Blogcritics' groovy Retro Music Chick wrote a pointed little satire a week ago called "Teen Suicide - What's Stopping You?" It focused specifically on the music and personae of Gerard Way and My Chemical Romance and their grand crusade to provide the voice and courage to the afflicted and misunderstood teenagers who go around cutting themselves. Message boards and Gerard Way will tell you their music has help snatch back countless teens from the edge of suicide. Retro Music Chick ain't buying it.
It has gotten a lot of predictable indignant responses from cheesed off MCR fans, most of them in typically illiterate teenage chat room style - like we're even supposed to consider the opinions of folks who aren't serious enough about their thoughts to at least attempt writing a legible sentence.
I note that she never actually used the word "Goth" in her story, but this modern Goth youth culture goes back to the 1980s. Without over analyzing and categorizing, a lot of this "Gloomy McMopeypants" (RMC's term) stuff comes from the Smiths and the Cure from back in my college days, who inspired the "unearned unhappiness" of Ben Folds' classic "Battle of Who Could Care Less."
The Smiths and the Cure, and now stuff like My Chemical Romance, don't entirely sound that much alike stylistically, but are basically inspirations in mopiness. Upping the ante from mopy Morrissey and Robert Smith, Gerard Way and such have become more morbid, dealing frequently in suicidal shtick like "Bury Me in Black."
They have a big, new morbid audience of faux-suicidal teens as a market niche. We've got some whining, narcissistic teenagers these days who like to go around cutting themselves for attention and such. There are teens who go to school showing off their self-mutilation for attention and sympathy.
As some have pointed out, it's unlikely that truly deeply troubled, actually suicidal kids would be showing that stuff off. They would more likely be hiding it in shame and quietly planning their personal end of days. That's sad, and you can only hope that such kids seek out help and find some relief, but that's only a relatively few young folk.
Essentially though, a lot of this modern self-mutilation and carrying on is a huge and incredibly abusive bluff. Most of these kids are not that truly sad, and are never really even considering killing themselves. They talk about it for attention, sympathy, and manipulation. If Mom and Dad don't try harder to please them, then they might do it.
This showing off of self-mutilation and threats of suicide is a particularly ugly form of narcissistic attention grabbing. Kids carrying on this way need beaten. Worrying your parents this way is a horrible form of abuse, worse than most child beating. How evil is it to make the people who gave you life and raised you waiting for you to snuff it? Kids can be just as evil as parents. If you carry on like this to your friends at school, milking them for sympathy, then you're no kind of a friend.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - diana hartman
"As some have pointed out, it's unlikely that truly deeply troubled, actually suicidal kids would be showing that stuff off. They would more likely be hiding it in shame and quietly planning their personal end of days. That's sad, and you can only hope that such kids seek out help and find some relief, but that's only a relatively few young folk."
The young people who do seek mental healthcare know little of the ways in which to do this. Unlike their adult counterparts, their resources are limited and are often poorly prepared to recognize, much less deal with or refer a troubled young person appropriately. Young people are not privy to their own medical records, they don't pay for their own insurance, and they aren't schooled in the etiquette of mental healthcare and the chain of command, as it were. They are instead (uselessly and sometimes tragically) subjected to the judgment of those who would simultaneously dismiss their cries of help and "hope that such kids seek out help and find some relief."
Heads-up: Those who engage in attention-getting behavior are trying to get someone's attention. (If you just said "duh," you didn't really understand that last sentence.) Give a young person attention when they're engaged in a behavior you don't like (negative reinforcement) and they will offer up more of the same. Give it to 'em when they're engaged in behavior you do like (positive reinforcement) and they will offer up more of the same. It would be appropriate at this point to challenge the author (and those who frequent chat rooms of teenage angst) to tell of experiences in chat rooms where teenagers post about the ways they found through their troubles.
Because teenagers are not adults yet, they still equate any attention with the end goal: positive attention. (This is why abused children will insist on returning to the abusive parent regardless of more positive, alternative living conditions made available to them.) Teens often labor under the delusion that negative attention, being better than none, will eventually result in positive attention. It doesn't matter that this isn't true because it's what they believe.
Decry narcissistic behavior if you will. The bottom line is that anyone displaying narcissistic behavior is likely doing so because they are narcissistic. Look it up: it's a diagnosable, treatable personality disorder with an onset in adolescence or early adulthood.
Teenagers are, for all their angst, drama and free-for-all histrionics, still on the cusp of a child's resilience to disorder, disease and trauma such that yes, something as simple as lyrics from a song could very well pull them back (temporarily, or set the stage for permanent resistance) from that which they simultaneously fear and crave (loss of dependence) and enable them to face head-on that which they also simultaneously fear and crave (independence).
There is an irony in one spending so much time stalking the expressions of today's youth and decrying their lack of substance when, if that same amount of time were spent with befuddled, confused youth, it would bring about the very thing so tirelessly thought to be youth's greatest lack.
Ironic, too, is that any adult would specifically seek out and/or explore expressions of teenage angst when clearly one finds it so distressing. Me thinks thou doth protest too much.
2 - Retro Music Chick
Thanks for clarifying my essay for the satire impared. :)
3 - Al Barger
You're welcome, Ma'am. You had a lot of folks very carefully not getting the point, so I figured on trying to make it as straightforward and crystal clear as possible.
4 - THE OTHER
Thank You Al for defending RMC - she needed it. But you continue to argue that 1) Teenagers just need to "get over it", not understanding what our society has done to childhood, ripping mothers away from their children 6 weeks after birth to obtain more stuff than the guy next door, 2) Gerard Way and My Chemical Romance have never claimed to be Goth or saviors or are in some way responsible for any actions teenagers take. On the contrary, they have denied being "emo" and just play rock music.
You say, "I'm not overly impressed with most of this corporate music food product". CORPORATE music??? What exactly does that mean??
My Chemical Romance is a direct result of September 11th. Do you know where the band came from? Mr. Way was a working artist (yes, with a degree and everything) in New York City the day the twin towers were attacked, he personally viewed the bodies falling from the towers, and he decided his own life and existence was much to precious to spend it doing what his family and society wanted him to spend it on. He didn't want to waste his life as 99% of us do, he chose to do what he was meant to do. How does that become "corporate music food product"?
"Welcome to the Black Parade" is clearly some cheesy niche marketing, but that's pretty much marketing to these cheesy fakers." Have you considered the thoughts and ideas on this record are sincere? Do you understand the concept of putting out music and ideas that you may actually believe in? I do believe these songs, ideas, metaphors are deeply felt by many of us listeners. The concepts sometimes profound and philosophical. Gerard Way is an ARTIST. You and Miss whatever continue to downgrade him and his art as corporate bullshit - because you have sold your soul out to the status quo that you cannot comprehend the theory of answering your calling.
All three of MCR albums say something different. I don't understand where your "venom" comes from. Perhaps you are not as bright as these teenagers that understand the metaphors presented in each song. Perhaps you are one of the "vampires" we are warned about on the "Bullets" album.
I read your words - and I still perceive that you and Miss Retro whatever are the stiffs we (us lesser thans) in high school would love to see destroyed or at least receive a good ass-woopin - always so judgmental and superior to those who really didn't buy into the whole global ideal that you have to be like everyone else to "fit in".
I don't want to fit in - I never have - and I thank the Holy Father up above that I have other people on the planet that encourage me to be this way and to never give in to YOUR kind! Those of you who believe whatever your political party tells you to believe. No thoughts of your own - no feelings of your own.
Before you blow me off too, as you have the young people here - I want to explain that I am an ADULT - I am in my 40's. I have been a music fan since birth, my mother was an opera singer, my father a country music musician. I work my days on a Hospice ward caring for the dying. The Black Parade is very consoling to me and corporate or no, IT SPEAKS TO MY HEART!
5 - Lovely Goth
you guys are so F****** stupid! I'm 19 and still into MCR's music... and I will never stop liking it. You guys obviously have way too much time on your hands to be critizing others!
6 - Unidentified
ok assholes u guys SUCK MCR DONT CAUSE NO SUICIDE IDIOTS
7 - not so enraged mcr fan
Kudos to the comment above, 'the other'
I actually can see where you are coming from.
But I think the thing most people don't understand about MCR, is that they have brought a lot of people together. I'm not a huge fun of imnotok.net. But a proud member of the MCRmy street team. Yes its a way for the musicians to make extra money and what not, but it has also become a meeting place for MCR fans young an old all over the world. Here we help each other out with any problem, from depression to homework. We confide in each other, and many people have created close knit groups of friends in their home towns.
I;m going to get lame and cheesy and say that anyone who isn't and MCR fan just really doesn't undersatnd their magic. It's real and it's pure. You listen to their music, you relate. The MCRmy threads are something people cant even imagine. Just now a girl has started a thread stating her mum was in a car accident and she wants us to pray for her. It may just be over the internet, some may question if its true, but within 10 minutes this girl has had over 15 people reply that yes, they will indeed pray for her and her mum, even if they don't usually follow religion. I think thats pretty special.
As for your harsh but admittedly true statements about self harm and such. I think you may be forgetting one thing. This people are kids, youth, who go through this 'stage'. Im pretty sure 90% of all people go through a stage like that in their lives. Yes it may be a tad immature, yes it's hard to understand but its called life. And i personally don't think its appropriate for you to speak so harshly. You've made you opinion clear, and i guess your aim was to get others opinions. Here is mine.
Depression is a serious problem. A cry for help is just as serious. The way a person displays either one, is their own prerogative, their own mental issue and i don't think a person should be judged on that.
8 - not so enraged mcr fan
"The Ugly Face of "Suicidal" Goth Teens"
May I also add, labels and generalizations are for the ignorant.
9 - Michael J. West
How does that become "corporate music food product"?
I answered this one on the other thread. It becomes "corporate music food product" when it's composed, arranged, and produced with the (apparently) specific design of selling records to a specific market. MCR's music, for all its purported "edge," is as slick and processed and packaged as Cheez Whiz, hence Al's analogy to food.
10 - THE OTHER
Well, Michael J. West, has it occurred to you that this record, as well as the two previous records were "composed, arranged, and produced with the (apparently) specific design" of conveying an idea, a set of beliefs, and emotion not evoked anywhere else in music? The byproduct of producing such records, with honesty and raw emotional concepts is that they WILL SELL RECORDS.
People are starved for honesty. In a society that dictates what to believe by their political party, their religion, their society, it is refreshing for an artist to come out - bare their souls as to what THEY believe, knowing those of you who subscribe to the status quo will attack their individuality and uniqueness and accuses them of being LIKE YOU in that everything is about money.
Perhaps their success is a byproduct of being honest and true to what they, and WE believe.
11 - imfine
im hardly stung. why take so much time to write about something you dont even care about. i dont spend my time writing essays about God and how he has brought the end to so many innocent. keep hurtful things inside, the world is crappy enough.
12 - not so enraged mcr fan
amen to that.
13 - Al Barger
The Other - Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I can appreciate people being a bit touchy on some of this, but ease up just a bit and don't jumping to wild conclusions about me.
"you continue to argue that 1) Teenagers just need to 'get over it'" Now, I never said that. It's not a JUST. It can be very difficult, I know full well. It's a struggle. "Knuckle down, buckle down" is not a sentiment that would suggest you can just shrug it all off.
But I suspect that a lot of folks in different ways and ages - not just teenaged MCR fans - are encouraged to wallow in their misery and dysfunction, and celebrate and enjoy being miserable, and take that as some kind of good thing. It's not.
Read my words again, they don't apply to just any kid who likes a certain band. If you really like MCR, you're welcome to listen to them. It's a free country. Note again that skeptical of the group though I obviously am, even I would give good musical credit to at least a couple of their songs. But I would never want to focus on such stuff as what my mind runs on all day. Not healthy.
If you think that I'm urging you to give up individuality and become a happy cog in the corporate wheel listening to Mariah Carey and Garth Brooks or something, then you are not getting me at all. Plus, MCR strikes me as just as commercially calculated (thus the dreaded "corporate" label) as Pretty Ricky or American Idol record. I'm not saying you should listen to all the crap they serve up on the radio. I'm suggesting that you look for better, different choices.
Carrying on like legions of other young goth kids doesn't particularly strike me as freaky individualism, but just another kind of conformism. If you really wanted to be different, distinguished from the drones about you, you could fix your ideals on some different and more positive beacon.
There are so many thousands of musicians that you could identify with that would be not necessarily happy-faced but stronger and more uplifting and - significantly - much more artistically substantive than some band of the moment. Try some different things out and see what will do more to lift your soul. Making a badge of pride of being "not okay" is not smart, and not good for you, and not nourishment for your soul.
For example, try actually listening to Frank Sinatra. Now, I'm sure he's not cool and hip with the kids - but for starters, you'd be much more truly individualistic in 2007 walking the halls in a fedora than following any teenage band. Plus, you'd be getting FAR more substantive and lasting music.
More specifically though, if you're struggling with dark nights of the soul, Sinatra was all about that. Dig up for starters Only the Lonely. That ain't no cheap happy pop music.
But besides being inarguably better music, Frank would be an exemplar of strength and determination. He was not going to be broken down and stuck in the shit all the time.
But there are many singers, filmmakers, writers you could look to. Listen to your MCR if you must, but please consider other options. Try some gospel, even.
14 - We may be dealing with a freak. Or a politician.
"A couple of y'all, apparently a bit lacking in love interests, are curious about me and Miss Libby. She is but a sister Blogcritic. She caught my special attention here though, especially with the part about razorblade masturbation in heaven. As Eminem would say, that talk makes my pee-pee go da-doing-doing-doing. Wild thing, I think I... love you."
Smooth.
15 - We may be dealing with a freak. Or a politician.
Previous message courtesy of Al Barger,who approves of this message.
16 - Al Barger
May Be Dealing - Why can't I be both a freak AND a politician?
However, I note that we are holding our love chaste, awaiting the booking of a goth singer who will agree to an on-stage suicide to celebrate our nuptials.
17 - Michael J. West
Well, Michael J. West, has it occurred to you that this record, as well as the two previous records were "composed, arranged, and produced with the (apparently) specific design" of conveying an idea, a set of beliefs, and emotion not evoked anywhere else in music?
Is that a joke?
18 - Michael J. West
Plus, MCR strikes me as just as commercially calculated (thus the dreaded "corporate" label) as Pretty Ricky or American Idol record.
Thank you, Al. The point about the dreaded "corporate" label and commercial calculation is an important one. MCR is, by virtue of being signed to Reprise Records, a sub-subsidiary of AOLTimeWarner, one of the largest and wealthiest corporations on the face of the Earth. They exist to make money, thus, ALL of their ventures are BY DEFINITION commercially calculated. (Not that other, smaller ventures aren't, but that association means that the band has COMMERCIALLY CALCULATED stamped on their forehead.)
19 - Al Barger
Brother West - I'm 100% pro-capitalist. I got not a thing against making money, or trying to please a market. For example, I really dig the famous story from the 60s of The Who actually trying to sell advertising on the Sell Out album.
But you get into questions of how much of what a band's doing is JUST to sell records and make a name, and how much is something of legitimate artistic interest. No advertising Pete Townshend could possibly have sold would have negated the spiritual import of "I Can See For Miles."
Music is a kind of communication, and it's perfectly legitimate to consider how to present what you want to say so that an audience on the other end gets it. Otherwise, why even put it out in public?
As that applies to MCR, my personal estimation would be that they're maybe 10% art and 90% commerce. Your mileage may vary.
20 - Michael J. West
I've got no problem with making money either, Al. I'm responding to the comments on the other thread of "They're not in it for the money!" Which I felt was The Other's implication - that MCR had some higher purpose that profit-making wasn't part of. My main point was that companies like AOLTimeWarner don't invest in ventures (like MCR is) if they don't expect to turn a profit, and a substantial one.
21 - Al Barger
Michael J West, are you now or have you ever been a member of the Democrat party?
Of course I would not be accusing you of communism and race mixing and such, but just trying to clarify the issues for the young MCR fans joining our ongoing discussion.
There's not necessarily a contradiction between art and commerce. The Beatles come leaping to mind there as perfectly high on both counts.
Indeed, I'll tend to be skeptical of musicians who are adamantly anti-commercial. That might be just dumb ideology. But like as not, it's an indication that they know they're not really talented and could never compete commercially. Sonic Youth comes leaping to mind. Sure, you might as well screech away and puff up your feelings of superiority. The phrase "sour grapes" leaps to mind.
But I bet those sad sacks would sell their puny little souls for one good serious pop radio hit.
22 - Cindy McGuire
So why DID you write this instead of taking a walk in the sunshine? Do you think MCR fans have never heard this before? Do you think we'll read this and suddenly see things your way? Maybe go out and buy Roger Miller records?
Just some backgroud, I'm 46 years old. I love My Chemical Romance. I'm not suicidal. I'm going to see them in concert in May and I can't wait. I've met a lot of nice people my age through MCR and they have helped me a lot. I'm sure some of them will be here to add their 2 cents.
I can't tell you why I like them so much but it started a few years ago. I see their message as positive. I can't remember the song where they tell people to cut themselves or commit suicide. Which song is that?
So, you can go back to listening to Roger Miller ("I ain't got no cigarettes") and I'll go back to listening to MCR ("I am not afraid to keep on living") and we'll agree to disagree.
PS: What is your problem with Cinnabun?
23 - Michael J. West
Well, yes, Al, I am a Democrat. :-) (Although I'd vastly prefer to be a registered independent, but DC is a one-party town so all the real contests in local politics are in the Primary elections.) But no, I got your meaning.
I'm bored with the anti-commercial thing, with the sole exception of DC's own Fugazi--because they actually put their money where their mouth is and present a viable alternative--but they're on "indefinite hiatus" now so what's the diff?
A wise man once said to me, "An artist is a 'sellout' the moment they accept money for their art." And it's true. I've never thought that the two were mutually exclusive. And I've long since lost the romantic illusion that "money really isn't important to (insert musician's name here)! He's got a statement to make and he'd do it for free!" Yeah? Then why isn't he?
24 - just an opinion
....And I've long since lost the romantic illusion that "money really isn't important to (insert musician's name here)! He's got a statement to make and he'd do it for free!" Yeah? Then why isn't he?....
If they did it for free, their music wouldn't have an impact on as many people as it has...good or bad. And, personally, I don't find anything wrong with the fact that the guys in MCR found something meaningful in the band they created, wanted to let others know they weren't alone, ended up being a huge success, and now have a whole new fanbase that looks up to them.
Doing just a little bit of research on these guys, you'll find they aren't like any of the other bands that are in it for the fame, drugs, or groupies. They have risen from depression, alcoholism, etc. and now have a story to tell and I think they do it pretty well.
I also find it encouraging that they don't get caught up in things like this. They know what they believe in and if you agree with them, great. If you don't, why dwell on it?
25 - Martro
Your article makes SO much sense. I grew up in that time when Robert (don't make me cry) Smith and The Cure were gloomily and mopingly depressing. Don't forget Type O Negative or NIN either. They may be a little more sadistic in their lyrics but , essentially, just recycled muck for our kids to go through. You hit the nail on the head when you said how "narcissistic" these little pukes are when vying for attention. It all comes back around. What will the next corporate mashup be? Probably something Euro-Trashy. Nice work!