skylines and turnstiles (11. 833)

Witnessing the collapse of the World Trade Towers whilst walking to work in Manhattan to his job as a comic book artist, later frontman Gerard Way was inspired to turn to music (see also), forming the band My Chemical Romance, the name suggested by Way’s younger brother from the title of Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh’s novella Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. The band garnered their fanbase by releasing tracks on MySpace before being discovered and signed with a record label. Arguably the pinnacle of their success, the band’s 2006 album (the lead single released on the fifth anniversary of 9/11) Welcome to the Black Parade was hugely popular and received several accolades, including significantly controversy and resulting moral panic over their promotion of “emo cult of self-harm” for their frank discussions of mental health and balanced but bleak portrayal of the world. We’ll carry on.