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My Chemical Romance - Teenagers Song Meanings

Lyrics:
They’re gonna clean up your looks
With all the lies and the books
To make a citizen out of you
Because they sleep with a gun
And keep ...
(See the rest of these lyrics)

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Top Rated Interpretation

2006-11-06 16:22:21
I actually read an interview saying that gerard wrote this song after a ride on a subway where he was surrounded with teenagers and for the first time he felt frightened of them, and he said it was the first time he really felt old.

There's also many references to school shootings (columbine, etc.) like when he sings:
but when you're troubled and hurt,
what you got under your shirt,
will make them pay for the things that they did.

It's really just how corrupted us teenagers have become and how teenagers of any generation will always scare their elders.
anonymous 2007-01-08 10:16:09    
gerard wrote this song after he had a panic attack on a subway. obviously, the cause was the teenagers on the subway.
anonymous 2007-01-09 20:11:33    
I think this song is about how teenagers care so much about fitting in and how they look and how other people around them look. The person in the song is sick and tired of trying to fit in with all the people who want to change how he looks and feels and acts that he wants to kill them all, including himself. That may be completely wrong, but I don't care. It's just what I think.
anonymous 2007-01-09 20:56:49    
I go to high school too so don't tell me how hard it is... me and my friend as pretty much the outcasts and if it wasn't for them, I would have shot someone by now... It is a great song and we need to listen to it to get it's message. We're scary, ever looked in the mirror and think - wow, maybe this has gone on too far to the point where I don't talk to pretty much anyone.
*Don't you tell us that! We all go through this shit.
frankierolalala 2007-01-26 20:06:47    
This also involves the daily mail issue

So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me




where by sandra sands who wrote this article identifies mcr and green day as *emo*..and stated that they "encouraged people to cut them selves*

that article was so ill researched..it's like she just listened to *the emo song..dear diary* once and wrote it on that

so at a u.k festival gerard got the crown to chant *fuck the daily mail*

and here is the article *aug 2006*


ENJOY!though you might keel over from the stupidity

Flicking through the autumn glossy fashion magazines, I noticed that some of the models did not look very well.

A few of them appeared to be dead. This is because one of the key looks, especially at the younger end of the fashion spectrum, is Goth.

Faces are chalky white, eyes and lips black. You can wear any colour you like so long as it's black.

To achieve that just-got-out-of-acoffin look, you need corsets, capes, Celtic crosses, an unseeing stare and a prop such as a slightly mutilated china doll dragged along in one hand.

For those of us who have lived through Siouxsie And The Banshees and the Rocky Horror Show, the look is depressingly retro.

Fashion acknowledges those of us who lived through it first time round - Elder Goths, as opposed to Baby Bats, who are the under-30s.

It even nods to a working population, permitting Corporate Goths, who wear black trouser suits.

There is a also a term which is new to me and amounts to a much more dangerous teenage cult.

The Emos - short for Emotional - regard themselves as a cool, young sub-set of the Goths.

Although the look is similar, the point of distinction, frightening for schools and parents, is a celebration of self harm.

Emos exchange competitive messages on their teenage websites about the scars on their wrists and how best to display them. Girls' secondary schools have for some time been concerned about the increase in self harm.

One governor of a famous boarding school told me that it was as serious a problem as binge drinking, but rarely discussed for fear of encouraging more girls to do it.

Although it is invariably described as a 'secret shame', there is actually a streak of exhibitionism about it.

The internet has many sites dedicated to Emo fashion (dyed black hair brushed over your face, layering, black, black, black), Emo bands (Green Day, My Chemical Romance), Emo conversation (sighing, wailing, poetry).

The Instant Emo Kit site gives advice on identity. Wear a child's T-shirt with a slogan such as 'Unhappy Chick' and drive a Vespa. Above all, 'show your inner despair by looking like you are too sad to eat. Obesity and emocity do not mix.'

Adult Goths refer to the Emos disdainfully as 'the spooky kids' or 'moshers'.

The Emo song, by the American band Adam And Andrew, has cult status on the internet, appearing on many personal websites. It is called Dear Diary and is both witty and alarming.

The chorus goes: 'Stop my breathing and slit my throat, I must be an Emo.

I don't jump around when I go to shows, I must be an Emo.

Dye in my hair and polish on my toes, I must be an Emo. I play guitar and write suicide notes, I must be an Emo.'

The courting of misery and death is a long-established teenage tradition. How many bedroom walls have been plastered with posters of drippy pre-Raphaelite heroines, or Marc Bolan or Kurt Curbain?

When death is a long way off, you can afford to be more morbid about it.

Film-makers note that horror films are now more popular than romance among young women.

In particular, Goths and Emos are a rebellion against sporty, manly cultures - which is perhaps why they flourish particularly in North European countries or North America.

The androgynous nature of the Goths is appealing to the young because it is sexually unthreatening.

Teenage girls are frightened of manliness: they like boys who look like girls. Kate Moss, the girl who never grows old, understands youthful taste completely.

There is also a deadly glamour about the Goths. The word femme-fatale is Goth based.

Many of the alluring women of our time - Nigella Lawson, Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Lily Allen - have a touch of the Goth about them.

They have a sophistication and depth lacking in the blonde, bouncy chav faces which dominate our television screens and nightclubs.

Who are the male pin-ups for young girls? Johnny Depp and the comedian Russell Brand, who is about 90 per cent Goth. Lord Byron, of course, was the greatest Goth of all time.

Emos have a strong arts graduate bias and are among the few that read poetry (if only of the romantic, morbid kind).

Some pretty terrible Emo poetry is offered on websites. A cartoon of two Emos has a bubble which says: 'What rhymes with razor blade?'

But compared to the music, the poetry is positively cheerful. The Gothic bands have names such as Bloody, Dead And Sexy or Colder Than Death.

There is a genre, popular in Germany, known as Death Pop. Bands include The Knives In The Attic and Love Equals Death.

Although Goths are from the same family tree as punks, they are a lot less fun to be with. While I loved punk for its energy, Goths were too bloodless to lift a finger.

One of the most annoying characteristics of teenagers is their refusal to open their curtains. Their world is dark and airless.

If this environment is coupled with the psychological traits of self-pity, introspection, self-dramatisation and hormone imbalance, you have a fully-fledged Emo, even without the small Tshirt and black hair.

The wondrous thing about being an adult is that you have so much more to worry about that you stop striking poses and get on with it.

Unless you are an Elder Goth - in which case you have fashion on your side and everybody else against you.

What worries me is that teenagers are less equipped to manage strong emotions and a cult of suicide could have real and horrible consequences.

It is irresponsible for the fashion and music cultures to encourage it. If you want retro style, I recommend Ian Dury's song Reasons To Be Cheerful.
satanslilwhore_666 2007-01-30 16:28:08    
i think this is the patient telling the teenagers that the people in this world are going to change you to make a robot that the world wants you to be. How teenagers are teenagers and scare the shit outta people by them being them:)
blackparade 2007-02-09 20:46:44    
Gerard said this song is about gun violence.
anonymous 2007-02-28 16:54:50    
i think this song is kinda funny. It really is true though. Teenagers these days can be frightening.. lol. and to you teens: I'm insulting myself as well. :-D
blackparade 2007-03-16 21:17:30    
No offense to some teens out there but this is to the bad-a** pervert teens with girlfriends or boyfriends.... Stop having sex before your married!!! it's a sin and it ain't right!!!

As for the interpretation, same as last time. Gun violence, etc.
anonymous 2007-03-25 15:46:53    
well I think it's about how teenagers react to being bullied and what they do in revenge gerard was bullied at school and said he was thinking about was to get back at them every day and revenge ruled his life and I wanted to write a song about that and teenagers getting more violent by the day from MCR fan number one
anonymous 2007-03-28 16:14:20    
Gerard said that he started writing this song on a subway and he said he was actually kind of scared of all the teenagers. He says that it really is a serious matter. Its about how teenagers don't care really about anyone and they can be so hurtful to other kids. Great song.
anonymous 2007-04-02 22:21:59    
I think this song it's about how the adults try to make teenagers understand the world by making them do things that they don't care... making them dress up like they don't want, making them the "good boys" when adults don't know what's going through their heads, then they (adults are pushing them to be of some way, but the adults are so cold that get the teenagers to the point of rebelion, I mean, "darken your clothes or strike a violent pose" that's what they do and then te older people starts rejecting them, making them feel like shit (Cause in the teenagers head every little thing can make you feel like shit) and at the point they have to be aggressive to make society understand that they're not so worng as they think... and through this all... Gerard it's saying that, the people can tell them a lot of thing, be scared of you, or you can be a looser for everyone else but he and the band still with you, 'cause they understand this thing... They know how it feels and "Maybe they leave you alone but not me" that's what I think... This song at the start can make you feel like "oh good gerard hates teenagers.. what a stupid boy, all the fans are teenagers" but if you put a little bit of attention on the son.. It's like "Oh gerard it's saving lives again! he's with teenagers! he understands!!" that's my point of view...
anonymous 2007-04-06 22:26:19    
I looked at the song as it is said. When they said "teenagers scare the livin' shit out of me" I think their talking about the typical teenager. Think about it, most of us go to school with teens that are either total ass holes or bitches. I also thought when they were talking about the gun it was symbolic. Idn. I didn't see the interview or anything that's just how I took the song in
anonymous 2007-04-12 14:17:57    
okay, think about it.....we all remember the video for "I'm not okay". In that video was a bunch of kids who didn't fit in and how horrible teenagers are to each other just because they're different. I think the song teenagers plays off of that mainly. Basically the song is about pushing other teenagers (mostly referencing the the emo kids and the goths) to the point of them either hurting themselves or other teenagers. And I think the other posts about gerards interview are also correct, but no so much that they are scared of teenagers themselves, but the fact that all teenagers have "FUCK OFF" written across their foreheads and they don't care about anything or anyone. Just themselves. And any human being that comes a cross another human being that has no problem ripping you apart WOULD BE SCARED! So along with that, I think the first to lines of lyrics in this song play a part on how adults don't understand a teenagers point of view all the time, because teenagers are usually pissed for the sake of being pissed. And the drugs never work I think possibly can be referring to street drugs and prescribed. The reason for this is the whole "Methods of keeping you clean" line. So this song is easy to label as a "teenage sympathy" song.
anonymous 2007-04-15 08:13:03    
if you've listened to I'm Not Okay you'd notice that Gerard did not exactly "fit in" in high school. MCR shows that some teenagers are selfish and don't CARE about other people, because to teens its all about hair, make up and popularity. Since they didn't have that people used to pick on them. Yeah, they probably DO make him nervous, they probably remind them of their teen hood.

"and if you're troubled and hurt, what you've got under your shirt will make them pay for the things that they did"

I think that that means its not very hard to fight them back, some people just don't have the confidence and they need it, especially in H.S.
that's what I think it means
blackparade 2007-04-29 20:45:54    
Gerard said in Kerrang! that it's about these Teenagers in the parade who had killed themselves and made a big mistake.
anonymous 2007-05-07 10:12:15    
has anyone thought about it that MCR are on the side of the teenagers? they write about all the stereotypes
" They said all teenagers scare
The living shit out of me
They could care less
As long as someone’ll bleed"

the people who say it all are hypocrites - adults who just look for someone to blame when they do wores things

"They’re gonna clean up your looks
With all the lies and the books
To make a citizen out of you
Because they sleep with a gun
And keep an eye on you,son
So they can watch all the things you do

Because the drugs never work
They’re gonna give you a smirk
‘Cause they got methods of keeping you clean
They’re gonna rip off your heads
Your aspirations to shreds
Another cog in the murder machine "

and how mcr are stuck in the middle, they understand what the teenagers are going through, and want to help want the teenagers to fight back against the cliches, but they're adult themselves and have to have a little responibility

"They could care less
As long as someone’ll bleed
So darken your clothes
Or strike a violent pose
Maybe they’ll leave you alone, but not me "
anonymous 2007-05-18 07:52:32    
I'm not a teen. I guess I'm on the other side now. I think this song is expressing what has bee said since ancient Rome - the teens are out of control! Some things never change. Teens are in that scary place in life where they are not children but they are not quite adults - yet and they are trying so desperately to be independent and no one seems to take them seriously. So they act in a way to get the attention of the older generation. To control their own lives. The old folks are scared because youth is power. Teens think this power is violence of any sort but in truth the power of youth is the possibility to change and own tomorrow. Even the teens are afraid of one anther. Society wants to change and control. I think the song is sung from the perspective of an adult who remembers and is telling the teen that you have to go through this tough period of rejecting adults but don't worry, you may scare the shit out of me but I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON YOU! You are me. You are my future.
anonymous 2007-05-20 17:35:50    
I think it is about teenagers who can't fit in so they think the only way to fit in to hurt the people who made fun of them and most of the time they bring a gun to school.so gerard wrote this song,in my opinion , because that is what he thinks about teenagers.
anonymous 2007-05-22 23:54:11    
I don't know if this has already been mentioned because I was to lazy to read all the interpretations but gerard wrote this song after being on a bus or a tram and looked up to find him self completely surrounded by teenagers there was no one else on the bus except adolescents this freaked him out so much he wrote a song hence the "teenagers scare the livin shit out of me"
anonymous 2007-05-29 18:35:18    
I think most of you are right, about him feeling old, and also about it being about gun violence. But come on guys, I will admit teenagers can be horrible, but they're not all like that. In fact, most of them really aren't.

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