"I must be one of those narcissists who only appreciate things when they're gone."

"Hey, girls, you're beautiful. Don't look at those stupid magazines with sticklike models. Eat healthy and exercise. That's all. Don't let anyone tell you you're not good enough. You're good enough, you are too good. Love your family with all your heart and listen to it. You are gorgeous, whether you're a size 4 or 14. It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside, as long as you're a good person, as long as you respect others. I know it's been told hundreds of times before, but it's true. Hey, girls, you are beautiful."

"Now that we have your undivided female attention, I want you to do us a favor. You're gonna be going to rock shows for the rest of your natural life, right ladies? Ladies, let me hear you holler! If you ever see shitty ass rock dudes in shitty ass rock bands asking you to show them your tits for a backstage pass, I want you to spit right in their fuckin' face and yell FUCK YOU!"

How did we go from that, to this?

"I wanna hear you fuck yourselves. I wanna hear you ACTUALLY fuck yourselves. What does that sound like? Let me hear you fuck yourselves!"

So it's not alright for singers to ask girls to show their tits, but getting a bunch of fourteen year old girls, or ANY age girls to simulate an orgasm for you is different and that makes it OK?

He also said "This is a song about sucking dick for cocaine." It's not too far out to think that an ex junkie in recovery would joke about his addictions. Bt until recently it seemed unlikely for ex junkie Gerard to joke about it in front of all his fans. I'm sensing that old "there is truth in every joke" cliche. Actually I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that he is back on cocaine. No doubt at all.

Addendum. This from an anonymous source who has no reason to lie, and who didn't know even who was in MCR.

"I admittedly know next to nothing about MCR (one of my students is super into them, as are several of my friends, but i have never heard their music) but google tells me he's married to a chick in Mindless Self Indulgence, a band i do know something about (at one time, personally, [more personal info deleted]) and yes, they are massive fucking drug casualties. Sad.

Long ago in another life (ok not that long, but it sure feels like it) i was a pretty well-known promoter (personal info deleted) before that.....I worked for a series of clubs, one of which MSI played at frequently on tours. I definitely remember things being pretty ridiculous for the show/release of "(album deleted so as not to identify the source of this story).... They were train-freakin-wreckage, no mistake.

IIRC there was a huge fracas because the club security caught one of them banging some chick in the restroom and tried to throw them both out, there was a lot of "don't you know who i am?!!" dickwaving (maybe literally?), clearly everyone was blown to pieces on drugs, etc.

Night. Mare. It was a repulsive restroom, even. Not that any restroom is like, sweet sexy lovenest or something, but if you had to pick a restroom in which to hit it, this was NOT THE ONE.

The world is full of people massively depressed and mentally screwed up... so i doubly feel for this Way fellow.

I think it's obvious why Gerard is acting this way.

So Frank left the tour. Why? Family issues, that's what they officially said. "They" does not mean Frank himself, but Gerard and their publicity people. Yet Frank is supposed to allegedly return on a scheduled date. A few people have been asking "how do you know when your emergency is going to be over"?

I do not accuse Frank of lying. I trust him. I know he's human and fallible but I trust him and still think he is such a good man. But I do accuse others of lying FOR him. Somehow I can get the impression of him saying "Tell them what you want" before leaving. I really hope that nothing is wrong with someone in Frank's family so maybe it is wishful thinking, because I think most people want the best for him, a truly good man. But it seems strange. Frank and Gerard have been avoiding each other on stage since even before this tour. If you think about it they have been weird with each other on stage since this tour was announced. Maybe a little before. That's when all their fun started to end it seems like, and all the trouble started. Even the fangirls were lamenting the loss of their "Frerard" and acting worried... Why were those too avoiding each other? Gerard didn't even introduce Frank at a few shows when he introduced everyone else.

So now that Frank is gone, it looks like Gerard is cracking up further. No balance. He is out of control. I wonder what Frank's face would have looked like while Gerard was telling a bunch of fourteen year old girls, the children he used to claim to want to help, to "go fuck yourselves" and making them moan for him. The women he used to say it was so wrong to degrade. Now he degrades them and enjoys it. What would Frank have thought of that?

"I can find real beauty in things, I was never able to do that, I thought--everything disgusted me, and I was [a] very angry little dude and I don't feel so angry anymore. I just wanna kind of give the world something special."

* TasteiTTV interview in early 2007

Then only a few weeks ago we have this TasteitTV interview. This is a great interview and the interviewer knows what she's talking about. I think she knows exactly what is going on. She asks Gerard if there is a link between the artist and his creations. Basically she asks him if you need to practice what you preach. He evades and squirms and finally tells her, No, it is not important to practice what you preach. She says, "Imagine that someone is singing loves songs and about respect towards people, and then he is a complete asshole behind the stage." Oh yes, she knows what's going on. It's interesting to watch Gerard try to avoid this question and fail. She also mentions respecting women. "If I look at it as a fan," she says "I wouldn't be able to listen to that person anymore." Watch Gerard's face when she says that. Then Gerard brings up the painter Carravaggio and says he was a "womanizer" and says, "Once you know that about him, does it make his paintings any less beautiful? ... No, it doesn't." Who are we really talking about here, Gerard? She tells him, "It depends on what he paints. Imagine that he's painting about respect...... And then he's like, fake." Watch his face when she says that.

He then tries to evade by saying that he's "boring" and she tells him, "It's not about being boring." She tells him it's about the things he used to say between songs in the earlier days. "How girls should have respect" she points out to him.

"I find myself saying a lot less of those things these days," Gerard says. The interviewer fearlessly keeps pressing him on this subject. Watch him squirm.

An anonymous poster at a blog having to do with MCR fandom said this....

Then, circa LOTMS "We love to play. But that's really not why we all started this. It wasn't because we loved to play. It's because we had a purpose...We've always been pretty adamant or vocal about our message."
"We're the anti rock and roll."

Now, tasteittv "There is a lot this band has said and I think that's great and I think now when we play live, it's more about playing together and really enjoying that moment and really just being a rock band. And I think we've made a lot of statements and said a lot of things and I think that that's cool. We did that for years. And now it feels cool to get up there and not say anything and let the songs speak and just do that. 'Cause sometimes that stuff can detract from the show."

Guess the 'message' had a short shelf life. Maybe it's much easier to be just another rock band. I'm done.

I agree with that anonymous person. OK, deciding to not speak out for the issues anymore is one thing. But going from "don't take disrespect from rock bands!" right to "I want you all to fake an orgasm and moan for me" is a HUGE difference.

Gerard once said, When this stops being special, when we become part of the problem, it will be time to quit. It can happen on the next record or five records from now. When this stops meaning something, we'll all walk away.

Walk away.