Teenagers

[dan]

OK, so I'm a big fan of My Chemical Romance's new album, The Black Parade. However, there is one song that, while it is insanely catchy, is a little unnerving. Here's the lyrics....

They gonna clean up the looks,
With all the lies in the books
To make a citizen out of you
Because they sleep with a gun
And keep an eye on you son
so they can watch all the things you do

Because the drugs never work
They gonna give you a smirk
'Cus they've got methods of keeping you clean
Their gonna rip up your heads,
Your aspirations to shreds,
Another cog in the murder machine

They said now
Teenagers scare,
The living shit out of me
They can care less as long as,
Someone will bleed
So darken your clothes,
Or stike a violent pose,
Maybe they'll leave you alone
But not me

The boys and girls in the clique,
The awful names at the stick,
Your never gonna fit in much kid
But if your troubled and hurt,
What you got under you shirt,
Will make em pay for things that they did!

They said now
Teenagers scare,
The living shit out of me
They can care less as long as,
Someone will bleed
So darken your clothes,
Or stike a violent pose,
Maybe they'll leave you alone
but not me
whoa yeah!

They said now

Teenagers scare,
The living shit out of me
They can care less as long as,
Someone will bleed
So darken your clothes,
Or stike a violent pose,
Maybe they'll leave you alone
but not me

All together now!

Teenagers scare,
The living shit out of me
They can care less as long as,
Someone will bleed
So darken your clothes,
Or stike a violent pose,
Maybe they'll leave you alone
but not me

Teenagers scare,
The living shit out of me,
They can care less as long as,
Someone will bleed
so darken your clothes,
Or stike a violent pose,
Maybe they'll leave you alone
but not me

Now, maybe they were trying to be ironic or something, but the lyrics particularly this part.....

But if your troubled and hurt,
What you got under you shirt,
Will make em pay for things that they did!

....really seems, to me, anyway, to be trying to glorify teen violence. I'm not one of those "blame the music" types, but lyrics like these can't possibly be good for a screwed-up teen to be listening to. And, it's weird, because the rest of the album seems to indicate that the songwriters are at least relatively smart people. Hell, even Marilyn Manson made the attempt to make his lyrics seem at least a LITTLE cryptic and open to interpretation.

What's your take on this?

[Nienna]

Seems like outright encouragement to me... especially if a kid plays this over and over again.

[dan]

That's what I was thinking.

[Insein]

Kind of dumb to me. Singing or rapping about school shootings has been done. Maybe they were hoping someone would notice so they could get attention like manson and eminem. Hell eminem rapped specifically about columbine in one of his songs.

"I take seven kids from Columbine (was deleted from CD) stand 'em all in line
Add an AK - 47, a revolver, a nine
A mack 11 and it oughta solve a problem of mine
and thats a whole school of bullies shot up all at one time
Cuz I'm Shady, they call me as crazy
As the world was over this whole Y2K
And by the way, *N'SYNC why do they sing
Am I the only one who realizes they stink?
Should I dye my hair pink and care what y'all think?
Lip sync and buy a bigger size of earrings?
It's why I tend to block out when I hear things
Cuz all these fans screamin is makin my ears ring
So I just, throw up a middle finger and let it linger
Longer than the rumor that I was stickin it to Christina
Cuz if I ever stuck it to any singer in showbiz
It'd be Jennifer Lopez and Puffy you know this!
I'm sorry Puff, but I don't give a fuck if this chick was my own mother
I still fuck her with no rubber and cum inside her
and have a son and a new brother at the same time
and just say that it aint mine, what's my name?"

Oh yea, Eminem is pretty graphic if you couldnt tell. But he's funny as hell. Or at least he sused to be. Havent listened to an album since like 02.

[jackass]

I have ALWAYS hated eminem. Would love to kick his ass.

[dan]

I used to like Eminem until he got so far up his own ass. We don't like you cuz your mommy was mean to you, buddy. Just make us laugh like you used to.

[dan]

And, my issue with the MCR song is that it seems to specifically encourage school shooting, not just mention it in passing or as a joke.

What Marilyn Manson songs are about school shootings? I know "Lunchbox" definitely makes references to it, but that's all I can think of.

[Insein]

More than likely, My Chemical Romance was just trying to get their names in the news like Manson and Eminem. If someone shoots up a school that listened to MCR, then they will.