''May Death Never Stop You'' (or ''May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits 2001–2013'') is the first
greatest hits compilation album by
My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...
, spanning the band's entire career up to that point. It is the only album to feature keyboardist
James Dewees as an official member of the band, playing on the album's lead single, "Fake Your Death."
Background
On March 22, 2013,
My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...
announced their break-up on their official website, issuing this statement:
Gerard Way posted an extended tweet on his
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account two days after the website announcement, where he confirmed the disbanding of the group but denied that altercations between band members was the reason for the split.
On March 25, 2014, the band released ''May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits 2001–2013'', a
greatest hits album containing material spanning their entire career, as well as some previously unreleased material.
On November 29th 2013, Way posted a picture of the completed album cover on his Twitter account. On the same platform and date, Way subsequently responded to a fan's inquiry about the cover's depiction and mentioned that the statue depicted on the album cover is a composite of all the faces of My Chemical Romance band members. In addition, the statue features many references to the band's history, including bullet holes reminiscing ''
I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
''I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love'' (often shortened to ''I Brought You My Bullets'' or ''Bullets'') is the debut studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance, released on July 23, 2002 by Eyeball Records. Produced by ...
'' and the uniform jacket referring to ''
The Black Parade
''The Black Parade'' is the third studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance. Released in Europe on October 20, 2006, through Reprise Records, it was produced by the band with Rob Cavallo, known for having produced multiple albums fo ...
''.
Release
''May Death Never Stop You'' was released on March 25, 2014. Pre-orders became available through My Chemical Romance's official website on January 21, 2014.
The unreleased track "Fake Your Death" was premiered on
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
on February 17, 2014, and was then available digitally via iTunes straight after.
Track listing
Personnel
Band members
*
Bob Bryar
Robert Cory Bryar (born December 31, 1979) is an American retired musician and sound engineer best known as the drummer of the rock band My Chemical Romance. The longest tenured and last official drummer, he performed in the band from 2004 until ...
–
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
(on tracks 8–12)
*
James Dewees –
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
(on track 1)
*
Frank Iero
Frank Anthony Iero, Jr. (, born October 31, 1981) is an American musician who is the rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist of the rock band My Chemical Romance and post-hardcore band Leathermouth. He is also the guitarist in the metal band L.S ...
– guitars,
backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...
(on tracks 1–2, 4–16)
* Matt Pelissier – drums, percussion (on tracks 2–7, 17–19)
*
Ray Toro
Raymond Toro (born July 15, 1977) is an American musician who serves as lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the band My Chemical Romance.
Early life
Toro was born July 15, 1977, in Kearny, New Jersey. He is of Puerto Rican-Portuguese herita ...
– guitars, backing vocals;
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
(on track 9)
*
Gerard Way –
lead vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...
*
Mikey Way
Michael James Way (born September 10, 1980) is an American musician and actor. He is best known as the bassist of the rock band My Chemical Romance. He is also the multi-instrumentalist and backing vocalist of rock duo Electric Century.
Mikey c ...
– bass guitar
Additional musicians
*
Jarrod Alexander
Jarrod Fletcher Alexander (born August 13, 1981) is an American musician who has played with many hardcore punk bands. Alexander has been the drummer for the bands The Suicide File, A Static Lullaby, Dead Country, and more recently, My Chemical R ...
– drums, percussion (on track 1)
*
John Miceli
John Miceli (born May 29, 1961 in Long Island, New York) is the drummer for Meat Loaf's backing band, the Neverland Express.
Meat Loaf
Miceli began touring with Meat Loaf in 1991, and was a part of the Neverland Express when '' Bat Out of Hell ...
– drums, percussion (on tracks 13–16)
*
Rob Cavallo
Robert Siers Cavallo (born March 21, 1963) is an American record producer, musician, and record industry executive. He is among the biggest-selling producers in history, and has produced or had creative involvement in albums that have sold over ...
– acoustic piano (on tracks 8–12)
*
Howard Benson – 1958 Hammond B3 (on tracks 4–7)
*
Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards (on tracks 8–16); B3 organ,
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s, Wurlitzer (on tracks 8–12)
*
Bert McCracken
Robert Edward McCracken (born February 25, 1982) is an American singer who is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band The Used.
Early life
McCracken was born in Provo, Utah, and grew up in Orem. He was raised in a Mormon family wit ...
– additional vocals (on track 5)
* Renat – additional vocals (on track 7)
*
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy ...
– additional vocals (on track 10)
Production
*
Ted Jensen
Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''.
Biography
Ted ...
at Sterling Sound, NYC – mastering
Charts
Certifications
References
External links
''May Death Never Stop You''at
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
(streamed copy where licensed)
{{Authority control
2014 greatest hits albums
My Chemical Romance compilation albums
Reprise Records compilation albums