Gerard Way speaks on the revival of rock music

My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way has talked about the resurgence of rock music in pop culture, saying that people “missed the sound of the guitar”.

In a new interview, Way has discussed the eternal arguments that rock is dead, his love for band Nirvana, and his opinions on why rock music is filtering into pop music once more.

Talking about how much rock has changed since My Chemical Romance’s emergence in the early 2000s, Way said: “In the 2000s, when we emerged, you saw other bands like Green Day have almost a whole revitalisation: it was a time for rock and roll. Rock and roll was a really dominant thing.

“And then pop starts to take a lot of risks, then all of the sudden you get people trying to get bands to use guitars less. You keep hearing ‘Rock is dead’.

“If someone gave me a free guitar every time somebody said ‘Rock is dead’, I’d have a lot of guitars,” he joked.

“What I believe happened in that time that rock was gone, [when] you wouldn’t hear guitars in things, I think people really missed what you can get out of a rock band and you can’t get anywhere else. They just missed the sound of the guitar. I think that’s why you’re starting to hear them in pop. I think as this cycle continues, sounds are going to get heavier and more visceral because I think people just need that. I think people just need it.”

Gerard Way also spoke of Nirvana in his interview, discussing that his teenage taste in music influenced who he was as a musician in his later life. “Kurt and Krist and Dave really paved the way for bands to continue to morph punk rock and find new ways to channel that energy we grew up with.”