Speaking with Exclaim!, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way discussed what led to scrapping a full two albums’ worth of material.

“I think the first attempt at this record was a reaction to the ambition of [2006’s Black Parade], unfortunately,” Way says. “And, I guess, thinking if we kill the ambition, strip it down, cut our hair and present ourselves as respectable and make a very safe rock record that will avoid for us any hardships, potentially, and we won’t rock the boat or make so much noise. Which means we could keep doing what we like: make music together. But Danger Days ended up being a rebellion against that rebellion, like saying, ‘We have to do this again if we really believe in this and each other.’

"It was definitely a reaction to the toll it took, but we took it and turned it into something really positive. If it took a heavy toll on us again, we’d say, ‘Okay, it’s taking a heavy toll on us so let’s go on a really fun, bright, colourful dance party adventure, so then we get to live that every night. We don’t have to live something so dark.’”