If you grew up in the 2000s, then chances are that listening to My Chemical Romance’s Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge was your emo awakening! Their 2004 album is a jamming odyssey of a storyline they summarize as “the story of a man, a woman, and the corpses of a thousand evil men” in the CD insert – we’ll get more into that later, but know that the Venn diagram comparing former theater kids with MCR lovers is practically just one big circle. The theatrics, dynamic production, and emotion have made Three Cheers one of the most beloved rock albums this century, and the band is celebrating its impact with a new reissue featuring remixes of all 11 tracks!
The newly-mixed versions turn each song up a notch, bringing out guitar riffs, drum details, and buried vocals we didn’t get to fully appreciate on the original album. So we wanted to spotlight some of our favorite changes and standout moments for you! Whether these details were truly buried or we just didn’t notice them is up for you to decide, but we’re still sure this list will be an interesting crash course for longtime and new My Chemical Romance fans alike.
The Yells On ‘You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison’
If you’re unfamiliar with the lore of Three Cheers, here’s a little rundown for you! MCR’s debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, ends with the eerie song ‘Demolition Lovers,’ which describes two partners’ devotion to each other even if things end in a “pool of blood.” Things do end in a pool of blood for the woman, but the man goes on to become the main character of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and both of them appear on the original album cover – he makes a deal with the devil to kill 1,000 evil men for the chance to reunite with her… only for the last evil man to be himself since he was willing to take on such a violent mission.
His mission takes a little detour on ‘You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison’ when he goes to, well, prison, after a gunfight in a restaurant. He describes the misery of being in jail, losing touch with the outside world, disappointing loved ones, the fear of not fulfilling his lover’s “dying wish” to see him again, and maybe even what it’s like to fall for another man there, depending on how you view the song. The backing yells are louder on this version, which adds to the tension and confusion. You can really hear it on lines like “well, I can’t” and “I kiss your lips again.”
The Vocals On ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’
You like DND, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini, and croquet. We like the vocal details you can hear better on the remixed version of ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)!’ There are awesome layered harmonies on the bridge that build up, like how Gerard’s frustration with the person the song is addressed to builds up as time goes on. And with your ears primed for harmonies, you’re ready to pay more attention to the backing vocals on the final chorus.
We also got a new 4K remastered version of the iconic school-themed music video, which you can check out below:
The Transition From ‘The Ghost of You’ To ‘The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You’
We rarely see MCR album decisions as mistakes, but we have a confession: we always thought the streaming versions of ‘The Ghost Of You’ and ‘The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You’ had a bit of a mistake. The otherworldly transition between the two not being there, of course! CD versions of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge included a transition that started after “for all the ghosts that are ever gonna” and built into “gaze into her killing jar.”
MCRmy have been clamoring for this transition to be online so much that fan uploads of the audio on YouTube have gotten over half a million plays. We’re giving three cheers to whoever decided to finally bless us with this on streaming!
The Bridge Of ‘Hang ‘Em High’
One of the fandom’s favorite secrets of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge over the years has been the layered vocals on the bridge of ‘Hang ‘Em High,’ provided by Keith Morris. 21 years later, you have a better chance of hearing it! Keith explained the backstory to the Dallas Observer:
I told them, ‘This is the story that I want to tell.’ I told them it was a story my dad told me when I was 14 or 15, and I never forgot it because of the way my dad described it. I told them, ‘This is my spoken word. I’m just going to describe what my dad told me.’ And they said, ‘Fine, that’s great.’
Keith Morris to the Dallas Observer
The story centers around a driver who went to a truck stop and wound up being decapitated by part of his truck while he was trying to change a flat tire. Frank asked Keith to hop on the song when he ran into him at a convenience store, offering money and Chinese food in exchange for it. Not a bad deal! Keith’s story overlaps with the bridge where Gerard sings “she won’t stop me, put it down,” so listen closely and see if you can piece it together.
The Word Painting On ‘I Never Told You What I Do For A Living’
For the final change we’re spotlighting, we knew we had to pick a pretty kick*ss one! If you’re not familiar with word painting, it’s when the production or performance of a lyric really hammers in the meaning behind it. Think of how Justin Timberlake’s voice spirals down before going back up on “what goes around, goes around, goes around, comes all the way back around” or how Taylor Swift raises and drops her voice on the title lyric of ‘Jump Then Fall,’ effectively jumping then falling.
MCR put their own haunting spin on word painting during the climactic bridge of ‘I Never Told You What I Do For A Living,’ right before everything crashes together for an epic conclusion. On the first “down,” there’s a guitar note in the right channel that quickly goes down and fizzles out. And as Gerard sings “down we go,” there’s a reverb in the back that makes it sound as if he’s actually falling down some black hole and his voice is echoing. Yet another example of them being musical geniuses!
What were your favorite changes on the deluxe remixed version of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge? Were there any songs you liked more on the new version? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! You can also buzz on over to our Reddit community to chat with us.
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