"Miss Murder" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band AFI. It was released on April 3, 2006, as the lead single from their seventh studio album ''

Decemberunderground ''Decemberunderground'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band AFI, released on June 6, 2006, through Interscope Records. The album was supported by three singles, " Miss Murder", " Love Like Winter", and "The Missing Frame". Recording ...

''. It was initially scheduled to premiere on

LIVE 105 Kits may refer to: *Kitsilano, a neighbourhood of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada *Kits, an American taffy candy made by Gilliam Candy Company *KITS, a San Francisco, California radio station *Kottayam Institute of Technology & Scie ...

on April 13, 2006; however, it was released early due to overwhelming fan reaction. "Miss Murder" was released to radio on April 25, 2006. It was released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on April 24 and July 29, 2006. It was written by Davey Havok and produced by Jerry Finn. The song received favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented its musicianship. It is the band's most commercially successful single to date, reaching number 24 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and topping the

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart. Internationally, the song was a moderate success, charting within the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany. It won in the category Best Rock Song at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards and was nominated for the

Kerrang! Award for Best Single The Kerrang! Award for Best Single is an honor presented at the Kerrang! Awards, an annual ceremony established in 1993 to recognise achievements in rock music. The award was renamed 'Best Song' for the 2018 ceremony onwards, but serves the same pu ...

. An accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was directed by

Marc Webb Marc Preston Webb (born August 31, 1974) is an American music video director and filmmaker. Webb made his feature film directorial debut in 2009 with the romantic comedy ''500 Days of Summer'', and went on to direct ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' in ...

(who has previously directed videos for AFI) and premiered on

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

shortly after the single's release.

Composition

The song originated with guitarist

Jade Puget Jade Errol Puget (born November 28, 1973) is an American musician and producer, best known as the guitarist for the rock band AFI (joined in 1998), the guitarist/writer for the straight edge hardcore band XTRMST, and the keyboardist/synthesi ...

playing a bass hook on his guitar and vocalist Davey Havok coming up with the "Miss Murder" lyric as a throwaway line which ended up sticking. Havok told ''

Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off ...

'': "We beat this song down. We reworked the chorus over and over again, and in some abyss I sang the melody of the chorus with a scratched lyric that went, 'Hey, miss murder, can I?'" Havok was skeptical of the unconventional hook, but

Interscope Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Musi ...

insisted it should stay as it was. Havok later revealed that he wanted to exclude the song from ''

'', opining that the unreleased "The View from Here" is a better song. There are several popular theories as to the meaning of the song. These include

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

's fall from grace,

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

abandoning humanity,

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

's 1890 novel ''

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical fiction, philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''Th ...

'' (in which Gray sells his soul to preserve his beauty), or Havok's personal struggle with fame. Havok refuses to confirm or deny any rumors: "I don't necessarily need for people to understand specifically what it means. If they want to take something from it and use it in a personal way, I think that's great. I wouldn’t want to risk destroying that just so someone can get a better understanding of me personally."

Music video

A music video directed by

for the song premiered on television shortly after the track's release. It was filmed at

Los Angeles City Hall Los Angeles City Hall, completed in 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council. It is located in the Civic Cente ...

. The music video opens with Davey Havok finding a note, possibly written by Miss Murder. The note features the three black rabbits symbol featured on the cover of ''Decemberunderground''. Havok appears at his desk singing the song, while the band members are shown performing the song in a large room. Havok then appears on a balcony, rallying a chanting crowd below, and unfolds large posters of the band members themselves. During the bridge of the song, black rabbits surround Havok's desk. After he looks down the balcony, the crowd has disappeared and instead sees Miss Murder staring back at him. He returns to his desk where Miss Murder approaches. She places her hand on his shoulder, then he shuts his eyes. The video ends with the black rabbit watching the murder. An extended version of the music video was released afterward, featuring extra footage at the beginning of the video while the introductory track of ''Decemberunderground'', "

Prelude 12/21 "Prelude 12/21" is the first song on AFI's seventh album ''Decemberunderground'', written by Hunter Burgan, Adam Carson, David Paden Marchand, and Jade Puget, released in 2006. The song has a secret beginning if the CD is rewound twenty seconds be ...

" is playing. It features Miss Murder writing a note, then consuming the note, which appears in Havok's mouth. The band is shown performing the track as well.

Live performances

As of 1 April 2019, it has been performed 442 times, making it the sixth most performed song by AFI.

Track listings

US promo single #"Miss Murder" (edit) – 3:18 UK / AU single #"Miss Murder" (edit) – 3:24 #"Don't Change" (

INXS INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...

cover) – 3:16 #"Silver and Cold" (live acoustic) – 4:07 #"Miss Murder" (music video) 7" vinyl picture disc #"Miss Murder" – 3:20 #"Don't Change" (INXS cover) – 3:16 10" vinyl picture disc #"Miss Murder" – 3:20 #"Rabbits are Roadkill on Route 37" – 3:51 Promo CDM #"Miss Murder (

VNV Nation VNV Nation is an Irish alternative electronic project led by Ronan Harris in the roles of singer, songwriter, and producer. VNV Nation's sound combines lyrics with sounds that ranges from melodic industrial dance anthems, to haunting ballads ...

remix)" – 6:00 #"Miss Murder (

instrumental)" – 6:00 #"Miss Murder (

Broken Spindles Broken Spindles was a band solely consisting of Joel Petersen of Omaha, Nebraska, who also played bass, guitar and keyboards in The Faint. The music of Broken Spindles ranged from instrumental electronic songs to sparse piano pieces to rock-infl ...

remix)" – 4:12 #"Miss Murder (

instrumental)" – 4:12

Official versions

*"Miss Murder" (album version) – 3:27 *"Miss Murder" (edit) – 3:18 *"Miss Murder" (top 40 edit) – 3:05 *"Miss Murder" (

remix) – 6:00 *"Miss Murder" (

instrumental) – 6:00 *"Miss Murder" (

remix) – 4:12 *"Miss Murder" (

instrumental) – 4:12

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* * {{authority control 2006 singles AFI (band) songs Post-hardcore songs Music videos directed by Marc Webb 2005 songs Interscope Records singles Songs written by Hunter Burgan Songs written by Adam Carson Songs written by Davey Havok Songs written by Jade Puget