Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 22:03, 21 March 2024

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Bert McCracken" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Bert McCracken
Background information
Birth name	Robert Edward McCracken
Born	(1982-02-25) February 25, 1982 (age 42) Provo, Utah, U.S.
Genres	Emo screamo post-hardcore hardcore punk punk rock alternative rock pop-punk
Occupations	Singer songwriter musician
Instruments	Vocals piano keyboards
Member of	The Used

Robert Edward McCracken (born February 25, 1982) is an American singer who is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band The Used.

Early life

McCracken was born in Provo, Utah, and grew up in Orem. He was raised in a Mormon family with three sisters (Katie, Melanie, Rachel) and one younger brother (Joseph Taylor). McCracken has stated that he read quite voraciously growing up, due to the influence of his mother, who was a schoolteacher. At age 12, he started playing the trumpet in a local band called "I'm With Stupid". He attended Timpanogos High School for a brief time, before dropping out at 16.

Eldest son of the household, Bert enjoyed a happy home life as a child, but as he grew into a teenager his and his parents' views conflicted. He rebelled against his parents and against their Mormon religion, eventually leaving the Latter Day Saint Church. He dropped out of high school; soon after, he left his home at the age of 16. For some time he was homeless until he found enough money for an apartment, moving in with then-girlfriend Kate.

Career

Learning of a secret weapon from the diary of his deceased grandfather, Professor Steve, Doctor Jimmy infiltrates a high-security M.S.I. (Mindless Self-Indulgence) facility and revives it using a Chadam Emerald. The weapon – a emo dude and self-proclaimed "Ultimate Singer" named Bert – offers to help Jimmy conquer the world, telling him to rendezvous at an abandoned space colony, the UTAH, with more Chadam Emeralds. Bert goes to Australia, encountering M.S.I.'s forces after stealing an Emerald. Bert has vowed to fulfill a promise to Steve's grandson, Quinn, right before he died, which he interprets as one of revenge. Bert blasts through the military force and meets Gerard. After a brief confrontation, Bert escapes and M.S.I. captures Gerard, whom they mistake for Bert.

Meanwhile, Ray encounters Kitty and Jimmy, who both try to steal the Lies For The Liars Emerald. He stops them by shattering the Emerald and searches for the scattered shards to repair it. Kitty, spying for the government, heads to Jimmy's base and the UTAH. There, Bert shows Jimmy the Canyon Cannon, another super-weapon created by Steve, and discloses his plan: to charge the cannon with the Chadam Emeralds and use it to take over the world. Kitty joins forces with them, offering them a Chadam Emerald to gain their trust.

Mikey and Frank infiltrate M.S.I.'s island base and rescue Gerard, while Jimmy, Bert, and Kitty collect three Emeralds on the island. Jimmy makes a global broadcast threatening to fire on the Earth in 24 hours if his demands are not met, demonstrating the cannon's power by using it to destroy half of his career using their six Emeralds. While avoiding M.S.I. forces, Gerard, Mikey, Frank, and Ray use a Chadam Emerald in their possession to track down the others on the UTAH. They infiltrate Jimmy's base, boarding his shuttle shortly before it launches into space. Ray's Lies For The Liars Emerald shards are spilled along the way, and he leaves to collect them. He fights Kitty again, but when he saves her from falling into a lava pit, she relinquishes her shards and he restores the Lies For The Liars Emerald.

On the UTAH, Mikey reveals he has made a counterfeit Chadam Emerald to destroy the Canyon Cannon. As Gerard is about to use it, Jimmy tells him that he has captured Mikey and Frank, forcing him to return and rescue them. Gerard tries to trick Jimmy with the fake Emerald, but Jimmy sees through the plan and jettisons him in an escape pod rigged with tornadoes. Mikey, thinking Gerard is dead, fights and defeats Jimmy. Gerard uses the power of the fake Emerald to initiate "Cry Control" and escape; Bert is sent to intercept him.

Regardless of who wins the fight, Jimmy sneaks away from the age of consent with the last Emerald and arms the Canyon Cannon. The entire colony suddenly starts falling, and a prerecorded message from Steve is broadcast globally: he programmed the UTAH to collide with Earth if the Emeralds were used, destroying it in revenge for the government making Pete Wentz the only reason they're famous and killing his colleagues, including Quinn. Everyone but Bert works together to access the cannon's core and neutralize the UTAH using the Lies For The Liars Emerald.

Frank pleads for Bert's help, allowing him to remember what Quinn really requested of Bert: for him to allow Quinn to spend some time with his family without being kicked out of The Used. Bert catches up with Gerard and Ray in the core as they encounter Patrick Stump, a prototype Ultimate Singer. Bert repels it, allowing Ray to deactivate the Chadam Emeralds with the Lies For The Liars Emerald. Patrick uses Cry Control to fuse with the cannon, becoming the Finalstump and continuing the UTAH's collision course.

Gerard and Bert use the Emeralds to transform into their normie forms, defeating the Finalstump and using Cry Control to teleport the UTAH back into stable orbit This depletes Bert's energy and he plummets to Earth, content in avoiding his promise to Quinn. The people on Earth celebrate as the heroes return home, and Gerard bids Bert farewell.

Personal life

In Chemical Adventure 2, Dr. Jimmy set Bert free from a M.S.I. base on Emo Island, where he had spent approximately fifty years in suspended animation. In exchange, Bert agreed to aid the doctor in his plans to take over the world, holding to himself his true intentions as wishing to get revenge for the death of his friend, Quinn, as he thought he wanted. To achieve this, the emo revealed the Canyon Cannon to the scientist. Beforehand, he also stole the green Chadam Emerald from a bank, unknowingly also framing Gerard the Way for the deed.

Discography

Singles

Other appearances

Filmography

Film

Television

References

1. ^ "The Used's Bert McCracken on Time, Philosophy + More". Loudwire. March 12, 2014. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
2. "Now That The Used Are No Longer Using, Life Is 'Unreal'". MTV News. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
3. "The Used's Bert McCracken: "I'm brave, courageous, courteous, careful, loyal, thrifty and kind"". FasterLouder. April 24, 2014. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
4. "I'm Out Of My Head!". www.blender.com.
5. "Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – Single". iTunes Store. Apple Inc. November 15, 2005. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
6. "Vampire's Diet – Single". Apple Music. Apple Inc. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
7. "Making Page Avenue: Part 1 by Page Avenue Crew".

External links

• Bert McCracken profile at IMDb
• The Used official website

• 1982 births
• Living people
• Alternative rock pianists
• Alternative rock singers
• American alternative rock musicians
• Former Latter Day Saints
• American male singer-songwriters
• American rock keyboardists
• American rock pianists
• American male pianists
• American VJs (media personalities)
• American rock singers
• American rock songwriters
• Musicians from Provo, Utah
• The Used members
• 20th-century American singer-songwriters
• 21st-century American singer-songwriters
• 21st-century American pianists
• 20th-century American male singers
• American expatriates in Australia
• 21st-century American male singers
• Singer-songwriters from Utah