My Chemical Romance Fans Serenade The Daily Mail

anthonyjmiccio | June 2, 2008 11:30 am
Despite the Daily Mail‘s claims that its reportage on the “emo suicide cult” was “balanced, restrained, and above all, in the public interest,” a small herd of darkly dressed teenagers jumped around and sang My Chemical Romance in a creepy “We love you, Conrad” unison within shouting distance of the paper’s offices on Saturday. A group wearing V For Vendetta masks can be seen, and I’d like to believe that they were the members of My Chemical Romance themselves, watching over their vulnerable flock and debating whether or not to call for their throngs of fans to kill themselves as proof of their devotion to the Black Parade.

The Daily Mail has called the New Jersey-based band one of the foremost of the “suicide cult” groups forming part of the “emo” phenomenon. The paper described “emo” as a teenage trend that started in the US in the 1980s and was “characterised by depression, self-injury and suicide”. Its followers, the tabloid said, wore tight jeans, studded belts and wristbands and had dyed-black hair and long fringes obscuring their faces.

The atmosphere at the protest was more carnival fairground than riot, with fans clutching balloons and soft toys and singing My Chemical Romance songs loudly and passionately – but not always tunefully. Lyrics included “teenagers scare the living shit out of me” and “I’m not afraid to keep on living”.

The overwhelming majority of the crowd were young girls, bouncing with energy and shrieking with laughter as they rushed over to hug their friends or chanted: “Don’t blame MCR!”

…One of the few boys to attend today’s protest, Craig Goodwin, 17, from Upminster in Essex, said he was there with the blessing of his parents.

“They didn’t mind – my dad used to do protests because he was a rocker back when it was mods and rockers, and my mum liked My Chemical Romance, so she didn’t care, either,” he said.

Here’s hoping this protest will have made the Daily Mail realize that no one cares.

My Chemical Romance Protest at Marble Arch [YouTube]