My Chemical Romance’s ‘The Black Parade’ Was a No. 1 Album 20 Years in the Making: Inside the Campaign

When My Chemical Romance released its landmark third album The Black Parade in 2006, it was met with widespread acclaim and hailed as the group’s greatest — and yet, despite it becoming the biggest album of the iconic New Jersey group’s career, it peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, blocked from the top spot by Hannah Montana. Related Now, 20 years later, The Black Parade has finally achieved that No. 1 position, following a reissue on the album’s 20th anniversary that propelled the reunited rockers to the best chart peak of their career — and set a record for the longest wait for an album between its release and it hitting No. 1 in the chart’s history. But that milestone didn’t just occur in a vacuum — the reissue came on the heels of an extended tour in celebration of the album that began last year, as well as a five-night run at The Hollywood Bowl last month. It also benefitted from a full-court press by the band’s label, Warner Records, that involved 20 different vinyl variants, digital exclusives, the resurrection of the group’s old fan army and an exclusive release on an iPod Nano, harkening back to the era when the album first came into the world, all of which helped The Black Parade finally reach its rightful place as a chart-topping epic. And that helps Warner Records senior vp of marketing and digital Jesse Ervin earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week. Here, Ervin talks about the buildup to the new release, why several reissues have made it to the top 10 of the charts this year and what will come next for My Chemical Romance after this huge success. “There’s no doubt we’ll be talking about My Chemical Romance for years to come,” he says. This week, My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, 20 years after its initial release — the longest such wait before reaching the top spot in the chart’s history. What key decision did you make to help make that happen? It really is an incredible milestone having the album reach No. 1 after 20 years. This was a true collaboration between the band, the band’s manager Brian Schechter, me, Tom Corson, Aaron Bay-Schuck, Mike Chester and the core team [at Warner Records]. We started with the reissue of Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys earlier in the year and planned to time The Black Parade‘s 20th anniversary release around the actual album’s anniversary on October 23, ensuring it coincided with MCR performing their five historic sold-out shows at the Hollywood Bowl. Having the Bowl shows and the anniversary at the same time allowed us to lay out our marketing campaign well in advance and have tentpoles along the way to get the fans really excited about a full October and beyond of My Chemical Romance. Related How did the idea for this reissue come about? The idea centered on the actual 20th anniversary on October 23, which just happened to be a release date — so the stars really aligned. The band and our team wanted to celebrate the album’s anniversary, and this would be the third anniversary edition we had done in the past 18 months while the band has been on the road touring The Black Parade. It is also something the fans really wanted. So we pitched a few concepts, including a 2LP version that had six bonus tracks, including the long-awaited live version of “Someone Out There Loves You,” which we knew the fans would be super excited about. The band also had the idea of creating a new art concept with the very talented James Jean that would act as a slipcase for the original album and original art. The reissue came about with 20 different physical variants, as well as digital exclusives, and was driven by 42,000 vinyl sales. What was the strategy there? The idea was to create unique versions of the album that really spoke to the fans and not just creating colorways for the sake of it. This was really all fan-driven. For the first time, fans got the chance to get an album, CD or cassette signed by the band, a unique hologram version of the album featuring the incredible art and also the very first one-step audiophile vinyl, which offers the highest audio listening experience a fan can get on vinyl for The Black Parade. We also wanted to celebrate every show on the tour, and we created very limited versions of the original album for each tour date, including two for the Hollywood Bowl. Related Those variants included a hologram vinyl, a first for Warner Records, which sold 14,000 copies. How did that idea come together, and how difficult was that to pull off? That idea came from us at Warner Records. Brian and the band are particularly proud of the hologram. We had done picture discs and Zoetropes on previous releases, and we wanted to give the fans something different that hadn’t been done before. We found an amazing vendor who could make them, and once we received the first prototype, I think every single person working on the core team was blown away. Frank Iero from the band posted about it immediately and thought it was the coolest version of the album he had ever seen. The fans shared the same sentiment, and we actually just did a re-press of the hologram so even more fans can enjoy how cool it is. How did you lean into 2006 nostalgia, and the band’s two-decade-plus history in general, to help push the reissue? One thing we did was re-launch the MCRMY, the band’s core fan group. This group was extremely active in the 2000s, and Brian and the band really wanted to reactivate it. The MCRMY has been integral to the success of the recent campaigns and connecting fans to the band by giving away tickets, signed items and really telling the story of the MCR fandom. We also had a lot of fun playing with ways fans experienced the album in the 2000s, including making a very limited amount of iPod Nanos pre-loaded with the 20th anniversary of The Black Parade and gifting them to true fans. It really had a huge impact since so many people had originally heard the album that way. It was a great way to connect nostalgia and the present. Related In the past two months, The Black Parade is the fourth reissued album to reach the top 10 of the chart, including The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, Mac Miller’s The Divine Feminine and Beyoncé’s B’Day. What do you think is behind the fan passion for reissues right now? I think a great record is always relevant, one year, five years, 20 years or even 50 years after its original release. Fans have a deep connection to a certain album, and it resonates with them. They want to not only revisit that album but also celebrate it. At Warner Records, we always focus on the music and the fans. When these albums hit the charts again, it shows that people want to revisit the incredible works by some of the best artists of all time. It also gives new fans a chance to experience some of these albums for the first time, which has been a very important part of the My Chemical Romance story. What other plans do you have to continue to promote this album, and for the band in general moving forward? We just announced a partnership with the New Jersey Devils that includes a black-and-red vinyl version of The Black Parade and some other activations. Since the band is from New Jersey and are massive fans of the team, it’s a perfect partnership. I am not sure we ever got a faster yes from the band on something. They will continue to tour overseas this month, and we will keep working to find new ways to connect the album with fans in creative ways. Gerard also announced on stage at the Bowl that they’ll have a brand new album coming in the future, which is incredibly exciting.