Handlebars

This is an amazing song. I first heard it on music.is.life and I fell in love. This hip hop/rap style of music doesn't usually interest me, but this lyrics and feeling and meaning behind them is just stunning. It's about ambition and changing and growing with the world's technology and how the competition to be better than anyone else can put you in a place with too much power and no guidance. How ambition and lack of gratitude and humility can pull you in the wrong direction. And the way the singer executes this song is shocking. He has every emotion down to where you feel exactly what he's saying without screaming or cursing or losing complete control. I also must admit that that is one of the first trumpet players I've heard to play a piece with such conviction. It's a wonderful modern touch to this very modern-world related song. My skin tingles and my heart races every time I listen to this song because it's so incredibly powerful. The video is great and really explains the competition between him and his friend and him being thrown into a world with so much power and he goes crazy. And how things really get out of hand. Watch.

Handlebars


Hanlebars- Flobots

I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars, no handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars, no handlebars

Look at me, look at me
Hands in the air like it's good to be
Alive, and I'm a famous rapper
Even when the paths're all crooked-y
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want 'cause, look

I can keep rhythm with no metronome, no metronome, no metronome
I can see your face on the telephone, on the telephone, on the telephone

Look at me, look at me
Just called to say that it's good to be
Alive, in such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money, open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine, sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers, shakers, and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance

I can lead a nation with a microphone, with a microphone, with a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule, of a molecule, of a molecule

Look at me, look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global, my tower secure
My cause is noble, my power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let 'em all die in exasperation
Have 'em all healed of their lacerations
Have 'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like 'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command

I can guide a missile by satellite, by satellite, by satellite
And I can hit a target through a telescope, through a telescope, through a telescope
And I can end the planet in a holocaust, in a holocaust, in a holocaust ...

I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars, no handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars, no handlebars

Life On The Murder Scene

Well since I just did an album review on Revenge I decided to do an album review of it's live version. This live CD/DVD album includes live performances, online performances, TV appearences and videos. I give you.... Life On The Murder Scene!

CD TRACKS:
[#= live from MTV2 2$ Bill, >= live from Sessions@AOL, *=demo]

1. #"Thank You For The Venom"

2. #"Cemetery Drive"

3. #"Give 'Em Hell Kid"

4. "Headfirst For Halos" (live at the Starland Ballroom)

5. >"Helena"
6. >"You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison"

7. >"The Ghost Of You"

8. >"I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"

9. *"I Never Told You What I Do For A Living"

10. *"Bury Me In Black"

11. "Desert Song" (previously unreleased)

DVD 1:

Video Diary

DVD 2:

~Live Performances

1. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"

2. "Cemetery Drive"

3. "Our Lady Of Sorrows"

4. "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Two Of Us"

5. "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison"

6. "Headfirst For Halos"

7. "The Ghost Of You"

8. "Thank You For The Venom"

9. "Give 'Em Hell Kid"

10. "Vampires Will Never Hurt You"

11. "Helena"

~TV Appearances

1. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" (from Late Night with Conan O'Brien)

2. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" (live from Discover and Download)

~Online Performances

1. "Helena" (live from Sessions@AOL)

2. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" (live from Sessions@AOL)

3. "The Ghost Of You" (live from Sessions@AOL)

4. "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison" (live from Sessions@AOL)

5. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" (live from Launch

6. "Helena" (live from Launch)

~Videos

1. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" (version 1)
2. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" (version 2)

3. The making of "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"

4. "Helena"

5. The making of "Helena"

6. "The Ghost Of You"

7. The making of "The Ghost Of You"

Okay, one thing at a time. First, I rated the songs in previous reviews so check them out. Desert Song I rate 5 stars because it's a gorgeous song. It gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.

Next is the video diary which is full of interviews and footage of My Chem and the people who have met and worked with them. It reminded me of why I love them so much and it just inspired me all over again. I see their lives as a tragic love story between music and life and in the end they just can't be torn apart. How they've risen from who they used to be in music and in life is just beautiful.

The live performances of MCR are great. They are incredibly emotional and incredibly energetic. Frank has an AMAZING amount of energy, it's great how into his music he is. Which brings us to their live TV performance where Frank tried playing while standing on Bob's drum set and fell off bringing half the set with him.

I really enjoyed the online performances from Sessions@AOL because Gerard uses his amazing vocals as if in a studio combined with the energy and improv he has during live performances (and, luckily, Bob was able to play his full drum set through all the songs). It's also easier to see the emotion in his face with camera close ups, etc. (Launch was kind of like a live performances except they looked a little worn out)

I love the video for I'm Not Okay!It was really interesting to see the meaning behind everything they did and also interesting because that was the first thing Bob did with MCR even before he did a concert. He had two days of rehearsal and then he did the video.

I also love Helena and I loved how most of the people who did the video were already MCR fans.

The Ghost Of You made me cry the first time I saw it. Great video, I love all of the vids for Revenge.

CD and DVD together, I rate this album 5 stars. Long Live MCR!

Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge

Hi everybody, it's MCR time again. This time I'm reviewing their second album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge.

TRACKS:
[~=singles *=videos]

1. ~*"Helena"-*****
2. "Give 'Em Hell Kid"-*****
3. "To The End"-*****
4. "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison"-*****
5. ~*"I'm Not Okay"-*****
6. ~*"The Ghost Of You"-*****
7. "The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You"-****
8. "Interlude"-**
9. ~"Thank You For The Venom"-*****
10. "Hang 'Em High"-****
11. "It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's A Deathwish"-***
12. "Cemetery Drive"-*****
13. "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living"-*****
14. "Bury Me In Black" (Japanese version bonus track; demo)

This album is probably my favorite album by My Chem(this album was not on Eyeball Records, but was made after the band signed to Reprise Records, to which they are still signed to today). I really appreciate the fact that the songs have to do with prison and war and high school and that they really connect with the fans. I'm Not Okay was the first song that really touched me and really made me a fan. Along with this album was their new look. Along with that came Marilyn Manson's attack on Gerard Way for imitating his make up. There was controversy that MM's song Imitation Is The Most Sincere Form Of Flattery was written as an attack on My Chem, but was denied by Manson saying it was about bands in general attempting to imitate him.

This album also brought along with it their first three videos. I will be doing reviews of them along with my review of Life On The Murder Scene. This band has grown a lot in two albums and I was (and am) really proud of them. All in all, I rate this album 5 stars.

I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love

Greetings from N.C.! I decided that since it is My Chem Month and today is the anniversary for their debut album, it's time for.... A debut album review!!! (I know I'm so freaking clever, right? I bet you didn't even see that coming) So, here I am to present to you I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love!

TRACKS:
[~=single +=not written by MCR]

1. +"Romance"-*****
2. ~"Honey This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Two Of Us"-*****
3. ~"Vampires Will Never Hurt You"-*****
4. "Drowning Lessons"-***
5. ~"Our Lady Of Sorrows"-*****
6. ~"Headfirst For Halos"-*****
7. "Skylines And Turnstiles"-****1/2
8. "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville"-****
9. "This Is The Best Day Ever"-***1/2
10. "Cubicles"-***1/2
11. "Demolition Lovers"-*****

So, this album was released on July 23, 2002 at the start of MCR's career (they were, at the time, signed to Eyeball Records). I rate this album an over all of 4 stars. I really like this album because it shows how much this band has improved, but also gives this pure emotion of how crappy their lives were during the time of this album and the songs have a lot of meaning to them. I love how the album starts off with a soft and quite beautiful guitar part in Romance and then leads into This Mirror Isn't Big Enough with the electric guitar. Headfirst For Halos started out as a joke about Frank getting high, but ended up being a really great song. Skylines And Turnstiles was the first song ever written by MCR about Gerard witnessing 9/11 from a ferry. All in all, this is a great album with a lot of struggles, victories and history behind it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE!

Today is My Chemical Romance's birthday! 6 years ago today their first full-length album, I Brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love, was released. The current members of the band are Gerard Way (vocals), Mikey Way (bass), Ray Toro (guitar, backing vocals), Frank Iero (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) and Bob Bryar (drums). They have 3 full length albums- I brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and The Black Parade- and 2 live CD/DVD albums- Life On The Murder Scene and The Black Parade Is Dead! This month I will be doing song and album reviews by MCR so stay in touch!

The Band Site

Info On My Chem

My Opinion- Gerard Way

Inspiring Stories Inspired By Yours Truly

Ray's B'day!

Raymond Maneul Toro-Oritz just turned 31 today (he's the same age as Gerard!). He was born in New Jersey and is now the guitarist for My Chemical Romance.

Canada, eh!

Summary of Canada