"Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys" (often referred to as simply Danger Days) is the fourth studio album by the American rock band My Chemical Romance, released on November 22, 2010, by Reprise Records. Its songs are primarily associated with the band's established sound of alternative rock, pop-punk, and punk rock, but also introduce new musical elements, including power pop, pop rock, and electronic rock. The album’s musical influences draw heavily from contemporary rock, psychedelic rock, and protopunk bands from the 1960s and 1970s. Danger Days was the penultimate album by My Chemical Romance before their disbandment in 2013, which lasted for six years before the band reunited in 2019.
Similar to their previous album, The Black Parade, Danger Days is structured as a rock opera. The storyline of the album is set in a post-apocalyptic California in 2019, where a group of rebellious outcasts known as the Killjoys battle against a corrupt and evil corporation. In 2013, Gerard Way, the band's frontman, expanded the story from the album into a comic miniseries, continuing the narrative.
To promote Danger Days, the band embarked on a world tour titled The World Contamination Tour, which ran from October 2010 to February 2012. The tour included performances across Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania. The band also co-headlined the 10th Annual Honda Civic Tour with Blink-182. Danger Days received generally positive reviews from critics and sold 112,000 copies in its first week, debuting at the top of both the Billboard Rock Albums and Alternative Albums charts and at number 8 on the Billboard 200. By February 2011, it had sold over a million copies worldwide.
After completing the extensive and exhausting tour for The Black Parade, My Chemical Romance entered the studio with producer Brendan O'Brien to begin work on their next album. The band, worn out from the dark tone and the heavy touring associated with The Black Parade, decided to take a more lighthearted, stripped-down approach for their next record. Their aim was to create something with "no concepts, no characters, no costumes, and no extra instrumentation." However, despite feeling they had achieved these goals, the band grew unhappy with the outcome of their recordings with O'Brien, feeling that they had not fully pushed their creativity. Consequently, the band decided to shelve the album in early 2010, a decision that their label, Reprise Records, supported. The sessions with O'Brien were later released in 2012 under the name Conventional Weapons.
Following the shelving of the album, the band worked with The Black Parade producer Rob Cavallo, who helped re-energize the band's creative process. They returned to the studio with a renewed sense of direction, and several tracks from the shelved album, including "Bulletproof Heart", "The Only Hope for Me Is You", "Save Yourself", and "Party Poison", were re-recorded for Danger Days. The track "Black Dragon Fighting Society" was also re-recorded for the accompanying Mad Gear EP.
Danger Days is the band's third rock opera, following The Black Parade. The album tells the story of the Killjoys, a group of rebels in a post-apocalyptic 2019 California. The narrative is occasionally narrated by the pirate radio DJ Dr. Death Defying (voiced by Steve Montano) and follows the Killjoys as they battle the evil corporation Better Living Industries (BL/ind.) and its army of "Draculoids" and exterminators, including the character Korse, portrayed by Grant Morrison in the album's music videos.
In promotional material and music videos, the band members took on the personas of the "Killjoys": Gerard Way as "Party Poison," Ray Toro as "Jet-Star," Frank Iero as "Fun Ghoul," and Mikey Way as "The Kobra Kid." The music video for the song "Na Na Na" depicts the Killjoys' lives before Korse and BL/ind. defeat them and capture "The Girl," while the video for "Sing" follows their mission to rescue her.
When Gerard Way was asked about the album’s title in a November 2010 interview, he explained that Danger Days represents the risks and challenges of pursuing greatness, and that it reflects both the band's journey and the fans' loyalty. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the band expressed that the album was a "rejection of rock star culture." The track "Na Na Na" critiques consumerist culture, while "SING" explores themes of subversion and reaching out through mass media to address political and social issues. Toro described "S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W" as a psychedelic song inspired by the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", showcasing the band’s artistic side. The final track, "Vampire Money," was a reaction to the band's refusal to contribute a song to The Twilight Saga, with Way stating that it was a commentary on how many people were eager to cash in on the success of the movie franchise.
In 2009, Way announced plans to create a companion comic series called The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. The series, which he co-wrote with Shaun Simon and featured artwork by Becky Cloonan, continued the narrative of Danger Days and was intended to serve as the "last part of the story" of the Killjoys. The first issue of the comic was released in June 2013, with a preview available on Free Comic Book Day that year.
Overall, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys marked a bold departure from My Chemical Romance's previous work, embracing a more colorful, energetic sound while still maintaining the band’s theatrical, conceptual style. It received both commercial and critical success, helping to solidify My Chemical Romance as one of the most influential rock bands of the 2000s.
