10 Great Rock Songs Inspired By Death

The entire concept of My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade isn't really for the faint of heart. Since this is a concept record, you're kept in that bleak sonic space through the whole record, as the Patient comes to grips with the fact that he doesn't have long for this world and is looking death square in the face. He isn't the nicest of characters, but anyone with a pulse is going to relate to something like Cancer.

After lashing out at all of his immediate loved ones on the first half of the record, this is where all of the rage and frustration stops and all we're left with is pure emotion, as a piano smooths things over. The whole thing almost feels like some sort of deranged Beatles song, until Gerard Way starts asking the nurses in the room to gather everything that he needs before he passes away, asking to be buried in all of his favorite colors and regretting that he will never have time to be married.

The real gut punch comes in the chorus though, where he talks to the rest of his family and saying that the hardest part of this whole experience is leaving everyone he loves behind. As much as he might have tried to push them away throughout this entire record, it's comforting to know that the guy still has a heart when he's at death's door. If anything, this song is just a nice palette cleanser and a reminder of one thing: cancer f***ing sucks.