Musical style

The band’s music has been described variously by the media as “alternative rock“, “emo“, “pop punk“,^[18] “post-hardcore“^[18] and “punk revival”.^[18] The band themselves described their music as simply “rock” or “violent, dangerous pop” on their official website,^[19] as well as rejecting the term “emo“^[20] to describe their style. Another source quotes Gerard stating they are “What-else-ya-got-emo”.^[2]

My Chemical Romance cite their main influences as Queen, Thursday, Iron Maiden, The Misfits, Pink Floyd,^[21] and Morrissey/The Smiths.^[22] Geoff Rickly, the lead singer of Thursday, has also compared them to Ink & Dagger.^[2] Growing up, they were also very influenced by horror films and comic books, and therefore their music, lyrics, and image all have overt elements of fantasy, storytelling, horror, and theatricality.

Criticism

My Chemical Romance was among the first bands to achieve prominence by offering free downloads through PureVolume^[23] and the social networking site MySpace, where MCR gathered its first few thousand fans.^[24] The band has clearly grown well beyond those initial numbers, expanding their fan base beyond the typical fans of their musical style and direction,^[25] partially helped by the more mainstream sound of their 2004 album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. MCR are sometimes maligned by the “grassroots” fans, for the expanded fan base, due to attracting fans they claim are “dirty great bummers”, after the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Due to the increased amount of new fans, some of the old fanbase considers the band a “sellout” and the new MCR fans “poseurs“. The fans are particularly vocal on online forums.^[26][27]

My Chemical Romance has also been criticized musically. The British indie rock band Kasabian labeled the band “clowns” and “emo kids” who “don’t have anything positive to say” and “should get out more and try and have a good time instead.”^[28] My Chemical Romance played the main stage at the 2006 Reading and Leeds Festival—this was the largest show they have ever played in the UK. According to issue 221 of Alternative Press, they followed thrash metal band Slayer and were not received warmly by the crowd at Reading, as the band was subjected to heavy bottling. Large sections of the audience threw bacon, tangerines, golf balls, and bottles filled with urine at the group as they played.^[29]