Demolition Lovers
{{Short description|2002 song by My Chemical Romance}}
{{good article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Demolition Lovers
| cover =
| alt =
| type = Song
| artist = My Chemical Romance
| album = I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
| released = July 23, 2002
| recorded = May 2002
| studio = Nada Studios, New Windsor
| genre = *Punk rock
| length = {{duration|m=6|s=06}}
| label = Eyeball
| writer = {{flatlist|
- Frank Iero
- Matt Pelissier
- {{nowrap|Ray Toro}}
- Gerard Way
- {{nowrap|Mikey Way}}
}}
| producer = Geoff Rickly
| misc =
}}
"Demolition Lovers" is a song by the American rock band My Chemical Romance from their debut studio album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (2002). The song, which serves as the album's closing track, is a six-minute long punk rock ballad that goes through several different movements throughout its runtime. Lyrically, the song tells the story of two lovers that go on a crime spree and ultimately meet their demise in a desert. The song's story has been tied to the premise of an earlier track on the album, "Drowning Lessons", and has also been connected to the premise of the band's next album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004).
The song was well received by critics. Some have considered it one of the best songs from I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, and even one of the better songs in the band's discography as a whole. It is also considered representative of and a precursor to the more grand-scale, narrative-driven songs that the band would create in the future, and has been noted as a fan favorite.
Background and release
My Chemical Romance was formed after the band's frontman, Gerard Way, witnessed the collapse of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks. Shortly afterwards, he was joined by the drummer Matt Pelissier, the guitarist Ray Toro, the bassist Mikey Way,{{Cite web |last=Harvilla |first=Rob |date=July 26, 2022 |title=The Eternal March of the Black Parade |url=https://www.theringer.com/2022/07/26/music/my-chemical-romance-debut-anniversary-best-album-black-parade |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250107051750/https://www.theringer.com/2022/07/26/music/my-chemical-romance-debut-anniversary-best-album-black-parade |archive-date=January 7, 2025 |access-date=January 7, 2025 |website=The Ringer}} and later on, the guitarist Frank Iero.{{Sfn|Bryant|2014|pp=51-52}} In May 2002, the band went to Nada Record Studio in New Windsor, New York to begin recording their first studio album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.{{Sfn|Bryant|2014|pp=52-53}}{{Cite web |last=Shepherd |first=Tom |date=November 1, 2024 |title="You can hear the nervousness and excitement": The story of My Chem's debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love |url=https://www.kerrang.com/my-chemical-romance-debut-album-story-interview-gerard-way-i-brought-you-my-bullets-you-brought-me-your-love |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250120214149/https://www.kerrang.com/my-chemical-romance-debut-album-story-interview-gerard-way-i-brought-you-my-bullets-you-brought-me-your-love |archive-date=January 20, 2025 |access-date=January 29, 2025 |website=Kerrang! }} The album, which was created within the span of a week,{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=September 5, 2014 |title=The story behind My Chemical Romance's 'lost' studio footage |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-behind-my-chemical-romance-s-lost-studio-footage |access-date=January 29, 2025 |website=Louder |language=en}} was produced by Geoff Rickly. I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love was released on July 23, 2002{{Sfn|Bryant|2014|p=63}} through Eyeball Records;{{Cite web |last=Payne |first=Chris |date=July 21, 2022 |title=My Chemical Romance's Debut Album 'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love' Turns 20 |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2193708/my-chemical-romance-i-brought-you-my-bullets-you-brought-me-your-love/reviews/the-anniversary/ |access-date=January 29, 2025 |website=Stereogum |language=en}} "Demolition Lovers" is the eleventh and final song on the standard track list.{{Cite web |last= |date=July 21, 2017 |title=11 things you might not know about MCR's 'I Brought You My Bullets...' |url=https://www.altpress.com/my_chemical_romance_i_brought_you_my_bullets_thing_you_didnt_know/ |access-date=January 29, 2025 |website=Alternative Press |language=en-US}} The band played the song live during their earlier shows, though stopped performing for a while in 2004. On September 20, 2022, the band played the song live for the first time since 2004, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.{{Cite web |last=Breihan |first=Tom |date=September 21, 2022 |title=My Chemical Romance Play "Demolition Lovers" For The First Time In 18 Years: Watch |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2200227/watch-my-chemical-romance-play-demolition-lovers-for-the-first-time-in-18-years/news/ |access-date=January 30, 2025 |website=Stereogum |language=en}}
Composition and lyrics
{{Listen
| filename = My Chemical Romance - Demolition Lovers sample.mp3
| title = "Demolition Lovers"
| description = An excerpt of the abrupt ending of "Demolition Lovers", which illustrates the demise of the titular characters.
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"Demolition Lovers" is a punk rock{{Cite web |last=Schade |first=Alessandra |date=July 26, 2023 |title=Fan poll: 5 greatest My Chemical Romance songs of all time |url=https://www.altpress.com/fan-poll-best-my-chemical-romance-songs/ |access-date=January 30, 2025 |website=Alternative Press |language=en-US |archive-date=June 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240607213645/https://www.altpress.com/fan-poll-best-my-chemical-romance-songs/ |url-status=live }} ballad.{{Sfn|Bryant|2014|p=58}} At about six minutes long, it is one of the band's longest songs.{{Cite web |last=Whitt |first=Cassie |date=2019-03-24 |title=Every My Chemical Romance Song Ranked From Worst to Best |url=https://loudwire.com/every-my-chemical-romance-song-ranked/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=Loudwire |language=en}} The song starts off slow, and mid-way through its buildup at around the 2:50 mark stops abruptly. When the song starts back up again, it is a completely different, minimalist style. Eventually, the song starts back up again after the slow-down.{{cite web |author=Lord |first=Jesse |date=2004-08-04 |title=I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2004/08/04/i-brought-you-my-bullets-you-brought-me-your-love |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329170039/http://music.ign.com/articles/535/535858p1.html |archive-date=March 29, 2012 |access-date=January 29, 2025 |website=IGN |publisher=}} Throughout the tracks's runtime, it goes through several different movements. Eli Enis of Paste described these movements as: "a slow moody intro, frenetic verses, a breathless bridge, a metallic guitar solo and a snarling gang-chorus". After these movements, the song ends abruptly.{{Cite web |last=Enis |first=Eli |date=January 21, 2020 |title=The 10 Most Underrated My Chemical Romance Songs |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/my-chemical-romance/my-chemical-romance-underrated-songs/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114132957/https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/my-chemical-romance/my-chemical-romance-underrated-songs |archive-date=January 14, 2025 |access-date=January 18, 2025 |website=Paste |quote=}}
Lyrically, the song follows the titular Demolition Lovers couple as they go on a crime spree,{{Cite web |last=Boisvert |first=Lauren |date=2024-12-18 |title=The My Chemical Romance Song Fans Theorize Is Haunted—and Gerard Way's Reasoning for Refusing To Play It Live |url=https://americansongwriter.com/the-my-chemical-romance-song-fans-theorize-is-haunted-and-gerard-ways-reasoning-for-refusing-to-play-it-live/ |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=American Songwriter |language=en-US |archive-date=January 12, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250112204409/https://americansongwriter.com/the-my-chemical-romance-song-fans-theorize-is-haunted-and-gerard-ways-reasoning-for-refusing-to-play-it-live/ |url-status=live }} ultimately dying in a "hail of bullets" in a desert. The song has been generally considered to have been made as an analogy on Gerard's willingness to die for his loved ones based on the text present in the album's inlay ("I'm sorry I wrote all those songs about killing you, I hope the last track makes up for it"). Some have considered the song to be an extension of the story of "Drowning Lessons", an earlier song on the album. Furthermore, the story of "Demolition Lovers" has been tied to the concept of the band's next album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004), which loosely follows the story of two separated lovers that can only separate if one harvests the souls of one thousand people.{{Cite web |last=Markarian |first=Taylor |date=June 8, 2022 |title=10 Facts About 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge' Only Superfans Would Know |url=https://loudwire.com/my-chemical-romance-three-cheers-sweet-revenge-facts/ |access-date=January 29, 2005 |website=Loudwire |language=en |archive-date=June 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608203601/https://loudwire.com/my-chemical-romance-three-cheers-sweet-revenge-facts/ |url-status=live }} The scale and style of "Demolition Lovers" has been considered representative of the band's future grand scale recordings.
Critical reception
In their reviews for I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, Jesse Lord of IGN and a staff writer of Sputnikmusic highlighted "Demolition Lovers" as one of the best tracks from the album.{{Cite web |last=DaveyBoy |date=July 1, 2008 |title=My Chemical Romance - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love |url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/26159/My-Chemical-Romance-I-Brought-You-My-Bullets-You-Brought-Me-Your-Love/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240601200358/https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/26159/My-Chemical-Romance-I-Brought-You-My-Bullets-You-Brought-Me-Your-Love/ |archive-date=June 1, 2024 |access-date=January 29, 2025 |website=Sputnikmusic}} The former stated that, while the song may have been confusing due to its two separate parts, everything in the song combined would allow it to "make sense". The latter wrote that "Demolition Lovers" made "good use" of its six-minute run time, as an "emotional rollercoaster" that was well captured by its "effective changes of pace and structure". Retrospective opinions on "Demolition Lovers" have generally considered it one of My Chemical Romance's better songs,{{Cite web |last=Spinks |first=Chloe |date=June 13, 2022 |title=Every My Chemical Romance song ranked from worst to best |url=https://www.gigwise.com/features/3419918/every-my-chemical-romance-song-ranked-from-worst-to-best/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250113043643/https://www.gigwise.com/features/3419918/every-my-chemical-romance-song-ranked-from-worst-to-best/ |archive-date=January 13, 2025 |access-date=January 19, 2025 |website=Gigwise}}{{Cite web |last=Eloise |first=Marianne |date=May 27, 2024 |title=The 20 greatest My Chemical Romance songs ever |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-20-greatest-my-chemical-romance-songs-ever |access-date=January 30, 2025 |website=Louder |language=en |archive-date=December 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241219130123/https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-20-greatest-my-chemical-romance-songs-ever |url-status=live }} and the song has also been noted as a fan-favorite.{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Desiree |date=July 22, 2022 |title=How My Chemical Romance's 'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love' Redefined Emo Music |url=https://www.grammy.com/news/my-chemical-romance-i-brought-you-bullets-you-brought-me-your-love-redefined-emo-anniversary |access-date=January 29, 2025 |publisher=The Recording Academy |archive-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122030133/https://www.grammy.com/news/my-chemical-romance-i-brought-you-bullets-you-brought-me-your-love-redefined-emo-anniversary |url-status=live }} Marriane Eloise of Louder ranked it as the band's 15th best song, Chloe Spinks of Gigwise ranked it 24th, and Cassie Whitt of Loudwire ranked it 27th. Meanwhile, a readers poll for Alternative Press ranked it as the band's 4th best song.
Sprinks described the song as "peak" My Chemical Romance and wrote that the song was like it was "burning and turning to ash", and a "derailed train, roaming without control". Mala Mortensa of Alternative Press wrote that "Demolition Lovers" was an "essential" song from My Chemical Romance's discography, describing it as a "six-minute fireworks display of all the successful dynamics present in its preceding tracks".{{Cite web |last=Mortensa |first=Mala |date=April 11, 2023 |title=10 essential My Chemical Romance songs that encapsulate every era |url=https://www.altpress.com/essential-my-chemical-romance-songs/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514182438/https://www.altpress.com/essential-my-chemical-romance-songs/ |archive-date=May 14, 2024 |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=Alternative Press |language=en-US}} Another writer of Alternative Press, Alessandra Schade, described the song as having "all the ingredients for a great MCR track: great storyline, theatrics, and some really heavy guitar riffs". Enis considered it one of the band's most underrated tracks, writing that the song was a "disorienting first stab" at the type of more elaborate songs the band would create later on, but still had potential.
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Apple Music.{{Citation |title=Demolition Lovers by My Chemical Romance on Apple Music |date=2002-07-23 |url=https://music.apple.com/lk/song/demolition-lovers/1157610458 |access-date=2025-01-30 |language=en-GB}}
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}My Chemical Romance
- Gerard Way – songwriter, lead vocals
- Raymond Toro – songwriter, background vocals, guitar
- Mikey Way – songwriter, bass guitar
- Matt Pelissier – songwriter, drums, percussion
- Frank Iero – background vocals
{{col-2}}Additional personnel
- Geoff Rickly – producer
- John Naclerio – mixing engineer, recording engineer
- Ryan Ball – mastering engineer{{col-end}}
References
{{Reflist}}
= Sources =
- {{Cite book |last=Bryant |first=Tom |title=Not the Life It Seems: The True Lives of My Chemical Romance |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0306823497 |location=Boston}}
{{My Chemical Romance}}
Category:My Chemical Romance songs