Their 2002 debut, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, reads like a list of all the things that forced lead singer Gerard Way to grow up too fast. Two songs in, he’s already confessing he’s already confessing that "The amount of pills I'm taking counteracts the booze I... 

 In an era of school shootings and dirty-bomb rumors, MCR's dread resonated. Three Cheers went platinum, and other emo bands like Panic at the Disco followed their lead, branding themselves as outcasts, caking on eyeliner and reaching out to fans in after-school detention. 

 Scrubbing off their makeup while Way dyed his dark hair white-blonde, they donned black marching-band uniforms, symbolically ditching their name and rechristening themselves The Black Parade. The result was an instant-classic freakshow musical: a Rocky Horror for the Operation Freedom generation.