10 Rock Bands That Completely Avoided The Sophomore Slump
7. Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge - My Chemical Romance
The arrival of My Chemical Romance on the emo rock scene was a bit of a weird start to say the least. Working with what they had, their debut I Brought You My Bullets was a far cry from what these theatrical rock gods would become later down the line, with songs that were a lot more by the numbers hardcore than anything else. However, these guys ended up growing up really fast with the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.
Right off the bat, the songwriting chops on these guys doubled in scope, with massive hooks on songs like I'm Not Okay and the Ghost of You. Even some of the weirder arrangements on a song like Helena go over well, with a chorus that is slowed down but also feels oddly uplifting in energy. The production is also much more clean than their previous effort, with Howard Benson brought in to make sure every guitar fluctuation is in just the right place.
Don't think this is a sellout moment though, with the heaviness still accounted for on Hang Em High and Thank You For the Venom, along with a story line about a man being brought up from the underworld to kill a thousand evil men. While these guys would tackle much more compelling concepts on the Black Parade, this is where that classic MCR sound really started to come into full form.