"Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

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 ...

. It is the second track and first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from their fourth studio album, '' Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys'' (2010).

Background

My Chemical Romance at Rock en Seine, 2011

According to lead vocalist

Gerard Way Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and comic book writer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and co-founder of the rock band My Chemical Romance. He released his debut solo album, ''Hesitant Alien'', i ...

, the band had struggled with the departure of drummer Bob Bryar and was dissatisfied with the progress of the sessions for their fourth studio album until the recording of "Na Na Na". A breakthrough was achieved once the chord progressions for the song were in place, with Way explaining,

"That's the moment where we said, 'This song changes everything. We're starting over right now. We're starting it over with roducer RobCavallo, and we're doing it now'. Everything up to that point had felt like we had been in this kind of stasis, and as artists, stasis really equals death. So, it was so bad, the vibe wasn't good, and then 'Na Na' happened. And then, all of a sudden, there was this real, big intensity underneath us, and it was the momentum we needed to dig deep and record another album".

The song was not originally intended as a single, but due to the positive response to the album's teaser video, "''Art is the Weapon''", it was released and a full music video was shot.

Promotion

"Na Na Na" was premiered on air September 22, 2010 via

WRFF WRFF (104.5 FM, "ALT 104.5") is a commercial FM radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and broadcasts an alternative rock radio format. The studios are in Bala Cynwyd. WRFF has an effective radiated ...

in Philadelphia, ''

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

'' 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, ...

, and

KROQ-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The stat ...

in Los Angeles. The artwork was released on the band's website the next day. The song was released on September 28, 2010 in North America for purchase at

online music stores A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings without ...

and was released on November 8, 2010 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. On the day the single was released in North America, a lyric video, which primarily literally depicts the words in the song, was released on

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 ...

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

named "Na Na Na" as the official theme song for the 2010 Tables Ladders & Chairs PPV.

Music video

Development and release

The music video premiered on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

on October 14, 2010. The video was co-directed by Roboshobo and

and features comic book author

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, w ...

. The music video was first previewed in the short trailer titled "''Art is the Weapon''" which was released on September 17, 2010. Album opener "Look Alive, Sunshine" was included in the music video. MTV posted photo previews on October 8, and a 30-second preview video on October 11. On a "Making of" video, Gerard Way expressed interest in shooting a third part to the Killjoy story.

Synopsis

The video features a strangely garbed outlaw gang called the Killjoys (

as Party Poison,

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 ...

as Kobra Kid, Ray Toro as Jet Star and

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 ...

as Fun Ghoul), who are being pursued in the badlands around Battery City by the sinister executive Korse (Morrison) of Better Living Industries (BL/ind) and his vampire-masked henchmen (the Draculoids); in between battles with Better Living, the gang are indulging in pornographic magazines, fast driving, and hacking vending machines. The Killjoys have a young girl named Missile Kid as one of their members (portrayed by Grace Jeanette), whom BL/ind is out to capture. At the end of the video, after a standoff, the Killjoys lie defeated on the ground, and Missile Kid has been captured by Korse and the Draculoids. Korse tells the Killjoys to "Keep running." The music video for later single "

Sing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

" is a companion piece and continues the story of the Killjoys and BL/ind; the lyrics "keep running" tie it to "Na Na Na". In an interview with the band for

, Gerard Way revealed that members of the band

Mindless Self Indulgence Mindless Self Indulgence (often referred to as MSI) is an American electropunk band formed in New York City in 1997. Their music has a mixed style which includes punk rock, alternative rock, electronica, techno, industrial, hip hop, and breakb ...

appear in the video, with guitarist Steve Righ? as DJ "Dr. Death Defying", and vocalist Jimmy Urine as the "main, tall Draculoid". Urine was originally intended to play the roller skater "Show Pony", but was changed to a Draculoid as he cannot skate. After the video's premiere, MTV released a "Pop-Culture Cheat Sheet" listing many of the movie and TV references in the video, including films such as ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'', ''

Easy Rider ''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American independent drug culture road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American So ...

'', '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'', ''

Ultraviolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...

'' and, perhaps most prominently, the "

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic Action film, action film series and media franchise created by George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with ''Mad Max (film), Mad Max'', and was followed by thre ...

" franchise. There is also a reference to their previous album '

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 ...

' at the 1:28 marker in the video where a half buried skeleton wearing a black marching jacket at the bottom of the screen can be seen. Similarly, one of the "Transmissions" by Dr. Death on the band's website features a Killjoy (presumably Party Poison) searching through an abandoned room, passing by Mikey Way's Black Parade uniform from the music videos ''

Welcome to the Black Parade "Welcome to the Black Parade" is a song from American rock band My Chemical Romance's third studio album, ''The Black Parade'' (2006). It was released on September 12, 2006, as the album's lead single, with the studio version available on the b ...

'' and ''

Famous Last Words Famous Last Words may refer to: * List of last words, collection of last words attributed to historical figures before their death Music * Famous Last Words (band), an American metal band Albums * ''Famous Last Words'' (Al Stewart album), ...

'', and picking up one of the skull-designed masks featured in Black Parade merchandise, before finding the MOUSEKAT mask seen in the video for ''Na Na Na''. On a related note, the MOUSEKAT character is featured in one of BL/ind's transmissions as a

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

-style cartoon propaganda character promoting the drugs used to keep humans under BL/ind's influence, in the fictional reality that accompanies ''Danger Days''. As of September 2021, the song has 80 million views on

. The band won Best Video at the 2011

NME Awards The ''NME'' Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine ''NME'' (''New Musical Express''). The first awards show was held in 1953 as the ''NME'' Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding of ...

for this track.

Promotion and publication

Publication and dissemination of the song

On Friday, September 17, 2010, the band posted on its official account

a trailer for the new album called "Art is the Weapon" which included snippets of "Na Na Na". Originally, they had not planned on filming a full video for the track or releasing it as a single but due to feedback by fans to the trailer, they changed their minds. On Wednesday, September 22, 2010, "Na Na Na" was premiered worldwide on

and

KROQ KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The st ...

. The song was released for radio play on September 28, 2010. The track was released on a 7" vinyl record in November 2010 in Europe, then later on April 16, 2011, in America to celebrate

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

. The single includes the non-album track Zero Percent.

Live performances

"Na Na Na" was used in many concerts as the opening song on the promotional tour for the album, The World Contamination Tour as well as on the Honda Civic Tour 2011. The band performed the song on the ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

'' TV program on November 18, 2010, additionally playing an altered version of their song "

." They played the song at a pre-show party

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

(

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

), on October 31, 2010. The game was part of the International Series of the American League NFL, with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

facing the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. Gerard Way said: "It was great, because it's a song about hard drugs and blow up the world, and we were doing it literally with a marching band,''

cheerleaders Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

'', fireworks and party football about to begin ... was amazing, it was very subversive and brilliant." The band also played the single from their third album "

Critical reception

"Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" has been met with generally positive critical enthusiasm. ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

''s William Goldman described "Na Na Na" as an "in-your-face punk anthem with blistering guitar leads, an epic breakdown, and Gerard Way's sneering delivery", and added, "it's classic MCR and it's all hinged on an unforgettable, hockey-arena-filling chorus of ''na, na, na, na, na, nas''". Jason Lipshutz of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' called the song a "three-minute punk-rock blast" that "is a startling change of pace from My Chemical Romance's 2006 concept album ''

''". ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''s Dan Martin said the song is "rooted in the here and now, with the most simple pop song refrain rebooted as nothing less than a generational call to arms". Sara D. Anderson of

AOL Radio AOL Radio powered by Slacker (formerly AOL Radio powered by CBS Radio, and prior AOL Radio featuring XM) was an online radio service available in the United States only. It had over 200 free internet radio stations. History Roots AOL Radio ...

noted, "By the looks of their new single and its paired video teaser, MCR are opting for an effervescent, light-hearted sound compared to their heavier-themed efforts."

's Chris Ryan said the song "gets right to the point, exploding out of the gate with an absolutely ferocious riff that could have been ripped right off of an old Stooges album. Singer Gerard Way sounds in fine form, going toe to toe with the guitars".

Chart performance

"Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" debuted at number twenty-one on the ''

Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alterna ...

chart and number ten on the

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart for the charting week dated October 9, 2010. The song moved up to number nineteen on the Alternative Songs chart the next week, earning the title of Greatest Gainer.

Certifications

Track listing

* All songs written by Bob Bryar,

, Ray Toro,

, and

. Version 1 (promotional CD) Version 2 (promotional CD) Version 3 (digital download) Version 4 (7″ vinyl and CD)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na) 2010 singles My Chemical Romance songs Song recordings produced by Rob Cavallo 2010 songs Reprise Records singles Songs written by Frank Iero Songs written by Ray Toro Songs written by Gerard Way Songs written by Mikey Way