My Chemical ... Suicide?!

Fellow My Chemical Romance fans, listen closely; apparently, we're all considered a part of a suicide cult now, simply because of our taste in music.

"Girl, 13, hangs herself after becoming obsessed with Emo 'suicide cult' rock band"

Please read the article before reading the rest of this post; that will spare me from having to explain the story myself, making this post even longer.

This article is simply ridiculous. The author seems ill-informed and totally biased. I will get this out of the way now; I am biased on this topic as well, but from the other extreme. I refuse to believe that music made this girl kill herself. I wouldn't care if it were My Chemical Romance (which may here-on-out be referred to as "MCR") or any other band, artist, group ... it wasn't the music that made this girl kill herself. And the fact that they're blaming this all on MCR is upsetting me deeply.

The author of this piece completely lost my respect when they got the lyric wrong, right out of the gate. "Although you're dead and gone, believe me your memory will go on" ... ? Try CARRY on. If this author can't even quote the hook from MCR's latest hit, he is obviously in no position to be judging this band and what they stand for. What upset me even more was that the author didn't even take the time to look up the lyrics and verify whether or not it was correct. Sure, in essence, it wasn't a huge mistake; but it was enough to make it obvious that the author had little to no knowledge of the band's music, let alone what the stand for, nor did he have any desire to take a simple moment to verify that the lyric he was typing was correct. And, slightly off topic; if the author was trying to back up that MCR is the leader of a so-called "suicide cult", shouldn't he have quoted a lyric that was a bit more ... suicidal? To me, "Though you're dead and gone, believe me / Your memory will carry on" is not an overly depressing lyric. I may be biased, but I don't believe my love for the band is effecting my judgement of this song in this respect. I find this lyric beautiful and hopeful. How does keeping the memory of a lost loved one in your heart have anything to do with suicide? People committing suicide don't typically assume there will be people left behind to miss them and remember all the wonderful things about them. I'm thinking if this author really wanted to make a point, he should have gone with Headfirst for Halos... "And I think I'll blow my brains against the ceiling ... " But, again, he wasn't even willing to take the time to do a little research and find a lyric that would really help him get his point across.

So this author lost my respect from the very beginning. Not only was he a poor journalist that wouldn't even take the time to make a hard-hitting point, he was writing an article on a topic he was not only biased against, but also one in which he had little to no knowledge of.

"Hannah, described as a model pupil, had started cutting her wrists but told her father it was part of an initiation into the Emo fashion." "Initiation"? That sounds like peer pressure to me. And peer pressure, not the music, could have been a very legit reason for this girl's suicide. Later the article describes "emo"'s associating suicide as glamorous, and it could be very likely that these peers pressuring Ms. Hanna to do such things as cutting herself could have been the same peers that convinced her that suicide was glamorous. I admit - MCR puts a romantic note on death in several songs; take Demolition Lovers. Gerard has mentioned in an interview that society has convinced us that there is something romantic about "taking a hammer" to your own life, and speaks of a time when he felt this way about the subject himself ... but he immediately follows up with saying that this view of self-harm and suicide is untrue, and that he himself understands that now. And even if the music this girl was listening to did portray a romantic view of death ... it's not like this band was forcing her to listen to them. MCR may have written these lyrics, but that didn't mean she had to hear them. And how come this girl can listen to the exact same songs I do and find such a different meaning? Take Demolition Lovers again; how come this girl might have listened to this song and it had driven her to commit suicide, while I listen to it and find it nothing more than a beautiful piece of poetry and composition? In my opinion, there was something not mentally stable about this girl before she was an MCR fan ... she may have heard the same lyrics as you or I, or any other stable-minded fan, but she obviously perceived them in a way that drove her over the edge. If this was the case and it truly was the music that killed her - even if indirectly - that is not the band's fault.

The article mentions that Ms. Hanna had only been listening to MCR for two weeks. Obviously, suicidal tendencies do not spring up over this short amount of time. Again, I think this girl must have had some emotional insecurities prior to her introduction to MCR's music ... sure, the band's songs may have increased or even encouraged these feelings of insecurity, but, again, that isn't the band's fault. Perception - so Gerard uses slightly morbid vocabulary to get his point across. If you're capable of looking past the blood and the gore and the cursing, you can see the depth and the meaning behind the band's lyrics, and they are simply phenomenal. Uplifting and reassuring, for the most part. There must have been something in this girl's life prior to her introduction to MCR's music to make her perceive the lyrics in such a way that would upset her so.

"Hannah's mother Heather told the inquest she had researched the [emo] trend since her daughter's death. 'There are websites that show pink teddies hanging themselves,' she said." Once again - perception. Some people see pink teddies hanging themselves and they think ... woah. That's so not normal. I see teddies hanging by their necks and think ... that's art. Pink. That's typically a pretty happy color. Teddy bears. Warm, fuzzy, comfort. Hanging by a noose ... not so happy or comforting. It's like an oxymoron, and to put those two together in one piece takes creativity, in my opinion. It's perception. Maybe I'm odd for seeing it that way. Or maybe I'm just open minded.

The article goes on to basically define "emo" - if you wear this, cut your hair like this, and listen to this music, guess what guys, you're emo! And that means you obviously slit your wrists, right? Because Heavens forbid you have black hair, wear studded belts and listen to MCR and have a happy outlook on life, right?!

The end of the article declares MCR the "foremost of these 'suicide cult' bands". Where did that come from?! Did MCR sign up for this? Or were they nominated the leader of this "cult"? Because something tells me these guys wouldn't agree to such a degrading label, and would be horrified to hear they were being blamed for the death of an innocent girl. I would bet money that if any of the five of those guys walked into Ms. Hanna's room that night and found her about ready to hang from her neck ... I bet not one of them would have said "Go ahead, jump, honey. Your memory will 'go on'."

They state Welcome to the Black Parade as MCR's first single, which is obviously not true. Apparently Helena, The Ghost of You and I'm Not Okay weren't worth mentioning. Another example of an ill-informed author.

The author mentions the concept of the album The Black Parade without giving it the credit it deserves. While mentioning the fact that "The Patient" dies of cancer, the author conveniently forgets to tell the tale of how this "Patient" discovers himself and comes to term with dying throughout the course of the album, and how, in reality, the band members themselves had grown and changed throughout the making of the album as well.

If everything preceding hadn't already, the last statement of the article would have made me lose all respect for the author, and, as it were, it did make me laugh out loud; "The Black Parade is a nickname for the place where Emo fans believe they will go when they die." Yet another example of an author with no idea what he's talking about. He obviously has no idea about the concept behind the song, nor the significance of the parade itself. And, as a Christian, I know exactly where I'm going when I die, and there is no undead marching band coming to take me away.

I'm both insulted and disgusted by this article. Don't get me wrong; I feel for the parents who lost their daughter, and for the daughter herself, who was obviously feeling worthless and unloved until her dying day. Still, I refuse to believe MCR itself was the cause of her death, and the accusations this author made in the article were unfair as well as uncalled for.

I'm sure MCR has heard about this by now - this particular article about the story was published on May 5th, three days ago. I am curious to see whether they comment on it on their website or otherwise. I am sure they will be devastated by the news of the death of one of their "fans".

I feel awful for MCR and for the family of this lost daughter, but at the same time, I am outraged by the accusations made against a group of guys who wanted nothing more than to make a positive difference in this world through something they love as much as we do - music. And being labeled the leaders of a "suicide cult" just for trying to make a dream come true is just wrong.

If there are any updates to this story ... any comments from the band members, anything ... I'll do my best to keep you all informed.
Until then ... MCR fans, stay dedicated. Keep loving these guys for all the right reasons.

**UPDATE 5.10.08 - I was looking further into this topic and found that apparently this suicide occurred in September of last year - yet the article date still reads May 5th, 2008. If this did happen so long ago, any comment from the band has most likely already been made; again, if I find any comments from the guys, I'll keep you informed. I am still unsure of an exact date in which this happened, because now I have two conflicting pieces of evidence. My guess is that the May 5th date may be the last time the article was updated, while the actual event may have occurred a while ago.

**UPDATE 5.13.08 - Newsflash, guys! I hear Kerrang! is featuring an article about this whole incident in tomorrow's issue. I'm not a subscriber, but I plan to either get my hands on a copy or find the article online ... see what the boys had to say about this disaster. If any of you read the article, please comment and let me know what you thought! I'm glad the guys are getting a chance to speak out about this themselves!