THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGE

'''Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge''' is the second studio album and a concept album^[1] by New Jersey rock quintet My Chemical Romance. It was released in 2004 and is their first album on Reprise Records. It is widely regarded as a concept album. However, frontman Gerard Way has said that while the album started with a plot in mind, about half of the album isn't related to the plot as much as it is drawn from his own experiences with love and loss. In the ''Life on the Murder Scene'' DVD, Gerard talks about ''Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'', saying it is mostly about the "fear of losing someone". ''Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge'' is sometimes abbreviated as ''Three Cheers'', ''Revenge'', or ''Sweet Revenge''. Gerard Way made the cover art for the album.

Contents

Track listing

Japanese edition bonus track

Trivia

Credits

Response and band image

Charts

References

Track listing

#"Helena" – 3:22
#"Give 'em Hell, Kid" – 2:18
#"To the End" – 3:01
#"You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison" – 2:53
#"I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" – 3:08
#"The Ghost of You" – 3:23
#"The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You" – 3:37
#"Interlude" – 0:57
#"Thank You for the Venom" – 3:41
#"Hang 'em High" – 2:47
#"It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish" – 3:30
#"Cemetery Drive" – 3:08
#"I Never Told You What I Do for a Living" – 3:51

Japanese edition bonus track

14. "Bury Me in Black" (demo) – 2:37

Trivia

★ "Hang 'em High" was named after a Clint Eastwood movie of the same name.

★ "To the End" was written after a short story by William Faulkner called "A Rose for Emily".

★ "Helena" was written for Gerard and Mikey's grandmother Elena Lee Rush.^[2]

★ The album cover closely resembles the cover of Mad Season's ''Above''.

★ The title of "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison" is a reference ''The 25th Hour''.

★ "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living" was included in the soundtrack to the game ''.

★ "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" was featured in Burnout 3 Takedown.

★ During the time that "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge" was released, My Chemical Romance performed a song of theirs called "Sister To Sleep." This song was only ever played once and has not been featured on any of their albums, EPs or singles.

Credits

★ Gerard Way - lead vocals

★ Ray Toro - lead guitar, backing vocals

★ Frank Iero - rhythm guitar, backing vocals

★ Mikey Way - bass

★ Matt Pelissier - drums

★ Bert McCracken - additional vocals on "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison"

★ Rinat - additional vocals on "The Ghost of You"

★ Howard Benson - organ (Hammond), producer

★ Craig Aaronson - A&R

★ Mark Holley - design assistant

★ Fernando Diaz

★ Joe Nicholson - drum technician

★ Eric Miller - engineer

★ Mike Plontikoff - engineer

★ Mike Gardner

★ Keith Nelson - guitar technician

★ Bryan Mansell

★ Tom Baker - mastering

★ Rich Costey - mixing

★ Chris Ozuna

★ Justin Borucki - photography

★ Dana Childs - production coordination

★ Matt Griffin - production coordination

★ Paul DeCarli - programming, digital editing, editing

★ Arturo Rojas

Response and band image

After the release of ''Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'', My Chemical Romance received an extremely positive response from the mainstream music communities, as shown by the popularity of their music videos on MTV, etc. However, they received a generally negative response from the underground music communities. Factors that may have contributed to this shift in fanbase are hypothesized to include: the band replacing Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar on percussion; the band signing to a new and major label, Reprise Records; a change in image and style; and the fact that they had gained a measure of mainstream popularity.
It has been implied by the underground fanbase that the band has abandoned their original stylistic roots in favor of a more mainstream sound and style. Critics called their previous album, ''I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love'', post-hardcore; some going as far as to say that the band had created a new genre for itself. ''Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge'' has been alternately called pop-punk, and emo by some reviewers, fans, and critics. Notably, My Chemical Romance's image changed right after the video shoot for "Helena" when they decided that they wanted to be a band with a uniform, from a Post-hardcore image to a more emo/pop-punk fashion. Critics note their music video for "The Ghost of You", and the increase in amount of cosmetics the group uses when performing as evidence of this shift.
''Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'' has sold over 2 million copies in the U.S. and has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. It has also been certified platinum in Canada and gold in Ireland.

Charts

★ ''Billboard'' (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
2004	''Billboard'' 200	28[1]
2004	Top Heatseekers	1
2004	Top Internet Albums	103

References

1. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gcuXuCftYBE
2. Helena by My Chemical Romance