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Okay, raise your hand if you saw this and immediately thought of the "St. Patrick's Day Massacre" in LA punk, where riot police stormed a bunch of kids after a show and beat the shit out of them. I thought that was an obvious reference, but that might be me. Other ones, Gerard as Jim Morrison, arrested on stage, the Sex Pistols Jublilee riot. MCR are very good at being mythic, playing on old rock history and remaking it.
Okay, now the issue I've seen before: the fact that there are no women in the audience in this video, unlike any actual MCR show. My thoughts about that: First, I'm pretty sure this was a criticism of the out of control male violence of classic hardcore. The audience causes a disturbance, beats up a cop, and leads to the band getting arrested. Now, Gerard does grin manically, reveling in the chaos, but this behavior, to me, isn't being endorsed. If anything, it's practially stuck in a time capsule labled "1982". MCR seem to be playing Black Flag in this video, and only a few girls would brave a Black Flag show, even after they got a female bass player. (80's hardcore was so male-fixated, Kira had to dress as much like a boy as possible just to get by. Also during this time Black Flag released a live album called "Who's got the 10 1/2?" that introduced the band members by dick size. At least Kira got the 10 1/2.)
I love the song and video, it has a lot of energy. I don't think this is an attempt to divorce themselves from their loyal band of fangirls, like some wonder. Gerard is too riot grrrl influenced to think that having female fans is a bad thing.
Also this is the second video where the band gets beaten on stage. I guess they're working out their own fears about the chaos they create coming back on them.
ETA: Thanks to Fi for pointing out there are girls in the video. On further inspection, there are a small group of women near the front, and maybe a few more in the pit. But considering the large amount of male sterotypical hardcore behavior on display (like the jump from the balcony to the bottom), I still think it was meant as a comment on the 80's hardcore scene.
Okay, now the issue I've seen before: the fact that there are no women in the audience in this video, unlike any actual MCR show. My thoughts about that: First, I'm pretty sure this was a criticism of the out of control male violence of classic hardcore. The audience causes a disturbance, beats up a cop, and leads to the band getting arrested. Now, Gerard does grin manically, reveling in the chaos, but this behavior, to me, isn't being endorsed. If anything, it's practially stuck in a time capsule labled "1982". MCR seem to be playing Black Flag in this video, and only a few girls would brave a Black Flag show, even after they got a female bass player. (80's hardcore was so male-fixated, Kira had to dress as much like a boy as possible just to get by. Also during this time Black Flag released a live album called "Who's got the 10 1/2?" that introduced the band members by dick size. At least Kira got the 10 1/2.)
I love the song and video, it has a lot of energy. I don't think this is an attempt to divorce themselves from their loyal band of fangirls, like some wonder. Gerard is too riot grrrl influenced to think that having female fans is a bad thing.
Also this is the second video where the band gets beaten on stage. I guess they're working out their own fears about the chaos they create coming back on them.
ETA: Thanks to Fi for pointing out there are girls in the video. On further inspection, there are a small group of women near the front, and maybe a few more in the pit. But considering the large amount of male sterotypical hardcore behavior on display (like the jump from the balcony to the bottom), I still think it was meant as a comment on the 80's hardcore scene.
