Dead! (song)

is a song by the American rock band My Chemical Romance from their third studio album The Black Parade (2006).

was originally created while the band was touring for their previous album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004), as part of a side project that was never meant to be released.

The song takes this idea of death and interprets it in a sarcastic, upbeat manner, utilizing dark humor and featuring several guitar solos and a section involving a horn.

The songs composition was inspired by Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky" and Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me".

Gerard Way referred to these demo recordings as "Cheers part two", a side project the band initially had no plans of releasing.

[1] In early 2006, the band began going through the material they had written while touring, and while positively viewing their work, felt that it wasn't ambitious enough.

[2] When creating the song, the band was musically inspired by the Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky" and Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me".

[1] The song's horn section was a result of the band's Frank Iero experimenting with a tuba while recording.

[9] Within the context of The Black Parade, the song is about the album's central character, the Patient, as he reaches the end of his life.

[14] When The Black Parade first released, The Daily Mail believed My Chemical Romance was initiating a "cult of emo", resulting in widespread hatred towards the band.

[22] Entertainment Weekly's Ariana Bacle and Mackenzie Templeton of Alternative Press both ranked the song as the second best from The Black Parade.

[10] Cassie Whitt of Loudwire described the song as "three minutes of OTT pop-punk glory" that highlighted the band's "scrappy punk upbringing" as well as the style of music that defined The Black Parade.

They further wrote that if The Black Parade was an album about dying, then “Dead!” was a "bullet straight to the heart".