If you think about it, My Chemical Romance really don’t have a bad song. Throughout their time together, the band’s mix of emotionally intense theatricality, darkened hooks, and epic storytelling hasn’t produced a weak spot in their catalog. As with any band, though, there are always a handful of tracks that don’t get their moment in the sun. With the emo vets announcing the expanded version of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge last week, we asked our readers to tell us the most underrated My Chemical Romance songs. Their answers were diverse, throwing it back to their Bullets era and picking out dusty B-sides. Find the top fan picks ranked below.
Read more: Read AltPress’ first interview with Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance
5. “Early Sunsets Over Monroeville”
Compared to the rest of I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, “Early Sunsets Over Monroeville” is often overlooked. Spinning a tale of lovers torn apart by a zombie apocalypse, this early 2000s cut pays tribute to Dawn of the Dead. Its name even commemorates the town director George A. Romero visited to film the 1978 movie’s unforgettable mall scenes. There’s an incredible rawness to MCR’s first album, but this sullen ballad proved that they could extend themselves beyond the screams.
4. “Boy Division”
Following 2010’s Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and The Mad Gear and Missile Kid EP, MCR released a series of five double singles. Clearly they started strong because our readers overwhelmingly said that “Boy Division,” the song that leads off the 2013 compilation, was underrated. Though the cut can get lost in the shuffle of their studio albums, “Boy Division” captures their emo-punk fire. Gerard’s vocal delivery, in particular, is simply ferocious, delivering blasts like, “I bought my enemies ropes to hang me and the knives to gang me/You can watch them stab me on your television.” Give it another spin and tell us that it’s not criminally underrated.
3. “Desert Song”
Over a decade ago, Gerard posted that “Desert Song” should’ve ended Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. Whether or not fans agree has only strengthened its lore through the years. After all, Three Cheers contains banger after banger, and it’s hard to imagine its tracklist any other way. Still, there’s an undeniable power to “Desert Song,” lacking none of the theatricality that makes their music so evocative (“Did you come to stare or wash away the blood?”). Fans have said “Desert Song” is best seen as an epilogue to their sophomore LP, but that doesn’t make it any less underrated.
2. “Cemetery Drive”
Like we said above, there’s not a weak song on Three Cheers. That said, our readers felt that “Cemetery Drive” doesn’t get the attention it deserves. There’s much darkness to the song, unraveling the story of a woman who’s been having an affair and chooses to take her own life, rather than admit her own fault. It’s a perfect fit with the album’s bloody storyline, bubbling with dark romance and inevitable tragedy that demonstrate the band’s storytelling chops. They don’t even need to play “Cemetery Drive” at its fullest to show its true power, pulling off an a cappella version during one of their reunion tour dates in 2023.
1. “Heaven Help Us”
You can’t be totally surprised by this result, right? The Black Parade remains a complex, all-consuming concept album that references their love of Queen and Pink Floyd, so there aren’t too many songs that don’t get their moment. That means its B-sides were bound to be overlooked. One of those, “Heaven Help Us,” is a cry for help to a higher place, ringing out with emotional depth and divine storytelling. We imagine leaving this song on the cutting room floor was tough, but at least it got a chance to be heard.