Can Bands Truly Save Lives?

Though thousands of kidds say "MCR saved my life", I am one of the few that have not had that experince.
Im proud to say "a7x saved my life"
Its a very complicated story. Last may I discovered them. For some reason thier music helped battle depression and suicide attempts when my grandma, (my best fucking friend,) was dying.
iIwill forever love Avenged for those reasons.

My life has been changed so drastically because of Madina Lake. It's not really that they saved me, not right at first at least, but they did make me rethink the kind of life that I was living. I was always so quiet and I never said what I felt or thought, but since last May, when I first started listening to them, I've become a totally different person. I'm so much more outgoing now than I have ever been before.

As for the saving lives part, yes, they saved my life. Not when I first heard them, but over the past few months, they've given me something to believe in. It's not that I've been cutting or into drugs or anything like that. It's just that if I start feeling super bad about myself or something, they're always what I count on to bring me back up. So they didn't really save me in the physical sense of the word, they saved me more in what I choose to do with myself and the way I choose to live my life.

And I proudly claim them as not only my favorite band, but as my heroes as well.

I look at it like this: the music doesn't save you. You can't be saved unless you want to be saved, which means that you are what saves you. Music however, puts different perspectives into your mind and can warp your thoughts. So basically; music can either make you or break you. It all depends.

I mean, Fall Out Boy has changed a lot of the ways I think. They've helped me improve myself for the best, they were the flashlight that helped me see through a lot of the darkness that I had sunk into.

Okay, so that sounded somewhat poetic. Sorry. But yeah.

It's the topic that has been driving everyone crazy. I agree that music helps inspires you to keep going but I believe that some people take it way to far into concept with particular bands
:coffee:

Maybe.

The band My Chemical Romance didn't save my life, it changed it.

I don't really know. I know that music can inspire you to live, depending on how you understand it to be.

Like that girl that killed herself because of MCR. Sure, their lyrics are morbid, but it's not meant to be taken that way. :hand:

Note that this is just a way of reasoning. It’s not necessarily my own personal view, mind you.

Okay, then. Now let’s just look at it this way just because.

If someone is about to commit suicide and someone (only) physically removes the gun from the person’s hand the person’s life will be saved at that time. But consider this, two days later the suicidal person gets a rope and commits suicide anyway. So by psychically saving a life you may not have saved it in the long run. Of course, if you save someone from burning building you have successfully managed to save a life for (hopefully) a long time to come.

Now take the same scenario, the person wanting to commit suicide. But instead the one trying to save that person’s life doesn’t do so by removing an object that will end the person’s life, the one trying to save simply talks to the person. And lets that person talk. Now, I know the suicidal person may very well still commit suicide later on anyway. But the person may also reconsider. And that decision would then be made by the suicidal person and that person alone. (And if a persons mindset is changed (perhaps they get some kind of professional help because someone talked to them) it should be more likely that the person doesn’t attempt suicide again.) So, the one who talked to the suicidal person did not physically remove any gun or anything like that but the one wanting/trying to commit suicide does not commit suicide. So, did the one who talked to the (formerly) suicidal person not save a life?

Okay, stay with me here. People who claim that bands have saved their lives doesn’t mean from disasters or accidents. They’re talking about being saved “from themselves” if you will. I’m assuming that there only are very rare cases of band members actually having dialogues with fans and in that way helping them with their suicidal mindset. However, they do talk to fans. Via lyrics and the things they say in interviews and documentaries. Which means that they may very well say/sing the things some people need to hear, things that will help them change their stat of mind. Something that will make them want to do something about being suicidal. The decision not to kill themselves (and/or to get help) is of course theirs. The band did not, for example, put them in therapy with force.

So in conclusion, it does seem like the act of saving your life is done by you alone when it comes to suicide. Removing the gun from your hands is only to save temporarily. But can we still claim that, if we take the second scenario, that the one who talked to the suicidal person did not save him/her? Because that one who talked didn’t psychically remove a gun or pull the person from a burning building? And if we agree that what the one in scenario two did clearly saved someone’s life, can we then state that bands can’t save lives? We can probably say that “well, the bands, that’s a monologue! You scenario was a dialogue.” Yes, that’s true. But be it monologue or dialogue, the decision not to commit suicide is always the suicidal person’s and that person decision alone. But would that person have made that decision if any input from outside hadn’t occurred? Maybe. But probably unlikely. And so, did or did not the one/s talking (monologue or dialogue) to the suicidal person save that person’s life? Is there even any other way to save a suicidal persons life than wanting and trying to help them change they’re minds? And If you take all of the above into consideration, can or cannot a band save people's lives?

I actually don't know. Really, I listened to My Chemical Romance, and their music caught me.

I started looking at their interviews, they put a smile on my face.

I watched Life On The Murder Scene. I laughed.

I guess the thing that keeps me going everyday, is the fact that someday, no matter how fucked up I will be, that I might be able to make my dreams. My Chemical Romance showed me that.

I do a lot less self harm. It's because I realized that I might have something to live for.

I'm very thankful that my cousin introduced them to me. I don't want to know what would have happened if he didn't. I guess they might have changed my fate from being one of those girls who couldn't handle the world.

They definately changed my life, so maybe in a way, they did save it.

I don't really know exactly where I stand on this. No band has ever "saved" my life, nor do I think that a band will. Don't get me wrong, there's bands like The Used that have improved my life and gave me hope, but I've never had a point in my life where I was honestly about to kill myself and they kept me from doing it.
I think that bands and music can keep you from doing stupid things and ultimately improve your life and lifestyle. Personally, something that Gerard Way said kept me from shoving my fingers down the back of my throat. I was on my knees, ready to do it, when in the back of my head, his quote about girls being beautiful whether they be a size 4 or a size 14 (or along the lines of that) was going off like a siren. I ripped up my "100" sticky note and felt much better when I looked in the mirror that evening.
Maybe it depends on the person? I don't know. There's people I know that say the music has saved them, and I believe them. Then there's people I know who say that they can't save your life, and you say yourself, and I also believe them.

I do believe that bands can save you. I hear a lot of people say 'Bands can help you save yourself' but in the long run, they were what made you want to save yourself in the first place, so they should get some credit too, right?

Also, I believe this because Gerard Way has said many times that My Chemical Romance saved his life more than once. I know it's a much different thing if you're actually in the band, but that's an example of how a band can save someone's life.

By now, I'm sure I'm not the first person to say they influence your life, rather than save it.
Unless of course they come and kill the guy about to kill you, then they may have saved your life.
Technically they have no power over whether you live or die. That's more up to yourself rather than them.

(Although, I remember Gerard Way once telling people to get help if their depressed. That may not have directly saved their life, but it sure could of stopped some risky behaviors.)

Some people think that the music is saving you, some people don't.
It just depends on you.
I think that music helps me cope through things, but not save my life.
If we dig deep enough and go so indepth we might find a connection, but just a plain Jane answer; no, we save ourselves.

Bands inspire people to not kill themselves, etc., just like friends and family. They can save you without rescuing you from a burning building. It's like music can save you emotionally and mentally, instead of physically. I think that's still saving.

Music can lead to negative perspectives, too. If I hadn't ever gotten into From First To Last, I probably wouldn't be bulimic; Sonny Moore really inspired me to be bulimic. Sonny Moore also taught me to always be myself, to create and write whatever comes out, to love life, to always follow my dreams, etc. If Sonny Moore and Matt Good had not followed their path to achieve their dreams, I really don't think I'd be here today. I would either be dead, or a fake, life-hating person. If I hadn't gotten into My Chemical Romance and Good Charlotte in sixth grade, I probably would be a totally different person, too. I probably wouldn't have started cutting, and I'd probably be on the football team, or something.

Music changes people; it shapes them, and inspires them. When a band helps inspire a person to not commit suicide, I think it's almost exactly the same thing as pushing them out of the way of a speeding car. I don't know how to explain it, I just believe in it.

If I ever feel too down or suicidal, I think of lyrics like "the world will never break me" and quotes like "there's nothing worth hurting yourself over", "you should love yourself" and such, I just think "do I really want this? Do I really want to cut my life short?" so I just erase the thought from my mind and go on living happily. So, I can't say MCR really did save my life, because I would never kill myself - I'm way too scared of intense pain, but they stop me from wanting to kill myself and they give me something to live for.

They can, emotionally. And physically too. Say maybe you're suicidal, but a certian music inspires you and makes you feel better, so you're not suicidal anymore. If someone takes away the pills, razor, etc, you can get them back, and you're still depressed. but music can make you not want to be suicidal/depressed.

I don't think they can.
They might inspire you.
But overall, you saved yourself.

Thunder.:

I don't think they can.
They might inspire you.
But overall, you saved yourself.

yes, but if they hadn't inspired you....

Personally, I don't think any one of us is in a position to say something unless we were, at a point, dealing with this situation.

Potentially, I believe music could save someone's life; music does plenty of amazing things. Music expresses feelings, and even feeling as though one is not alone is enough to save someone from committing suicide.

incineratingshadow:

Personally, I don't think any one of us is in a position to say something unless we were, at a point, dealing with this situation.

Potentially, I believe music could save someone's life; music does plenty of amazing things. Music expresses feelings, and even feeling as though one is not alone is enough to save someone from committing suicide.

I actually agree with this. Some people just feel so abandoned and alone that they want to end their lives because they do not realize that other people are out there, who do feel the same way. And maybe when they listen to music, they realize they aren't alone and do not want to kill themselves. I see that happening. It's the inspiration.

I think music helps you feel better, tells you that everythings going to be okay (MCR) and even if your messed up it's okay. That in turn helps you save yourself. Which saves your life.

Which has basically been said... like.. a lot..

Thunder.:

I don't think they can.
They might inspire you.
But overall, you saved yourself.

If you save yourself all along, why do you need them to inspire you?