10 Years, 10 Days: MCRmy

Today I’m going to talk about the MCRmy – but before I do, I want to make one thing clear: being a Killjoy does not make you any better than anyone else. If I meet you and you’re wearing merch, I’ll probably be more inclined to think you’re a nice/smart/creative person, because as a whole, the MCRmy is full of very nice/smart/creative people. But liking, or loving, MCR does not give you immunity to arsehole-ness. So please do not act as though you’re a ‘better fan’ because you’ve done a meet and greet, or a ‘stronger’ one because you’ve loved them for a few years longer than some of us, or think they saved your life. There is no Killjoy scale.

One of my favourite things about this fan base is that we’ll stand up for the band when we need to (see yesterday’s post) and we’ll be there for everyone in the MCRmy when we need to (see Monday’s post) but we aren’t permanently about the big gestures. We like to show off our nice, smart and creative sides.

Sister Wives of the MCRmy

The Chemical Wxypublic

Dry wit aside, we are a forced to be reckoned with when we’re pissed. Pedicone got death threats for stealing. I’m betting a few of us won’t go near The Daily Mail with a bargepole. If someone calls us an emo fag on Facebook or YouTube, someone will reply. If someone calls one of the band an emo fag, a lot of us will reply. If one of us has something to say about the rest of us, we’ll say it.

Lots of Killjoys credit MCR for their social lives, confidence and generally-happier-than-they-were-before-listening mentality. The MCRmy exists because MCR does, MCR does because we do. Thus, we care for My Chem and will, at the end of the day, fight tooth and nail for and because of it. You don’t see that kind of devotion, loyalty or love in a lot of marriages. Never underappreciate the power of a fan base. They tend to unite people in a way that geography, race and religion never will. Please never underestimate or take that for granted.

However, Killjoys aren’t an extension of My Chemical Romance, we’re a part of it. No one person owns the band or has any control over it… The guys write the music, do the press and play the shows; we’re their ambassadors. When we wear our gear in public, people look at us and think ‘My Chemical Romance’. I’m about to sound like my headteacher on a school uniform rant, but the way we act does reflect on, and influence public opinion of, the band. So by all means stage a ‘who can get the most weird looks dressed like Frank’ contest in your high street, or a ‘spot the MCR doppelgänger’ competition. Host a Killjoy meetup, loudly discuss the deeper lyrical meaning of FTWWW in Tesco or have a passionate ‘my favourite band’s better than yours’ debate with a Bieber fan in HMV… But please remember that if you act like an inconsiderate airhead, people are going to assume we’re all inconsiderate airheads.

The kids in the MCRmy don’t judge each other, but other people judge us. So if you’re going to wear your Mikey Fuckin Way t-shirt at school and bitch about being told off, please do so quietly. Same with being asked to turn Teenagers down, to stop discussing Ray’s fro in maths, to give that motherfuckingbandabreakforoneminute, please. We know we’re the best fan base around, but the rest of the world hasn’t caught on yet. Have patience, every album explodes a little more than the last, that’s how we get new fans… And if everyone loved My Chem like we do, let’s face it, we’d be bored as hell. There’s nothing like a ‘you’re an ignorant shit for assuming I’m a stereotype that doesn’t even mean anything anymore’ rant. See all my previous blogs for examples of these; getting indignant over opinions is how this site has come into existence (and we all know it’s totally brilliant and can’t imagine the world without it).

So if anyone reading this is still under the impression that we all wear black, slit our wrists and spend our days writing ‘Mrs. Gerard Way’ over our notebooks, discussing how much we hate the Killjoy in the year above, please go and test your computer. There seems to be a malfunction; this blog hasn’t loaded properly. Anyone who calls themself an MCR fan and does the above is probably an MCR fan… But they’ve missed the point, so they aren’t in the MCRmy.