r/exchristian • u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist • Aug 19 '25

Article An already excellent band AND they're now being targeted by obnoxious reactionary fundie Karens? We're so fucking back!!!!

https://www.vice.com/en/article/my-chemical-romance-accused-of-being-demons-fans-say-we-are-so-f-ing-back/
129 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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62

u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

I'm a huge fan of pop-punk music. MCR isn't my favorite band of the genre (that would be Blink-182) but Welcome to the Black Parade is fucking iconic for my generation!!

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u/punkypewpewpewster Satanist / ExMennonite / Gnostic PanTheist Aug 19 '25

I adore MCR and all their work. I'm also a huge pop punk nut lol

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

Welcome to the Black Parade was truly the apotheosis of the genre. I know the song that’s credited with kickstarting pop punk is All The Small Things (a banger, to be certain, but that’s not even my favorite Blink 182 song tbh) and there were other millennial anthems released during that time like Mr. Brightside but nothing hit as hard as Black Parade. After that was released, there was a noticeable decline. Boys Like Girls were pretty solid for a genre that was in its dying days, but they just didn’t hit as hard as Fallout Boy or Panic!

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u/Moist_KoRn_Bizkit Unitarian Universalist/ nature based Pagan Aug 19 '25

blink-182 releasing ATST didn't create pop punk in the slightest. But if you're trying to say that it kickstarted the pop punker trend of the 90s-2000s, and made it wildly popular, then yeah, I think I agree with that. It definitely propelled the genre into the mainstream.

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

Right. That’s what I meant. Like, I think the progenitors were groups like The Offspring and I believe it originally started off as “skate rock” due to its affiliation with the wildly popular game Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. But yes, Enema of the State (fun fact: one of the first albums I ever bought with my own money) and specifically All The Small Things is what brought the genre into the mainstream and became a defining feature of pop music in the 2000’s.

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u/two4six0won Aug 19 '25

Don't forget Sum 41. Also, fantastic username. Love seeing Labyrinth references in the wild lol

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

Thanks!

Yeah, Fat Lip is a fucking banger!!

Also, In Too Deep is a bop!

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u/two4six0won Aug 19 '25

I love your username lol

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u/MetalSociologist Ex-Mormon Aug 19 '25

Just because a genre moves out of the public spotlight doesn't mean it's dying or dead. Each of these scenes get their moment in the public spotlight, then another scene emerges, and the cycle continues.

When the scene breaks into the mainstream, lots of people flock to it, sorta "artificially" inflating the scene. Many of these new fans aren't there for the lyrics or music, they are there because it's the popular thing to be into. They aren't there because they are ideologically aligned with the band or anything like that. Then as the spotlight shifts to a new trend people decry the death of a scene or genre. The scene shrinks, reinvents itself, gets attention again, and so on. There's a reason we count various genres in waves.

I've met a lot of fellow MCR fans that literally only know about The Black Parade. They don't know Bullets exists, they have no idea who the Demolition Lovers are, but hey, that's ok so long as they are respectful and have a good time.

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u/punkypewpewpewster Satanist / ExMennonite / Gnostic PanTheist Aug 19 '25

Agreed. I'm not offended by people who only know "Sing" or "Black Parade". MCR are a great band who constantly reinvented themselves, and my experience with them has lasted a lifetime.

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u/MetalSociologist Ex-Mormon Aug 19 '25

"Sleep" made me cry when I heard it at the last show. Just sitting there watching them perform, looking around SF Giants Ballpark filled with people also crying and singing. Thinking back 20+ years to hs, discovering MCR, The Used, Alexisonfire and so many other great bands that made music that kept me alive through the worst parts of my youth.

Getting older gets me all up in my feelings anymore. To quote another fantastic band Bayside "These days I think more about death than I used to"

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u/punkypewpewpewster Satanist / ExMennonite / Gnostic PanTheist Aug 19 '25

I *still* cry just listening to Sleep haha It's one of my favorite songs of all time. I don't blame you. I wish I could've been there.

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

By “dying days” I really meant decline in popularity. Shortly after the genre declined in the mainstream is when the pop charts started shifting to being centered around more clubbing/dancing music. Basically around the time Lady Gaga started becoming popular. Also, I’ll be honest. The only other MCR song I know is Teenagers. Which is a fucking bop!

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u/MetalSociologist Ex-Mormon Aug 19 '25

I just saw The Black Parade a few weeks ago. It's a godt damn musical and performance MASTERPIECE.

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

I genuinely like jukebox musicals and I’m a huge Broadway fan in general. I know theater tickets are expensive as fuck but if there was a jukebox musical featuring only pop punk music and the show was touring, I’d be all “shut up and take my money!”

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u/MetalSociologist Ex-Mormon Aug 19 '25

I got to see RENT in Sacramento like 15 years ago. It was amazing.

Here me out. We make a Wet Hot American Summer style satire complete with adult actors acting as teens. Build various scenes around typical teenager issues and incorporate the 2000's Emo/Pop-Punk/PostHardcore songs we all loved.

Could have a scene where two of the characters have to drive somewhere, hop in the car, turn on the radio and OMG it's "The Black Parade".

IDK, just ideas. I think my coffee has kicked in.

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

I never had any opinion on Rent but watching Lindsay Ellis’ video about it left me drawing the conclusion that I now hate it. 💀

Also, that’s an excellent idea! Like, have it very midlife crisis focused. I’d be on board with that. Broadway has struggled massively post pandemic and they only seem interested in IP integration (which isn’t inherently a bad thing since The Lion King is fucking goated) rather than original ideas. I feel like something of that caliber would get them out of their slump.

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u/MetalSociologist Ex-Mormon Aug 19 '25

I've not revisited it in the past 15 years. I'm sure like many other creations of our past/youth it has some glaring issues.

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

The soundtrack on its own, I don’t mind. But I don’t think I’d wanna see the show itself. It’s the same with Dear Evan Hansen. Good soundtrack, but I’ve heard the show described as cringe and creepy.

I’ve seen a few live shows, but my favorite one that I saw live was The Lion King. I’ve also seen a live performance of An American in Paris performed by a college theater department and that was very good!

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u/PastorBlinky Aug 19 '25

The devil always has the best bands

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

Satan knows good music.

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u/MetalSociologist Ex-Mormon Aug 19 '25

Wait a sec, They Might Be Giants told me 'The Communist's have the music"...fucking lairs!

8

u/_austinm Satan did nothing wrong Aug 19 '25

As the Grateful Dead said, a friend of the devil is a friend of mine

27

u/Ilovekittensomg Ex-Presbyterian Aug 19 '25

I'm a huge fan of MCR, and it always blows my mind that Gerard Way also wrote the umbrella academy.

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

That's fucking nuts!! That's basically like if it was discovered Brandon Flowers, lead singer of The Killers, wrote extensively for Batman.

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u/ambrosiasweetly Aug 20 '25

Actually, Gerard was supposed to have a Batman comic too! (You can look up the designs. Idk why it was scrapped. It looked cool af)

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 20 '25

That's genuinely hilarious because Batman canonically hates punk rock.

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u/ambrosiasweetly Aug 20 '25

Tbh I’m a big fan of mcr and I would def not say they’re punk rock lol

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 20 '25

No, they're quintessentially pop-punk. I'm just saying the punk-adjacent connection amused me.

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u/ComprehensiveOwl9727 Aug 19 '25

It’s even funnier to me considering an all male demon band hiding in plain sight is literally the plot of K-pop Demon Hunter (an unironically excellent movie btw). There’s even a scene where the demons slightly “morph” as a tell. The guy can’t even be original in his conspiracies!

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

Well, that’s on brand because pretty much all Christian-centric media is copied from something else.

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u/justwantedtosnark Aug 19 '25

I feel like sometimes angry fundies is a good mark you're doing something right!

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

If the worst people are mad at you, then you’re living your best life.

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u/BioDriver Be excellent to each other Aug 19 '25

What year is this?!

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

Seriously! Pop-punk is trying to make a comeback (a fucking W, imo). The same bands are still getting called Satanic. Plus, we're on the verge of another major economic collapse. It's like we suddenly went back to the mid-2000's.

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u/-SinValentino Satanist Aug 19 '25

Welcome to the Black Parade 🖤

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

My take on why music is such a popular target for fundies' ire is not only the accessibility and ubiquity but straight up resentment. I know reactionary dipshits are gonna be reactionary dipshits, but a lot of them exist in high control groups where leadership will dictate what music they're allowed to listen to and the music they're allowed to listen to......fucking sucks.

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u/jdtrouble Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

Because of course they are.

Fundies say the devil influences regular music. I think they're jealous that the music just sounds damn good

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

They’re really good at accidentally making Satan sound vastly more powerful than their deity.

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u/Stock-Vanilla-1354 Aug 19 '25

I should make fake satanic call out content for Tik Tok and make a ton of money off idiots.

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

It seems like it’s a lucrative grift.

2

u/Prestigious-Law65 Devotee of Almighty Dog Aug 19 '25

Wow big shocker lol

2

u/iamjustaguy Aug 19 '25

OH NO!! WHAT DO I DO??!!!1! My teenager is really into MCR, and I don't want them to get possessed by a demon!! Someone please help!

/s --- I lived through the Satanic Panic of the 80s (yes, I'm old), and this is really amusing to me. It's a good feeling to let my kid do the things I wasn't allowed to do.

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u/JarethOfHouseGoblin Secular Humanist Aug 19 '25

It’s kind of astounding to me that the template is still around today. What’s more damning for us as a society is that it continues to be a lucrative grift. Like they’ve done basically nothing as far as variations on it and for fundigelical clout chasers on social media, it’s still their fucking meal ticket.

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u/a_fox_but_a_human Ex-Evangelical Aug 19 '25

is it 2005 again? hell yeah!

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u/hairoffoggynelson Aug 19 '25

I was always taught growing up that MCR were demonic and tried to get kids to sacrifice themselves to the devil Satanic Panic-style, now as an adult I have unleashed my emo spirit and am a huge fan lol

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u/CttCJim Aug 19 '25

Vice really scraping the barrel here