Hey guys!

Long time no talk!

How is everyone going?

I’m sure you’ve missed listening to my ramblings so here goes girlies, another fabulous blog… for you to comment on!!

I’m sure you have all seen the recent story on the tragic death of the two teenage girls in Melbourne, who were found hanging from a tree in what was known as a “suicide pact”.

As I looked further into the story I realised many things, including the not too coincidental perspective that most journalists share relating to music, its sub-cultures and the relation these have to the attitudes and actions of today’s teenage society.

This perspective is one of a teen world ruled by depressing music, black eyeliner and a need to feel misunderstood. The more I read, the more I began to realise that this perspective was being held by people of a non-teen generation, often far removed from understanding the teen world, and began to wonder if this contributed to the reason why something as simple as a few lyrics were being scrutinised in the public eye by the media.

I, myself, (as many of my friends know) am a “grunge” chick, a huge fan of rock music, and a rocker. I’ve been surrounded, all my life, by the rock culture. At the age of two I was singing the backup vocals to “Mustang Sally” for my dad’s band, I mean honestly, how hardcore am I? *laughs*. I’ve had my own band, listened to friends bands, I mean, if I could I’d get surgery to become a musical instrument myself! You get the picture.

What I have trouble understanding is the direct connection journalists are making between a style/genre of music and the attitudes of people that listen to that genre of music and that are a part of that specific sub-culture.

For example, the gothic genre.

This genre has been stereotyped for years. If someone says they are a goth, the automatic reaction to those who are not very familiar with the gothic culture automatically assume that they are a bunch of vampires, a bunch of Satanists or a clan of animal sacrificing, corset-wearing hooligans that parade around graveyards carrying candles and pentagrams.

Firstly, the symbol of a pentagram is actually symbolic of the pagan religion, being the belief in more than one god, and originates from the fourth century and has nothing to do with the belief in Satan, unless turned upside down.

Secondly, the culture related to music genres in our generation means absolutely nothing to the political belief system in which these cultures, and sub-cultures originated.

Today, Goth, Emo, Grunge, Metal, Rock-a-billy and Punk are merely a fashion sense, merely one side to our forever changing faces, one stage of our lives in which we crave acceptance. For the media to pretend that sub-cultures, lyrics and music and an over abundance of dark make-up provoke teens to join suicide pacts is hypocritical.

From what I see, the media is at fault for forcing the children of today’s society to grow up too early; to see and feel things that not even their parents have; to become desensitised to death and destruction. The media is to blame for the sudden rise in eating disorders because magazines portray anorexic models as ROLE models, they glorify disease and disorders and put unrealistic expectations into our heads.

If anything, those poor girls that committed suicide probably listened to their music of choice as an escape from their suffering, not as a means of an influencing a suicide pact.

The girls needed help. There is no hidden agenda or conspiracy against the teenage society hidden away by the music industry who are sending out subliminal messages of suicide and death. Just girls that needed help.

I’d love to hear what you guys think.

Sarah xxx.