As Cruel as School Children is the third studio album by American rap rock band Gym Class Heroes, released by Fueled by Ramen/Atlantic Records on July 25, 2006. It was produced by Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump. A second version of the album, released on November 4, 2006 additionally contains the single "Cupid's Chokehold" (a different recording of the song was featured on their previous album The Papercut Chronicles). Both versions of these albums have the Parental Advisory sticker on them. As Cruel as School Children shows a significant departure from the style of their previous work such as the use of a drum machine, acoustic guitar, synthesizers and the band dabbling in many genres such as electronica, funk and soul. The album received generally favorable reviews, and it has since been certified gold by the RIAA. The title of the album is a lyric from "Scandalous Scholastics", one of the album's tracks. The band later re-released this album, with the inclusion of a new remix of "Cupid's Chokehold".

Background

The lead singer of the band, Travie McCoy, talked about working on the album during a 2021 interview with HotNewHipHop: When we did As Cruel as School Children, we had signed to Fueled by Ramen and we got upstreamed to Atlantic Records so we had a bigger budget. The goal for me with that record was to show how much the 80s had an effect on me musically. We were four kids from four different walks of life who had all kinds of different musical inspirations and heroes, and all that shit came into play. The main goal was to throw the 80s love in there and I feel like it definitely fucked a lot of people's heads up but it was also conducive to how we didn't give a fuck about fitting into a box or chasing a lane. We built one.

Appearances and influences

A number of notable musicians appear on this album. "Clothes Off!" features Fall Out Boy vocalist Patrick Stump, who was also the album's producer. The hook for the song is from Jermaine Stewart's 1986 song "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off". "Biters Block" features Speech of Arrested Development. The chorus for "Cupid's Chokehold" comes from the single "Breakfast in America" by Supertramp and is sung by Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy. A number of tracks have been used in other media. Track 3, "New Friend Request" and track 8, "It's OK, but Just this Once!" were used in the film Snakes On A Plane. Travis McCoy also guest stars on the films theme tune, "Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)", whilst the song "It's OK, But Just This Once" was briefly featured on HBO's hit series Entourage in episode 319 - "The Prince's Bride". The chorus of "Shoot Down The Stars" is briefly heard in Never Back Down.

Release and reception

As Cruel as School Children debuted at number 93 on the US Billboard 200 chart, becoming the group's first album to reach the chart, it then peaked number 35. On August 9, 2007, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States. Since its release, As Cruel as School Children has received generally positive reviews. Alternative Press called the album "nothing short of a classic", also heavily praising the use of live instrumentation. In a less enthusiastic review, Victoria Durham of Drowned in Sound stated that the band needed to "get rid of the filler" in order to be more successful. Though, she also noted the group's potential, referring to their creative rhyming as what could set them up to be "the OutKast of the rock world".

Track listing

Standard Edition

All songs written by Gym Class Heroes, Sam Hollander and Dave Katz, except Clothes Off, written by Gym Class Heroes, Sam Hollander, Dave Katz, Preston Glass and Narada Walden and Cupid's Chokehold/Breakfast In America, written by Travis McCoy, Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies.

Limited Edition Bonus Disc

Personnel

Gym Class Heroes Additional musicians Technical personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history