Whether it was studded belts from Hot Topic, the takeover of MySpace, or left turns from alternative heroes, 2006 was a distinct year. At the time, we listed off albums from My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, and Angels & Airwaves as some of our most anticipated releases. Quite a few of them survived the decade, going from regular rotation on our dented iPods to part of our physical media collections. With 20th anniversaries on our minds, we asked our readers to vote on the best albums of 2006, and they had some genre-spanning opinions. Find the top fan picks ranked below.
Read more: 9 bands commonly mistaken as emo who really aren’t
5. Saosin – Saosin
The jump from Saosin’s 2003 Translating the Name EP to their 2006 self-titled debut was stark. Less than a year after its release, Anthony Green departed the band to pursue Circa Survive, leaving many questions about the band’s fate and fan tension. When Cove Reber stepped in as their new frontman, however, it allowed the band to experiment, adding moodier elements — namely melodicism and atmosphere — to their cutting sound. “Seven Years” has gone on to become a post-hardcore staple, but with their S/T, “Voices” and “You’re Not Alone” have achieved similar status.
4. Taking Back Sunday – Louder Now
Taking Back Sunday fortified the Long Island scene with their dark alternative rock, especially with 2006’s Louder Now. Produced by Eric Valentine, the LP was vastly different from its predecessor Where You Want To Be — most notably its fuller sound and tighter musicianship as the band continued to evolve. “Everyone was calling us an emo band, and we didn’t want to be that because, in our minds, we were more than that,” Adam Lazzara said to AP for its 10th anniversary. “That’s why we took the direction we did.” In that same conversation, he also shared how the bridge in “MakeDamnSure” came from a phone message left by his girlfriend while they were in a fight, which you can revisit below.
3. Underoath – Define the Great Line
In 2006, Underoath had much to live up to. 2004’s They’re Only Chasing Safety was a breakthrough success, strengthened by the screams of new vocalist Spencer Chamberlain. At the top of the year, the band got in the studio with Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz and recorded a handful of songs. They were defined by expert songwriting, technicality, and impeccable chemistry between Chamberlain and drummer Aaron Gillespie, who provided soaring cleans to contrast the former’s growls and shrieks.
2. AFI – DECEMBERUNDERGROUND
AFI originally wrote roughly 120 songs for DECEMBERUNDERGROUND, but they narrowed it down to a dozen. That included a famous trio of singles — “Miss Murder,” “Love Like Winter,” and “The Missing Frame” — where the band moved toward colder ’80s synth-rock and sleeker production. “Davey [Havok] and I really hunkered down, and it just took a long time for us to get a body of work that we felt was right,” Jade Puget reflected in a conversation with AP in 2016. “We wrote in our A&R guy’s basement. We wrote at [Green Day’s] Billie Joe [Armstrong]’s house. One studio we were writing in had the piano that Tommy Lee wrote Mötley Crüe’s ‘Home Sweet Home’ on. I wrote Blaqk Audio’s ‘Ill Lit Ships’ on that piano.” To this day, DECEMBERUNDERGROUND absolutely holds up.
1. My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade
My Chemical Romance’s Ray Toro famously told AP that they aimed to make “something that was classic, something timeless. Something that, 20 or 30 years from now, parents could play for their kids and say, ‘This is what I was listening to when I was your age. Check it out — it’s still fucking cool.’” The result is nothing short of spectacular, paying homage to both classic-rock heroes (Queen, Journey, Pink Floyd) as well as ’70s musicals (Annie, Cabaret, All That Jazz) in an epic story that spans life and death. Throughout the past year, MCR played The Black Parade from front to back in a run of sold-out stadium shows. With more gigs on the horizon, aligning with its official 20th anniversary, they’re highly anticipated for good reason.