anonymous May 9th, 2006 06:03PM  
You guys are way way off. The song is about the world and its conditions in places of war/terror/oppression. If you watch the music video you pick up on it. The world is a "living wasteland"

anonymous June 4th, 2006 02:43AM  
Dude, you are wrong about what the song means, a video is a video, music videos have nothing to do with the song, look at the video to dali california from rhcp's, and holiday from green day.....they both have nothing to do with what the song's mean, the first two guys who talked about this song were right, drug addiction, need of help, but it all started with peer pressure, "change my attempt, good intentions". It all seems he doesn't want to be alone and needs help to get through, he may even be crying out to a girlfriend, a friend, but most likely a family member.. a parent.

anonymous July 13th, 2006 04:35PM  
If you seriously think that this song is about war you are an idiot the videos have nothin to do with it most of the time the people that make it are hired by the band and the person gets to make it however they want its not up to the band it is about drugs and his parents they are right

MkMcHale August 17th, 2006 01:02AM  
I'm friends with jesse hasek who wrote the songs and is the lead singer. When it comes to 10 years, what does the name 10 years actually mean? No one but the band themselves know the answer. What is the meaning to wasteland? No one knows the true meaning.

When jesse wrote the songs, he wanted to put emotion and feeling, he wanted whoever to hear it to let the song reflect on their lives. He was telling me a few weeks ago about a girl who had cancer, and she listen to that song and the song helped her through it and she told jesse about her interpretation and it was much different than anybody else's.

When I first heard this song I was trying to get over my friend bill who died in iraq. Dealing with the pain. I started listening to the song and it helped get through the suffering I was going through. Not wasteland alone but other songs on the autumn effect helped.

As I said, it's not a matter who's right about the meaning of the song, it's what does the song mean to you? That's what jesse and the guys wanted you to think about.

Daxxiness August 22nd, 2006 08:08PM  
You know what? It could be about war. It could be about herion. But I think that when artists write things like this, they really just want us to make something of it. Like the person above me said, to help us or something. I'm sure there is an "actual" meaning, but I also think that we're supposed to...Give our own meaning to it as well. I might be wrong, maybe 10 years doesn't do this, but it was just a thought.

anonymous August 29th, 2006 09:11PM  
I think that this song is about heroin and how it rips apart a realtionship. The name "10 years" comes from the lead singer's 10 years on heroin. In this song he is asking his girlfriend for help but she refuses to see that there is a problem. Wasteland is what his world has become. He is going through withdrawls and is wondering if it was the right decision to quit using.

anonymous September 25th, 2006 11:18PM  
On another song meanings website, there was a link to a page where jesse hasek had written the song interpretations and I saved it to my computer. He said that wasteland is about addiction, but not necessarily a drug addiction. It could be anything destructive. He said that the verses are from the addict's point of view and the chorus is fro the point of view of anyone on the putside of the situation, but still close to the person. The "should I could i" is (obviously from the outside view) is "should I help them? Could I help them?" ther "change my attempt, good intentions" is that the outside person means well by questioning the persons actions and helping them, but they still don't really know what to do.

My interpretation is that it could really be about wanting to fix anything that's wrong in the world. The "shouls I could i" for me is mostly the challenge withing myself of when to hold my tongue (or myself) back or to say (or do) something to try to change something. I don't know, I guess this song has been helpful to me with that, just to know that I'm not the only one with internal battles like that.

ChainzTheClown October 15th, 2006 12:19AM  
You are all wrong, the song wasteland is about someone struggling with inner demons, and the people around them wondering, you know, should I help them, could I help them, its like you can not help someone till they are ready to be helped, till they want to be helped, the wasteland part of the song is about the life of the person, what ever demons they are carrying is pushing everything away from them friends family , till they have nothing left only the wasteland of self loathing that is there life. . .

erinw88 May 11th, 2007 05:16AM  
The song is about being addicted. The verses are from the view point of the addict, whereas the chorus is the viewpoint of the one who is trying to help the person that is addicted. The addiction isn't necessarily drugs, however, but it could be to anything.

retroitregulator June 22nd, 2007 04:46PM  
This song is not about war. sure the "new video" shows war like video clips but if we based the meaning of the song on the video then awhile back this song would have been about a concert....cause like most people don't know...the original video to this song is just a live performance. they just remade the video to promote Amnesty International Foundation of Human Rights. I can't tell ya what the song is about cause I didn't write it but the first 2 interpretations make the most sense. I'm just pointing out the HUGE FLAW in claiming it's about war because of a video. DDUUUURRR!

anonymous July 7th, 2007 07:59PM  
It seems as if the singer is speaking to someone for who he cares a great deal about, and that person has found themselves faced with some form (any form imaginable) of an obsession/problem/ has some demons to bury. Not necessarily addiction to drugs, but any form of obsession. The person needs help to get out of the situation, and he truly wants to help them out, but he keeps helping them out and the help never helps (if you know what I mean) BY helping them, he has been hurting them because they never learn the lesson the consequences have to teach. So basically he's letting someone dear to him suffer in order that they will be better for having faced their problem. Only problem is that he cares...Should I, Could I? He's wondering if he will be able to deal with the pain of letting his friend suffer while he stands by idly.

anonymous January 29th, 2008 05:43PM  
Who ever posted 2006-05-09 at the tope labeled as anonymus is a fucking dumass. It has nothing to do with the music video.
you can even go to 10 years myspace page or website and they will tell you the meanings.
the song is about addiction, and it could be any kind of addiction not just herion (hence guy at the top) it could be drugs, sex, food and etc. and the song's lyrics are written in two points of view. one is the victim and the other is the wittness. and one thing it mentions is that if someone we know is a drug addict or depressed or whatever, we don't notice the signs and when they die we finaly realized there were many signs but we didn't realize them them.

erinw88 August 26th, 2008 02:33AM  
Ok, so I just heard Jesse say that the song is about someone battling with addictions and also the viewpoint of a person wanting to help them, but you can't help someone until they want to help themselves "should I, could I"

mwebster315 January 7th, 2009 01:58PM  
/ I guess that answers it. / To the person that said 10 years' name was derived from the lead singer's 10 year addiction to heroin, Jesse is not the original singer. The band was originally formed in 1999 with singer Mike Underdown.

anonymous March 31st, 2009 12:29AM  
I laughed when I read the comment about it being based on war.

I myself, kicked drug addiction. It's definitely about heroin addiction. Any other heroin addict would agree if they read the lyrics.

"Die, withdraw, hide in cold sweats." Withdraw, you want to DIE. Cold sweats are one of many withdraw symptoms.
"Heave the silver hollow sliver piercing through another victim/Ignorant to all the symbols/Blind the face with beauty paste eventually you'll one day know."

First, obviously about injection and trying to hide the addiction, which always becomes apparent after so long, there's no hiding it (eventually you'll one day know.)

My .02

anonymous May 17th, 2009 04:47PM  
I think this song is about what the future would be like if we keep doing the things we do to destroy the world. (Drugs, violence, global warming etc.)

"Crouched, over
You were not there, living in fear..."
"Hide in cold sweat, quivering lips..."
"Naming a kid, living wasteland."

I think this means that our children's children would be living in a wasteland because of what we did before they were born. It may not seem so scary to us, but we were never living in fear like they will be.

anonymous June 2nd, 2009 11:19AM  
I talked to Jesse for a few hours in Flint Michigan after a show and he told me...."Wasteland and Focus (from Division) were about his cousin Brad Renfro" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Renfro) He died from drugs and it was the "hollywood scene" that sucked him in and killed him. Yes it was Brads fault to an extention but Jesse got to see what the movie/celebrity thing was all about and took him over like any addiction and beat him. But he also continued..."but I also know that many other struggle from addiction and I want people to connect and get their own interpretaions from The Autumn Effect. That's why Division process was differet. I was sick of people asking me what this song or that song was about so I made Divison with more simple lyrics. But people can still take what they want from the lyric."

anonymous July 4th, 2009 06:06PM  
He's trying to get a messed up kid on track, but the kid just won't listen to him, and lives a miserable existence. His teachers and his parents crown his life hopeless and say that he will never amount to anything. He is the only one who tries to get this kids life in order before he ends up ruining it. One more note he says heave the silver hollow sliver. Heave means to thrust forward; silver obviously means a knife; and sliver means slash. The kid eventually wants his own life as he can't suffer the burden of his own existence anymore. "self inflicted, his perdition" perdition meaning ruining,damnation, loss of ones soul. I think in this case wasteland means the kids life..it is a wasteland and he is neglected. "should i, could i" - he's thinking to himself...and wondering if he could go through with suicide

anonymous February 28th, 2010 12:06PM  
Oh my,
I really don't see why people have to be so rude about a song meaning. It's not like you wrote the song, and therefore you don't have the right in the first place to be mean about it.

The song has multiple meanings, obviously. It's an interchangable song, of many different meanings and emotions, and that may be one of the reasons this song is such an amazing song.
My proof comes with the fact that there are actually 3 different music videos for this song.
And it's okay if the song touches you in a different way. For me, it definitely made me more aware of people suffering under poverty, unfair persecutions, and addictions.

I say, we stop arguing about what a song means, OVER THE INTERNET, and we make a difference in the world. Like this truly inspirational band is trying so hard to do.

think I'm an idiot, or think I'm right?
sweet.
Either way, I'm alright with your decision.
I personally like this song so much, I'm making a flash animation for it. I might post it on my art website.
~Daniikinz
(Daniikinz.deviantart.com)