What does Teenagers mean?

My Chemical Romance: Teenagers Meaning

Album cover for Teenagers album cover

Song Released: 2007


Get "Teenagers" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

Teenagers Lyrics

They're gonna clean up your looks
With all the lies in 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...

  1. anonymous
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    Apr 16th 2011 !⃝

    Teenagers that have fucked up histories and presents take on the image of all the scary things in this country. If you listen to hip hop you take on the gangster/thug image. If you listen to rock you take on the punk/goth/or emo image. In the interview he says that the punk rock kids scared him and he produces the kind of music they listen to. Therefore he can't be saying he's scared of teens. Trust me, my friends listen to MCR and I listen to Eminem (and vice versa). We scare the living shit out of our teachers and parents when we write poems in English classes! XD

  2. anonymous
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    Apr 14th 2011 !⃝

    This song talks about masonic who controls teenagers by their pop songs !! and when they said ( so darken your clothes and or strike a violent pose ) they mean listen to rock and those type of music like metal and rock when they wear just black , or strike a violent pose they means don't listen to their music !! and you can see what i'm talking about on the new lady gaga's song ( born this way ) watch her video clip and hope you can understand what I mean :) .

  3. anonymous
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    Apr 11th 2011 !⃝

    The song's about teenagers being stereotyped as being violent and dangerous.

  4. anonymous
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    Apr 9th 2011 !⃝

    when i heard this song, i was like... WOW!!! This is totally what it like to be a teenager, but i could'nt find a way to put it into words the way Gerard does.
    It means (to me) that teenagers get such bad press, and have such a bad reputation that its tured us "bad", in a way. So if people are scared of us and shout at us for doin bad stuff, pretend u are doin the bad stuff, then they might leave you alone cos' they're so scared.
    eg. A random guy shouts at you because he thinks you are carrying a gun, (because he thinks all teenagers do). so, you pretend to grab the gun and pint it at him, then he runs and doesnt bother you ever again.
    Its an effective method, but it makes out reputation even worse. xxx

  5. anonymous
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    Apr 9th 2011 !⃝

    It's about teenage peer pressure and how teenagers become insecure because of their need to defend their position or popularity. It also explains how teenagers scare their elders when they begin to dress differently or act more aggresively.
    It also explains how corrupt the world has become to force young people to change who they are just so they can get their rightful respect. So you see? MCR is not quote unquote emo, they just hide really clever messages in their songs that can even send a message to kids like me that we can just be who we are.

  6. anonymous
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    Feb 14th 2011 !⃝

    I definitely think this song is to do with the negative attitude that society has developed towards teenagers. Sure, some of us are violent and dark, but so are adults! Why would mcr shun their made fan base of teenagers? and Gerard himself said "If for one minute you think you're better than a sixteen year old girl in a Green Day t-shirt, you are sorely mistaken." so obviously he believes in the existence of Teenagers, and how they are misread. I think it is attacking the idea that all teenagers are devil children, and 'scare the living shit out of me' which is what some people these days say; ridiculously, because they were once teenagers too. And they think they're different.
    However it could also be from a teenager's point of view; 'maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me' because they feel alienated and threatened from everybody their age and therefore outcast, which is what alot of MCR's songs are about; "All you knew was that this music made you feel different from anyone you shared a locker with. Someone finally understood you. This is what music is about."
    MAH! :D

  7. anonymous
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    Feb 12th 2011 !⃝

    teenagers is a song about how, as teenagers we try to scare people so we are not scared ourselves. i think when he wrote this song he was looking back on his teenager years and looking at todays teenagers and seeing that we all try to be nonconforming, but we all end up looking the same anyways. and the tenm 'what we got under our shirt will make them pay for the things that they did' is implying that we are all hiding something.
    or at least thats my opionion

  8. anonymous
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    Jan 30th 2011 !⃝

    In my mind, I think it represents the world of fame and insanity. The part about "The drugs never work" they mean psychiatric drugs. The fame was "They leave you alone (the person directed to) but not me (MCR)

  9. anonymous
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    Jan 13th 2011 !⃝

    Watching an interview, Gerard stated that when he was on a subway, a mass of teenagers got on and he got a bit freaked out by them. By their loudness, their looks, etc. He thought, "Does that mean I'm getting old?" because he was a bit unsettled. The band MCR isn't afraid of teenagers in general, but the lyrics suggest that as generations pass, teens are getting darker, scarier, and more violent. All in all, its a good song though. :)

  10. anonymous
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    Dec 28th 2010 !⃝

    Maybe they're just scared of teenagers. Not this whole big explanation. . .

  11. cherryoboy
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    Nov 13th 2010 !⃝

    Pretty easy to figure out. It's about what it's like to be a teenager

  12. looseathome
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    Nov 7th 2010 !⃝

    I think everybody's kind of missing the overall point, here. He's talking about teenagers, and he does feel for them being mistreated, and he does fear them. Because he himself was picked on and could've turned violent. He's saying that no matter how much these kids try to build this wall of dark clothes and attitude around them to get people to leave them alone, he knows what's going on, and he won't leave them alone. He knows they've been mistreated, and knows it's not right, but also knows that if no one is willing to look past that look they have, no one will be able to help them through it, and they could do something horrible.
    I was picked on in high school, and for a long time wanted to hurt the people who hurt me, I didn't care about anyone. Luckily, I had someone in my life who was like Gerard, and could see past the defenses to see the pain, and helped me out of that very bad place. If it wasn't for her, I probably would've been another school shooting. He's trying to stop them from turning into a bad statistic.
    "So darken your clothes, or strike a violent pose. Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me."
    He's not going to leave them in their pain, suffering and getting worse. He's afraid of what they'll become.

  13. anonymous
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    Aug 4th 2010 !⃝

    I think this song is about the way adults handle teenagers.
    The opening lines
    "They're gonna clean up your looks
    With all the lies in 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 gonna give you a smirk
    'Cause they got methods of keeping you clean
    They gonna rip up your heads
    Your aspirations to shreds
    Another cog in the murder machine"
    This describes how adults deal with teenagers and how they see them: as "cogs in the murder machine" the reference to drugs probably refers to parents who obtain bullshit diagnoses to put their kids on meds to make "a citizen out of them". "all the lies in the book" also refers to ruthless methods. These are justified by the chorus- which is how adults feel about teenagers. They say they're dangerous criminals and they're scared of them. Certainly, much of MCR's audience is teenagers. They aren't going to write a song condemning them. I think they realize that we hear enough bitching about how evil each and every one of us really are

  14. anonymous
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    Aug 2nd 2010 !⃝

    SWIM was 15 and went to a private high school and was a stereotypical stoner and after the second day of school it was so bad that he started carrying a 3 inch switchblade to school and the bullying didn't stop until he ended up stabbing some asshole rich/popular kid who made a crack about his cousins cancer then SWIM stabbed him in the shoulder and proceeded to punch him in the face until the janitor pulled him off and he was expelled on the spot. now SWIM is in a "christian" school with all of 15 people in his class and 3 of which are drug dealers and everyone except the teacher has a switchblade and everyone knows it and him and his friends all go an smoke dope before class and every chick there is a ho and no one there actually follows the religious doctrines and honestly even though the teacher bitches about our "salvation" every time someone chews gum in class there's no place SWIM would rather be cause nobody fucks with anyone.

  15. aTRUEteen
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    Jul 16th 2010 !⃝

    I feel like
    "They're gonna clean up your looks
    With all the lies in the books
    To make a citizen out of you"
    is talking about adults trying to set you strait so that you can figure out how to live in your adult life, because if you're a teenager, then it's coming soon.
    "Because they sleep with a gun
    And keep an eye on you, son
    So they can watch all the things you do"
    I think that is talking about how they (specifically the cops and the authority figures in the community) watch you like a hawk to try to protect you from yourself.
    "Because the drugs never work"
    obviously almost everyone is into drugs now days
    "They gonna give you a smirk
    'cause they got methods
    In keeping you clean
    They gonna rip up your heads
    Your aspirations to shreads"
    they're going to do everything they can to keep you from making those mistakes that will define who you are in the future if you don't learn from them
    "Another cog in the murder machine"
    there is so much violence and death that even the younger generations are committing murders and such now
    "They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me They could care less as long as someone'll bleed"
    that's meant just as it's said
    "So darken your clothes
    Or strike a violent pose"
    emos and goths scare most people and only violent people can deal with the shit teenagers do
    "Maybe they'll leave you alone
    But not me"
    other people who don't have to deal with teenagers can be ignored by them but the people who are trying to fight the corruption of the 21st century society will be the ones the teens strike out against
    "The boys and girls in the clique
    The awful names that they stick"
    this is talking about the cliques of many schools who tease and hurt others
    "You're never gonna fit in much, kid
    But if you're troubled and hurt
    What you got under your shirt"
    those who are the ones who the cliques make fun of are eventually pushed to the extreme
    "Will make them pay for the things that they did"
    when I hear that I think of the columbine shooting.those guys were hurt so much that they wanted others to feel the pain too
    I'm a teenager myself and personally teenagers scare the hell out of me too. If things are as bad now as they are, then what's it going to be like when MY kids are in high school.
    >>> seriously considering buying my own little island FAR out in international waters.




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