Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004)

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is My Chemical Romance’s second album, a concept album that follows the story of the Demolition Lovers after their demise. “[Revenge is] the story of a man and a woman who are separated by death in a gunfight and he goes to hell only to realize by the devil telling him that she’s still alive,” says Gerard Way when asked about the album. “The devil says he can be with her again if he brings the devil the souls of a thousand evil men and the man agrees to do it, and so the devil hands him a gun. That was the idea behind the concept, the record ended up being much more about loss and real life than anything, so I would say it’s a good split.” While the plot of the album details the twists and turns of the Demolition Man’s life after he accepts the devil’s agreement and how the task mentally deteriorates him, as stated by Way, it also equally balances more grounded themes, providing intense commentary on subjects such as mental health, grief, morality, internalized homophobia, prison rape, suicide, and drug addiction. In particular, with how rampant homophobia was throughout the 2000s, having the main character of your concept album be an openly bi-curious man was seen as revolutionary and is what truly kick-started the still-relevant trend of young queer people flocking to MCR and finding refuge in their music.

Continuing with the queer themes of Revenge, the members themselves were unafraid to show their support for the LGBTQ community during this time period. Due to both the content of the album and the flamboyant fashion used in this era, homophobia was commonly thrown at them, even going as far as to call them slurs. However, the band chose to use this as an opportunity to express their allyship and support for the community instead of shunning them, as well.