Keep the Faith

Tick Tock

People said you changed, that you weren’t the same passionate artist the fans had come to love. They said you lost the spark in your eyes, the fervency in your song. They blamed the media, the record label, they even blamed your wife. Everybody said she had broken you. You weren’t broken. No, you weren’t broken, not until the fans had the guts to break you themselves.

The fans expected so much from you, too much. You weren’t a superhero, you weren’t a legend. You were just a man with a microphone and a message. You were a human being, just like the rest. And that was your only downfall–you were human, bendable. Breakable.

Fans screamed; they wanted their old band back. “They’ve changed!” the fans would claim through shouts of anger. They wanted their old band back? The old My Chemical Romance–the one plagued by drugs, alcohol, and depression. Is that what they wanted? A train-wreck? That’s what you were, honestly. You were out of control, heading towards a brick wall at full speed. You were a disaster waiting to happen. It was only a matter of time.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

So, you changed.

Yes, you changed. I thank God you changed.

You sobered up, fought through the piles of pills and alcohol. You battled through the depression. You took control of what was so close to being lost.

You changed and they criticized you, accused you, abandoned you. It wasn’t until they abandoned you until you truly broke.

How dare they leave you? How dare they chastise you for bettering yourself?

You had heard it said so many times: “My Chemical Romance saved my life!”

Is this how they repay you? You saved their lives, and they leave you. They fucking turn their backs, like you never meant anything. You saved them, all of them, and yet you aren’t allowed to save yourself? Bull shit, fucking bull shit.

They broke you. They wore you down to nothing, they came so close to ruining you, but you wouldn’t stand for it. Every time they pushed you, every single time they shoved you closer to the edge, you got back up. And for what? For them to just kick you down again?

But even now, as you lie broken and defeated, you continue to play for them. For the few who still believe, the few who still care, you continue to play. And through the roar of the crowd, you can hear a shout, a single plea that means everything to you. Everything you could ever wish to say to them rang clearly through the stadium that night.

“Keep the faith!”

“That’s right,” you screamed in reply. “Keep the faith. Keep the fucking faith!”