Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is the second studio album by American alternative rock band My Chemical Romance, released June 8, 2004 by Reprise Records.
It's a Concept Album that chronicles a relationship between a man and woman, who are separated by death. In order to be with his lover, the man makes a Deal with the Devil. However, there is a catch: the man must kill a thousand evil souls.
Behind The Black Parade, Three Cheers is seen as the band's defining breakthrough and one of the most influential emo albums of the early to mid-2000s. Tracks such as the eager "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", the heavy "Helena", and the heartbreaking "The Ghost of You" have become staples of MCR's discography.
A live/video album made to accompany Three Cheers, titled Life on the Murder Scene, was released on March 21, 2006.
Preceded by I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. Followed by The Black Parade.
Tracklist:
- "Helena (So Long and Goodnight)" (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" (3:22)
- "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" (sometimes listed as "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish") (3:30)
- "Cemetery Drive" (3:08)
- "I Never Told You What I Do for a Living" (3:51)
Musicians:
My Chemical Romance- Gerard Way - Lead vocals
- Ray Toro - Lead guitar, backing vocals
- Frank Iero - Rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Mikey Way - Bass
- Matt Pelissier - Drums
Additional Musicians
- Bert McCracken - Additional vocals on "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us In Prison"
- Keith Morris - Additional vocals on "Hang 'Em High"
- Rinat - Additional vocals on "The Ghost of You"
- Howard Benson - Keyboards
Thank You for the Tropes:
- Attractive Zombie: The music video of "Helena" has a beautiful woman coming back to life and dancing at her own funeral.
- Auto-Tune: In the bridge of "The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You".
- Bowdlerize:
- The Album Single version of "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" changes the line "I'm not o-fucking-kay" to "I'm really not okay".
- "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish" (the regular title, as written on the album's back cover) is likely a result of this, considering the song is sometimes written as "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish" (as in the case of the CD release's disc and lyric sheet).
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: The woman in the cover wears this. It's a lot easier to tell that it's a wedding dress on the photograph version used by Life on the Murder Scene.
- Careful with That Axe:
- "I'm ok... I'm o-KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!"
- "And down we go... AND WE ALL! FALL! DOWN! I TRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIED!"
- Concept Album: Like all of My Chem’s discography, Three Cheers is no exception.
- Concept Video:
- "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" is in the style of a fake trailer for a high school movie.
- "The Ghost Of You" features the band members as an army unit in the European Theater of World War Two. Mikey dies.
- Dies Wide Open: Mikey goes out this way in the music video for "The Ghost of You".
- Fading into the Next Song: "Helena" -> "Give 'em Hell, Kid", "The Ghost of You" -> "The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You".
- Glamorous War Time Singer: My Chemical Romance as a WWII army band in “The Ghost of You.”
- Jerk Jock: The apparent "enemy" in the "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
video. - Last Survivor Suicide: The man after fulfilling most of his quest.
- Longest Song Goes Last: "I Never Told You What I Do for Living" has the longest title and is the last song.
- Lyrical Cold Open: "Helena".
- Lyrical Dissonance: Many of the songs have this.
- Mesodiplosis: In "Thank You for the Venom", "give me" is the phrase that repeats
- "So give me all your poison, and give me all your pills
And give me all your hopeless hearts and make me ill"
- Mood Whiplash: Many of the songs have this.
- Non-Appearing Title: all songs except for "To the End", although "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" only omits the "I promise" part.
- Ode to Family: "Helena" is about a dead relative.
- One-Woman Song: Helena.
- Precision F-Strike: There is little swearing on this album, despite the Parental Advisory warning, but the only two uses of "fuck" stand out:
- First in "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison" as the protagonist loses his mind in prison:
"Do you have the keys to the hotel? 'Cause I'm gonna string this motherfucker on fire! Fire!"- The album version of "I'm Not Okay" adds an extra punch to those who first heard the single version that was used in the video, showing that the protagonist is nonetheless "really not okay":
"I'm not okay, I'm not o-fucking-kay!" - Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The concept of the album.
- Shout-Out:
- "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Death Wish" paraphrases one of Death's most famous quotes from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman:
"For what you did to me, for what I'll do to you, you get what everyone else gets—you get a lifetime!" note- The title of "The Ghost of You" is a reference to a perfume ad in the comic Watchmen that says: "Oh, how the ghost of you clings."
- Star-Crossed Lovers: The two lovers separated by death.
- War Is Hell: The video for "The Ghost of You" features the band as World War Two soldiers storming a beachhead, with other soldiers dying around them. Mikey is shot and bleeds to death while Gerard screams in vain for his brother.
