader.

This is no INCITATION to kill. As we said, you don’t do everything that’s told you.
Many of these understood kids are still alive thanks to My Chemical Romance, and you will read their stories.
Nobody’s denying their music (particularly the first 2 albums) is violent.

AND SO WHAT? There’s billion of bands making violent music.
There’s people who like violent music and are perfectly “normal” and have no social disease.

EVERYBODY, and I say EVERYBODY has dreamed at least once to kill someone.
Somebody has loved so much to kill.
Love and death are often two related things in literature (Catullo’s “odi et amo” and Shakespeare’s “Othello” are surely older than “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge”, don’t you think?), why if a rock band does it nowdays they’re called “satanists”?.
(this is directly related to the next point).
Now please read and think about this quote from Gerard Way:

“If for one minute you think you’re better than a sixteen year old girl in a Green Day t-shirt, you are sorely mistaken. Remember the first time you went to a show and saw your favorite band. You wore their shirt, and sang every word. You didn’t know anything about scene politics, haircuts, or what was cool. All you knew was that this music made you feel different from anyone you shared a locker with. Someone finally understood you. This is what music is about.”

3) MCR always did propaganda against violence and suicide.
For example,  their last video for the single “Teenagers” ends with a cristal clear message written on the screen: “VIOLENCE IS NEVER THE ANSWER“.

“Be yourself, dont take anyones shit and never let them take you alive” – Gerard Way.
“Never let them take you alive” does not mean “kill yourself”.
It means “fight with all of yourself for what you are and what you believe”.
“Life is very,very short,and you can choose to dumb yourself down
  and not express yourself just so you can fit in,
  just so people won’t dislike you. Or you can fucking live” – Gerard Way

“If you guys have been listening to this band and coming to see us for a long time, you know we’ve always said to you guys that if you get depressed, that you can find somebody to talk to. You can find help if you feel suicidal or anything like that. That’s something we’ve always said. That’s something we’ve been saying on this tour… is that, you know, sometimes the world can be a really ugly place, right? It’s not always really pretty, it’s ugly, people’s feelings get hurt. Sometimes it’s terrible, but it’s also a really beautiful place, and we all share it together. If you ever feel depressed or hurt in any way, or you find yourself feeling very desperate, you find somebody that you trust, that you can talk to– be it a teacher, a parent, a best friend, a therapist at school. There’s lots of free programs, you guys can find somebody to talk to… but the main thing is no matter what, no matter what happens to you, no matter how desperate you feel, you never resort to violence.” – Gerard Way.

 

“Everytime somebody ever told you that you weren’t gonna amount to anything, you know, that’s your time to shine, you know, you can show everybody and prove to yourself what you’re doing is real and that it counts and that it makes a difference.” – Gerard Way.

“Suicide is a serious thing. And if you know anyone who is suicidal, you need to get them help. No one should be in pain. Everyone should love themselves. Like I love you all.” – Gerard Way.

“Hey, girls, you’re beautiful. Don’t look at those stupid magazines with sticklike models. Eat healthy and exercise. That’s all. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not good enough. You’re good enough, you are too good. Love your family with all your heart and listen to it. You are gorgeous, whether you’re a size 4 or 14. It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside, as long as you’re a good person, as long as you respect others. I know it’s been told hundreds of times before, but it’s true. Hey, girls, you are beautiful.” – Gerard Way

“I don’t want people to be afraid of living, which I think is everybody’s biggest fear. I want people to express themselves how they want. If that means dressing up in women’s clothing, so be it. I’m very opposed to intolerance, racism and sexism. Men are still being called ‘faggot.’ I see women being treated as second-class citizens, even in punk rock. So if it’s happening there, it’s happening everywhere. I’m very much into acceptance” – Gerard Way

“I’d encourage your smiles I’ll expect you won’t cry” (The End, from The Black Parade)

“You’ll never make me, because the world will never take my heart. Go and try you’ll never break me. / I’m just a man, I’m not a hero, I’m just a boy, who’s meant to sing this song” (Welcome To The Black Parade, from The Black Parade)

“Stand up fucking tall, don’t let them see your back and take my fucking and never be afraid again” (Our Lady Of Sorrows, from I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love)

“You’ll never take me alive, do what it takes to survive, ’cause I’m still here” (from Kill All Your Friends)

 

Singer Gerad Way was an alcoholist and suicidal depressed.
But he got over it.
And now he spreads his message everyday.
He told his story to the world to teach people that life is unique, and can be beautiful if you just want it to be.
He’s not a freak who uses the “emo” cultural movement (see point 4).

MCR keep saying they’re not emo.
There are many interviews where the bands says that this label just doesn’t fit them.

4) What is emo.
It was a cultural movement of the latest 80’s, developed in the area of Washington, DC.
It was born to be the opposite of the punk wave.
Pratically, the punks were violent, and their music was full of rage.
The emos were calm people, and their music was more emotional (from this came the name of the movement), deep and calm. Nothing to do with the modern bands that nowdays are called “emo” (like MCR, 30 Seconds To Mars, From First To Last, Jimmy Eat World, Alesana etc).

The whole thing was distorted because of the internet, and now the term “emo” is associated with the stereotype of the kid with a long fringe, tight black clothes and studded belt.
What they call “emo” now has nothing to do with the 80’s cultural movement, whose kids used to dress more like “nerds”, we’d say nowdays.

It’s just fashion, it’s a trend developed by and among the kids.

MCR always denied the emo-phenomenom, and never wanted to use it to make success, because the way they dress can’t be compared to a lot of other long-fringed bands.

 

5) Last (but not least) point. This is the most important point, where we want to talk about the story of Hannah Bond.
She, like many other young kids, wanted to be “something” because she didn’t want to be a ”nobody”.
For these teenagers, being themselves is not enough. You know, it takes a lots of strenght to be YOURSELF, without any label. It’s easier to be a “emo”, “punk”, “goth”, “skater” or whatever.
They want to be part of something, they want to be unique, they want to be different.
Teenagers always wanted to be in a group, an èlite, it’s always been this way.

Hannah Bond was a disturbed young girl, and the truth is their parents weren’t able to help her.

Self-harming is a serious psycologic problem, which has been ridiculized and commercialized by the emo-phenomenom on the internet.

She said to her parents that she used to cut herself for and “initiation”, and she promised that she wouldn’t have done it again.
What kind of parent would ever do that?
Your little daughter CUTS HERSELF for an INITIATION and you don’t do anything?
Initiation rites are always related to satanism and septs, and you don’t get worried about your daughter doing this things?
Why didn’t they seriously talk to her, why didn’t they take her to a therapist?
The problem is not the music.
Billions of kids listen to rock music, dress in black and studs, and they are HAPPY to live their life, just like we do.
They dress that way because they want to feel different, they want to express themselves.

You don’t have to control your son’s pc, you don’t have to get worried if your son buys a rock CD, you don’t have to set on fire all of his black clothes.

You have to teach your sons the value of life.
You have to teach them to think with their own brain, to be JUST THEMSELVES, without being constricted by anyone or any kind of label.

It’s too easy to say that it’s all due to a rock band.

We don’t believe it, and we want everybody to know this:
MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE SAVED OUR LIVES.

 

from their official website www.mychemicalromance.com