#FOUNDATIONAL albums

[thetenthsunrise]

okay yes, III will foever and always be my favourite album of all time

but oh if Cleopatra is not one hell of an album

[slackcoalition]

This is a series of posts where I talk about the albums that had the biggest impact on me as I was growing up. They aren’t necessarily good albums per se, and I probably sold some of them off at one point. But they stick out in my mind and influenced how I think about music.

Dig Your Own Hole by The Chemical Brothers

I either bought this just before or during a marching band trip, but I remember listening to it the whole time. Actually, I just listened to the first two tracks, especially “Block Rockin’ Beats”.

What an intro! That big, ambient opening introducing the relentless bass line. Then...

Back with another one of those block rockin’ beats!

..and the drums erupt. I still get hyped hearing them. I’ve literally played that part several times while typing this.

My young mind didn’t quite gel with the rest of the album. I guess I just kept wanting to hear those drums over and over again. I’m pretty sure this is the first “electronic” album I ever bought and it showed me just how deep this music could be.

Favorite song: Block Rockin’ Beats (duh)

[omtai]

maybe the man on that hill is the dictator

[crazy-together-reddie]

u can’t end a song with get up coward then not drop an album

that’s just mean

[mayusz]

i literally forgot to post this massive MCR illustration I did. i poured sweat and blood for 5 month sand forgit

[comfybirdie]

5 REASONS WHY I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS IS JUST ABOUT A TOUR

I don't think I'm smart enough for plausible theories, so this is just a vent of a long time fan. I also have not read many posts, because I've been busy with life, so sorry if someone also said these points.

1. The concept.

I hope this is an album, but I wouldn't pledge my life on it. What I think, however, this is going to be something that brings all the storylines together from previous albums. At least from the Black Parade and Danger Days definitely, but I'm also thinking a bit about Conventional Weapons, too. This is because while yes, the tour does carry the Black Parade name and comes right after everybody spent time crying about not being in the select few to attend the WWWY Fest, the Secretary was not part of the Black Parade storyline. The closest thing we had eas the Director of BLI in Danger Days. And I think we all knew who this woman was the moment she popped up on the screen:

So what if Gerard's costume for the tour was the now undead Director, who became the Secretary of the Dictator?

2. The storyline itself.

I know every word to every album, from the singles to the B sides to leaked ones. But there may always be a chance that I misinterpreted the whole thing, maybe we all did, but the Black Parade is about the afterlife. Whether you got there because of illnes, war, it doesn't matter, you become part of the Black Parade when you die. I believe it to be a celebration of life, or carrying on even after the end.

What the Black Parade has never been, was a personal celebratory National Band, which is exactly what the post writes as the story. I'm going to insert a screenshot with the story.

I saw a theory that the entire concept is going to be revamped, which it might as well be, but even it doesn't make sense.

3. Because that's not what My Chemical Romance is.

And right now I'm thinking about the captions under the pictures.

After seeing the Secretary, my first thought about these captions was that we - The Black Parade - originally must have answered by wanting to be killjoys, the rebellious ones, but eventually we broke and stood in line, becoming the Dictator's beloved National Band, to which the Secretary replied: "Good boy."

However, My Chemical Romance never stood for that. They would never reward us with a tour for standing in line and shutting our mouth. They would never become the corporate machine they stood against since the very beginning. They would never lead the Black Parade in this manner and for this purpose.

And maybe it's just my naivety, the long lost teenager somewhere deep in me saying this, but I still believe they would never do that.

4. Foundations of Decay.

Has it been 2 years since this song came out? Yes. Am I going to bring it up? Absolutely.

(This is definitely overthinking on my part, but I was a history major and with the current events, the parallels are unmatched.) So the thing about wars is, you need people to fight it for you. You need soldiers and military leaders and all of them have to be loyal and obey the orders. The easiest way to achieve that, is by building an ideological foundation you can use to sway their judgement and decision making. The mustache man started with the theory of the back stabbing of the nation. During the middle ages, Christianity provided this foundation for the crusades in the middle east. If you give people something to fear or you give them something to idolise, they will be willing to fight against or for what you want.

And this is the Foundation of Decay.

"you must build an altar where it wells"

"Take his body as a relic to be canonised"

"You stumble through your last crusade"

And is you ask me, this is why this one song came out so much earlier than the rest of the project. Because they lay the ideological foundation first, and you need people to absorb it and truly believe before you can lead them with it. So you tell them again and again and again. Play it at every show on a tour. And so that reunion tour is when the Black Parade became the National Band, instead of the Killjoys. Because we sang along to every word, we absorbed it and not just believed it, but lived it as we attended the tour and sang when they told us to, cheered if they just came on the screen. We became conditioned to follow Gerard's orders as he walked on the stage, just as we will follow the order to play for the Dictator, instead of standing against him.

5. But empires and dictatorships never last, do they?

Rome fell apart. There is a reason there was a Third Reich, because the first 2 also fell. The Ottoman Empire also eventually weakened and fell apart. And just because the Communist Party always said that life is great and everyone is happy "In the Concrete Age", everyone who has lived in a ex-soviet occupied country (hello to my fellow Eastern and Central European MCR fans), we can all tell you, it was everything but true.

And so it is only a matter of time before Dictator's reign has to see its end? Perhaps maybe even bought on by his beloved band, put together from the misfits who the Secretary had to break to stay in line.

But, this is all just my theory. Thank you for clowning with me and my tinfoil hat if you read it this far.

[lixwankenobi]

Let mercy come, and wash away what I've done

[coughloop]

My fault for not keeping up but what rap/hip hop albums came out this year that are worth listening to?

[garadinervi]

La Monte Young, Trio For Strings, (Cardboard box set containing 4xVinyl), DIA21TFS, Dia Art Foundation, New York, NY, 2021 [Fondazione Bonotto, Colceresa (VI). Art: © La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, Jung Hee Choi]

Composition by La Monte Young Performance by The Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble led by Charles Curtis

Charles Curtis, Reynard Rott: cello Christopher Otto, Erik Carlson: viola, violin

Liner Notes: Jung Hee Choi, La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela Design: Jung Hee Choi Calligraphy: Marian Zazeela

«This vinyl box set is the first-ever official release of La Monte Young's 'Trio for Strings' (1958), recorded live from the Dream House, a legendary sound-and-light installation by Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi, and performed by The Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble led by Charles Curtis and featuring Curtis, cello; Reynard Rott, cello; Erik Carlson, violin, viola; and Christopher Otto, violin, viola, at Dia:Chelsea in 2015. Featuring a box cover designed by Choi with calligraphy by Zazeela, the collection includes four discs and a 32-page set of liner notes with essays by Young, Zazeela, and Choi.» ― Dia:

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

Image of a Ghost, Produced by Double Exposure, 1899 from The National Archives UK // Haunted - Taylor Swift

[fullscoreshenanigans]

Your analyses are the best. They are so fun to read and I over think everything afterwarrs

Thank you!

For analyses above my level, I highly recommend checking out these if you haven't already read them:

The two chapters of Kei Toda's Reading The Promised Neverland with a British/American Literature Scholar (2020) that have been translated into English by fans (Chapter 2: Religion by @thathilomgirl & @0hana0fubuki0 | Chapter 3: Gender by @1000sunnygo)

Anime Feminist's "Emma’s Choice: The gender-norm nightmare at the heart of The Promised Neverland" article (2018) (good follow-up to Toda's chapter on gender)

Jackson P. Brown's "Thoughts on… The Promised Neverland, and Black Women in Manga" (2018) blog post and Zeria's video essay/blog post (2019) on Krone's depiction

Jairus Taylor's "The Unfulfilled Potential of The Promised Neverland Anime" (2021) which made me more open to the idea of a remake of S1

For tumblr posts (some of these I'm linking through my blog because I either had a minor link addition or think the OP's/prev's tags deserve to be seen and rebloggable, but you can just click through to the original post):

@puff-poff's exploration of the demon world's culture (Part 1 & Part 2)

@just-like-playing-tag's examination of the farm system, Emma character analysis launched by a minute change in S2e02, and mini-Isabella analysis regarding her treatment of Ray (along with her blog just being a wealth of knowledge in general)

@hylialeia's post on the series' handling of Norman's plan/the oppressed and oppressors

@avadescent's analysis of the S2 ED album art (Norman and Emma are perpendicular; Emma and Ray are parallel.)

@linkspooky has a lot of analyses from when the series was running but special mention to this analysis of Norman's character

@vobomon also has a lot but special mention to her Norman is autistic and Norman has PTSD posts

@goldiipond's "Ray is autistic" essay

@emmaspolaroid with some of the best Emma and Emma & Isabella meta in general

@nullaby's post on Isabella and Ray's relationship

[bandzboy]

i know it must be hard for many to do this atm but this tbz situation (leaving their company together as a group) is making me wish that many do the same and possibly go independent and if they have the means to do it

[hellalena]

Still such an iconic album

Ever since I learned that Jagged Little Pill was about Dave Coulier I find more and more little hints on every listen

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

The acoustic side of the record just makes me wish for an actual acoustic album and not a remixed studio version 😫

[spectersinthesnow]

people who say mcr couldn’t possibly release a new album because it’s been too long. if the cure can release a new album after sixteen (16) fucking years anything is possible

[banana-juiceee]

Idk why but this is funny lol