Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is the second studio album by New Jersey rock quintet My Chemical Romance. It was released in 2004 and is their first album on Reprise Records. The cover art was designed by the band's lead singer, Gerard Way. It is widely regarded as a concept album, however, Gerard Way has said that while the album started with a plot in mind, the idea quickly floundered and was scrapped.^{[citation needed]} In the Life on the Murder Scene DVD, Way talks about Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, saying it is mostly about the "fear of losing someone". Parts of Three Cheers continued the story started in I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.

 Track listing

Appearances of songs

• "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living" is included in the video game True Crime: New York City, although the song was shortened to "I Never Told You" to be able to fit on the screen.
• "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" is featured in the EA Trax of the video game Burnout 3: Takedown.
• "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" was featured in the UK soap opera EastEnders.
• "Helena" and "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living" are featured in the 2005 film House of Wax.
• "To The End (Remix)" A remixed version of "To The End" is featured in the soundtrack of the 2006 film Underworld: Evolution.
• "It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's A Deathwish" was in episode 49 of the soap opera Bubot.
• "Thank You For The Venom" is featured in the EA Trax of the video game Need For Speed: Underground Rivals.
• "Hang 'Em High" was in an episode of Viva La Bam.
• "Hang 'Em High" was in an episode of Cribs.

Credits

• Gerard Way - lead vocals, cover art
• 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
• Keith Morris - additional vocals on "Hang 'Em High".
• 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

Response and band image

After the release of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, My Chemical Romance received an extremely positive response from mainstream communities, as shown by the popularity of their music videos on MTV, etc. However, they received some negative responses from the underground music communities. Factors that may have contributed to this shift in fan base are hypothesized to include: the band replacing Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar on percussion; the band signing to a new 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 fan base that the band has abandoned their original stylistic roots. While critics categorized their previous album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, as alternative rock, some went 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 many 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 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 1 million copies in the U.S. and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. It has also been certified Double Platinum in Canada and Gold in Ireland.

Charts

• Billboard (North America)