Gives You Hell - Background and Composition

Background and Composition

"Gives You Hell" was written by Nick Wheeler and Tyson Ritter in Vancouver, Canada on a secluded writing trip for the band's third studio album, and recorded at George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch studios in California.

Lyric-wise, Ritter stated the song "is about this asshole, it’s a dude who will never know it’s about him. It's kind of this tongue-in-cheek way of looking at someone you hate, whether it's your mom, for some reason, or it's your teacher at school, or it's your boss at work. It's just someone who makes you struggle, and it's giving them the finger."

In an interview with Vevo, the pair described how the song started out as "a cheesy whirl on a drum-loop", and how unsure they were on its sound that it nearly didn't make the final track listing for When the World Comes Down. But after a phone conversation with music producer Jimmy Iovine, who praised the song's lyrics and instrumental mix, the band decided to add it to the album's track list.

On the composition of the track, Wheeler described the process, "You hear an acoustic guitar, like this wacky E6 chord fading in the beginning and that's all you hear. Yeah, that's all you hear until the second verse. Then a little acoustic guitar comes in – actually the acoustic guitar carries the whole thing until that last chorus. That's when like the big monster comes in. It's just the acoustic guitar in the chorus and you hear that little lead line right before the 3rd verse. It's little moments like that. If every part on the record is thought out and holds its place in the song, then you don't need more than just those special parts. It's not about taking a big guitar and layering the crap out of it. It's not about that. Every part, from the vocals to the guitar parts to the drum fills, really hold their place in the song."

In a further interview with MTV, Wheeler commented that "we wanted the backing vocalists sound like a 'bunch of drunk assholes', so we had the crew and us drink a beer for every take and yelled the chorus into a microphone. We got so drunk we were over-thinking it!"