So Long to My Chemical Romance

On Friday March 22nd, a message comprised of six sentences appeared on the website of New Jersey rockers, My Chemical Romance. Within that message there was one line that shocked the entire fanbase: "And now, like all great things, it has come time for it to end."

It's been three weeks since the band announced their decision to call it quits, and although some fans still don't want to believe that it's over forever, the former lead singer Gerard Way has been interacting with fans through his own personal Twitter account as well as setting up a P.O. box for fans all over the world to send in letters for him. A condition of this was that he wouldn't pass anything on to any of the other former members of the band. Fair enough, in hindsight, as he's already been tweeting pictures of box upon box of letters that have been sent to his P.O. box. Whether he underestimated the dedication of the fans to the band in general or not, he was clearly not expecting the sheer volume that he has received, and no doubt there'll be more where they came from.

While Frank Iero, former rhythm guitarist of the band, has already jumped back into the music scene with James Dewees, who was on the keyboard for the band, with their new electronic-hardcore group Death Spells, who are already on tour with Mindless Self Indulgence, it seems that the other members of the band have just settled back into normal life with their families. And they deserve nothing less after the 12 years they gave of their lives to the band that changed many people's lives, including mine.

Thankfully, they didn't leave fans empty-handed from the split as they released their previously scrapped album that was scheduled to be released in 2010 only to be replaced with Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. Titled Conventional Weapons, two songs were released each month starting from October 2012 and ending February 2013, a month before the split was announced. And that's not all, fans are also left with the four studio albums that they released during their time as the band as well as 2006's Life on the Murder Scene and 2008's The Black Parade is Dead!, the two CD/DVDs released following their 2004 album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and the followup album The Black Parade, released in late 2006.

Many might mourn the loss of their most beloved band, and that's perfectly acceptable, but now that period has passed and it's time to relish in the memories fans will treasure of the band, from the early Bullets era right the way through to the time of the Killjoys. My Chemical Romance might be retired as of present, but it's safe to say their impact on the rock music scene isn't one likely to be forgotten in a hurry. After all, no one can overlook their last recorded song, "Every Snowflake Is Different (Just Like You)", which they performed on the children's programme Yo Gabba Gabba!

And you never know, they could always "do a Fall Out Boy", as some fans kindly put it, some day in the future.