Can Bands Truly Save Lives?

In a sense. If nothing else they can help you get through a rough patch or situation and make you feel like you aren't completly alone.

Personally I believe they can, I've been through a very deep depression and I have contemplated suicide several times.
And I don't want to sound like a cliche MCR fangirl, because I'd like to believe I'm not but, they in a way saved my life.
My dad and I had always been close, like my dad was my very best friend, but then he died when I was 10, it was hard, it was sudden, and I was in shock for about 3 months, not only that but my mom kinda left me alone for the next year in a half, and no, I don't blame her, she had her own shit to deal with, but I felt alone, and I didn't cry at all, I cried for about 2 minutes at the funeral and when I heard the news, but I'm still upset about it, I saw him that day, he picked my brother's wheelchair up from the babysitters [my only brother is handicapped, he was born 3 months early, but he's still like one of my best friends] and I was playing with her daughter so I never said goodbye, or that I loved him, and that night he went out on his motorcycle and something happened and he went off the road, and ended up flipping into a barbwire fence and breaking his neck. And I was just numb, vacant, empty inside, I didn't give a shit about anything, but 4 years almost 5 [the anniversary is on July 28th] I still cry and have a breakdown almost weekly because I feel like a failure, and I feel I don't have a future, I feel worthless alot, and think about killing myslef, or think that it would have been better if I would have died, I developed trust issues, and a very low self esteem, I get upset if I do something to make someone else mad, because then I'm afraid they'll leave me.

It was something that just fucked me up, and it's still not any easier, especially when my mom tells me that I'm exactly like him. She also doesn't know that I've been suicidal, or depressed, because I'm a damn good actress.

sunset boulevard:

Yes, but we have to think too: did they write the music with the intent of saving a life?
Also, what about the bands who don't write their own lyrics?

You also have to take into consideration the fact that in the end it's not only the lyrics saving you. CreepyCrawler__x said earlier that they were going to commit suicide and Good Charlotte's Hold On came on and they realized some things, as in the lyrics helped her think about it again and made the right choice, but did not do it for her.
The lyrics can make you think twice about it, but I don't really think the lyrics themselves can stop you altogether.

Perhaps they didn't, but they still wrote them. If, say, my friend was really depressed, bordering on suicidal, and somehow I didn't know, and said something about life that gave her hope and either helped her out of depression or made her get help, then I didn't say it with the intention of saving her life, but it still did.

As for bands who don't write their own lyrics, it would be the person who did write the lyrics who saved you.

And the way I would see that, is that the lyrics did save her, because if she hadn't heard them, she wouldn't have thought twice, she wouldn't have realised those things, and may not have made it, so the lyrics did stop her.

sunset boulevard:

You also have to take into consideration the fact that in the end it's not only the lyrics saving you. CreepyCrawler__x said earlier that they were going to commit suicide and Good Charlotte's Hold On came on and they realized some things, as in the lyrics helped her think about it again and made the right choice, but did not do it for her.
The lyrics can make you think twice about it, but I don't really think the lyrics themselves can stop you altogether.

You have a point, but, if Good Charlotte hadn't written that song, then they never would have heard it, and they could have ended up killing themselves that night.

I've never had a band save my life.
I guess it depends on the person, band, message, and all sorts of other factors.

Wow. I guess I have a different opinion than everyone here...

I DO believe that bands/music can save lives.
My life was saved by 2 albums.
Pretty. Odd.-Panic at the Disco
and
August and Everything After- Counting Crows.

Without these two albums, or the discovery of Alternative/Rock music in general I know I would not still be alive. It brought me close to my best friend,who has saved my life 3 times since then.

I believe that musics saves me everyday.

Simple answer = yes.

I believe they do, yes, even if they originally didn't have the intention to save lives with their music. However, I think most bands do not want to be penned with that term because, God forbid something happens to a fan, they are automatically scapegoated.
For people who argue that they can't, the term "saved my life", I don't think, is supposed to be literal. I think music can "save a life" by giving someone the relief of knowing that they are not alone.

To me, I think that they can save lives.

When I was seriously suicidal, and had the pills in my mouth that would have killed me, there was only one thing that made me feel like I was worth anything to anyone. It wasn't me, because I wasn't important to myself. It wasn't thoughts of my parents, friends, or other family members.

It was music. Listening to Avenged Sevenfold's music saved my life. I can say that honstly. Along with the song "Scars" by Papa Roach and MCR. All three saved my life.

I believe that bands can help inspire people to make different choices about their life, thus saving your life.

If people choose to thank and give credit to bands for helping them, then by all means, do it.

I think a band can help you save yourself. If Gerard Way walked into a room of a suicidal teenager who idolizes him and told him/her "It's okay. You don't need this shit, life gets better than this." it would still be the choice of that boy or girl that decides whether he/she will keep on living or not. I don't think it would matter if God himself came down and told someone to keep on living. If the person refuses to believe that life will get better, he or she isn't going to listen to anybody. However a band can give you hope and make you realize that 'fuck yeah! I can do this. I don't need to end my life" but the choice to live itself has to come from you.

I think they can. A lot of strange things can. A suicidal person is at their breaking point, even a joke could stop them, even just for a little while. That's saving a life isn't it? Kind of anyway.

Yes, they can.

I believe they can influence you and inspire you but in the end, it's you yourself that chooses to improve your life/continue living. Not to mention I think that if someone is set upon self-destruction, they're not likely to change because of music.

Bands can certainly inspire people to improve themselves and help them make the choice to keep living by inspiring them. Certain bands inspire me to a great deal to iomprove myself, and swayed me away from darker thoughts at times.

I believe that music can save your life, but it didn't happened to me.
Actually, there are some moments in my life when I was nearly to destroy myself because of a certain band and their split/hiatus. Two bands actually.

Music can save your life. Í know that sounds a bit dramatic but whenever your feeling down (wether you just have a crappy day or you really, really are depressed) it can cheer you up. :)

Yes bands really do save lives, because they make you realize that people's lives can suck ass more then yours does... It makes you realize that you should stop complaing about your life and help yourself and others become better people

I feel like MCR saved me from cutting myself last year. Take my anger away and let me bawl my eyes out.

But, I have to say bands CAN'T exactly SAVE your life, they can't stop you from killing yourself or whatnot. They can boost your sad mood, they can make you happy.

Sorry if that made no sense :S