Month: April 2020

Ah, the time has come for the final passion blog post of the year. I had a blast researching my favorite artists and exploring sides of them that I’ve never seen before. I’m glad that I made my mark in showing some bands and artists that deserve way more recognition and appreciation for their music. For the upcoming year I urge all of you readers to challenge your tastes and dive into some music that you know you’ll hate. Because maybe through that experience you’ll actually find something that you really love. We need to open our eyes to all of the opportunities that we’re missing, especially when it comes to music. Keep an open mind and listen to appreciate. And so, to finish off this year I’ll be presenting to you the band Mom Jeans. 9

Mom Jeans is an American rock band that was formed in Berkeley, California in 2014. The band actually formed in the University of California, Berkeley with guitarist Austin Carango and lead singer Eric Butler. Later on two more members joined the group: Bart Thompson (guitar) and Sam Kless (bass). To this date, the band has made 6 EPs and 2 full studio albums with the latest being Puppy Love (2018). Recently the band announced that they are working on a new album which will be titled Sweet Tooth. Their music falls within the genres of pop punk, emo, and indie rock. Butler has commented on this classification and the obligation of being labeled as a certain sound, “Everybody’s really tired of that, especially non-male musicians or musicians of color are tired of being pigeon-holed into whatever genre people are telling them they are just because they sound a certain way or look a certain way.” The band’s sound elicits the same feelings as when listening to The Front Bottoms and Modern Baseball as they share a raw and sappy demeanor in their songs.

Personally, the band’s best creation so far has been their album Best Buds which was released in 2016. It features plenty of amazing songs that make me wish that I could have the chance to listen to them for the first time again. Also, their tracks names are quite entertaining with a few being poor boxer shorts, *sobs quietly*, scott pilgrim V. my GPA, and girl scout cookies. My favorite song off of the album is edward 40hands with its classic catchiness and the perfect amount of sadness. The song kind of sounds like a mash up between a lighthearted song made with friends with one person just singing about their repressed emotions on the track. It’s the perfect mix of jumping guitar riffs, driving drumset, with lyrics depicting a doomed teenage love story.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this tumultuous journey of exploring music with me and I really urge you to find something unusual and fun out there in the music world. Challenge your beliefs and widen your perspective. Music is a great place to start. Thank you! Goodbye!

 

I think that having an emo phase should be a necessary rite of passage into young adulthood. Change my mind. Seriously though, I confess that my so-called “edgy” teen years really opened my eyes to a whole new word of music, culture, crazy fans, etc. I found others that shared the same passion for music as I do as we found solace in the same lyrics. This emotional and quite over the top music established a solid basis for me to grow and explore other music that I initially wouldn’t have been interested in. And so, I’m taking it back to the old days with the band My Chemical Romance…

Honestly, if you google the word “emo music” the first search and images that pop up are of the band My Chemical Romance. Their songs are charged with energy, sadness, angst, relief, and are pretty much a good remedy for whatever you’re feeling. Even though they come with this association of singing about depressing themes or teenage rebellion, their collection of songs is quite impressive and definitely ingrained in time. Although I seemingly poke fun at their music following this stigma of being emo, they have significantly spearheaded the revolution of bringing this genre of music into the mainstream music world. They made a name for themselves in the musical community, and have steadily maintained this throughout the years despite having been broken up for years.

Onto the background, My Chemical Romance is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey that was formed by frontman Gerard Way and drummer Matt Pelissier shortly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. This tragic event was actually the reason why Gerard Way was moved enough to start a band and the song “Skylines and Turnstiles” also documented his emotions about this event. The name of the band was suggested by bass guitarist Mikey Way (younger brother of Gerard) who was working in a Barnes & Noble when he was struck by the title of a book by Irvine Welsh named Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. Later the band added two more members: Frank Iero and Ray Toro and started building its fan base through MySpace before signing with a major label. To this day My Chemical Romance has released four albums with the most recent one being Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010). The band has also experienced some ups and downs as they formally broke up March 22, 2013. However, the band reunited outside of the public eye in 2017 and recently announced a North American tour in 2020. 

By far the most iconic piece of music that this band has created is the album The Black Parade, which follows the story of a dying cancer patient in a rock opera form as he decides to join the “Black Parade.” The album tells the story of his apparent death, experiences in the afterlife, and subsequent reflections on his life. Additionally, the idea for this concept is based on singer Gerard Way’s notion of death appearing to a person in the form of one’s fondest memory, in this case seeing a marching band as a child. There are multiple aspects of this album that could be examined further such as deeper insights into the lyrics, the intricacies of their live performances, and so much more.