April 25, 2007

Last week at the Corner Hotel, Billy Talent lead singer Benjamin Kowalewicz dedicated their heart-tugging track ‘Nothing To Lose’ to the two teenagers who took their own lives in Dandenong. His reassurance, “We’ve always got your back”, was an unexpectedly poignant moment within a set of high-octane power pop.

It seems for the past week it has been impossible to avoid the furious shitstorm that was the subsequent blame game following two 16 year olds’ mysterious suicides.

Like many people I LOLed at the speed at which Myspace suddenly shifted from soul-sucking netspace for personal profiles, glitter gifs and hilarious self-portraits, into a secretive online world promoting self abuse, secrecy and depression.

Or the fact that suddenly music of the emotional variety, in which artists vent the darker side of human nature to a sympathetic audience was seducing naïve young things into suicide.

The all too simple bottom line is that teenagers are angsty as fuck regardless of their musical or ‘sub cultural’ preferences. To criticise some forlorn artist’s self-expression because of a minority’s reaction to moderately contentious lyrics and teary-eyed key changes, is the most hilarious knee-jerk response to a random heinous act I’ve ever witnessed.

I’ll leave you with Today Tonight’s senile psychologist and her imparted words of unbounded wisdom on how to spot an ‘emo’.

“Are they happy or sour and depressed? Are they associated with kids enjoying life and doing nice things young people do or are they associating with young people who say life is bad?”

Revolutionary.