The Used
| RPF Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name(s): | The Used (TU) |
| Scope/Focus: | secondary band in Bandom |
| Date(s): | 2001- |
| See also: | My Chemical Romance, Good Charlotte |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Used is a rock band from Utah that formed in 2001. They were in the Warped Tour lineup in 2002-2004. As of 2016, the band has released six studio albums and has an active fanbase on Tumblr (see the tags).
It is considered a second-tier band within the RPF fandom of interrelated American bands known as Bandom. Its main connections to the fandom are through My Chemical Romance. Before it became associated with MCR, Used fans on LiveJournal used to write crossovers with Good Charlotte and other bands popular at the time. (See the livejournal community mestgcsptheused.)
The original lineup included vocalist Bert McCracken, guitarist Quinn Allman, bassist Jeph Howard, and drummer Branden Steineckert. Dan Whitesides replaced Branden Steineckert in 2006; Justin Shekoski replaced Quinn in 2015. Based on AO3 statistics, Bert, Quinn, and Jepha are the most likely to appear as characters in Bandom fanworks.[1]
Relationship with MCR
The Used has several connections to My Chemical Romance: the bands toured together, MCR's manager Brian Schechter was also The Used's touring manager, Bob Bryar was The Used's sound mixer before being acquired by MCR as their replacement drummer, and Gerard Way and Bert were known to be friends. It is also known that Gerard and Bert's friendship went south circa May 2005[citation needed], and fans have speculated that some of the songs on both bands' subsequent albums were about each other: On Lies for the Liars, "Pretty Handsome Awkward"[2] and "Liar Liar (Burn in Hell)"[3] are supposedly about Gerard, while "The Sharpest Lives" on The Black Parade may or may not contain references to Bert. Earlier both Gerard and Bert said in interviews that the song "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison" on MCR's second album was about kissing Bert.[4][5]
Other members were/are friends as well, though less is made of this in fanfic.
Shipping and Fanworks
As of 2018 on AO3, by far the most popular ship is Bert/Gerard (230 works), though the majority of these works are also tagged with Frank/Gerard, so it is likely that the Bert/Gerard is not usually endgame.[6] Other ships include Quinn Allman/Bert McCracken (64)[7], Jepha Howard/Dan Whitesides (23)[8], Frank Iero/Bert McCracken (18)[9], and Jepha Howard/Mikey Way (9)[10].
Villain!Bert
Bert often appears as a villain in Bandom fanfiction, to the extent that fans have complained about it. In 2007:
- When I read a wolfshirts post, there's often a point where I sigh and smack my forehead with the back of my hand. Not in the good, swooning kind of way. In the bad, NO NO WHY ME kind of way. Why is this, you ask? It is because the bad guy is always Bert McCracken.[11]
In 2017:
- The characterisation these days sucks.... Why is Bert is always a villian? Because he didn't destroy Gerard's life or anything? *is lowkey in love with Bert*[12]
For example Bert was an
- evil school bully in Forever, Now (November 2007)
- evil werewolf henchman in The Detective's Secret and the Mystery of the Dancing Flowers (December 2010)
- evil vampire hunter trying to kill vampire Gerard in (To Die Will Be) An Awfully Big Adventure (March 2011)
But he isn't always evil:
- the wronged party in a Gerard/Bert breakup in Skin of the Canvas by sinsense (June 2008)
- supportive bandmate in We Used To Be Friends, a Frank/Mikey AU by ladyfoxxx in which Mikey joins The Used (July 2012)
Fanart Examples
- So Deep +The Used by EgyptianTrinity. Color drawing inspired by a music video. (October 23, 2005)
- Quinn Allman by napkep. Digital portrait. (September 12, 2006)
- The Used 2. by scarykidxx. Graphic. (January 3, 2007)
- Gerard and Bert by umbrellaxbrigade. Charcoal and HB pencil drawing. (May 24, 2007)
- Rock Villain - Bert McCracken by LieutenantDeath. Micron pens on Bristol board. (June 10, 2007)
- Jeph Howard by anyspoon. Detailed black-and-white drawing (November 5, 2007)
- Two Of A Kind by xsafety-pinnedx. Digital art of Bert and Gerard. (June 22, 2010)
Fannish Resources
- The Used fanworks at Archive of Our Own
- The Used Primer by turnyourankle on bandom-primers (March 2008)
- jephquinnation, livejournal created in 2005
- theusedslash, livejournal created in 2004
- The Used fic at slashypunkboys
References
- ^ Also, I'd never heard of the others. See under character tags on the Search & Filter sidebar for the The Used tag on AO3. Accessed 27 October 2016
- ^ This was reported in a 2006 Kerrang interview with The Used and noticed by MCR fans. See Gerard Vs McCracken in Kerrang!, Archived version, post in chemicalromance by jessstarmcr, 2006-11-29, with 268 comments.
- ^ The speculation is well known enough that people made fanart of Gerard with the lyrics from Liar Liar (Burn in Hell): STOP YOUR SOUL FROM CATCHING FIRE, FIRE! by seymoursunshine
- ^ article reposted from Rock Sound magazine in chemicalromance on 2004-12-18. also on fotolog.
- ^ supergirl2001zz. untitled, Archived version, posted in slashypunkboys, 2004-10-03.
- ^ Bert/Gerard tag, 21 February 2018.
- ^ Quinn/Bert tag
- ^ Jepha/Dan tag
- ^ Frank/Bert tag, down from 22 in October 2016.
- ^ Jepha/Mikey tag, down from 14 in October 2016.
- ^ sinsense. Soon we will return to your regularly scheduled self-absorption., Archived version, 2007-12-14.
- ^ Re: Bandom - A bit of a rant, anonymous comment posted to fail_fandomanon, 2017-02-23.