Revenge

Revenge: the era when My Chemical Romance blew up. 'Revenge' refers to the period of time surrounding their second album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. This era is catagorised by the iconic black, red and white colour palette, the band members' recognisable stage outfits, and the overall amazing album.

Aesthetic

This is one of the most well known eras of My Chem, aside from The Black Parade. Which means this is also one of the most well known looks/aesthetics that the band has done. This era is categorised by the red and black colour palette, akin to the cover of this eras album. The photoshoots around this era contain many themes around blood, as well as the well known "roses photoshott" that is loved by many fans. This is also when the band first adorned themselves with a sort of "uniform"; the outfits they regularly wore onstage, which were also the costumes they got during the filming of the Helena music video.

Click images to see them larger

Gerard Way

Mikey Way

Frank Iero

Ray Toro

Bob Bryar

Album

Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge is My Chemical Romance's second album. This album is a concept album, following the story of a pair called the Demolition Lovers, who are seperated by death. In order for the man to get his love back, he needs to kill 1,000 evil men for the devil. This is also where the connection between I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, comes in, with the song Demolition Lovers from the aformentioned first album.

Track Listing:

  1. Helena
  2. Give 'Em Hell, Kid
  3. To The End
  4. You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison (featuring Bert McCracken of The Used)
  5. I'm Not Okay (I Promise)
  6. The Ghost Of You
  7. The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You
  8. Interlude
  9. Thank You For The Venom
  10. Hang 'Em High
  11. It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish/It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish
  12. Cemetary Drive
  13. I Never Told You What I Do for a Living

People

During the production of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, the band still consisted of the original members; Gerard Way (Lead and backing vocals), Mikey Way (Bass guitar), Frank Iero (Rhythm guitar and backing vocals), Ray Toro (Lead guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Pelissier (Drums, percussion). But although Matt Pelissier recorded the drums for the album, he was shortly kicked out of the band by their manager after their tour in Japan in 2004, and according to Post Punk Press, the reason he was kicked out was because he burned down the early tour bus that the band had been given by Gerard and Mikey's grandmother. This is when Bob Bryar became My Chem's drummer, touring and featuring in the photoshoots for this album.

There were also four other musicians that featured on various tracks; 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 Arinos (additional vocals on "The Ghost of You" and "Thank You for the Venom") and Howard Benson (played the 1958 Hammond B3).

Production People

  • Howard Benson - producer, mixing
  • Rich Costley - mixing
  • Craig Aaronson - A&R
  • Brian Schechter - management
  • Stacy Fass - legal
  • Matt Galle - booking
  • Mike Plotnikoff - recording
  • Eric J. Miller - additional engineering
  • Paul Decarli - pro tools and programming
  • Jon Nicholson - drum tech
  • Keith Nelson - guitar tech
  • Tom Baker - mastering
  • Matt Griffen - production coordinator
  • Dana Childs - production coordinator
  • Arturo Rojas - runner
  • Fernando Diaz - runner
  • Mike Gardner - runner
  • Chris Ozuna - runner
  • Bryan Mansell - runner
  • Mark Holley - design assistance

Outside Influences

According to an interview from Alternative Press, this album was a product of the rapid progression of the band, all the things they experienced while on tour, including people they met and things that happened to them. This album was also heavily influenced by the death of Gerard and Mikey's grandmother. They had just finished touring for a year and a half, and the day after they got back, she died. She was a large part of their lives, Gerard explaining that she had taught him to sing and paint.

According to Gerard, "Basically everything I apply to this band, I got from her. So when that happened, I was like, “Fuck. Oh, God. How am I going to deal with this story? Does it even matter anymore? Is it just fucking pretentious? Is it bullshit?” And then I came to grips with it and said, “Fuck it. I’m going to write the songs that I want.”" The song Helena was also written about this experience

References

1.Wikipedia Contributors. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge [Internet]. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation; 2025. Available from: Wikipedia

2.My Chemical Romance. My Chemical Romance - Life on the Murder Scene (Video Diary) [Internet]. YouTube. 2020. Available from: Life on the Murder Scene (Video Diary)

3.Magazine APMP. Read AltPress’ first interview with Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance [Internet]. Alternative Press Magazine. 2021. Available from: AltPress

4.Jeffreys O. My Chemical Romance – A Look Back At The Revenge Era [Internet]. Post-Punk Press. 2018 [cited 2025 Jun 27]. Available from: Post-Punk Press

5.Markarian TM. 10 Facts About “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge” Only Superfans Would Know [Internet]. Loudwire. 2022. Available from: Loudwire

6.Bunel C. 10 things you should know about Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge [Internet]. ABOVE THE NOISE. 2021. Available from: ABOVE THE NOISE