10 Perfect Hard Rock Albums Of The 2000s

When the clocks turned to the year 2000, it was clear that a lot of the trends of rock were going to be left in the past. Though the remnants of post-grunge were still lingering, the genre was clearly dead, and the hippy sounding music of the '60s felt more like a Halloween costume than an actual genre. If there was one trend that should have been dead and gone, it was probably the concept record.

And yet, My Chemical Romance found a way to become the kings of emo rock on The Black Parade, taking cues from albums like the Wall and Ziggy Stardust to create a disquieting tale about a man's final days after finding out he has been stricken with terminal cancer. Though the label reads 2006, you would swear that this was released in the glory days of the '70s, with songs like Welcome to the Black Parade and I Don't Love You capturing the kind of rock bombast you'd normally get from Queen or Aerosmith.

This record is a lot more than just rock fanboy worship though, taking a few cues from the theatrical side of the spectrum and making some of the most warped songs in the world of pop rock, from the swing dance hell of House of Wolves to eventually going into despair on Sleep. For an album that's strictly centered around the end of life, there's a lot more energy that you can ever imagine.