Vampires Will Never Hurt You

The meaning of the song's lyrics was explained by the band as a metaphoric critique on society. The "vampires" represent greedy and ambitious human beings. MCR frontman Gerard Way realized he had a more personal connection to the song than he initially thought. "The song is about something pretty dark," he told Tom Bryant, author of Not the Life It Seems: The True Lives of My Chemical Romance. "I guess, looking back, it's about the early signs of my alcoholism and how I felt I was wasting my life. It was about feeling generally like a scumbag."

The main character in this song never wants to blend in with society, he wants to stand out and believe in himself, so the lyric, "If they get me and the sun goes down into the ground, And if they get me take this spike to my heart" is saying that if he ever starts to be like the rest of society, he would rather die. He will also never let anyone he loves be sucked into this society.

My Chemical Romance released their debut album through Eyeball Records, an independent label founded by Alex Saavedra to promote up-and-coming New Jersey punk acts. Saavedra was producing the band's first recording session, and it wasn't going well. Gerard was suffering from an abscessed tooth and had to leave to get emergency dental work. When he returned, he was in such a daze from the pain meds, he couldn't sing. So Saavedra gave him a hug – and punched him in the mouth. "Now, go sing," he told him. Gerard was furious and poured all his pain and anger into his performance. "I was f--king riled," he told biographer Bryant. "I went up to the mic and nailed it first time." Engineer John Naclerio was still setting levels, however, and needed one more take. Thankfully, Gerard had enough venom left over to recreate his rage-fueled first pass.