Understanding The Black Parade

There are few albums quite like The Black Parade. It's a reflection on mortality and death, a rock opera exploring the uniquely tragic experience of dying young and alone. It's all wrapped in the dark, sarcastic trappings of mid-2000s emo, but at the same time it feels timeless, as relevant today as it's ever been. The Black Parade was a huge artistic risk for MCR, reinventing the band's image and sound, but it paid off, and at its heart lies one of the most iconic songs of the '00s: Welcome To The Black Parade.

Huge thanks to our Elephant of the Month Club members:

Susan Jones
Jill Jones
Duck
Howard Levine
Brian Etheredge
Khristofor Saraga
Len Lanphar
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Jack Carlson
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Dov Zazkis
Hendrik Payer
Thomas Morley
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Davis Sprague
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Braum Meakes
Hendrik Stüwe
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Scott Howarth
Luke
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Symmetry
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Kobalent
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And thanks as well to Henry Reich, Gabi Ghita, Gene Lushtak, Owen Campbell-Moore, Eugene Bulkin, Logan Jones, Oliver, Anna Work, Adam Neely, Rick Lees, Dave Mayer, CodenaCrow, Nikolay Semyonov, Arnas, Caroline Simpson, Michael Alan Dorman, Dmitry Jemerov, Michael McCormick, Blake Boyd, Luke Rihn, Charles Gaskell, Ian Seymour, Trevor Sullivan, Tom Evans, Elliot Jay O'Neill, JH, Lamadesbois, David Conrad, Chris Borland, Chris Chapin, Alex Atanasyan, Elliot Burke, Tim S., Elias Simon, Jerry D. Brown, Todd Davidson, Jake Lizzio, Ohad Lutzky, James A. Thornton, Peter Leventis, Brian Dinger, Aaron Epstein, Blake White, Chris Connett, Stefan Strohmaier, Shadow Kat, Adam Wurstmann, Kelsey Freese, Kenneth Kousen, James, h2g2guy, W. Dennis Sorrell, Angela Flierman, Richard T. Anderson, Melvin Martis, Kevin Johnson, Professor Elliot, Ryan, Matthew Kallend, Rodrigo "rrc2soft" Roman, Jeremy Zolner, Patrick Callier, Danny, Francois LaPlante, Volker Wegert, Joshua Gleitze, Britt Ratliff, Darzzr, Joshua La Macchia, Charles Hill, Alexey Fedotov, Alex Keeny, Valentin Lupachev, John Bejarano, Roming 22, Andrew Engel, Gary Butterfield, Steve Brand, Rene Miklas, max thomas, Peter Brinkmann, Red Uncle, Doug Nottingham, Nicholas Wolf, Naomi Ostriker, Alex Mole, Robert Beach, ZagOnEm, Kaisai Morihito, Mathew Wolak, Betsy, Tonya Custis, Dave Shapiro, Jacopo Cascioli, S, Lincoln Mendell, CoryC, Rafael Martinez Salas, Walther, Sam Rezek, Destros, Beth Martyn, Lucas Augusto, Doug Lantz, Evan Satinsky, James Little, RaptorCat, Graeme Lewis, Jake Sand, Kayla Sparks, Max Glass, Jigglypuffer, leftaroundabout ., Jens Schäfer, Mikely Whiplash, Austin Amberg, Francisco Rodrigues, Elizabeth, Aditya Baradwaj, Matt Ivaliotes, Yuval Filmus, Michael Tsuk, Juan Madrigal, ThoraSTooth, Brandon Legawiec, Jim Hayes, Scott Albertine, Evgeni Kunev, Hikaru Katayamma, Alon Kellner, Rob Hardy, Patrick Chieppe, Eric Stark, David Haughn, Gordon Dell, רועי סיני, Conor Stuart Roe, Byron DeLaBarre, Matty Crocker, anemamata, Brian Miller, Lee-orr Orbach, Eric Plume, Kevin Pierce, Jon Hancock, Dragix PL, Jason Peterson, Peggy Youell, EJ Hambleton, Gary Evesson, Kottolett, Dylan Vidas, Jos Mulder, Daryl Banttari, J.T. Vandenbree, David Taylor, Carlos Silva, John Castle, Wayne Robinson, Gabriel Totusek, SecretKittehs, Mnemosyne Music, AkselA, Philip Miller, Brian Davis, Eric Daugherty, Pamela O'Neill, Sam Plotkin, David MacDonald, Nellie Speirs Baron, Charles R., Josh, The Gig Farmer, Sam, DialMForManning, Wayne Weil, Michael Wehling, darkmage, Sofia Sangiorgio, Thomas Morgan, Ludwick Kennedy, Brandon Peckham, Ridley Kemp, Mark James, James, David Peterson, Bryan C. Mills, Adam Ziegenhals, Mark Meckes, Amelia Lewis, sonicolasj, Bean, A Devoted Servant of the Holy Water Bottle, Milan Brezovsky, Edmund Horner, Daria Gibbons, TJ FUNCTION, NinoDoko, PatSandmann, XCompWiz, Michael Blaby, M. Bock, Daniel Joseph Moynihan, William Robert Tabb, Ariel S., Kristofer Hill, William Merryman, Ryan Mayle, J Denton, Niles Loughlin, Josh Witkowski, Clever Patreon names are a waste of perfectly good cleverness, Graham Orndorff, and Michael Sacksteder! Your support helps make 12tone even better!

Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold for proofreading the script to make sure this all makes sense hopefully!

[tone]

Some additional thoughts/corrections:

1) Technically Tommy wasn't released in the '70s, it came out in 1969, but the late '60s were the '70s, it's fine, don't worry about it.

2) I should note that, while I tend to find "bright" to be a more accurate descriptor of most major-key tonalities, it's still contextual and won't always apply either. The concept of "brightness" in scales is very closely tied to European ideas of modality that don't apply across all kinds of music.

3) Interestingly, while the marching snare is recognizable in each iteration, it's never actually the same. One could argue this makes it not a true leitmotif, but it's definitely a noticeable and consistent thematic element, so whether or not it "counts" isn't all that interesting a debate to me. It fills the role of a marching snare each time, and that marching snare conveys a certain set of cultural and narrative implications.

4) The tempo shift could be described as a metric modulation where the half-note triplet becomes the new 8th note, but because the long, held chord sets a clear boundary between the two, being overly specific on the exact relationship seems unnecessary to me.

5) One could argue the key change isn't a true direct modulation, since that last chord in G is D major, which does have a function in the new key of A major, but it _really_ doesn't sound like a pivot chord to me. The implied resolution is too strong, and the subversion of it too obvious.

6) Yes, I used the same thumbnail text as my Chop Suey! video. I figured it applied equally well here, and it didn't seem worth reinventing the wheel to try to phrase it differently when it worked so well last time anyway.

[maxp]

Every time a single G is played on a piano, an emo sheds a tear

[MrAlbinocreeper]

"where everything changes" draws fire nation insignia, shit had me cracking up.

[dadatronaut]

its really cool to see the black parade being recognized years later as a legitimately good album with merit unlike the past when it was seen as emo garbage

[AstralNightmareOfficial]

1:40 "And I'll give the emo kids in the Audience some time to recover from that G Note." I'm crying that was so hilarious, sad, and well timed.

[Not_Ciel]

When songs like this are created, it makes me wonder if MCR actually put this much music theory thought into every note or if the guitarist was just like “Hey, this sounds good”.

[caseyhamm]

for a second i thought this was gonna be a music theory composition of the whole album and i got more than excited

[LTJZamboni]

I would watch an entire series of these on this album. It’s a goddamn masterpiece

[izzy]

Im a poor college student but the prospect of more mcr analysis makes me want to join your patreon

[JamesBrown-uvsn]

Can we take a minute to appreciate when at 57s he said “everything had changed” he drew a symbol for the fire nation.

[MeghanPlaysMusic]

I think it's worth mentioning that the lyrics which transition to the modulated chorus are "I don't care". That triumphantly symbolizes the ending of the the patient's internal struggle of needing significance to deserve a legacy. Not a complex detail but I think it sums everything together nicely.

[staticsight]

As that emo kid who immediately started scream-singing as soon as I heard that G, I feel called out

[Istalrivaldr]

This dude pantomimed drawing something while saying BLANK. Such dedication

[yourbeardlybro]

7:31 I for one, would love to hear a “Welcome to the Black Parade” full banjo cover.

[quadcannon]

I sincerely hope that Gerard, Frank, Mikey, and Ray watch this video at some point. The MCR crew deserve to be recognized for their achievements and skills.

[Bonsaipop]

As someone who grew up in punk bands with no musical schooling I always wonder if these guys know what they are actually doing, versus like, “hey that sounds cool, do it again here, ” etc etc. I mean jello biafra literally made dead kennedys songs up with mouth noises and the musicians had to just figure it out lol

[nvogelck]

This was weirdly emotionally impactful for a video on music theory.

[rhysjones]

I always interpreted the fact this song was in G major as giving sense of hope in the face of everything and that’s why I think the emo’s resonated with it to such an extent (my friends and I used to literally “rise for the anthem” and salute when this came on) it’s not just bleak, it’s also got just a last sliver hope. The chips are down but it’s still sticking with the major key, almost rallying us together

[SavageGreywolf]

in regards to G major: it's also worth noting that the story of the Patient is framed like that of a _tragic hero_ so I feel the major key is important to establish that 'heroic' framing- "Welcome to the Black Parade" is meant to sound like a triumphant fanfare collapsing into chaos, as indicated by the hornlike guitar section that follows... It all connects with the thematic idea of death appearing to the dying man as his happiest memory- that of seeing a marching band as a child.

[kegrimm]

Not going to lie, every time I heard this song I always interpreted it as a means to morn for those who have passed, but carry on their memories to help them to continue to carry on and that some day you'll join them again in the parade. But until that day you should fight to live every day until it's your actual time. That was always my take on the song on it's own though. When a rock opera puts all the songs together, they grant the listener and/or viewers with a totally different perspective. After all, with individual songs, just like any other art, it is subjective to the listener. I just wanted to share my interpretation of the song on it's own though, just to kind of share really.