Cupid's Chokehold

"Cupid's Chokehold"
Single by Gym Class Heroes featuring Patrick Stump
from the album The Papercut Chronicles and As Cruel as School Children
Released	March 2005 (original release) November 7, 2006 (re-release) (See release history)
Genre	Rap rock, pop rap, alternative rock, alternative hip hop
Length	4:03 (The Papercut Chronicles version) 3:58 (As Cruel as School Children version)
Label	Decaydance, Fueled by Ramen
Writer(s)	Travis McCoy, Rick Davies, Roger Hodgson
Producer	S*A*M
Certification	Platinum (RIAA)
Gym Class Heroes singles chronology
"Papercuts" (2005) "Cupid's Chokehold / Breakfast in America" (2005) "The Queen and I" (2006)
"New Friend Request" (2006) "Cupid's Chokehold" (2006/2007) "Shoot Down the Stars" (2007)

Cupid's Chokehold (also known as Cupid's Chokehold / Breakfast in America) is a single performed by Gym Class Heroes, featuring Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. The song relies heavily on the music, chorus and famous spoken "ba ba da da" line from Supertramp's hit song "Breakfast in America". It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, #4 on the Billboard Pop 100, #3 on the UK Singles Chart, and #3 on the Canadian Hot 100. It was first released in 2005 on The Papercut Chronicles, and re-recorded for their album As Cruel as School Children (which was re-released on November 4, 2006 with "Cupid's Chokehold" as an additional track). There are two music videos for this song, one for each version. The second version includes female backing vocals which are not included in version one. The second version of the video does contain the backing vocals of the first video. However, the female voice is integrated into the chorus behind Patrick Stump's vocals. The song has been featured on Discover and Download and Total Request Live.

Several versions were produced. The most common one features slow tempo and female backing vocals while the other one has a quicker tempo and Patrick Stump does backing vocals, along with Ookla the Mok's Rand Bellavia.

The song won an ASCAP award on April 9, 2008 for being one of the most played songs in ASCAPs repertory from the 4th Quarter 2006 through the 4th Quarter 2007.

As of September 2011, the song has sold 1,936,000 digital downloads in the United States, making it the band's highest-selling hit.^[1]

Chart positions

Chart (2007)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[2]	14
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 75)[3]	42
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[4]	3
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[5]	8
Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100)[6]	29
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[7]	9
Germany (Media Control AG)[8]	45
Ireland (IRMA)[9]	3
Italy (FIMI)[10]	12
New Zealand (RIANZ)[11]	6
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[12]	38
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[13]	34
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[14]	3
US Billboard Hot 100[15]	4
US Adult Pop Songs (Billboard)[16]	18
US Pop Songs (Billboard)[17]	1

Music videos

The Papercut Chronicles version

The first version of the "Cupid's Chokehold" video directed by Andrew Paul Bowser for the album The Papercut Chronicles features MC Travis McCoy working at a toy factory. While working, he stumbles upon a "prototype toy" which turns out to be a life-size doll. The doll acts as McCoy's girlfriend in the video and fulfills his every wish.

However, she eventually becomes tired of being exploited and expresses this in a humorous scene where the two are playing Scrabble (she spells out the words 'krush', 'kill', and 'destroy'). The doll then begins to malfunction, and McCoy has no choice but to destroy her. He pushes her off a bridge, and she appears to be dead. At the end of the video, she is awakened by Patrick Stump, who also appears to be a robot. The two fall in love and walk down the road together.

As Cruel as School Children version

The second version of the "Cupid's Chokehold" is the official video directed by Alan Ferguson for the album As Cruel as School Children and is a more literal interpretation of the lyrics of the song. The second version is more widely recognized because music networks such as MTV and VH1 play this version instead of the original, and because the original does not appear on iTunes. The video begins with a dancing Cupid, played by a young Princeton of Mindless Behavior, who shoots McCoy with a love arrow as he passes a girl. Patrick Stump can be seen watching from behind a newspaper as this happens. The two are madly in love at first, but as the video moves forward, the two begin fighting, and their relationship meets its end when McCoy's girlfriend walks in on him and his friends gambling. Cupid tries a second time to get McCoy into a relationship. This time, McCoy's girlfriend is more romantically involved with McCoy, but she becomes increasingly angry when he invites his friends to a party her parents are hosting. The relationship ends when McCoy comes home to find his girlfriend on top of a masked man in a compromising position. He proceeds to beat up the guy. McCoy's final relationship is with one of his fans in the audience at one of the band's performances (played by McCoy's then-girlfriend, Katy Perry). Initially, she went up to him when they were at a bar. This time the relationship works out, and Cupid does not have to shoot McCoy with an arrow even though he attempts to at first. However, Cupid himself gets shot with an arrow by a female Cupid, and the video closes with the two of them dancing together with McCoy & Perry watching from in front. (Cupid also dances several times before the ending). Musically, this version has the word Girlfriend repeated constantly in the background not found in other versions of the song exclusive to the video.

In this version of the music video, when McCoy and his friends are interrupting his girlfriend's party, McCoy raps a small part of "Wejusfreestylin Pt. 2" from The Papercut Chronicles.

Release history

Format	Release date
North America (original release)	March 2005
North America (re-release)	November 7, 2006
United Kingdom	May 7, 2007

References

1. ^ http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/74414/week-ending-sept-18-2011-songs-tony-sets-a-record/
2. ^ "Australian-charts.com – Gym Class Heroes – Cupid's Chokehold". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Hung Medien.
3. ^ "Gym Class Heroes – Cupid's Chokehold – Austriancharts.at" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Hung Medien.
4. ^ "Gym Class Heroes Album & Song Chart History" Canadian Hot 100 for Gym Class Heroes. Prometheus Global Media.
5. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Gym Class Heroes search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40. Stichting Nederlandse Top 40.
6. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Gym Class Heroes – Cupid's Chokehold" (in Dutch). Mega Single Top 100. Hung Medien / hitparade.ch.
7. ^ "Finnishcharts.com – Gym Class Heroes – Cupid's Chokehold". Suomen virallinen lista. Hung Medien.
8. ^ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche - musicline.de" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
9. ^ "Chart Track". Irish Singles Chart. Irish Recorded Music Association.
10. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Gym Class Heroes – Cupid's Chokehold". Top Digital Download. Hung Medien.
11. ^ "Charts.org.nz – Gym Class Heroes – Cupid's Chokehold". Top 40 Singles. Hung Medien.
12. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Gym Class Heroes – Cupid's Chokehold". Singles Top 60. Hung Medien.
13. ^ "Gym Class Heroes – Cupid's Chokehold – swisscharts.com". Swiss Singles Chart. Hung Medien.
14. ^ "Archive Chart" UK Singles Chart. The Official Charts Company.
15. ^ "Gym Class Heroes Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Hot 100 for Gym Class Heroes. Prometheus Global Media.
16. ^ "Gym Class Heroes Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Adult Pop Songs for Gym Class Heroes. Prometheus Global Media.
17. ^ "Gym Class Heroes Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Pop Songs for Gym Class Heroes. Prometheus Global Media.