Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (often referred to as simply Danger Days) is the fourth studio album by the American rock band My Chemical Romance, released on November 22, 2010 by Reprise Records. Its songs are associated with the band's well known sound of alternative rock, pop-punk, and punk rock, along with an introduction of new musical elements, including power pop, pop rock, and electronic rock. The primary musical inspiration for the album came from contemporary rock, psychedelic rock, and protopunk bands of the sixties and seventies. It was the penultimate album released by the band before their six-year disbandment from 2013 to 2019.
This article is about the album by My Chemical Romance. For the comic book series by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, see The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
Like the band's previous album The Black Parade, Danger Days is a rock opera. The album's storyline takes place in post-apocalyptic California in 2019, where a group of rebellious outsiders known as Killjoys battle against an evil corporation. In 2013, frontman Gerard Way published a comic that continues the story described in the album.
To promote the album, the band embarked on a world tour, titled The World Contamination Tour. It lasted from October 2010 to February 2012, and included concerts in Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania; the band also co-headlined the 10th Annual Honda Civic Tour with Blink-182. Danger Days received generally positive reviews from critics and sold 112,000 copies in its first week, debuting at the top of the Billboard Rock Albums and Alternative Albums charts, and at number 8 on the Billboard 200.[10] It also appeared in the music charts in several other countries. By February 2011, Danger Days had sold over a million copies worldwide.[11]
Background[edit]
Following the grueling but highly successful tour for The Black Parade, My Chemical Romance entered the studio with producer Brendan O'Brien to produce the band's next album. The band, exhausted with the touring for The Black Parade and its dark tone, wanted to make a conscious break with the sound of that album, and take a more fun, stripped-down approach with "no concepts, no characters, no costumes, and no extra instrumentation". However, the band became unhappy with the final results of their recordings with O'Brien; while they felt as though they had achieved their goals, they also felt that they were holding themselves back creatively. As a result, My Chemical Romance decided to shelve the album in early 2010, a move that the band's label, Reprise Records, was supportive of.[12][13] The sessions with Brendan O'Brien were eventually released in 2012 under the name Conventional Weapons.
After shelving the record, the band returned back to the studio with The Black Parade producer Rob Cavallo, who helped reinvigorate and guide the band back on track. Four songs from the band's shelved album, "Bulletproof Heart", "The Only Hope for Me Is You", "Save Yourself" "Party Poison" were brought back and re-recorded for the album.[12] The track "Black Dragon Fighting Society" was re-recorded for the accompanying Mad Gear EP.
Composition and lyrical themes[edit]
Danger Days is the band's third rock opera, after their previous album The Black Parade. The story is based around the fictional lives of the "Killjoys", a group of rebellious rogues living in a post-apocalyptic California in the year 2019. Occasionally narrated by pirate radio DJ Dr. Death Defying (voiced by Steve Montano[14]), the album follows the group as they fight against the evil corporation Better Living Industries (BL/ind.) and its various "Draculoids" and exterminators, such as Korse (portrayed by Grant Morrison in music videos), from the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W Unit.[15]
In music videos and promotional material, the band members would portray their "Killjoy" alter-egos: "Party Poison" (Gerard Way), "Jet-Star" (Ray Toro), "Fun Ghoul" (Frank Iero), and "The Kobra Kid" (Mikey Way).[7] The music video for "Na Na Na" shows the Killjoys' daily lives until Korse defeats them and captures "The Girl," while the video for "Sing" shows the Killjoys' rescue mission to get her back.
When asked about the album's title in a November 2010 interview, frontman Gerard Way said that "Danger Days is what it takes to do something great. It refers to us, to the fans, for all we know and artists who helped shape the album". Rolling Stone calls Danger Days a total rejection of the rock infladísimo celebrity. "Na Na Na" presents criticism of consumerist culture of the United States. The band described the main theme of "SING" as "subversion, and to delve under the skin of certain individuals politically, socially, and also to reach national television to talk about how we feel about the world." Toro calls "S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W" a psychedelic song that "shows the artistic side of the band," and was heavily inspired by songs like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles. The final track, "Vampire Money," was a reaction to the band being asked to do a song for The Twilight Saga. Gerard Way said that the reason the song was on the album was because "there's a lot of people chasing that fucking money. 'Twilight?' A lot of people around us were like, 'Please, for the love of God, do this fucking movie.' But we'd moved on."[16]