Alt-rock darlings My Chemical Romance may have broken up in a surprise move last spring, but the band's getting a fitting postscript with a new compilation to be released almost a year after the split.
May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits 2001-2013 chronicles the entire discography of the New Jersey rockers. Led by singer-songwriter Gerard Way and anchored by his brother Mikey on bass, lead guitarist Ray Toro and rhythm guitarist Frank Iero (drummers Matt Pelissier and Bob Bryar were full-time percussionists from 2001-2004 and 2004-2010, respectively), MCR deftly combined the theatrical, verbose, heart-on-sleeve tendencies of the burgeoning "emo" punk scene (which the band were quick to distance themselves from) with some of the best soaring rock hooks of the past decade. Their sophomore album, 2004's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, was their first on a major label (Reprise Records), earning them platinum status and wider recognition. Their long-honed live act got them on the 2005 installment of the Warped Tour, where they blossomed further.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDWgsQhbaqU]
The rest of the band's discography is amusingly esoteric: The Black Parade (2006) was a rock opera about a dying man's final moments that saw the band have its biggest single (the Top 10 hit "Welcome to the Black Parade") and stretch their creative muscles even further, touring in character and creating a mythology around the characters they wrote about. Follow-up Danger Days: The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys (2010) spun a similar conceptual arc, this time about a post-apocalyptic rebellion against corporate control. A collection of pre-Danger Days material, cut with producer Brendan O'Brien, was released as a singles set in 2012 and 2013 under the title Conventional Weapons, just before the band's sudden split.
But May Death Never Stop You features a small amount of unheard material to keep fans happy. In addition to an unreleased song, "Fake Your Death," the package will also include three of the first My Chem tracks, recorded in then-drummer Pelissier's attic. (Final versions of all of these tracks surfaced on the band's debut, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, in 2002.) An deluxe edition includes and 11-track DVD featuring the band's complete music videos, with some unreleased content as well.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQOgVZyIkew]
The set is available in multiple formats on March 25. Hit the jump for full specs!
May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits 2001-2013 (Reprise, 2013)
Amazon U.S.: CD / CD/DVD / 2LP/DVD
Amazon U.K.: TBD
Disc 1: CD
- Fake Your Death
- Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Two of Us
- Vampires Will Never Hurt You
- Helena
- You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison
- I'm Not Okay (I Promise)
- The Ghost of You
- Welcome to the Black Parade
- Cancer
- Mama
- Teenagers
- Famous Last Words
- Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
- SING
- Planetary (GO!)
- The Kids from Yesterday
- Skylines and Turnstiles (Demo)
- Knives/Sorrow (Demo)
- Cubicles (Demo)
Track 1 previously unreleased
Tracks 2-3 from I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (Eyeball, 2002)
Tracks 4-7 from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (Reprise, 2004)
Tracks 8-12 from The Black Parade (Reprise, 2006)
Tracks 13-16 from Danger Days: The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys (Reprise, 2010)
Tracks 17-19 from "The Attic Demos" - previously unreleased
Disc 2: Promo videos DVD (* indicates previously unreleased content)
- I'm Not OK (I Promise) (Version 1)
- I'm Not OK (I Promise) (Version 2)
- Helena
- The Ghost of You
- Welcome to the Black Parade
- Famous Last Words
- I Don't Love You
- Teenagers
- Blood *
- Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)/Art is a Weapon (with Intro*)
- SING
- Planetary (GO!)
AlexKx says
Yes! This is great news! Ow! I wish that they had done new songs instead but this may be very interesting! I also wish that they had included the live performance that they did with Brian May! Oh well! I'm sure I'll be getting this! The title is great and the cover is too! Ow!