On September 11th, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in New York City, New York at 8:46 a.m. Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the same complex. Within the next two hours, both towers fully collapsed, taking the rest of the complex and a portion of the surroundings, (September). Gerard Way, a 24-year-old animation intern, witnessed this tragedy in person while on his way to work at Cartoon Network. 

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The band My Chemical Romance was founded immediately by Gerard Way in the chaotic aftermath of the attacks as Way grappled with how to process such an event. In a 2005 interview about the band and its origins, Way told Spin Magazine, “I literally said to myself, ‘Fuck art. I’ve gotta get out of the basement. I've gotta see the world. I've gotta make a difference,’” (Spin). The band originally consisted of Way himself for vocals, his brother Mikey Way on bass, Ray Toro and Frank Iero as guitarists, and drummer Matt Pelissier. (Encyclopedia Brittanica) They toured for the year preceding their debut album’s release in late 2002: I Brought You My Bullets, I Brought You My Love, featuring songs, “Skylines and Turnstiles” and “Vampires Will Never Hurt You.” Way’s constant processing of trauma and vampires are ever recurring themes in the band’s discography, continually permeating their lyrics, album themes, and stage designs as well.  

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Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, the band’s sophomore album, came out on June 8th, 2004. The album loosely showcases the story of the demolition lovers, a vampiric Bonnie and Clyde, as the demolition man sets out to kill one thousand evil men in a deal with the devil so his ambiguously dead wife may be resurrected. Much of the album’s aesthetic is thick with blood, bisexuality, and betrayal. Despite vampires being so heavily associated with the album, this is the only album of My Chemical Romance’s with no lyrics or song titles referencing vampires.  

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Vampires' existence in pop culture was not just regulated to music in this era. Published from 2005 to 2008, the Twilight saga, written by Stephanie Meyer, is a series of fantasy romance novels following Bella Swan, a teenager stuck in a love triangle between the 104-year-old vampire Edward Cullen and the young werewolf Jacob Black, (“Twilight”). Meyer has never directly stated My Chemical Romance is to blame for Twilight’s existence, but the band and its early aesthetics are nevertheless synonymous with the series. The only song from quoted as having been explicitly associated with Twilight by Meyers is “Famous Last Words” from My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade, as stated in an interview of Meyers with Entertainment Weekly. In a 2007 fan poll on Stephanie Meyer’s website, Gerard Way came 4th in fans’ top choice for Edward Cullen in the movie adaptation of the novel Twilight. Robert Pattinson was instead chosen for the iconic onscreen version of the vampire, with Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner joining him as Bella Swan and Jacob Black in the film adaptations.  

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The pop punk era of music home to My Chemical Romance was a prevalent part of Meyer’s writing playlists for the Twilight saga, and later a part of the film adaptations themselves. Many bands who were icons of the emo space in the early and late 2000s were asked to be on the Twilight soundtrack. Muse was featured in the now infamous baseball scene, their song, “Supermassive Black Hole,” punctuating the slow-mo vampiric all-American game. Paramore contributed the song, “Decode,” with Green Day also contributing their song, “The Forgotten.” My Chemical Romance was among the list of artists asked to be on the soundtrack. 

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My Chemical Romance declined. On their fourth album Danger Days, released in 2010, the closing track titled “Vampire Money,” takes a sharp turn from the story driven songs that preceded it and instead takes the direction of teasing sell outs. It also includes the line “Sparkle like Bowie in the morning sun,” which is likely a reference to Edward’s line, “This is the skin of a killer, Bella,” as he glitters in the sun, not unlike one’s appearance after rolling around in a broken highlighter. While the song is a seemingly middle finger to the Twilight series, no one involved with Twilight has acknowledged the dig, presumably too busy rolling in their own vampire money. 

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50 Shades of Grey is an erotic romance novel by E.L. James published in 2011; the novel was previously published online under the name of “Masters of the Universe” in 2009 as a BDSM Twilight fanfiction. In the official publishing of the novel, Edward was changed to Christian Grey, a wealthy corporate executive, and Bella was changed to Anastasia Steele, a naive college student. In 2015, 50 Shades of Grey was adapted into a feature film, with Dakota Johnson starring as Anastasia and Jamie Dornan starring as Grey, (“Fifty”). 

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In the aftermath of the release of Fifty Shades Freed, the third installment of the 50 Shades series, Dakota Johnson went on the talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. At one point in the interview, Ellen attempts to poke fun at Johnson, commenting that she was not invited to Johnson’s birthday party. Johnson quickly replied, “Actually no, that’s not the truth, Ellen. You were invited,” (Abad-Santos). This simple yet truthful statement began the downfall of Ellen, as many people saw Ellen’s pushy personality shine through in this interview and began to investigate her further. This distrust in Ellen grew enough for her show to be cancelled in 2022, (Roeloffs). 

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Works Cited 

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Abad-Santos, Alex. “‘that’s Not the Truth, Ellen’: How Dakota Johnson Won Her Birthday Feud against Ellen DeGeneres.” Vox, 3 Dec. 2019, www.vox.com/2019/12/2/20991074/dakota-johnson-ellen-birthday-feud. 

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“Fifty Shades of Grey.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 13 Feb. 2015, www.imdb.com/title/tt2322441/. 

 

“My Chemical Romance.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 24 July 2024, www.britannica.com/topic/My-Chemical-Romance. 

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“My Chemical Romance.” Spin, 31 Mar. 2015, web.archive.org/web/20151106195055/www.spin.com/2005/05/my-chemical-romance/. 

 

Roeloffs, Mary Whitfill. “Ellen DeGeneres Cancels Shows around the Country: ‘After My Netflix Special, I’m Done.’” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 11 July 2024, www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/07/10/ellen-degeneres-cancels-shows-around-the-country-after-my-netflix-special-im-done/. 

 

“September 11 Attacks.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 10 Aug. 2024, www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks. 

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“Twilight Saga.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Twilight-Saga.