Can Bands Truly Save Lives?

Perhaps they cannot save lives, but I definitely think that they can discourage suicidal thoughts. They can give somebody something to live for. ^^

To me personally, I believe they can save lives. I remember being 12 saying MCR saved my life, but it wasn't until my junior year in high school that I figured it truly meant. I was hospitalised on two separate occasions that year and I almost failed for the year because of it. If it weren't for Bring Me, I honestly believe I wouldn't be here anymore. I stayed alive because I wanted to see them live again. Their lyrics really spoke to me during that time, and they will always be my favourite band for that reason.

Three years later, I still love them, and I'm glad I started listen to them. From the time I was in the hospital until they toured on Warped in 2013, I didn't get to see them, so whenever I saw them at Warped, I bawled like a baby. I couldn't even help it. I kept saying to myself, "Quit crying! You look ridiculous!", but now I just admit I did, and well, my friends weren't exactly shocked that I cried. I was just so truly moved by them. I did the same thing when I saw them in March, except I got to meet my hero, and I was so goddamn happy I can't even begin to describe. If you wanna see a picture, I got one on my profile. I gave him a jar of pickles for his birthday, which he loved.

I kind of do think they can save lives. I mean, to me, with Simple Plan, they've reminded me that I'm not alone in the world. I feel as if they are there trying to keep me from doing something I'll end up regretting. It may not be a physical thing, no... but to me, it's definitely that emotional connection you have to a band that saves you.

But that's just my opinion.

Personally to me, they help and that's about where their extent ends. I actually think it's harmful for it to be so widely accepted to just say that a band saved someone's life.

Yeah, maybe the band reminded you that you're not alone or that you're special or a lot of other things, but at the end of the day you still saved yourself. I say that, because Linkin Park, Green Day and My Chemical Romance music gave me very lengthy times where I was okay.

It still wasn't enough to stop me from overdosing three times until I finally made a decision within myself to live. That was me. That was not those bands. The bands didn't slap the pills out of my hand. They weren't there at two in the morning when I'd silently sob and scream because my own skin felt wrong. They weren't there when I'd wake up just wanting to die. They weren't there. I was there though, and I saved myself.

I just think everyone should give themselves more credit for surviving. That band helped, but you sure as hell did about 90% of the work.

Unpopular opinion: no. Not for me. My time as a Green Day fan was a terrible time, where I didn't care about my grades, was rude to people just for the hell of being rude... I don't think musicians have saved my life, but some of them make it easier and more worthwhile.

i jate my hob:

Unpopular opinion: no. Not for me. My time as a Green Day fan was a terrible time, where I didn't care about my grades, was rude to people just for the hell of being rude... I don't think musicians have saved my life, but some of them make it easier and more worthwhile.

I'm with James on this one, but this is based off personal experience so I'm not dismissing other people's experiences.

I've always loved music because I grew up with all kinds of different music being played in my house, but when I was going through difficult times/phases, music didn't really do anything for me. I've been through plenty of bad times, heard hundreds of different bands and thousands of different songs, but music didn't save me or anything. It made it easier, but it didn't save my life.

Out of all the things on here that I've read people say no they can't, but in my opinion - bands can save lives. Promising your favorite band member that you'll stop self harming or writing them a letter that details how they influenced you with your blades taped to it and handing it to the member after a concert is them saving your life. I was lucky enough to meet my hero/idol/one of my favorite band members in May and prior to this, I didn't believe a band can save your life. My opinion was changed after I talked to him and told him how him as well as his band had helped me not only with my depression but as well as give me the gut to decide that I would pursue my dream of being a musician, he looked me in the eyes and made me swear to him that I would stop self harming. He also told me that if I ever felt like I was going to relapse, to contact his girlfriend (who set up us meeting) and she would tell him and then he would reply as soon as he could to help me. Please note that I was also fighting off a bad relapse during the time I had met him and I didn't tell him about. I have contacted his girlfriend a couple times, but only when I was desperate and the band member would either reply within a few minutes if he wasn't busy or if he was, his girlfriend would talk to me until he was able to. It might not have been his entire band there when I met him or who would talk me put of taking a razor or lighter to me skin or swallowing the pills I'd have in my hand, but if I never discovered the band, I wouldn't have discovered my idol, met him and I wouldn't be almost two months clean, which is a personal record. There is something about promising your idol that you'll stay clean for them that makes you want to work so much harder to keep the promise if it was instead a promise made to your therapist, friend or parent. Maybe just listening to the band's music can't save your life, but the bands as people can.

In a way they can. A lot of my fave bands have songs I can relate to, or even just certain lines. Then I've seen interviews where band members have gone through some of the same shit I have. That makes me feel a lot better and in a way it helps me.

Music in general has helped me a lot. If I get really depressed or mad, music is really the only thing that calms me down. Usually when I calm myself to listen to the words, everything just disappears from my mind like it never happened. All I hear is the words and it's usually the songs I can relate to.

I say no. They can certainly help for a little while, but I feel like the decision to save your life is yours.

I think people need to give themselves a little more credit. Bands help a lot of people through tough times but it is ultimately you who decides to keep on living.

I believe that in a way they can. They can make you realize just how truly beautiful and wonderful life can be. A few years ago I went to a concert featuring Linkin Park and Incubus. When I was a young kid that's the music I grew up on and all through high school that's what I listened to. I don't know if any of you have ever heard the song Aqueous Transmission by Incubus, but it is one of the most perfect songs I have ever listened to. All I wanted that night was for them to play that song, and towards the end of the night they did. It was an outdoor venue and it was night time, so you could see the stars. The weather was perfect, I was with perfect people, and in the eight minutes of that song, surrounded by 14,000 people, I truly believe I was saved.My best friend and I talk about it all the time because she was there, too, about how a great band with one great song can change your life. It's hard to explain but those eight minutes were a spiritual experience. So yes, I do believe that a band can save you. Because it's happened to me.

Give it a listen :)

I think people misconstrue the idea of a band saving someone's life. I find that the reason that people say "[Insert Band Name Here] saved my life," isn't because the band literally stole the thing that made you want to kill yourself away, but because on some level you head a song and it touched you. The song touched you in way that made you feel like someone understood you, someone knew you on a level you didn't know yourself, and that someone else out there felt the same way you were feeling so you were not alone.

For me, I was thirteen years old when it first happened.

Growing up, my dad was never around. He and my mom split when I was two and he got remarried and had another kid, he was always making promises that he'd come see me or he'd spend time with me and he always fell through. When I was seven my mom had her first stroke after getting in a car accident that caused some brain damage, ever since she's been epileptic. Then right before I turned nine my Grandpa died, now since my mother had been in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers in that two year span, I lived with my grandparents. Even now when I think back, my Grandpa was kind of like a father figure for most of my childhood. After he died, we packed up and moved across the state, I started a new school in a new neighborhood and I was awkward. By the time I turned thirteen my mom was doing well enough that she could go back to school, so she decided to become a nurse. So here I am, a thirteen year old kid with barely any friends because everyone thinks I'm weird or too smart or whatever and a mom who is in nursing school so she's either always gone or studying alone. I had no father figure and I spent most of my time alone. It was the beginning of my struggle with depression. A funny thing, loneliness, most of the time I enjoy solitude because what's the point of being around people that are just going to judge you and even if they aren't judging you, who's to say they won't become your best friend? I guess years of being awkward and made fun of and teased kind of warps your perspective. But one day my mom came home with a stack of CD's from a school friend of hers, and among them was the momentous thing that changed my life.

Green Day's American Idiot.

Something about the hour that it took up reached out and spoke to me, and for the first time I didn't feel so alone. In 13 tracks I started to feel like Billie Joe Armstrong's voice was reaching out to me, explaining to me that no matter what I wasn't entirely alone. After that, I got more awkward and more weird and I became more of an outcast, but it was okay because every time I felt just a little too sad I would put that CD on, and it'd make me feel better.

I credit a lot to Green Day, because they definitely saved my life. Maybe it wasn't Green Day, so much as what Green Day had to say, what they wrote, and how I interpreted it. So in the years that followed when I went through a few bad break ups, went through an insane domestic violence situation, dealt with being pregnant in high school, had to worry about my husband while he was in Boot Camp, and even now that I've been married for two years and I have a beautiful son and I live in a different state and I've put so much of my past behind me... When I feel overwhelmed or sad or angry or hurt or I just can't understand what my purpose is, I get on the computer, pull up my music or Spotify or whatever medium it is I decide to use and I turn on American Idiot.

music built the ladder, however i made the choice to climb out of the hole. the lyrics gave me strength, but i choose to fight my inner demons. i saved myself, however music helped me

I don't think they can save lives, but the music they make can really push you to think "Hey, maybe there's something worth holding on for. Maybe it's worth it."

I know that I used to wonder if they could, but now I know they can't. That's something you have to do for yourself. Bands and their music is just something to give you a handhold where you used to see a flat cliff, an extra rung when you felt you were as far up the ladder of life as you could go, a rail to lean on when you started to fall to the ground.

They weren't there to take away what you were about to do to yourself; they didn't take the gun away, didn't make you drop the razor, didn't coax you to get off the chair or the side of the bridge. That was all you.

They just gave you a song that made you think something was worth holding on for.

As a lot of people have said, I think bands more so help save lives by giving you or whoever strength, making you feel like you belong, saying the right thing in their lyrics, etc, but in the end YOU are the one who makes the finally decision to stick around or whatever the case may be. Yes, bands CAN save lives, but the likelihood that Andy Biersack or Gerard Way are going to come by and take the razor out of your hand (or whatever) is pretty unlikely! (lol)