. I had been having thoughts about the following topic in such a long time but at first I thought I would let it slide but after such a long period of time, the news was still pretty heated about it, so I had decided to voice out my opinion about it.
The news of Hannah Bond, the 13 year old girl who committed suicide which like all other suicide cases, the coroners will investigate the reason of the suicide. In this particular case, there were reports stating the girl had started listening to the American rock band, My Chemical Romance for about two weeks and began to be obsessed with the idea of death.
One of UK's most prominent papers, Daily Mail had published an article claiming the quintet as one of the main "suicide cult" groups which formed part of the emo phenomenon. A direct quote from the article which had defined the term emo as a teenage trend exported to Britain from the US in the 1980s and "characterised by depression, self-injury and suicide." Recently, teenagers were protesting against the paper which stated the band's music encourages the idea of suicide.
Personally, my first impression of the band wasn't a good one. The first time I saw them was their music video, Helena (So Long & Goodnight). It did scare me slightly by their make-up but at the same time it was intriguing. But I was very much into a softer tone of music back then and the next time I saw the band again was their next video, Ghost of You. This time they did caught my eye with the war-themed concept and the realism of the video. Eventually, a few months later, I heard their song; I'm Not Okay (I Promise) which was the song that sparked my interest for the band.
Then, I began to do a little more research into their music and the band itself. I bought their second album and frankly, it was a great record. The idea, the concept behind all the songs. One may have mistaken the album as a bad influence or an album which encourages ideas of death and suicide. However, if you listen to the lines in the songs clearly, it was obvious the main idea of the songs was actually quite the opposite. Instead of death, it was about the battles we face in life, the hope and a new beginning. It was the band's approach to make the lyrics and music more dramatic and loud to produce a vivid picture of what they wished to project and bring the songs to life. Due to this reason, some may have mistaken the band for being "emo."
In Malaysia, majority labels those who listen to My Chemical Romance as "emo" a term which have no specific definition. The term's definition varies from country to country. For M'sia it's all about the fashion, the make-up, the hairstyle and finally the vivid pictures which were projected through the music videos and lyrics. But if one lives in the US, you would realize bands such as My Chem wouldn't be consider as "emo" instead bands such as Dashboard Confessional will be label as "emo." Hence, the idea or concept of "emo" is simply too unclear to have a specific definition for the word.
In addition, why does it matter so much to us to put a label on something? Is it an important matter to have a label on everything? Isn't it just another way of hurting or damaging the people around us by labeling them? By labeling someone, we may have created an image to the person and he/she may believe and eventually would develop a personality according to that label. Then, how would we ever have our own identity? Why do we want to label someone as a goth or prep or emo? If you enjoy putting on eyeliner, go ahead! If you enjoy wearing bright colours, go ahead! If you enjoy pop music, no one's stopping you! Why create such categories for everyone that it would eventually restrict the person from doing what they enjoy or developing their own identities and personalities?
Back to the topic of the band, My Chemical Romance. Yes, it is true that lead singer, Gerard Way used to be obsessed with the idea of death but don't all of us go through such a stage in our lives where we couldn't stop wondering about the idea. Whether we would still be alive the next day or whether our mothers or fathers would still be there? It is not a crime to think about such topics, it is only a phase in the human life. Thus, how could the main reason of a teenage girl who unfortunately committed suicide is being obsessed with the idea of death? If so, then most of the human population would have committed such acts.
Furthermore, if the band is a "suicide cult" then why would there be millions of teenagers and adults out there who claimed the band had saved their lives? Or how could so many listeners of the band would still be alive and not attempting to take their own lives? If one had been paying attention to the band's singles such as "Welcome to the Black Parade" or "Famous Last Words," lyrics such as "We'll carry on," and "I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone" are only the band's message to the public, advising people to have faith with their lives, to be strong and even during the hard times, there is always hope and to live everyday as if it is the last. Hence, how could this band be called a "suicide cult?" It is only illogical to make such sweeping statements.
In conclusion, I would only like to say that Daily Mail had made a huge mistake by making such statements about the band without doing more research into the band itself. It is unprofessional of such a famous newspaper to make statements like these without any solid proofs.
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