Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)

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"Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)"

Single by My Chemical Romance

from the album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous
Killjoys

Released

September 28, 2010

Format

CD
Digital download

Recorded

2010

Genre

Alternative rock,[1] pop punk[2]

Length

3:23

Label

Reprise

Writer(s)

My Chemical Romance

Producer(s)

Rob Cavallo

My Chemical Romance singles chronology

"Desolation

"Na Na Na (Na "The Only Hope

Row"

Na Na Na Na

for Me Is You"

(2009)

Na Na Na Na)"

(2010)

(2010)

"Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" is a song by American rock band My Chemical

Romance. It is the second track and firstsingle from their fourth and final studio album, Danger
Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.
Contents
[hide]

1Background

2Promotion

3Music video
o

3.1Development and release

3.2Synopsis

4Promotion and publication

o

4.1Publication and dissemination of the song

4.2Live performances

5Uses in popular culture

6Critical reception

7Chart performance
o

7.1Chart successions

8Track listing

9References

Background[edit]
According to lead vocalist Gerard Way, the band had struggled with the departure of drummer
Bob Bryar and was dissatisfied with the progress of the sessions for their fourth studio album
until the recording of "Na Na Na".[3] A breakthrough was achieved once the chord progressions
for the song were in place, with Way explaining,
"That's the moment where we said, 'This song changes everything. We're starting over right now.
We're starting it over with producer Rob Cavallo, and we're doing it now'. Everything up to that
point had felt like we had been in this kind of stasis, and as artists, stasis really equals death. So,
it was so bad, the vibe wasn't good, and then 'Na Na' happened. And then, all of a sudden, there
was this real, big intensity underneath us, and it was the momentum we needed to dig deep and
record another album".[3]

The song was not originally intended as a single, but due to the positive response to the album's
teaser video, "Art is the Weapon", it was released and a full music video was shot.[4]

Promotion[edit]
"Na Na Na" was premiered on air September 22, 2010 via WRFF in Philadelphia, Zane
Lowe on BBC Radio 1, and KROQ-FM in Los Angeles.[5] The artwork was released on the band's
website the next day.[6] The song was released on September 28, 2010 in North America for
purchase at online music stores and was released on November 8, 2010 in the United Kingdom.
[7][8]
On the day the single was released in North America, a lyric video, which primarily literally
depicts the words in the song, was released on YouTube.[9]WWE named "Na Na Na" as the
official theme song for the 2010 Tables Ladders & Chairs PPV.

Music video[edit]
Development and release[edit]
The music video premiered on MTV on October 14, 2010. The video was co-directed by
Roboshobo and Gerard Way and features comic book author Grant Morrison.[10] The music video
was first previewed in the short trailer titled "Art is the Weapon" which was released on
September 17, 2010.[11] Album opener "Look Alive, Sunshine" was included in the music video.
[12]
MTV posted photo previews on October 8, and a 30 second preview video on October 11.
[13]
On a "Making of" video, Gerard Way expressed interest in shooting a third part to the Killjoy
story.

Synopsis[edit]
The video features a strangely garbed outlaw gang called the Killjoys (Gerard Way as Party
Poison, Mikey Way as Kobra Kid, Ray Toro as Jet Star and Frank Iero as Fun Ghoul), who are
being pursued in the badlands around Battery City by the sinister executive Korse (Morrison) of
Better Living Industries (BL/ind) and his vampire-masked henchmen (the Draculoids); in between
battles with Better Living, the gang are indulging in pornographic magazines, fast driving, and
hacking vending machines. The Killjoys have a young girl as one of their members (portrayed
by Grace Jeanette), who BL/ind is out to capture. At the end of the video, after a standoff, the
Killjoys lie defeated on the ground, and Missile Kid has been captured by Korse and the
Draculoids. Korse tells the Killjoys to "Keep running." The music video for later single "Sing" is a
companion piece and continues the story of the Killjoys and BL/ind, it includes the lyrics "keep
running" which ties it to "Na Na Na"
In an interview with the band for KROQ-FM, Gerard Way revealed that members of the
band Mindless Self Indulgence appear in the video, with guitarist Steve Righ? as DJ "Dr. Death
Defying", and vocalist Jimmy Urine as the "main, tall Draculoid". [14] Urine was originally intended
to play the roller skater "Show Pony", but was changed to a Draculoid as he cannot skate. [4] After
the video's premiere, MTV released a "Pop-Culture Cheat Sheet" listing many of the movie and
TV references in the video, including films such as Blade Runner, Easy Rider, Terminator 2:
Judgment Day, Ultraviolet and perhaps most prominently, the "Mad Max" franchise.[15] There is
also a reference to their previous album 'The Black Parade' at the 1:28 marker in the video where
a half buried skeleton wearing a black marching jacket at the bottom of the screen can be seen.
Similarly, in one of the "Transmissions" by Dr. Death on the band's website features a Killjoy
(presumably Party Poison) searching through an abandoned room, passing by Mikey Way's
Black Parade uniform from the music videos Welcome to the Black Parade and Famous Last
Words, and picking up one of the skull-designed masks featured in Black Parade merchandise,
before finding the MOUSEKAT mask seen in the video for Na Na Na. On a related note, the
MOUSEKAT character is featured in one of BL/ind's transmissions as a Mickey Mouse-style
cartoon propaganda character promoting the drugs used to keep humans under BL/ind's
influence, in the fictional reality that accompanies Danger Days.
The band won Best Video at the 2011 NME Awards for this track.

Promotion and publication[edit]

Publication and dissemination of the song[edit]

The aftermath is secondary is one of the slogans that appear in the trailer Art is the Weapon.

On Friday, September 17, 2010, the band posted on its official account YouTube a trailer for the
new album called "Art is the Weapon" which included snippets of Na Na Na. Originally they had
not planned on filming a full video for the track or releasing it as a single but due to feedback by
fans to the trailer, they changed their minds. On Wednesday, September 22, 2010, "Na Na Na"
was premiered worldwide on BBC Radio 1 and KROQ.
The track was released on a 7" Vinyl Record in November 2010 in Europe, then later on 16 April
2011 in America to celebrate Record Store Day.[16] The single includes the non-album track Zero
Percent.[16]

Live performances[edit]

Gerard Way at a concert in August 2011

"Na Na Na" was used in many concerts, if not all, as the opening song repertoire in the
promotional tour for the album, The World Contamination Tour as well as on tour Honda Civic
Tour 2011. The band performed the song on the TV program Jimmy Kimmel Live!, on November
18, 2010, in addition to also interpret his simple "SING." A remarkable interpretation of the theme
was carried out in a pre-show party football in Wembley Stadium of London (England), on
October 31, 2010. The game belonged to the International Series of the American League NFL,
and the teams he faced San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos. Gerard Way said: "It was
great, because it's a song about hard drugs and blow up the world, and we were doing it literally
with a marching band, cheerleaders, fireworks and party football about to begin ... was amazing,
it was very subversive and brilliant. " In this presentation the band also played the single from
their third album "Welcome to the Black Parade".

Uses in popular culture[edit]

An instrumental version was featured in the Sonic Generations E3 US trailer showcasing

the City Escape level.

The Florida Panthers used the song as a goal song, beginning with the 2011-12 season.

The song has been heard in films and tv shows including American Reunion, Teen
Wolf, Human Target and Premium Rush as well as the trailer for Movie 43.

"Na Na Na" was made available as a downloadable track in the Rocktober track pack
that appears exclusively in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and
appears in Guitar Hero Live as a playable track.

A Simlish version appears in The Sims 3: Late Night.[17]

The song has been used in a transition sequence on the British topical comedy
show Russell Howard's Good News on BBC Three.

Critical reception[edit]
Thus far, "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" has been met with generally positive
critical enthusiasm. Spin's William Goldman described "Na Na Na" as an "in-your-face punk
anthem with blistering guitar leads, an epic breakdown, and Gerard Way's sneering delivery",
and added, "it's classic MCR and it's all hinged on an unforgettable, hockey-arena-filling chorus
of na, na, na, na, na, nas".[18] Jason Lipshutz of Billboard called the song a "three-minute punkrock blast" that "is a startling change of pace from My Chemical Romance's 2006 concept
album The Black Parade".[19] NME's Dan Martin said the song is "rooted in the here and now, with
the most simple pop song refrain rebooted as nothing less than a generational call to arms".
[20]
Sara D. Anderson of AOL Radio noted, "By the looks of their new single and its paired video
teaser, MCR are opting for an effervescent, light-hearted sound compared to their heavierthemed efforts."[21] MTV's Chris Ryan said the song "gets right to the point, exploding out of the
gate with an absolutely ferocious riff that could have been ripped right off of an
old Stooges album. Singer Gerard Way sounds in fine form, going toe to toe with the guitars". [22]