“These clowns won’t be around for much longer.” My Chemical Romance have just played three sold-out stadium shows in London, but 20 years ago their “weird ventriloquists’ music” freaked out and confused one of Britain’s favourite bands

My Chemical Romance recently played three sold-out stadium shows in London, a milestone that has prompted a look back at how the American band's breakthrough was met with scepticism by at least one prominent British act two decades ago. In October 2006, MCR scored their first and only UK number one single with "Welcome To The Black Parade", the lead track from their third album, The Black Parade, marking a remarkable rise for a group that had been playing basement shows in New Jersey and giving away music for free on MySpace just five years earlier.

Despite the commercial triumph being celebrated by devoted fans in Britain, not everyone welcomed emo's new superstars, with members of homegrown indie favourites Kasabian reportedly dismissing MCR's sound as "weird ventriloquists' music" and predicting the band "won't be around for much longer". Two decades on, MCR's continued popularity and their recent stadium run in London stand in stark contrast to that prediction, highlighting the band's enduring appeal despite early dismissiveness from parts of the British rock establishment.