Gerard Way Saw the Towers Fall During His Commute on 9/11, Then Wrote the Song That Started My Chemical Romance

Without 9/11, there might not be My Chemical Romance.

The tragic events had and continue to have a profound impact. It forced a nation and the rest of the world to grapple with what they had witnessed, leaving millions to process such an extreme attack.

For one commuting train passenger headed into New York City that day in 2001, the emotion came out in four written lines that incidentally gave birth to one of the 21st century's biggest bands.

Gerard Way Watched The World Trade Center Towers Fall

In 2001, Gerard Way was doing an internship in New York City and trying to pitch a show to Cartoon Network. He was staying with his parents at the time and making the daily commute into the city from the train station in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Two routes regularly run from Hoboken to the area near the World Trade Center, with one going directly to the World Trade Center. Way was on one of those trains on Sept. 11.

READ MORE: How Limp Bizkit Developed a Strange Connection to 9/11

While he didn't witness the moment each of the planes made contact with the towers, he did watch on with other passengers as the structures crumbled to the ground.

"It was like being in a science fiction film or like some kind of disaster film," Way said in an unearthed interview where he addressed the events of Sept. 11. "It was exactly that kind of feeling. You didn't believe it. Like you felt like you were in Independence Day or something. It made no sense."

Gerard Way Discusses 9/11

Way described his emotions as feeling nauseous and also empathetic toward the other passengers who were looking on in horror.

"A lot of the people behind me all had friends and family in those buildings; I didn't. So when that first building went, it was like an A-bomb went off, of, like, just this emotion," he added.

How My Chemical Romance Started Following 9/11

After a somber train ride back to Hoboken and a long trip to his parents' house, Way found himself in the basement trying to process what he had just witnessed. He worked through his emotions as he started to write:

And after seeing what we saw

Can we still reclaim our innocence?

And if the world needs something better

Let's give them one more reason, now

Those lyrics would become the song "Skylines and Turnstiles," the seventh track on 2002's I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.

My Chemical Romance was formed the following day.

In recent years, My Chemical Romance has been more upfront about what 9/11 meant to them. In 2021, the band shared a lengthy statement on their official social media detailing the tragedy's significance on their 20th anniversary.

"Like many of you reading this, 9/11 changed our lives and (affected) every aspect of our consciousness," the band shared on Instagram. "Starting Mychem was a direct result of everything we experienced and witnessed during those horrific events."

The lyrics Way wrote on 9/11 became a prelude to what would become My Chemical Romance's mission: to give the world "something better."

"The world changed that day, and the next day we set about trying to change the world."

Keep reading for a look back at how members of My Chemical Romance and other big emo bands from the 2000s have changed through the years.