The Black Parade Is Dead! (Again)

2006 and I'm stood in a que at Woolworths in the UK (RIP). I am just about to purchase an album that I am almost shaking with excitment to buy. I've saved up for this and I'm excited to get this CD home, listen to it and rip it to my Ipod Shuffle (which had a whopping 512mb). The Black Parade had such an impact on a generation that I honestly do not feel has happened since. Yes we've all got excited for albums and singles in the years since, but think back to October 2006, you could not escape it. A time before social media became what it is today yet a flow of magazine and internet interviews, Kerrang, Scuzz and MTV having the video for Welcome To The Black Parade on a near constant loop. We were fucking ready for it.

In those twenty years, I was fortunate enough to have seen MCR twice before the breakup and then again on the recent Long Live The Black Parade tour. A story that started out on the album as the concept of a man dying from cancer and journeying through the afterlife and reflecting on his existence, was transformed into a story of destructive cycles and fighting back against corruption yet the music has not lost its impact.

Pictured below are my orginal CDs, a FUNKO album which was a gift from my late Dad and two Gerard FUNKOs which have been gifts from my partner. Not pictured are my vinyl copies of the album as they are currently in storage, but that's a story for later this year...