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The Kids from Yesterday

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"The Kids from Yesterday"
Single by My Chemical Romance
from the album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
ReleasedJanuary 16, 2012 (2012-01-16)
Genre
Length5:24
LabelReprise
Producer(s)
My Chemical Romance singles chronology
"Bulletproof Heart"
(2011) 		"The Kids from Yesterday"
(2012) 		"Fake Your Death"
(2014)
Music video
"The Kids from Yesterday" on YouTube

"The Kids from Yesterday" is a song by the American rock band My Chemical Romance from their fourth studio album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010). It was released as the final single from the album on January 16, 2012. Written by all members of the band and co-produced with Rob Cavallo, it is an electro-pop and alternative rock song about nostalgia and how all members of the band coped with growing up in their own ways. It was the final single released by the band before their break-up in early 2013;[a] consequentially, many have viewed it as a farewell song.

The song was met with positive responses from critics, who generally viewed it as a farewell song and formed their stances on the song based on that viewpoint. The music video was directed by Emily Eisemann, a fan who previously created a collage featuring the band's live performances and their earlier interviews. When the band's vision for an official music video ended up being identical to Eisemann's edit, they collaborated to create the official clip. The song was later included on the band's greatest hits album, May Death Never Stop You (2014).

Background and release

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Following the success of their third studio album The Black Parade (2006), My Chemical Romance saw themselves as primarily associated with that album and effectively the figureheads of emo music and culture at the time.[1] Furthermore, the band became worried that they had started to lose their identity. As the production of their fourth album came to an end, frontman Gerard Way abruptly shelved it due to the band being unsatisfied with the final product.[1] The band ultimately decided to restart production of the album, wanting to create an album that was the direct opposite of The Black Parade. Their vision was inspired by a comic story that Way had previously read about a group of characters known as the Killjoys, a series of outlaws who battled against a corrupt mega-corporation.[1]

"The Kids from Yesterday" was the last song from the album to be recorded. The band wrote it as a song about nostalgia, and how each of the band members coped with growing up in their own way.[2] They stated that idea of being a "kid from yesterday" was the band's way of "finding a new way to describe an adult". Furthermore, they stated that the song was their favorite on the record, and the "most special song for all of us".[2] The song was written by all members of the band, who also co-produced the song with Rob Cavallo.[3][4]

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys was released on November 22, 2010, through Reprise Records;[5] "The Kids from Yesterday" is the thirteenth song on the album's track list.[6] The song was released as the final single from the album on January 16, 2012.[7][8][9] It was released in the form of an extended play that features several additional tracks, including a remix of the song made by Dan P. Carter, two remixed versions of "Planetary (Go!)", and "Zero Percent".[9][4] The song was later included on the band's greatest hits album, May Death Never Stop You, released on March 25, 2014. It is the final non-demo on the album's track list.[10] The song has appeared on the set lists for the band's live performances, occasionally being played during their World Contamination Tour[11] and their Reunion Tour.[12][13][14]

Composition and lyrics

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"The Kids from Yesterday" is an electro-pop[15] and alternative rock[16] song. It is 5 minutes and 24 seconds long.[17] It makes use of synths that were described as Chloe Spinks of Gigwise as sounding like "solar flares",[18] as well a bass line and a "meditative breakdown" in the words of Tris McCall of NJ.com; he compared the bass line to one from a song by New Order.[11] Billboard described the song as having a "melancholy melody" and Spinks further said that it had a "gorgeous composition" with an "echoing arena sound".[19][18] David Edwards of Drowned in Sound compared the song to those by the Killers and MGMT,[15] while Evan Sawdey of PopMatters felt that it could have been a song written by Pulp.[20]

The central theme of the song, as stated by the band, is nostalgia.[2] However, it has also been interpreted as a farewell song for the band;[19][16] "The Kids from Yesterday" was the final single that My Chemical Romance released before their break-up[19] in March 2013.[21][a] Lines in the song such as "This could be the last of all the rides we take / So hold on tight and don’t look back" and "You only live forever in the lights you make" have been highlighted by music journalists as particularly demonstrating the double meaning.[16][24] The former line was interpreted by Andy Belt of PopMatters as possibly implying that the band knew that they would break up soon.[24] Sam Law of Kerrang! described the song as "end credits finality".[16]

Critical reception

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McCall highlighted "The Kids from Yesterday" as their "Song of the Day", describing it as the closest song to what they believed were the central themes of Danger Days: growing up, but not forgetting the lessons that one learned as in their youth.[11] Law believed that, while the song initially came off as a regular alternative rock song, it featured a large amount of poignancy when viewed from the perspective as a eulogy on the band's history and legacy. He further labeled the song as an "invitation to consider how much we’d grown and how much this band had given".[16] Likewise, Billboard described the song as encapsulating the "bittersweet feeling of saying farewell",[19] while Spinks said that the song was like saying goodbye, receiving closure, and being satisfied with it.[18] Sawdey and Edwards referred to "The Kids from Yesterday" as a "shimmering gem" and a "stunning pop nugget", respectively.[15][20]

Belt deemed "The Kids from Yesterday" to be the best song in My Chemical Romance's discography, believing that it summarized "all of the band’s sentiments from their discography into one massive musical sendoff".[24] Meanwhile, Law ranked it as the tenth best song in their discography, while Billboard ranked it fourteenth; the latter stated that the song was "one final, bleary-eyed goodbye from the band to their unwavering fans".[16] Spinks ranked the song as the band's twenty-seventh best, while Cassie Whitt and Jake Richardson of Loudwire ranked it thirty-first; Whitt and Richardson described it as a proper farewell to the band's "most colorful era", and a "fitting end to an album campaign that once more demonstrated the power of [the band]’s music".[25][18]

Music video

[edit]

The music video for "The Kids from Yesterday" was directed by a fan, Emily Eisemann. Initially, Eisemann was responsible for creating a collage titled "My Chemical Romance – Celebrating 10 Years as a Band", which featured earlier interviews of the band interspersed with footage of their live performances;[8][26][7] her video used "The Kids from Yesterday" as its background music.[7] While the band was brainstorming what to do for their official music video for the song, they had a similar idea and began searching for footage to use for their collage. In the process, they stumbled across Eisemann's original video, whom they then contacted about using her video for the official clip.[7][8] The final clip consists of the collage that the band put together themselves fused with Eisemann's own version;[7] Eisemann's original video was credited and linked in the description, and she was labeled as the director of the video.[8][26]

Personnel

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Taken from the digital liner notes.[3]

Musicians
Technicians

Notes

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  1. ^ a b My Chemical Romance released a proper "final song", "Fake Your Death", in 2014 post-break up.[22] The band later reunited in 2019 and has since released new music.[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "The courageous story of My Chemical Romance's Danger Days: The True…". Kerrang!. November 22, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c Mapes, Jillian (November 17, 2010). "My Chemical Romance's 'Danger Days' Track-By-Track". Billboard. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  3. ^ a b The Kids from Yesterday by My Chemical Romance on Apple Music, November 22, 2010, retrieved May 14, 2025
  4. ^ a b The Kids from Yesterday (liner notes). My Chemical Romance. Reprise Records. 2012. 9362495256.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. ^ Wood, Mikael (November 22, 2010). "My Chemical Romance, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys". SPIN. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  6. ^ "My Chemical Romance are in for some Danger Days with new album". Consequence. September 24, 2010. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e Iero, Frank (January 16, 2012). ""The Kids From Yesterday" Music Video". My Chemical Romance Blog. Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d Medina, Portia (January 16, 2012). "New My Chemical Romance Music Video Directed by Fan". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  9. ^ a b The Kids from Yesterday - EP by My Chemical Romance on Apple Music, January 16, 2012, retrieved May 14, 2025
  10. ^ Sawdey, Evan (April 16, 2014). "My Chemical Romance: May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits (2001-2013)". PopMatters. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
  11. ^ a b c McCall, Tris (May 10, 2011). "Song of the Day: 'The Kids From Yesterday,' My Chemical Romance". NJ.com. Retrieved April 16, 2025.
  12. ^ Enis, Eli. "My Chemical Romance's First Show in 3 Years: See Videos, Setlist". Revolver. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  13. ^ Robinson, Ellie (September 22, 2022). "My Chemical Romance treat hometown fans to first live performance of 'Demolition Lovers' since 2004". NME. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  14. ^ Shutler, Ali (May 17, 2022). "My Chemical Romance live in Cornwall: giddy rock'n'roll from returning emo heroes". NME. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  15. ^ a b c "Album Review: My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys". Drowned in Sound. November 22, 2010. Retrieved April 16, 2025.
  16. ^ a b c d e f "The 20 greatest My Chemical Romance songs – ranked". Kerrang!. April 9, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  17. ^ Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Deluxe Version) by My Chemical Romance on Apple Music, November 22, 2010, retrieved April 16, 2025
  18. ^ a b c d "Every My Chemical Romance song ranked from worst to best | Gigwise". www.gigwise.com. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  19. ^ a b c d Weatherby, Taylor (November 14, 2019). "The 15 Best My Chemical Romance Songs: Staff Picks". Billboard. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  20. ^ a b "My Chemical Romance: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys » PopMatters". www.popmatters.com. November 30, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  21. ^ Halperin, Shirley (March 22, 2013). "My Chemical Romance Breaks Up". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 25, 2024. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  22. ^ Whitt, Cassie (February 17, 2014). "My Chemical Romance stream their final song, "Fake Your Death"". Alternative Press. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
  23. ^ Blistein, Jon (May 12, 2022). "My Chemical Romance Mark Musical Return With Six-Minute Epic 'The Foundations of Decay'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  24. ^ a b c "The Top 15 Songs of My Chemical Romance » PopMatters". www.popmatters.com. October 1, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  25. ^ Whitt, Cassie; Richardson, Jake (March 24, 2019). "Every My Chemical Romance Song Ranked From Worst to Best". Loudwire. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  26. ^ a b Medina, Portia (January 17, 2012). "My Chemical Romance Debuts Fan-Directed Video For 'The Kids From Yesterday'". Billboard. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
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