pungentdarling

[pungentdarling]

My Chemical Romance: The Journey Part 2

I definitely know why I didn’t get into My Chem during their prime years, it was simple because of all that screaming. There was enough of that at home, I didn’t need my music to give me anxiety too. I needed my music to give me an escape. But like I said in my last post, My Chemical Romance has found me at the right time in my life. They’ve been inspiring me to get creative again, from one art student to another, thanks for the inspiration, guys!   

Plus my mom thought Pete Wentz screaming in Saturday was atrocious. Could you imagine introducing her to Gerard Way at that time? I’m one of four siblings and our mom would drive us around in a dark green passenger van before any of us could drive. Whoever sat in the front seat was the DJ and had to change the CDs. Each of us got to pick out 2 songs that we wanted to hear, and was it eclectic as fuck. I remember always picking Fall Out Boy’s Saturday, because my mom would always make a comment about how the lead singer’s voice is so good and why would they would ruin it with that screaming at the end of the song. Angsty Michelle needed to piss her off in some way, so I would always pick that song and she would always say, “this is such a nice song and then that screaming comes in and ruins it.” L O fucking L, sorry Petey!! 

What's funny is my mom is an art teacher, and My Chemical Romance is essentially a continuous art project, so I’m slowly turning my mom into a MCR fan. I can confirm she’s loving all these art connections. I watched an interview where Gerard Way said the Album cover for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge was inspired by one of his favorite paintings by Rene Margritte titled The Lovers. I showed her the album cover and told her it was inspired by The Lovers by Rene Margritte, she was impressed. I was excited to learn that one of Way’s favorite paintings was in my favorite art period / genre, Surrealist for Surrealism. 

I asked my whole family if My Chemical Romance was to come to town would they want to go see them in concert. Each one of them said yes! Turns out our mom raised us as a bunch of concert loving kids. This is me speaking it into existence, Dear My Chemical Romance, please find it in your hearts to tour the MidWest sometime soon, Sincerely, Michelle.

In other news, my MCR shirt came in the mail, big smiles over here. This weekend I’ll work on getting some outfits together to style the band tee. Fun fact: When I bought the shirt I had no idea that it was one of Gerard Way’s actual sketches. I watched their documentary Life on the Murder Scene (Video Diary) and saw him sketching it on a table. I got a little obsessed with the documentary and watched it twice in one weekend. 

Things I’m loving about the band:

They really are an inspirational band, something they’ve talked about in interviews

I’m overwhelmed with all the fandom of My Chemical Romance, but reddit has given me so much information. Shout out to the threads I’ve stumbled upon. 

Can’t stop saying “that’s so, Jersey!” 

Frank Iero has twin daughters, something close to my heart because I’m also a twin!

They’re a bunch of softies, which is much needed in this world. 

Ahead of their time telling people to take care of their mental health, and openly talking about going to therapy. 

Gerard Way was my age that I am now during Danger Days

The Drummer situation

Personalities of the band in birth order: 

Gerard Way - The Fearless Leader

Ray Toro - The Talent 

Mikey Way - The Sweetheart 

Frank Iero - LITTLE BROTHER ENERGY

How did I do? Accurate or nah?

I would say my first couple of weeks digging into the band have been a success. I’ve been listening to Three Cheers for Revenge on repeat, but have jumped around and landed on Danger Days. Also, before I wrap up this post shout out to the reddit threads that have a bunch of information that I’ve been scouring. Until the next post, my your music always be loud and your story always be interesting!

Xoxo, 

The Pungent Darling. 

[pungentdarling]

Rediscovering My Chemical Romance 20 Years Later

I’m a firm believer that music finds you when it’s supposed to. I’m reintroducing myself to My Chemical Romance 20 years after I originally heard about them. I was a teenager during their prime years, don't be jealous! 2004 was the first time I heard a song by My Chemical Romance, peep the picture below to see what I looked like at 14. In all honesty MCR scared the shit out of me. They always seemed to have a dark essence about them that I couldn’t handle at 14 years old. I didn’t have the capacity to grasp the concept of death and grieving, like I do now. I’m telling you music finds its way to you at the perfect time in your life. 

During high school I was into the hometown heroes, Fall Out Boy and The Academy Is... Who had a much lighter air to them than My Chem. However, I did love and have My Chemical Romance songs on my Ipod during these middle school / high school years. The first time I heard a My Chemical Romance song was the Winter of my 8th grade year back in 2004. I was 13 almost 14 years old and my frenemy had burned me a bomb ass mix CD that ended up being my gateway drug into the pop punk scene. 

As I reflect on this time period of my life, I needed to meet that girl to show me cool music. Even if it came with a side of bullying. That CD ended up introducing me to my favorite song ever, Loose Leaves by Bright Eyes. I never actually got into Bright Eyes, but that song is still my favorite song to date!! The CD also had the first My Chemical Romance song I had ever heard, which was, To the End. The fucking opening line hooked me, “He calls the mansion, not a house, but a tomb” angsty teen Michelle loved how ominous the song felt. 34 year old Michelle still loves how pop punk it feels.

I promise this will have a point, so bear with me. I’ve been trying a new thing in therapy called EMDR. It stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and it’s helping me navigate my teenage years and the environment I was living in. In other words, suburban woes of a broken home. I’ve been working on this since May of this year and it’s been a pretty interesting process. 

I’ve tried this before but didn’t want to put in the work and deal with how it made me feel after the session. The first time I tried this therapy my therapist would hold out her fingers and I would follow them with my eyes while she moved them back and forth. This time around I hold these little paddles in my hands that look like a size C battery. The thing sends out a buzzing sensation into my palms in a pattern of buzzes while I have my eyes closed. I visualize situations/ memories that happened to me while my therapist guides me to reprocess the memory. Some weeks feel so heavy, but other weeks you feel a lot of breakthroughs which ultimately make you feel lighter. The heavy weeks I usually buy myself a Cali Burrito from Guzman y Gomez for dinner, therapy burritos anyone?

The Universe must have been in cahoots with my therapy plan, because at work I usually listen to Youtube Music for free without an account. It still tracks my listening preferences because it presented me with a 00s pop punk playlist that is the soundtrack of my teenage years. Some songs I had totally forgotten about!

I told my therapist about the playlist and how it’s been bringing up a lot of memories of that time. She said, it makes sense it's bringing up memories, because music transplants you back to that time period. And it has, in a very therapeutic and awakening kind of way. 

It’s kind of perfect timing that I’m getting into My Chemical Romance. Don’t get me wrong I appreciated them when they were up and coming, I played the shit out of their song, I’m Not Okay (I Promise) not only the song but the music video as well. I remember watching the music video because it was funny and all my friends and I thought Frank was hott, with two t’s. IYKYK.  

As I’ve been watching interviews and music videos I'm laughing to myself thinking, I came for Frank but I'm staying for Gerard. I’m also laughing at my younger self for being scared of them, because they all seem like sweeties. Although Frank gives off little brother energy, he’s still endearing.  

I’m telling you when I was 14 years old I was not able to watch the end scene of the Helena music video when Gerard looks into the back of the hearse, because it felt too real for me and I had a real fear of death, I still kind of do. I remember I would strategically close the music video when it got to that part with another music video that wouldn’t scare me to end my night on a lighter note. Because I would stay up super late watching music videos and was scared to run up the stairs to my bedroom because the computer room was in the dark basement. I wasn't having the last image be of Gerard's face looking into the hearse, no fucking thank you, ma'am. 

It’s been about a week since I started my My Chemical Romance adventure. I’m going to take you along with me to discover what a great band My Chemical Romance is because who knows maybe the person reading this felt the same way about My Chem in high school, or has yet to discover the band. 

I wish I would’ve seen them in concert when I was in high school. It’s a new regret that I never saw them in the hay day, but like I said there’s got to be a reason I’m getting into them now. I’m excited to research the band and retell what I find interesting and inspiring.

One more thing before it go. the only nice thing about having a something corporate job is having some money you can spend frivolously, because at 12AM Friday I bought myself a MCR t-shirt. Like I need another band tee *upside down smile emjoi here*  but I doooooooo!!

I’m so happy you asked, yes, I do know three songs from My Chemical Romance songs:

I’m Not Okay (I Promise)

To the End

Teenagers

It’s been fun getting to know the band, so my next post will be about what I’m enjoying finding out about them! 

I just bought their album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, and watched Life on the Murder Scene documentary twice. It's been fun getting to know My Chemical Romance after all the history has been made. Once I get the t-shirt in the mail I’ll put some outfits together and post them!! I’m excited for this My Chemical Romance journey:

"The wedding party all collapsed in the room So send my resignation to the bride and the groom Let's go down!

-To the End by My Chemical Romance

Xoxo, 

The Pungent Darling

[pungentdarling]

It's giving Coastal Grandmother

[pungentdarling]

The Pungent Darling

Hello world!! The Pungent Darling is run by Michelle. Trying to fight imposter syndrome one post at a time. If it were up to me I’d only be going by Pungent Darling, but my mom insisted on me keeping my name in here somewhere. This was after I lectured her on why someone would choose to write with a pen name. I told her mine was for the anxiety of putting myself out into the world. This is terrifying!! But still she persisted. So, here we are, welcome to the blog where thoughts, opinions, creativity, reviews and rants will be held. Light a candle, grab some snacks and don’t forget a drink, this is going to be a post about my background to make me feel legit on why I deserve to start a blog.

If you know me, you know how much I constantly talk about “when I start my fashion / music blog,” or “when I interview [any celebrity] I’m going to ask them…” One of my brothers once told me “I’ll let you interview me when you’ve got the story” haha, harsh!! What can I say, I’m a dreamer with my head in the clouds. While I was up in the clouds letting my mind wander I started to remember all the things I did before I shut off my creativity. I stopped having goals for myself and ended up in the ether untied to anything. I’m starting to ground myself again and walk the talk.   

I used to have a tumblr blog of pictures I would take of bands at their concerts, some with a photo pass, some from the crowd. It was a blast!! But I forgot the login, so that is a chapter of my life I won’t be able to edit. The feeling of adrenaline while photographing a band between the stage and barricades is wild. The screaming fans behind you while you’re photographing each band member feels like they’re cheering you on. I always wondered if the musicians could see me smiling (I tried to photograph my favorite bands at that time so this was a big wonder and wishful thinking.) I'd also be singing their songs as my face was shield by my camera (always wanting to stay out of the way and observe.) Shout out to my plethora of Canons, thank you for getting me into places!! This was a very fun and cool part of my life, I wish I would’ve stuck it out, but imposter syndrome and lack of passion will make you stop doing anything. It sucks when it was the only thing you’ve built your personality around.  

DiD sHe Go To CoLlEgE?! YUP!! I graduated with a bachelor's degree in arts, majoring in Broadcasting and Journalism minoring in Apparel and Textile Merchandising. I shit you not, those exact lengthy ass words are on my degree!! This school is not worth mentioning and I’m still mad at myself for going there. Words of advice don’t go to a college just because it’s the cheapest state school and the school colors were your favorite complimentary color combo. I’ve always had a love / hate relationship when it comes to this section of my life. Through all the pain, came things I’ve learned that will stick with me for life, the good and the bad. 

My vision for this page is to share experiences and things that I think are cool. Basically all the things I love and want to share; traveling and checking out new local places, sometimes a quick day trip! Two hours one way isn’t that far if it seems worth it, in my humble opinion. I want to share what I’m reading and cooking; concert reviews; travel logs; grief; fashion things; music interest and food places. I’m not going to limit / force myself on the length of the post like I would in the past, maybe that is why my previous writing / blogging endeavors never worked out. Third times the charm!!

Please enjoy this picture of me in a very weird time of my life, but looking at it now it’s one of my favorite pictures of myself. It embodies the chaos that is The Pungent Darling. I can’t wait to see where this blog goes, all I want is to keep evolving and sticking to my boundaries. 

Xoxo,

The Pungent Darling