...For Sweet Revenge

Click the album cover to download Revenge from iTunes.

 Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge is "A story of a man, a woman, and the corpses of 1000 evil men". The title for Revenge was thought of right after My Chemical Romance had finished recording Bullets, although they almost called it Thank You For The Venom. Gerard wanted the title to sound like a movie that was unfinished or never made. It is an aggressive album, with songs about “fictitious gunfights, cowboys, electric chairs and getting fucked in jail”. The original concept was a continuation of the story of the Demolition Lovers. The couple get in a gunfight and the man dies. He thinks the woman is dead as well, but when he gets to hell the devil tells him that she’s still alive. The devil tells him that he can get her back if he kills 1000 evil men, so he goes back out into the world with a revolver and a list of people to kill. While writing the album, Gerard wasn’t sure how the story would end, but about a year and a half later he figured out the ending. The guy would have killed 999 evil men then realised that the last guy he had to kill was himself. This concept was a metaphor was a metaphor for what you’re willing to go through either for someone else or to prove yourself.

However, when Elena died in November they realised that real life had a lot more to do with what they wanted to talk about. Behind the elaborate concept, the record became about two little boys that lose their grandma – “All the fucking anger, the beef with God, the angst, the aggression and the fucking venom – every emotion that you go through when you’re grieving – is on… Revenge”.

Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge is also influenced by Gerard’s obsession with getting revenge on those who have wronged him and his friends, which was started by his discovery of Black Flag when he was a teenager. Making the record was about proving people wrong, and becoming vindicated drove the band throughout the recording process. Revenge is also heavily influenced by Preacher (Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon).

Helena

Helena was written in memory of Gerard and Mikey’s grandmother. Her name was Elena, but her friends called her Helen, so Gerard decided to combine the two names to make the song title. Gerard had said that the main influences behind Helena were Aces High by Iron Maiden and tracks by The Ventures. Gerard said of Helena, “I knew it was going to be heavy. I was almost afraid of the song.”

Give ‘Em Hell, Kid

In their live shows, Gerard has often prefaced this song by saying it is about “getting knocked up” or “making babies, having babies...and selling them on the black market!" indicating that the song is about teenage pregnancy.

To The End

To The End seems to be about a marriage falling apart and all the broken promises associated with this, as shown by “Say goodbye To the vows you take”.

You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison

Prison has been said to capture the band’s unique appeal perfectly, as it is “passionate, visceral… [and] weirdly theatrical. It is a cabaret-style song about getting fucked in jail. It first started being written while the band was on tour with Midtown and Senses Fail in 2003. They were sitting on a porch in the rain when Ray started playing the opening chords. Gerard said it immediately made him think of jail. The lyrics in the final version are pretty much the same as the lyrics he free-styled in their first session. The song is also a metaphor for being on tour, because it feels like jail when you have so many guys and their equipment crammed into the one van, and “even the guys in prison… buddy up and stick through it together”. Bert McCracken (The Used) provided backup vocals for this song, and in the liner notes Gerard thanks Bert for being his “cellmate”.

I’m Not Okay (I Promise)

I’m Not Okay is a cry for help set to pop music. It was the last song written for this album, and the most direct song they had written up to that point. It was the first song Gerard had ever written about all the shitty, sleazy stuff that happens while you are in high school, and about the desperation of looking for someone to love you but being alone. The song was originally called I Promise This Is The Last Time.

The Ghost Of You

This song deals with the fear of losing a loved one. The title is an allusion to Watchmen (Alan Moore), in which an ad reads “Oh, how the ghost of you clings". Originally, the band had set the song to end after the third chorus, but Howard Benson pushed the band to repeat the chorus one last time. At first the band hated the idea, but after hearing what it sounded like they decided it worked better than it had originally. Rinat Arinos provided guest vocals for this song.

The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You

The Jetset Life is about drug use and suicide, as shown by the lyrics "Lost in the prescription, she's got something else in mind." A "Jetset Lifestyle" is a hedonistic pursuit involving lots of travel and is often characterized by drug use, which cold refer to the fact that the band is always on the road and they have no time to spend with their family. This song is very rarely played live.

Interlude

This song contains several religious allusions and sounds like a prayer for help and protection.

Thank You For The Venom

Thank You For The Venom was a song title first thought of by Gerard right at the beginning of the band’s career. He had it handwritten on the t-shirt he wore at their first show, and the phrase is written in French in the album sleeve of Bullets. It is a sarcastic statement, like saying, “thanks for ruining my life. The line “I wouldn’t front the scene if you paid me” is direct commentary on how the music scene was being exploited, and how the band weren’t a part of it and didn’t want to be the poster child for it.

Hang ‘Em High

This song is about “cowboys, and cowgirls, and guns up!” The beginning of the song before the vocals kick in has a very Western feel to it, and lyrics like “Wait until it fades to black, Ride into the sunset” also call to mind a stereotypical Western movie. Lyrics like “Don’t stop if I fall, And don’t look back” seem to suggest two partners (the Demolition Lovers) fighting in a gun battle and one telling the other to keep fighting even if he dies. Keith Morris (the Circle Jerks, Black Flag) supplied guest vocals for this song. He contacted the band and told them what a huge fan he was, so they invited him up to sing on this track. Frank told him how they wanted him to sing, then sat around talking with him for ages afterward.

It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A Fucking Deathwish

This song was one of the first songs written for the album, and was played live several times in 2003 before they started recording. It is commonly censored to just It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A Deathwish.

Cemetery Drive

A common interpretation of this song is that it is about adultery. It also touches on suicide, as seen in “They found you on the bathroom floor”. Also, in the background of the second verse Gerard can be heard singing, “Don’t do it” repeatedly, which then changes to ''Are you there at all? Do you care at all? Are you there at all?'' when it gets to the bridge.

I Never Told You What I Do For A Living

This song seems to tie in with the album’s original concept very heavily. Lyrics like “Another knife in my hands, A stain that never comes off the sheets” seem to refer to the man and all of the people he has killed. The last two lines (“They gave us two shots to the back of the head And we're all dead now”) indicate the Demolition Lovers suffered a tragic end.

Click the image to download the song

B-Sides

Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge has three b-sides. The first is Sister To Sleep. The title is a reference to The Sandman (Neil Gaiman), in which the sister of Sleep is Death. Right after the band had started writing the song they were offered a place on the soundtrack of Freddy Vs. Jason, a crossover film between the A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises. They finished the song and made it about Freddy Krueger because he attacks people in their dreams. Unfortunately, they ultimately did not make the soundtrack, so the song became about someone in an institute for insomnia who is trying not to fall asleep because they know that if they do they will die.

Click to download LOTMS b-sides

The second b-side is Bury Me In Black. A demo of this was released on the Australian and UK versions of the I’m Not Okay (I Promise) single. The lyrics talk about alcohol consumption a lot (“we'll drown ourselves in misery tonight” and “These eyes have had too much to drink again tonight”), and contain a lot of anger (“I wanna see what your insides look like, I bet you're not fucking pretty on the inside”).

The last b-side is Desert Song, which was released in 2006 on Life On The Murder Scene. It was written around the time the band was recording Revenge, but they never had time to finish it until later. This song does not feature any drums, just guitars and vocals.

Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge cost $200,000, a relatively small amount compared to many other major label productions. It was released on June 8, 2004, and sold more than 11,000 copies in the first week, which was more than what Bullets had sold in almost 2 years.