Vampire Money

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"Vampire Money"
Song by My Chemical Romance
from the album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
ReleasedNovember 22, 2010
Genre
Length3:38
LabelReprise
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)

"Vampire Money" is a song by the American rock band My Chemical Romance from their 2010 album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.

Background

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"Vampire Money" was created by the band when they were asked to write a song for the Twilight Saga film series. Gerard Way stated the reason for the song's inclusion on the album was that "there's a lot of people chasing that fucking money. Twilight? A lot of people around us were like, 'Please, for the love of God, do this fucking movie.' But we'd moved on."[3]

Recording

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"Vampire Money" was the second track the band recorded for the album and was done in one take according to Raymond Toro, who commented that "It's a full live take and that's, I think, the third time we did it – and you can hear that energy in it."[4]

Composition and lyrics

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"Vampire Money" is a punk rock[1] song that runs for three minutes and thirty-eight seconds.[5] It references various films such as The Wizard of Oz with the line "Oh, shit, Toto. We're not in concept anymore."[6] Alternative Press magazine believes the song's lyrics reference the American punk band Misfits, according to Alternative Press, the line "Hair back, collar up, jet black, so cool!/Sing it like the kids that are mean to you!" "nearly echoes" a line from the song "Mommy, Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight", the line being "Singled out the kids who are mean to me".[7] The song was mostly inspired by the topics on the band's second studio album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.[8]

Release and reception

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"Vampire Money" was released on Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and was the last song on the album, and the last song the band released due to it being the last song on Danger Days, the band's last album before their breakup in 2013.[a] it was well received upon release, and has been ranked highly on rankings of My Chemical Romance songs, despite never being released as a single. Loudwire critic Cassie Whitt ranked number 11 on her ranking of every My Chemical Romance song, stating "If there was any remaining doubt about their feelings toward being asked to participate in such culture, this song clears it right up".[6] When ranking the 15 best My Chemical Romance songs, the staff of Billboard ranked it number 7, stating it "sees the band throwing some not-so-subtle shade at the Twilight franchise, which asked the group to contribute a song to one of the films’ soundtracks".[1] When ranking every My Chemical Romance song for Gigwise, Chloe Spinks ranked it number 9, stating it "is probably as close as you’re going to get to an audible party." and that "What's so enjoyable about this track is that you feel like you are in on the joke, like you are standing in crowd and participating in the party, and even when the song ends it sounds like you have been having such a blast that the police have arrived to shut the party down".[10]

Despite its high rankings, some rankings of all of the band's songs have ranked it low such as Marianna Eloise of The Forty-Five who ranked it number 45, stating it's "hard to understand how anyone could get so upset about that and then write a song that features in a Transformers movie on the same record, but either way, the song sucks".[11]

Live performances

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The song was included in the band's live performances and was described by Raymond Toro as "good fun, because it’s nothing but pure energy".[12]

Credits and personnel

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Credits are adapted from Apple Music:[5]

  • Gerard Way – lead vocals, songwriter, producer
  • Mikey Way – bass guitar, backing vocals, songwriter, producer
  • Raymond Toro – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, songwriter, producer
  • Frank Iero – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, songwriter, producer
  • Bob Bryar – drums, producer
  • John Miceli – drums, percussion
  • Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards, sound design
  • Dan Chase – recording engineer, additional engineer
  • Nik Karpen – assistant mixing engineer
  • Joe Libretti – drum technician
  • Doug McKean – engineer
  • Alan "Ace" Bergman – guitar technician
  • R.J. Ronquillo – guitar technician
  • Todd "Youth" Schofield – guitar technician
  • Lars Fox – recording engineer
  • Rob Cavallo – producer

Notes

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  1. ^ The band reunited in 2019, and has since released new music.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Weatherby, Taylor (November 14, 2019). "The 15 Best My Chemical Romance Songs: Staff Picks". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2025.
  2. ^ "Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys". Warner Music Australia Store. Retrieved June 24, 2025.
    "My Chemical Romance Return With Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys". MTV. September 9, 2010. Archived from the original on 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  3. ^ NME TV (November 13, 2010), Kings of the Wild Frontier, NME, pp. 21–22
  4. ^ Bryant 2014, p. 242.
  5. ^ a b Vampire Money by My Chemical Romance on Apple Music, November 22, 2010, retrieved June 24, 2025
  6. ^ a b Whitt, Cassie (2019-03-24). "Every My Chemical Romance Song Ranked From Worst to Best". Loudwire. Retrieved June 24, 2025.
  7. ^ Mortensa, Mala. "10 references you might have missed in My Chemical Romance's lyrics". altpress.com. Retrieved June 22, 2025.
  8. ^ Bryant 2014, p. 245.
  9. ^ Blistein, Jon (May 12, 2022). "My Chemical Romance Mark Musical Return With Six-Minute Epic 'The Foundations of Decay'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  10. ^ Spinks, Chloe. "Every My Chemical Romance song ranked from worst to best | Gigwise". www.gigwise.com. Retrieved June 24, 2025.
  11. ^ Eloise, Marianne (30 August 2020). "Every My Chemical Romance song ranked from worst to best". The Forty-Five. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
  12. ^ Bryant 2014, p. 260.

Sources

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