Revival of the love affair

NOT SINCE gangsta rap’s heyday had mere musicians whipped the moral majority into such a lather. It was summer 2008 and ‘emo’ rockers My Chemical Romance were coming under uncomfortable scrutiny over their bleak, baroque concept album, The Black Parade.

Seizing on the record’s dark lyrics, British tabloids were linking the band to the suicide of 13-year-old Londoner Hannah Bond. One newspaper went so far as to accuse the Americans of presiding over a “suicide cult”.

Of course, anyone who took the time to actually listen to songs such as This Is How I Disappear and I’m Not Okay could have told you this was nonsense. Far from encouraging kids to wallow in despair, My Chemical Romance were reaching out, letting fans know that, no matter how bad things seemed, they weren’t alone. They weren’t trying to hurt people. They were trying to save them.