10 Artists That Changed With One Song

Every mall goth kid who ever got a fringe haircut in the mid ‘00s has My Chemical Romance to thank for their aesthetic. While MCR were far from the first band to pile on the white makeup and sing about spooky things, they were the ones to bring it to the mainstream, with Gerard Way becoming one of the kings of all things emo. Aside from all the fashion though, they were still a rock band, and Helena was their first taste of something a lot more caustic.

Though the band’s debut I Brought You Your Bullets was beautifully rough around the edges, they seemed to grow up incredibly quickly on the next album, making a song that would put any other arena rock band to shame. Though the tone was still pitch black by talking about a couple being broken up by death, the rest of the song is almost influenced by punk in its delivery, from Frank Iero’s harsh guitar stabs to having the whole thing come crashing in on the chorus.

These weren’t just some kids fumbling their way into a hit either, with Ray Toro blossoming out as a guitar player on this record as well, tapping into the bombastic sounds of rock and roll that most of us hadn’t heard on the charts since Queen had split up. Little did we know that MCR hadn’t begun to reach their potential, with each subsequent record getting more conceptual and trying out more sonic soundscapes on records like The Black Parade. My Chemical Romance might have started as a more ramshackle rock band, but Helena is ground zero for their sound.