chemistry

The Black Parade

The Black Parade is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Black Parade rather than just read about it. In short: The Black Parade is the third studio album by the American rock band My Chemical Romance, first released on October 23, 2006, through Reprise Records. A concept album, it is centered on the story of a man suffering from terminal cancer known as "The Patient", as he nears the end of his life.

Key takeaways

The Black Parade belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Black Parade to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Black Parade from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Black Parade is the third studio album by the American rock band My Chemical Romance, first released on October 23, 2006, through Reprise Records. A concept album, it is centered on the story of a man suffering from terminal cancer known as "The Patient", as he nears the end of his life. It has predominantly been considered an emo, alternative rock, pop-punk, hard rock, punk rock, and glam rock record. It was produced by the band alongside Rob Cavallo. Work on The Black Parade began in early 2006, with the band being influenced by the success and expectations of their previous studio album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004); Gerard Way sought to create a concept album as the follow up to Revenge. Recording for The Black Parade took place from April to August 2006, during which, the band secluded themselves in the Paramour Mansion. Due to their self-imposed isolation, the band's members, particularly bassist Mikey Way, faced mental health issues that impacted the album's production and influenced several of its songs. The Black Parade received generally favorable reviews from critics upon release. It debuted at number two on both the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart. It has been certified as 4× platinum in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, platinum in Australia, and gold in Argentina, Chile, and Italy. It was also given the Platinum Europe Award by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The album was supported by four singles: "Welcome to the Black Parade", which was the band's first number-one single in the United Kingdom, "Famous Last Words", "I Don't Love You", and "Teenagers". In support of the album, My Chemical Romance embarked on The Black Parade World Tour from February 2007 to May 2008. In the years since its release, The Black Parade has been revered as one of, if not the most important, album in emo, as well as My Chemical Romance's defining work. The album's popularity ended the dominance of emo pop, and influenced metalcore, pop and hip hop artists, and film soundtracks, as well as alternative culture and fashion. It was reissued as The Black Parade/Living with Ghosts in 2016, in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the album's release. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 361 in its updated list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Background My Chemical Romance released their second studio album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, in 2004. A commercial and critical success, it helped the band become one of the most popular emo acts of the time. After returning home from that album's promotional tour in late 2005, the band became worried about whether or not their success was a "flash-in-the-pan" moment that would solely amount to nothing more than Revenge. They faced a lot of scrutiny, with many wishing the band to fail. The band also believed that their stardom greatly raised the expectations of their future work, with frontman Gerard Way concerned that the band's image would be permanently attached to that album and its themes that were fueled by the band's mental health. When looking on where to begin with their next album, the band started by reviewing and finalizing a series of demos they wrote in a makeshift studio while touring in 2005, which were part of a side project that the band simply referred to as "Revenge part two". These demos would go on to become "Dead!", "Disenchanted", and "I Don't Love You". "Dead!", in particular, was based on the scrutiny and criticism the band faced while touring and written as a statement on defying the expectations of their critics. The ideas behind what inspired the creation of "Dead!" would influence the band's ideas and concepts for their work when they went to the S.I.R. Studios in New York City to begin work on their third album in early 2006.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Black Parade

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Black Parade claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Black Parade before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Black Parade ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Black Parade

In research: The Black Parade appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Black Parade in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Black Parade is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2000s concept albums, 2006 albums, Albums produced by Rob Cavallo, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Black Parade outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Black Parade in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Black Parade means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Black Parade out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Black Parade in simple terms?

Why does The Black Parade matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Black Parade?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Black Parade.