Lords of Hot Topic and theatrical emo My Chemical Romance have managed to endure as one of the more beloved bands of the last few decades, and music journalist Dan Ozzi's upcoming book Sellout: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007) does the work of tracing the band's unexpected rise to stardom.
In an excerpt from Sellout provided to Rolling Stone, the story starts when MCR bassist Mikey Way sent ex-girlfriend Sarah Lewitinn —otherwise known as Ultragrrrl — two songs from what would become My Chemical Romance: "Skylines and Turnstiles" and "Cubicles," which would both go on to appear on the band's 2002 debut I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.
The rest, more or less, is history. That is, until it came time to record their aforementioned debut — Ozzi's book details the roadblock that nearly derailed the band's path to cultural ubiquity. In the excerpt published in Rolling Stone, Alex Saavedra — whose Eyeball Records would release the band's debut — recounts a story about Gerard Way's inability to sing when it came time to record.
"He had a terrible earache and this pain in his head," Saavedra says. "We couldn't figure out what was going on with him. The dude was really in major pain, but we needed to finish this fucking record. We kept bringing him to the ER and they were like, 'There's nothing wrong with you!'"
Way was eventually taken to the hospital for some dental work, but his post-surgery swelling meant he still couldn't sing, and the band was running out of time and money. So, as Saavedra tells it, he took matters into his own hands.
"I punched him in the face," he says. "I thought I knocked him out at first. It shocked the shit out of him. In hindsight, it was very jockish, but at the time it made sense. I think the masochist in him really enjoyed it. It definitely hurt, but it amped him up. It was a different kind of pain. He slayed that vocal take right after that."
So, if not for a swift punch to the face, we might never have gotten The Black Parade.
You can read more about MCR, and the scene in general, when Sellout: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007) arrives on October 26.
My Chemical Romance's last record was 2010's Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, though the band reunited in 2019. A much-anticipated North American tour was rescheduled to 2022 due to the pandemic.
In an excerpt from Sellout provided to Rolling Stone, the story starts when MCR bassist Mikey Way sent ex-girlfriend Sarah Lewitinn —otherwise known as Ultragrrrl — two songs from what would become My Chemical Romance: "Skylines and Turnstiles" and "Cubicles," which would both go on to appear on the band's 2002 debut I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.
The rest, more or less, is history. That is, until it came time to record their aforementioned debut — Ozzi's book details the roadblock that nearly derailed the band's path to cultural ubiquity. In the excerpt published in Rolling Stone, Alex Saavedra — whose Eyeball Records would release the band's debut — recounts a story about Gerard Way's inability to sing when it came time to record.
"He had a terrible earache and this pain in his head," Saavedra says. "We couldn't figure out what was going on with him. The dude was really in major pain, but we needed to finish this fucking record. We kept bringing him to the ER and they were like, 'There's nothing wrong with you!'"
Way was eventually taken to the hospital for some dental work, but his post-surgery swelling meant he still couldn't sing, and the band was running out of time and money. So, as Saavedra tells it, he took matters into his own hands.
"I punched him in the face," he says. "I thought I knocked him out at first. It shocked the shit out of him. In hindsight, it was very jockish, but at the time it made sense. I think the masochist in him really enjoyed it. It definitely hurt, but it amped him up. It was a different kind of pain. He slayed that vocal take right after that."
So, if not for a swift punch to the face, we might never have gotten The Black Parade.
You can read more about MCR, and the scene in general, when Sellout: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007) arrives on October 26.
My Chemical Romance's last record was 2010's Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, though the band reunited in 2019. A much-anticipated North American tour was rescheduled to 2022 due to the pandemic.
