SO LONG AND GOODNIGHT MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

I actually can't believe that I am writing this post to you all, because only months ago I was writing about Conventional Weapons and what I thought the new album would sound like.

But I'm truly heartbroken to say that last night My Chemical Romance officially announced their split.

I don't think many people saw it coming, I for one was convinced their fifth album was just waiting round the corner because following on from previous MCR logic, their new album should have been ready for release in 2014. I was so excited to hear what direction the album would take, where it would go and to finally get the opportunity to see my heroes live, in the flesh, right before my eyes.

So to think that we are never going to hear new music from them or ever get the opportunity to see them live again is a fact I just can't seem to get my head around.

I'm used to bands splitting it up, it's just something that happens and you don't really feel sad because you never had that much of an attachment to them. Yet with My Chemical Romance, I for one had and do have a  huge attachment to them, as do many millions of fans across the world. 

Heading into their twelfth year as global superstars, MCR have managed to touch the hearts of so many people worldwide with a type of music that I would label 'life saving', because that's exactly what it did and will continue to do: save lives. 

Magazines, record labels, Billboard and Top 40 charts, they all chart MCR's success on the amount of albums and singles sold, the quality and production of the music, and if we're going purely on those statistics alone, then My Chemical Romance must have seemed like a dream because they were phenomenally successful, right back from when 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge' took off, through to the epic release that was 'The Black Parade' and its successor 'Danger Days'. 

Yet to a fan like you or me, we don't just value MCR for the amount of records they sold or their success on the weekly charts, no, because even if their record sold just 10,000 copies, we would still value them just the same and that is because of the music they made and the messages it held.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you just can't  measure My Chemical Romance's success on the number of records sold, because they aren't a band that works like that.

No, if you're going to measure MCR's success, you measure it with the amount of lives they've saved, the hearts they've touched, the phenomenal impact they've had on millions upon millions of people worldwide, all because of the music they've made.

It's not about earning money, it's about saving lives, and that's what this band has always, always done.

To me personally, MCR will always have a special place in my heart and I will always be grateful to them because their music helped to save me. I'm going to tell you why, and I have never written on here about this before, but I think that now it's the right time.

So when I was fifteen, I went through quite a low, dark period and I don't look back on this part of my life very fondly because truth was I was drowning and I couldn't quite save myself.

Now I'm not saying this to gain sympathy, because I know people had it so much worse than  me, but this was the period of my life was when I faced my battles and demons, and to this day I believe that I only managed to do it because of MCR.

In my time of need I turned to 'The Black Parade' album in particular and I would play it whenever the thoughts in my head became too harsh, mean, hard to bear. 

I would drown out the world around me, filling my ears with the sound of Gerard Way singing to me, telling me to carry on, don't be afraid to walk alone, stay strong, and the loneliness and sadness would fade a little, to be replaced by a strength that made me feel like I could carry on, I could do this.

Even though it felt like no-one was on my side and that no-one understood what I was going through, in My Chemical Romance I had found a group of people who did understand and who were there for me  whenever I needed someone.

I know at the end of the day it's just music, but then again, can it really be just music when the affect it has is so powerful, positive,momentous, life saving? 

When life was a daily struggle for me, My Chemical Romance were there when no-one else was and I would go to school with 'We'll carry on' written on my hand, a constant reminder to myself that I could get through this day, this darkness, this struggle, and I did manage it in the end. 

And it's all because of My Chemical Romance. 

Now this is just my story, just one story in a collection of millions of others, and if you're a fan of MCR, chances are you went through something like me, a period of darkness or struggle, and this band was and maybe still is your coping mechanism, the only reason your still standing and getting through each and every day. 

Gerard and the boys can sing and create music so true because they've experienced that darkness too.

As fans we can relate to that honesty, we appreciate that honesty, and in MCR we see four people who went through that darkness and made it out again, into the light. 

And even though they may not be a band anymore, their music will always remain, there to be listened to whenever we need it, and I can take comfort from that.
I still find myself turning to it now, when things are becoming a little too much, and I truly hope that MCR's music will continue and help to save millions of other people who just need to know that somewhere in this crazy, messed up world, someone understands, someone is there for them, someone cares,

My Chemical Romance have created a legacy, they've broken a fiercely avoided taboo, they've made music that will save lives in a way doctors and therapists could never do.
Look what they've managed to achieve in those twelve years.

And even if the sun is setting for now, I hope that one day it will rise again and for now, like Gerard has said, we should be proud, not sad, and so for now, all I can say is

LONG LIVE MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE.

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING.