Music Banter - View Single Post - My Chemical Romance-Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge

~~TumorAttitude~~ · 03-14-2009, 11:00 AM

First off, don't shoot me.

You probably know a lot more about music then me, and I'm very willing to learn. I am a total n00b and admit this. Don't mock me for it.

(Or at least read the entire thing before you mock me.)

I'm not exactly a teenybopper, but this is one of the first real bands I actually listened to. I remember buying The Black Parade about a month after it came out and being blown away by it. It was the realest rock I had ever heard. I was young and naive and I loved it at the time.

A while ago, I revisited The Black Parade, and I can't listen to the whole thing at once. Its pretentious, not hard enough, and annoys me. But I DID revisit MyChem's second album, and I pretty much enjoyed it.

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is a well-written album, filled with whiney-in-a-good-way intense pop songs. It has good guitar and bass arangements. The lyrics are pretty good too. (This is before they started to suck.) The album loosely follows the story of a boy and a girl in a relationship. In a B-side off the album, "Demolition Lovers", it explains how they die together in a sort of Bonnie and Clyde way. I guess they got drunk and drove off a cliff, but in an emo romantic way? Eh. Anyway, the girl got sent to purgatory and the guy got sent to hell. The guy made a deal with the devil that if he killed 1000 evil men, he'd be able to go to purgatory to be with the girl he loved. He did this, and the devil sent them both to hell. I think its pretty funny. But on with the review.

Track 1: Helena
This is a great pop/rock song. Its intense, but it doesn't make me want to go shoot myself. The vocals are a little annoying, but the singer has a voice that you either love or hate. The guitar arrangement is slightly generic, but I still think it just WORKS. I love the chorous and the way this song starts and ends. The lyrics are about the death of the lead singer and bassist's grandmother, and how he misses her, but her death isn't a good reason for him to shoot himself. Basically, its intense and weird, and generic at once. I like it.

Track 2: Give em' Hell Kid

The chorous in this song annoys me. The vocals work well. Its fast-paced, and kinda gets you hyper. Another song with good guitar and bass arrangement. It IS annoying though.
The lyrics start off the story, but they have a double meaning. Its about the guy missing the girl, crying, bitching about it, but its also about a girl that has to get an abortion alone. Its deep, and I'm sure most of the people who hear this song don't realize the double-meaning. Overall, decent song.

Track 3: To the End
I hate the arrangement of this song, I hate the keyboard riff. The lyrics are 'meh'. My least favorite track on the album. I would recomend you skip it over. The only good thing is the vocals.

Track 4: You Know What they Do to Guys Like Us in Prison
A song about blowing the guy from the Used. Or agreeing to kill people for Satan. Take your pick.
Good fast track, good sleazy-vibe, good vocals and backing vocals by Burt McCraken. I like the lyrics, inspired by a game of truth-or-dare leading to Gerard blowing Bert, hence the prison-rape references, the screamy-sex noises, and the McCracken backing vocals. Second favorite track on the album.

Track 5: I'm Not Okay
This is MyChem's testimony to being screwed over OVER and OVER again. I remember really loving this song, because I could relate to it. I guess its a relatable song, if you can get past hating the vocals (which I'm sure many of you do) or the generic set up of it, but its overall uniquity. Its really angry, which I love. I like the way its set up. I like the lyrics (basically yelling at the girl who screwed him over. Look em' up.) Great track, but not OHMAGAWD,BESTTRACKEVERGERARDISSOHOT like any teenybopper will repeatedly inform you.

Track 6: The Ghost of You
Ugh, I do not care for this song. Its whiney, and has a riff with potential, but the vocals are BAD. Its a slow, breakup song, and I guess its the guy missing the girl in purgatory, and thinking of her fondly while he is on Earth killing people. Which translates BADLY. Skip over it.

Track 7: The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You
Set up similar to the Ghost of you, with effects put on the guitar (sitar? acoustic?) and some effects put on the vocals, but it WORKS. I like the verse and the chorous. I like it all. The lyrics are a combination of killing people, being in hell, missing the girl (who I'm starting to hate, with all these songs about her). Another yelly, miss-you song.

Track 8: Interlude
One-minute prayer for your girlfriend in purgatory/break between two riffy/similar pop songs. I like it. I open mix CDs with it. People bitch about the vocals.

Track 9: Thank you for the Venom
This is a track yelling at door-to-door religeon converters. Begging for a "reason to believe", this track captures the feeling of hopeless rage perfectly. Sounds like any song by The Used.....on steroids. Basically awesome.

Track 10: Hang em' High
Eh. Concept song. Unintentionally (?) hilarious lyrics. (It seems in dire situations, people always seem to ask us if we love them. And we tell them to shut the **** up and concentrate. Then they ask us again.) But compared to a better song, like "Thank you for the Venom", it seems......***. Strangely, this weird western-themed song actually fits in on the album. Go figure.

Track 11: Its Not a Fashion Statement, Its a ****ing Deathwish
Yay, he finally gets to purgatory. He's pissed at first, wondering if its worth it. Then he starts going up....up....up....and he gets excited. (And probably hard, since he seems to like that girl so much.) And it sounds good. Very similar to a few other tracks on the album, but in a good way, I guess.

Track 12: Cemetary Drive
All the album reviews I've read compare "Cheers" to "Too Fast for Love" by Motley Crue. I can see the connection (similar song set up, although Mychem's are all about missing someone and killing people, and the Crue's are about hardcore sex, and hardcore drugs. I prefer Mychem's. Don't kill me.)
and I guess this song would be Mychem's "On With The Show". Its my favorite song on the album, and it doesn't make sense (check out the lyrics), but its beautiful and epic and rad. And I hate the bassriff, but I ignore it. Powerpop in the best sense of the word.

Track 13: I Never Told You what I Do for a Living
UGH. Pretty bad. Highly annoying. Motley ended Too Fast for Love with "On with the Show". Mychem SHOULD'VE ended this album with "Cemetary Drive" (and released it as a single, now that I think of it). This song is rock pretentiousness personified. They're both in hell, and Gerard wails about it, and how dirty he is, which makes most teenyboppers **** in thier pants. Not me. Its terrible, it doesn't belong, its forced, and I skip over it. You should as well.

Overall: Some songs sound the same.
* * * *
Four stars. It gets an extra star because it was one of the first real albums I bought. Highly listenable. Enjoyable. I'd buy it again.

03-14-2009, 11:00 AM	#1 (permalink)
~~TumorAttitude~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Purgatory Posts: 749	My Chemical Romance-Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge First off, don't shoot me. You probably know a lot more about music then me, and I'm very willing to learn. I am a total n00b and admit this. Don't mock me for it. (Or at least read the entire thing before you mock me.) I'm not exactly a teenybopper, but this is one of the first real bands I actually listened to. I remember buying The Black Parade about a month after it came out and being blown away by it. It was the realest rock I had ever heard. I was young and naive and I loved it at the time. A while ago, I revisited The Black Parade, and I can't listen to the whole thing at once. Its pretentious, not hard enough, and annoys me. But I DID revisit MyChem's second album, and I pretty much enjoyed it. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is a well-written album, filled with whiney-in-a-good-way intense pop songs. It has good guitar and bass arangements. The lyrics are pretty good too. (This is before they started to suck.) The album loosely follows the story of a boy and a girl in a relationship. In a B-side off the album, "Demolition Lovers", it explains how they die together in a sort of Bonnie and Clyde way. I guess they got drunk and drove off a cliff, but in an emo romantic way? Eh. Anyway, the girl got sent to purgatory and the guy got sent to hell. The guy made a deal with the devil that if he killed 1000 evil men, he'd be able to go to purgatory to be with the girl he loved. He did this, and the devil sent them both to hell. I think its pretty funny. But on with the review. Track 1: Helena This is a great pop/rock song. Its intense, but it doesn't make me want to go shoot myself. The vocals are a little annoying, but the singer has a voice that you either love or hate. The guitar arrangement is slightly generic, but I still think it just WORKS. I love the chorous and the way this song starts and ends. The lyrics are about the death of the lead singer and bassist's grandmother, and how he misses her, but her death isn't a good reason for him to shoot himself. Basically, its intense and weird, and generic at once. I like it. Track 2: Give em' Hell Kid The chorous in this song annoys me. The vocals work well. Its fast-paced, and kinda gets you hyper. Another song with good guitar and bass arrangement. It IS annoying though. The lyrics start off the story, but they have a double meaning. Its about the guy missing the girl, crying, bitching about it, but its also about a girl that has to get an abortion alone. Its deep, and I'm sure most of the people who hear this song don't realize the double-meaning. Overall, decent song. Track 3: To the End I hate the arrangement of this song, I hate the keyboard riff. The lyrics are 'meh'. My least favorite track on the album. I would recomend you skip it over. The only good thing is the vocals. Track 4: You Know What they Do to Guys Like Us in Prison A song about blowing the guy from the Used. Or agreeing to kill people for Satan. Take your pick. Good fast track, good sleazy-vibe, good vocals and backing vocals by Burt McCraken. I like the lyrics, inspired by a game of truth-or-dare leading to Gerard blowing Bert, hence the prison-rape references, the screamy-sex noises, and the McCracken backing vocals. Second favorite track on the album. Track 5: I'm Not Okay This is MyChem's testimony to being screwed over OVER and OVER again. I remember really loving this song, because I could relate to it. I guess its a relatable song, if you can get past hating the vocals (which I'm sure many of you do) or the generic set up of it, but its overall uniquity. Its really angry, which I love. I like the way its set up. I like the lyrics (basically yelling at the girl who screwed him over. Look em' up.) Great track, but not OHMAGAWD,BESTTRACKEVERGERARDISSOHOT like any teenybopper will repeatedly inform you. Track 6: The Ghost of You Ugh, I do not care for this song. Its whiney, and has a riff with potential, but the vocals are BAD. Its a slow, breakup song, and I guess its the guy missing the girl in purgatory, and thinking of her fondly while he is on Earth killing people. Which translates BADLY. Skip over it. Track 7: The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You Set up similar to the Ghost of you, with effects put on the guitar (sitar? acoustic?) and some effects put on the vocals, but it WORKS. I like the verse and the chorous. I like it all. The lyrics are a combination of killing people, being in hell, missing the girl (who I'm starting to hate, with all these songs about her). Another yelly, miss-you song. Track 8: Interlude One-minute prayer for your girlfriend in purgatory/break between two riffy/similar pop songs. I like it. I open mix CDs with it. People bitch about the vocals. Track 9: Thank you for the Venom This is a track yelling at door-to-door religeon converters. Begging for a "reason to believe", this track captures the feeling of hopeless rage perfectly. Sounds like any song by The Used.....on steroids. Basically awesome. Track 10: Hang em' High Eh. Concept song. Unintentionally (?) hilarious lyrics. (It seems in dire situations, people always seem to ask us if we love them. And we tell them to shut the ** up and concentrate. Then they ask us again.) But compared to a better song, like "Thank you for the Venom", it seems....... Strangely, this weird western-themed song actually fits in on the album. Go figure. Track 11: Its Not a Fashion Statement, Its a *ing Deathwish Yay, he finally gets to purgatory. He's pissed at first, wondering if its worth it. Then he starts going up....up....up....and he gets excited. (And probably hard, since he seems to like that girl so much.) And it sounds good. Very similar to a few other tracks on the album, but in a good way, I guess. Track 12: Cemetary Drive All the album reviews I've read compare "Cheers" to "Too Fast for Love" by Motley Crue. I can see the connection (similar song set up, although Mychem's are all about missing someone and killing people, and the Crue's are about hardcore sex, and hardcore drugs. I prefer Mychem's. Don't kill me.) and I guess this song would be Mychem's "On With The Show". Its my favorite song on the album, and it doesn't make sense (check out the lyrics), but its beautiful and epic and rad. And I hate the bassriff, but I ignore it. Powerpop in the best sense of the word. Track 13: I Never Told You what I Do for a Living UGH. Pretty bad. Highly annoying. Motley ended Too Fast for Love with "On with the Show". Mychem SHOULD'VE ended this album with "Cemetary Drive" (and released it as a single, now that I think of it). This song is rock pretentiousness personified. They're both in hell, and Gerard wails about it, and how dirty he is, which makes most teenyboppers ** in thier pants. Not me. Its terrible, it doesn't belong, its forced, and I skip over it. You should as well. Overall: Some songs sound the same. * * * * Four stars. It gets an extra star because it was one of the first real albums I bought. Highly listenable. Enjoyable. I'd buy it again.