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Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
2004 studio album by My Chemical Romance From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (often shortened to Three Cheers or Revenge)[1] is the second studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance, released on June 8, 2004, by Reprise Records.[2][3] With this album, the band produced a more polished sound than that of their 2002 debut I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.[4] It was the band's first release to feature rhythm guitarist Frank Iero on all tracks, as well as the final release to feature drummer Matt Pelissier, who would later be replaced by Bob Bryar.[5]
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The album received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success for both the band and the Reprise label.[6] The record produced three singles—"I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "Helena", and "The Ghost of You".[4][failed verification] It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) less than a year after its release,[3] and has sold over three million copies in the United States.[6]
Em Casalena of American Songwriter stated that the album is "essential listening" for 2000s emo.[7]
Announced in April 2025, a "deluxe edition" of the album—featuring all of the original tracks remixed and four new, previously unreleased live records—was announced, and is set to release on June 6, 2025.[8]
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Music and lyrical themes
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Musically, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge has been described as emo,[9][10] alternative rock,[10] pop punk,[11] post-hardcore,[12] punk rock,[13] and pop rock.[14] While I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love was considered "a particularly strident entry in that shifty genre of bands tortuously slamming together elements of emo, hardcore, and even metal",[15] Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge "both showcased their songwriting skills and gave them much-deserved attention".[4] Moving away from the "screamo parts"[16] and "the more complicated structures"[17] of their first record in favor of a sound that "skirts the line between pop punk and edgy, theatrical, emo"[4] while being "strongly influenced by hardcore punk",[17] Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge has been variously compared to The Misfits,[18] AFI,[15] and Thursday.[15]
Lead singer Gerard Way has referred to the first single "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" as a "self-help pop song"[19] while also being called "a surging piece of emo-pop with a hook as ridiculously catchy as it was ridiculous"[20] and a "moving anthem for the young and depressed"[21] by AllMusic and Rolling Stone respectively. This single went on to be nominated for the Kerrang! award for best single[22] and reached number 86 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[23]
The album opener "Helena" has been referred to as an "album-highlight and smash-hit". Gerard has claimed that the song "shaped what the album is about" and "revealed their dark side" in comparison to the first single.[19] Its lyrics mourn the loss of Gerard and Mikey's grandmother,[19] Elena Lee Rush, and was their first entry into the top 40.[23]
Album concept
According to Way, the album can be understood as a "pseudo-conceptual horror story",[4] that details:
...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. 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.[24]
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Artwork
The cover art, designed by Way himself and titled "Demolition Lovers II", was inspired by René Magritte's painting The Lovers.[25][26] Way drew a sketch to be used as a reference by a photographer, but the sketch became the basis of the cover art instead.[27]
Reception and legacy
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They looked the part of the “eyeliner emo” era, and the imagery in Gerard’s lyrics was as brooding and melodramatic as their music videos, but Three Cheers didn’t fetishize self-harm or direct ire at unnamed women. [...] Gerard often twisted his emo melodrama to specifically buck against those trends. Throughout the theatrical concept album, Gerard looks at addiction, mental health, gender, death, and toxic relationships with a wisdom that the “mall emo” era often lacked. It’s a big part of why the band kept winning over new generations of fans after breaking up, and were met with such a warm welcome when they finally reunited. For a band that seemed so of their time, My Chemical Romance were always subtly ahead of it.
Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan (May 23, 2024)
Johnny Loftus of AllMusic wrote that "with the aid of production major-leaguer Howard Benson, they've edited the slight rookie excesses of I Brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love, resulting in a rewarding, pretty damn relentless product."[28] Andy Greenwald of Blender noted Way's integration of elements of his life into the songs on the album and remarked that his "gulping, gasping whine turns stompers like 'I'm Not Okay (I Promise)' into after-school poetry".[29] Ian Mathers of Stylus Magazine felt that the album contained "twelve near-flawless songs and an interlude in thirty-nine minutes" and that "even when it lets up, [it] doesn't let up",[36] while Kirk Miller of Rolling Stone described it as "a hell of a good time."[34] IGN critic JR was more reserved in his praise, calling Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge "a good album" that nonetheless "isn't nearly as varied or daring as it could have been".[30] In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave it a "dud" rating.[37]
Em Casalena of American Songwriter wrote that the album is "a golden record in emo rock history."[38] NME listed the album as one of "20 Emo Albums That Have Resolutely Stood the Test of Time".[39] The album was ranked at number 260 on Spin's "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)" list.[40] Rock Sound wrote that the album is "an era-defining release", striking "a nerve both musically and emotionally with millions around the world."[41] Andrew Sacher of BrookylnVegan noted that the album's tracks "are so embedded in the DNA of pop culture that even non-MCR-fans tend to know every word."[42]
In 2016, Rolling Stone declared Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge the tenth greatest emo album out of 40, saying that "Three Cheers wasn't just a concept record, it was a concept sequel, expanding the small-screen story of 2002's I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love into a big-budget production, complete with ruminations on life and death ("Helena") biting kiss-offs ("I'm Not Okay") and a series of dramatic music videos that made them MTV darlings."[43]
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge has sold over three million copies to date in the United States and has been certified 3× platinum by the RIAA as of December 2017.[44] By February 2006, the album had sold over 1,356,000 copies in the US and 3 million copies to date.[45] It has also been certified triple platinum in Canada, platinum in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and Gold in Australia, Ireland, Chile,[46] Mexico and Argentina.[47][48]
Accolades
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Track listing
Standard edition
All tracks are written by My Chemical Romance.
Japanese special edition DVD
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Personnel
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My Chemical Romance
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Additional musicians
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Production
- Howard Benson – producer, mixing
- Rich Costey – mixing
- Craig Aaronson – A&R
- Brian Schechter – management
- Stacy Fass – legal
- Matt Galle – booking
- Mike Plotnikoff – recording
- Eric J. Miller – additional engineering
- Paul Decarli – Pro Tools and programming
- Jon Nicholson – drum tech
- Keith Nelson – guitar tech
- Tom Baker – mastering
- Matt Griffen – production coordinator
- Dana Childs – production coordinator
- Arturo Rojas – runner
- Fernando Diaz – runner
- Mike Gardner – runner
- Chris Ozuna – runner
- Bryan Mansell – runner
- Mark Holley – design assistance
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Charts
Singles
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Certifications
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Release history
References
External links
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