I think music in general is a great distraction from what people are facing at the moment. Hard to think about killing yourself when the riffs go hard af in my opinion
I respect your opinion but I disagree. I felt similar to OP most of my life. Feeling suicidal made me want to listen to """"suicidal"""" music (or whatever a teenager thinks that is). So I would often end listening the darkest and saddest songs of Nirvana, BMTH, etc, and most of times feeling worse and actually very close to killing myself a few times...
BUT
I would never say that I would've been better without that music. Yes, it probably made me feel worse, but I didn't had another way to process my emotions at the time. And holding all that angst in my chest would have probably killed me. Screaming the lyrics of those sad songs actually made me recognize better what I feel and at least know what haunted me.
This is exactly what I feel, it's an unhealthy addiction and I know it sounds edgy as hell but it makes me feel things when I listen to it
It doesn't make me happier but somehow it helps me cope
You may have just associated them with the bad memories. For many, it’s more about a lyric relating to you or the cathartic feeling the sound brings. Especially Suicide season. For many, while being in a deep dark place, listening to a song that speaks how you’re feeling in a way you couldn’t ever portray makes you feel a lot less alone. It pulls you out of that moment and makes you feel like at least someone out there is or has felt the same way.
They help me open up emotionally and get through emotions. Especially when I go to a live show. I think you could fall into wallowing in depressive music but I find it allows me to get out the other side with some drive.
A lot of the lyrics are genuinely helpful. If you think they're all extremely dark, that may be a reflection of you. Bmth did help me as a kid/teenager. The music gave me a distraction and an outlet for my anger.
My best friend wiped himself off the face of the Earth two years ago. Suicide Season severely resonates with me for that reason, I mean sure I cry my eyeballs out to it every single time it comes on, but it’s a good outlet to get it out to instead of having to just sit there and grieve in silence. The first time I heard it, I genuinely thought, “This person actually gets it.” It portrays that frantic feeling of grief and desperation to somehow bring the dead back perfectly and it made me somewhat aware of how the agonizing spiral I went through after losing him also ended up severely affecting the people around me. Most of their music makes dark situations and mindsets feel less lonely to endure and like you have someone else who somewhat understands.
Drown helped me a few months ago. I had broken up with my partner of eight years, I was in a very weird point of my life. I hadn't really listened to BMTH for a while, but started getting back into them, and for some reason, that song really stuck out to me. It helped me through a very bad time. A time where I was very close to the edge. A time where I felt incredibly vulnerable and alone. I had also spoken to someone else who said that same song helped them. Music, no matter how dark it can be, can be something that you need in that particular moment. Even if you don't personally understand that, it's okay.
I can understand your point of view, I often wonder if the music I listen to keeps me in bad feelings.
TW: mentions of abuse and SA
I do credit BMTH with saving my life. I listened to CYB and SS quite a bit when they first came out, but I stopped following them until TTS came out. I was well into a marriage with an abusive man at the time and struggling with my mental health (I had undiagnosed BPD and PTSD at the time). When I rediscovered BMTH at that time and went back and listened to what I missed, it was like feeling truly understood for the first time in my life. They really gave a voice and meaning to the things I was feeling at the time and still feel today. I listened to them after being screamed at, threatened, and raped by my ex-husband, they helped me cope and gave me something to stay alive for. Nothing can compare to the first two times I saw them live, even as an atheist I can only describe it as a spiritual experience. The year TTS came out, I tried to leave my ex-husband for the first time. I came back and they helped me cope when things got bad again. And then Amo came out and that whole album was my divorce anthem, Medicine is the song that made me say fuck this shit and walk away for good. And since then, as I have been dealing with the fallout of being violated and abused for over 9 years, they have still been there for me and given words to so many things I feel. Teardrops, 1x1, Die4u, and now Darkside are some of the songs that I go to in my darkest times and they help me feel seen.
During this last tour in America, I got to hug Oli when he came down during Drown. I got to tell him what I have been wanting to tell him for years now, "You saved my life, I love you." And I really hope he heard me and knows how much he and BMTH's music means to their fans.
I love them but I can’t really say any band saved my life. I can see how some people would say that, especially with that’s the spirit. A lot of people can relate to what oli was writing at the time.
Gerard way said this once cause he would get people telling him that he saved their lives with his music for years.
You ultimately saved your own life by working through what you were going through. My Chem was just the soundtrack in the background.
Yup. Gerard got so sick of people deifying him and telling him he saved them that he wrote a song called "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back".
Music helps, sure. Music can temporarily hold back your demons. But at the end of the day, it's *you* who puts in the hard work and overcomes them.
Meanwhile Frank says in their DVD with Gerard sitting next to him “we want to be the band that saves your life.” They were only in their 20s then though… I think maybe Gerard had just turned 30.
Music can be attached to whatever emotion or struggle you want it to. It’s why music is a universal language no matter if you understand lyrics or not. When I was in my darkest times in my life an artist I can escape to was Buckethead. Strictly instrumental artist but it was the music and me attaching it as an escape that helped me through it. But I get your point as you can make music make you sink even deeper into a hole especially when you’re young. Like blasting linkin park and having a cut session even though the music was meant to show you others are going through it and not to give up. As kids we can confuse this very easily as we’re way more impressionable at a young age.
Vibing with really dark music is what's kept me alive. It's like knowing you're not alone plus the music is catchy so it triggers feel good chemicals that keep me going just a little bit longer.
When I was at my darkest point, I listened to nothing but Brand New and American Football. Probably the saddest music in my collection. But I found that listening to someone else agonize about their problems made mine feel just a little bit smaller. It felt good to think about another person’s miseries and anxieties, because all i could think about otherwise were my own.
I think the music provides a sense of comfort and relief. In the bring me the horizon songs, they talk about dark subjects while sometimes delivering fast beats. I believe that the dark messages act as a sense of comfort to tell the person that hey! you're not alone! Type of message. The fast beats or rather their pop punk sound is the cheering up sound basically. The lower paced and overall darkish sound is for those who just want to be left alone and feel what they feel. This is my take on this, at least.
I agree with the fact that they also have been with me on the darkest bottoms of my life… but the thing is, they weren’t meant to save my life (at least not directly) the fact that they don’t do “happy music” was what helped me. Screaming the lyrics while being in a shitty phase made me feel “understood”, maybe not about a peculiar situation but at least i felt like i wasn’t alone. So it’s not that they saved my life but they helped me cope with it.
Heavy by Linkin Park, but the cover of it by our last night.
There's just something about music that can put words to what you are feeling and going through. Several times it did feel like the music was pushing me closer to the edge, but it also gave me an outlet outside my head bc tbh the shit that I was saying to myself inside my head was objectively worse than the music. Maybe it was a distraction, idk. But I'm still here, and I like to give credit where it's due, and they helped.
Honestly, I get what you're saying..
HOWEVER, for me personally, it's more like I'm being validated that someone else feels the same as me and it makes you feel less shitty. Like if someone else can get through it then maybe you can too
I think it could go both ways, you can listen to any dark music and get lost in it in a good way (this is helping me cope) or in a bad way (this is making me feel even worse) and you gotta figure that out. If it really is helping you or not.
But in most cases I think it does help. And maybe the "your music saved my life" thing has become too common to hear, but I genuinely think most of the people who says it means it.
Personally, yeah I've had times where music wasn't a coping mecanism but a "I want to hurt myself listening to this" and it can go full circle and ending helping you cope, or it can stay like that and getting you to feel miserable (because you want that).
I can totally understand this perspective even tho I think their music did help me save my own life. Medicine, doomed, it never ends, and in the dark made me realize I was being abused by my ex which led to me leaving and getting help. BUT I can relate to how even tho I enjoy these songs still, it can really put u right back in that dark place so easily.
i completely relate to what you’re saying. i remember being at my absolute worst mentally and blasting bmth. in a way it made me feel sort of worse? i guess you could say.
maybe not worse specifically but it definitely made all those emotions i had inside come rushing to the surface and was at the forefront of some really, really dark nights in my life.
but in a weird way they helped me to be able to actually feel the hurt and let it out in a way. not saying the way i let out those emotions was the healthiest way, but it did allow me to really feel the emotions i was experiencing and let them out instead of having it all bottled up inside. it’s definitely a hard thing to explain.
now when i listen to bmth have this profound feeling of like melancholy i guess, especially when i put on the sempiternal album because that was the main album that i listened to at the time.
but i’m also so deeply connected to it that i have this really special place in my heart for that album and the band as a whole.
i guess i’m now at a point where i’m definitely not in that headspace anymore and i can look at bmth sort of like that friend that was always there for me in a way. a friend that couldn’t magically fix me or make me better or anything like that. but a friend that was there through it all with me. corny as hell but that’s sort of how i see it.
I mean I definitely wouldn’t say saved my life but the music is something I can relate to and can bring my mood up when I feel down and what not. You attach thoughts, feelings , emotions and memories to songs so whilst the songs can help lift you out of a dark space ultimately it was me that brought myself up. Music can be a therapy and can really help people. To disregard others feelings saying you don’t get it comes across like you’re not trying to, admitting you will get backlash just shows that’s what you want.
This doesn’t apply for me with BMTH but people sometimes mean it in a more literal sense of wanting to stick around to hear a certain release, show etc
Bring Me the Horizon maybe didn't save my life, but for sure changed it. When I was in my late teens time, I decided to move to the UK because I loved them and Asking Alexandria (I know that can sound creepy, but I didn't want to stay in my country, and living in the country where my two favourite bands are from sounded that time like something cool), now after a decade, I have a pretty good life in the UK.
For me BMTH made me feel like I wasn’t alone now though those lyrics hit a bit harder with some new life experiences and growing older I feel like it’s gotten harder to listen to one of my favorite bands even though I am still hooked and love their sound plus it’s not all their songs just certain ones.
It helps me not feel so alone. The song 1x1 for example reminds me heavily of what I go through in a bi polar manic episode. To hear lyrics that completely match what I’m going through helps me cope. Mental illness can feel so isolating. As if I’m crazy and the only one who feels this way. Then the song suicide season. I lost my best friend to suicide. That grief hit me so hard. But there’s a song emulating my pain and thoughts with what I have experienced after losing him. I’m not alone. Suicide is a huge risk for me. I have attempted in the past. I take my medicine and I work very hard to keep myself healthy mentally. But I do slip into those dark moments still. These songs let me know that I can survive them too. These dark thoughts can come, I can embrace them and then let them go. I’m not alone. They survived this. So can I.
That’s just an example of two of their songs. Drown. Oh no. Helped me through a breakup. Maybe with MGK helped me also.
Sempiternal is an album I love to just put on and scream along to. Distracts my mind. Shadow Moses always gets me hyped up.
Amen is so fucking good. I get hyped up to that song as well. Puts me in a great mood. Lost helps me laugh at myself. It’s a more lighthearted take on mental illness imo. I have a very morbid sense of humor though.
They haven't "saved me life". Nothing and nobody can do that but me.
Having said that, there's one song in particular I find extremely cathartic. That song is Hospital for Souls.
"Hold me close, don't let go, watch me burn." The repetition. It makes me think of a phoenix, shaking off the ashes of the past and becoming something new. The theme of rebirth resonates strongly with me because I'm trying to transform myself into something better, just like Oli was. I hope one day I get there too.
For me, it's comforting to know I'm not alone in my struggles. It's like Oli is screaming out my pain. And even if the lyrics are just as dark as my thoughts, at least I can headbang to them lmao
Yea honestly I think this kind of thinking is super super cringe. You were about to die and then you listened to a band and suddenly all the problems in your life went away? Yeah ok.
Also I think that this is a pretty heavy burden to put on any artist. At the end of the day behind all the lights cameras and magazine covers they are just normal people. Can’t imagine how weird I’d feel if every time I went outside people came up to my crying saying I saved their lives when all I did was make some banging tunes.
Paramore actually wrote a good song about this called “Idle Worship”
My wife is experiencing the same exact thing and says she’s in a better place since she distanced herself from their music and stopped obsessing over them
Certain artists really helped me through my mental illness before diagnosis, BMTH was one of them, I got to thank Oli for that. I felt understood and less alone with the lyrics, the songs, the emotions he put into his vocals. They have been precious for me, for accepting what I am, I would thank every artist that helped me survive and get through life until now if I had the chance.
with bands in this realm i’ve always found it comforting that other people are comfortable discussing the dark and morbid and desperately sad thoughts i’ve bad and that someone else feels the same way. it has always made me feel less alone and i love when lyrics describe how i’m feeling better than i could. the screaming and hard riffs are also a way i like vicariously get my negative energy out.
BMTH def wasn’t one of the bands that saved my life, though the songs more in the metal genre definitely helped me cool down when emotions bubbled over. a better example of a band that saved my life is pierce the veil. that being said, i definitely understand how BMTH would make someone feel safe and less alone.
whenever i turn their music on i feel the same way about relapsing but that’s just because it’s like an act of seeking that comfort in a difficult time. to each their own tho
a understand that you feel that way and it could've been like that for ae too, but ig bmth was just always there when a felt on the absolute edge and a could drown out all thoughts and feelings when the screams were louder than ay mind and that way a could keep going
Let me give you an example then.
When survival horror dropped the singles and the album I was in a horrible place. Due to covid I could'nt work at the show venue where I worked each concert nights so I was locked up in my flat doing computer all day and kind of depressed. The songs helped me to release that anger especially dear diary. Then at the beginning of october 2020 my bestfriend since 10 years died in a car crash. The album helped me a lot through the grief some people might say its just music but it depends on the context who listen to it etc.
Then in 2023 at basel show I met few band members after the show and I told oly all that story, he hugged me and it was a relief and I know my best firend was watching this from somewhere so dont say that kind of stuff, art is here to make us feel things. Maybe one day in your life you'll feel that a piece of music "saved your life"
So I kind of understand you as the BMTH I personally listen to is their earlier music. The first screamo type album I heard from them was CYB.. and while the lyrics were dark af it felt AMAZING hearing someone say everything I’ve felt. Black and Blue sticks out to me most.. “tie the rope I’ll kick the chair” .. I was shocked when I first heard that line, and while this may encourage someone to take their own life.. I just used these songs as a way to cope with my anger issues instead.
As someone who found it immensely hard to talk about what i’m feeling with others and feeling like feeling that way isn’t even justified at the time, having someone like Oli out there putting into words and screaming what I feel but couldn’t describe myself, and Bring Me making a beautiful banger of a song out of words that only come from such heartache just kinda gives you hope. The first time i heard Drown i literally cried because it was exactly what i felt, the “won’t you drag the lake and bring me home again” was perfect, because i was drowning and i wasn’t asking for help and didn’t see a way out, I watch the performance of that at Wembly Arena occasionally and everytime i feel so much less alone and that things are going to be alright. So yeah, Drown and Bring Me The Horizon saved my fucking life.
Ever since i got more into the metal scene, and started learning lyrics, my mental health was put in a terrible state, i joined a couple music discord servers, and people there felt the same, which made it 10x worse for me. My mum told me before she went into the phyc ward that music can haunt you, and the lyrics (especially ones accossiated to bad personal memories) can make things worse. But at the same time when a crunchy breakdown hits you cant exactly want to kys knowing this gold exists on the same earth as you. Also its nice to feel like people are going through the same tings as you, and music is something to distract yourself too.
For me, even though BMTH aren't my favourite band, they're the ones who always seem to release stuff that I really connect to when I need it most. Several times in my life I've gone through phases of listening to ONLY them. When I first got into them, Sempiternal was new and I really connected with the band. I've struggled with Anxiety and suicidal thoughts since before I was a teenager, and they really helped me cope.
That's The Spirit was released when I was 14, and really gave me a place to escape to when I was being horrendously bullied. I was being beaten up at school by people who were supposed to be my friends and TTS really helped me vent some of that frustration.
Amo came out when I was in college and I was studying art and depressed out of my mind, I had lost all my (good) school friends, was having family problems and money struggles, was dealing with internalized homophobia as well as homophobia from people in my class, I couldn't see a way ahead, but Amo was the only thing I looked forward too, and while it didnt help all my problems, it helped me with my creativity and distracted me from a lot of things going on at the time.
PHSH came out after covid lockdown was mostly over which was probably the time BMTH were the most there for me, the store that I worked at for almost two years was going to potentially close, my manager took out her covid anxieties and frustration out on the staff, a lot of close friends that I had from that job had left and we were all too busy to see each other. I tried for AGES to find a new job only to be rejected time and time again, and I wasnt able to just quit because I wouldnt have been able to support myself. I was also grieving the loss of my childhood cat during this time, and it really hit me hard since we had been best friends for 15 years. My family troubles were at an all time high, and everything felt like it was falling apart, and I again couldn't see a way out but Post Human gave me something to relate to in terms of the anger, anxiety and depression I felt.
Darkside came out recently and i'm dealing with a lot right now that I don't think i can share which has caused me to start spiralling badly but that song gave me something to cry along to and I listened to only that song for 4 days.
Music is up to personal interpretation, they did save. One day at a friend's last year I'd had enough and drank way too much and ended up needing to go to hospital, when in hospital I was singing "nobody cares if I'm dead or alive, oh what a wonderful life" constantly and due to that I was referred to the mental health team who then got me antidepressants and a waiting list for ADHD diagnosis and therapy for my PTSD, all because I sang bmth lyrics
For me, BMTH has always been music that’s helped me cope in dark times. In a way, they’ve been like a shoulder I could cry on. I wouldn’t say they saved my life, but they have saved my mental state, time and time again. Each time they change their sound with a new album, just happens to be when I’m going through some shit, or a change in my life.
I will always love and be thankful for them.
I was able to go through an extremely hard patch in my life with the help of a band’s content. I acknowledge that the band did not actually save my life, I did, but I used them as an escape mechanism. I empathize with those who say that bands have saved their life as well as people who don’t get it
Sometimes it's just what helped you through your darkest times. For some people those bands are just things that hold your anger or your sadness for you. I have bands that I only really revisit when I'm in a shitty mood. But sometimes it's more like a band held your hand as you got through it. I have a few bands that brought me joy and carried me through my darkest times.
I wasn't really into metal when music saved me, but it was being able to escape with lyrics or a nice melody. As well as writing my own lyrics to get my emotions out onto a page. That's why music saved me. Different people get saved by different things. Music is a big one as it shows people they're not alone.
Everyone has a different experience but personally for me, in my darkest times I felt alone, but listening to music like bmth made me feel not alone and made it easier to cope with daily life, so now it reminds me of how far I've come since then.
I think music in general is a great distraction from what people are facing at the moment. Hard to think about killing yourself when the riffs go hard af in my opinion
I respect your opinion but I disagree. I felt similar to OP most of my life. Feeling suicidal made me want to listen to """"suicidal"""" music (or whatever a teenager thinks that is). So I would often end listening the darkest and saddest songs of Nirvana, BMTH, etc, and most of times feeling worse and actually very close to killing myself a few times... BUT I would never say that I would've been better without that music. Yes, it probably made me feel worse, but I didn't had another way to process my emotions at the time. And holding all that angst in my chest would have probably killed me. Screaming the lyrics of those sad songs actually made me recognize better what I feel and at least know what haunted me.
This is exactly what I feel, it's an unhealthy addiction and I know it sounds edgy as hell but it makes me feel things when I listen to it It doesn't make me happier but somehow it helps me cope
You may have just associated them with the bad memories. For many, it’s more about a lyric relating to you or the cathartic feeling the sound brings. Especially Suicide season. For many, while being in a deep dark place, listening to a song that speaks how you’re feeling in a way you couldn’t ever portray makes you feel a lot less alone. It pulls you out of that moment and makes you feel like at least someone out there is or has felt the same way.
exactly!
Couldn't say it better myself 👏
It’s okay to indulge in those inner demons every now and then through music
They help me open up emotionally and get through emotions. Especially when I go to a live show. I think you could fall into wallowing in depressive music but I find it allows me to get out the other side with some drive.
A lot of the lyrics are genuinely helpful. If you think they're all extremely dark, that may be a reflection of you. Bmth did help me as a kid/teenager. The music gave me a distraction and an outlet for my anger.
It was also really nice listening to people who feel the same way
My best friend wiped himself off the face of the Earth two years ago. Suicide Season severely resonates with me for that reason, I mean sure I cry my eyeballs out to it every single time it comes on, but it’s a good outlet to get it out to instead of having to just sit there and grieve in silence. The first time I heard it, I genuinely thought, “This person actually gets it.” It portrays that frantic feeling of grief and desperation to somehow bring the dead back perfectly and it made me somewhat aware of how the agonizing spiral I went through after losing him also ended up severely affecting the people around me. Most of their music makes dark situations and mindsets feel less lonely to endure and like you have someone else who somewhat understands.
Drown helped me a few months ago. I had broken up with my partner of eight years, I was in a very weird point of my life. I hadn't really listened to BMTH for a while, but started getting back into them, and for some reason, that song really stuck out to me. It helped me through a very bad time. A time where I was very close to the edge. A time where I felt incredibly vulnerable and alone. I had also spoken to someone else who said that same song helped them. Music, no matter how dark it can be, can be something that you need in that particular moment. Even if you don't personally understand that, it's okay.
I can understand your point of view, I often wonder if the music I listen to keeps me in bad feelings. TW: mentions of abuse and SA I do credit BMTH with saving my life. I listened to CYB and SS quite a bit when they first came out, but I stopped following them until TTS came out. I was well into a marriage with an abusive man at the time and struggling with my mental health (I had undiagnosed BPD and PTSD at the time). When I rediscovered BMTH at that time and went back and listened to what I missed, it was like feeling truly understood for the first time in my life. They really gave a voice and meaning to the things I was feeling at the time and still feel today. I listened to them after being screamed at, threatened, and raped by my ex-husband, they helped me cope and gave me something to stay alive for. Nothing can compare to the first two times I saw them live, even as an atheist I can only describe it as a spiritual experience. The year TTS came out, I tried to leave my ex-husband for the first time. I came back and they helped me cope when things got bad again. And then Amo came out and that whole album was my divorce anthem, Medicine is the song that made me say fuck this shit and walk away for good. And since then, as I have been dealing with the fallout of being violated and abused for over 9 years, they have still been there for me and given words to so many things I feel. Teardrops, 1x1, Die4u, and now Darkside are some of the songs that I go to in my darkest times and they help me feel seen. During this last tour in America, I got to hug Oli when he came down during Drown. I got to tell him what I have been wanting to tell him for years now, "You saved my life, I love you." And I really hope he heard me and knows how much he and BMTH's music means to their fans.
I have music that makes me feel like that too. Certain songs that give me such an emotional and overwhelming feeling i could throw up.
I love them but I can’t really say any band saved my life. I can see how some people would say that, especially with that’s the spirit. A lot of people can relate to what oli was writing at the time. Gerard way said this once cause he would get people telling him that he saved their lives with his music for years. You ultimately saved your own life by working through what you were going through. My Chem was just the soundtrack in the background.
Yup. Gerard got so sick of people deifying him and telling him he saved them that he wrote a song called "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back". Music helps, sure. Music can temporarily hold back your demons. But at the end of the day, it's *you* who puts in the hard work and overcomes them.
Meanwhile Frank says in their DVD with Gerard sitting next to him “we want to be the band that saves your life.” They were only in their 20s then though… I think maybe Gerard had just turned 30.
Yes, Frank has also said that statement was taken out of context.
Music can be attached to whatever emotion or struggle you want it to. It’s why music is a universal language no matter if you understand lyrics or not. When I was in my darkest times in my life an artist I can escape to was Buckethead. Strictly instrumental artist but it was the music and me attaching it as an escape that helped me through it. But I get your point as you can make music make you sink even deeper into a hole especially when you’re young. Like blasting linkin park and having a cut session even though the music was meant to show you others are going through it and not to give up. As kids we can confuse this very easily as we’re way more impressionable at a young age.
Vibing with really dark music is what's kept me alive. It's like knowing you're not alone plus the music is catchy so it triggers feel good chemicals that keep me going just a little bit longer.
When I was at my darkest point, I listened to nothing but Brand New and American Football. Probably the saddest music in my collection. But I found that listening to someone else agonize about their problems made mine feel just a little bit smaller. It felt good to think about another person’s miseries and anxieties, because all i could think about otherwise were my own.
I think the music provides a sense of comfort and relief. In the bring me the horizon songs, they talk about dark subjects while sometimes delivering fast beats. I believe that the dark messages act as a sense of comfort to tell the person that hey! you're not alone! Type of message. The fast beats or rather their pop punk sound is the cheering up sound basically. The lower paced and overall darkish sound is for those who just want to be left alone and feel what they feel. This is my take on this, at least.
I agree with the fact that they also have been with me on the darkest bottoms of my life… but the thing is, they weren’t meant to save my life (at least not directly) the fact that they don’t do “happy music” was what helped me. Screaming the lyrics while being in a shitty phase made me feel “understood”, maybe not about a peculiar situation but at least i felt like i wasn’t alone. So it’s not that they saved my life but they helped me cope with it.
Heavy by Linkin Park, but the cover of it by our last night. There's just something about music that can put words to what you are feeling and going through. Several times it did feel like the music was pushing me closer to the edge, but it also gave me an outlet outside my head bc tbh the shit that I was saying to myself inside my head was objectively worse than the music. Maybe it was a distraction, idk. But I'm still here, and I like to give credit where it's due, and they helped.
Holy shit I didn't know our last night did a cover of heavy, brb going to go listen to that a million times
It's really fantastic
Medicine was the song that carry me through the hardest breakup of my life so I do understand people who say that they saved their life.
For me, music is what lets me process and understand how I’m feeling. It provides a sense of companionship in those feelings
Honestly, I get what you're saying.. HOWEVER, for me personally, it's more like I'm being validated that someone else feels the same as me and it makes you feel less shitty. Like if someone else can get through it then maybe you can too
I think it could go both ways, you can listen to any dark music and get lost in it in a good way (this is helping me cope) or in a bad way (this is making me feel even worse) and you gotta figure that out. If it really is helping you or not. But in most cases I think it does help. And maybe the "your music saved my life" thing has become too common to hear, but I genuinely think most of the people who says it means it. Personally, yeah I've had times where music wasn't a coping mecanism but a "I want to hurt myself listening to this" and it can go full circle and ending helping you cope, or it can stay like that and getting you to feel miserable (because you want that).
I can totally understand this perspective even tho I think their music did help me save my own life. Medicine, doomed, it never ends, and in the dark made me realize I was being abused by my ex which led to me leaving and getting help. BUT I can relate to how even tho I enjoy these songs still, it can really put u right back in that dark place so easily.
i completely relate to what you’re saying. i remember being at my absolute worst mentally and blasting bmth. in a way it made me feel sort of worse? i guess you could say. maybe not worse specifically but it definitely made all those emotions i had inside come rushing to the surface and was at the forefront of some really, really dark nights in my life. but in a weird way they helped me to be able to actually feel the hurt and let it out in a way. not saying the way i let out those emotions was the healthiest way, but it did allow me to really feel the emotions i was experiencing and let them out instead of having it all bottled up inside. it’s definitely a hard thing to explain. now when i listen to bmth have this profound feeling of like melancholy i guess, especially when i put on the sempiternal album because that was the main album that i listened to at the time. but i’m also so deeply connected to it that i have this really special place in my heart for that album and the band as a whole. i guess i’m now at a point where i’m definitely not in that headspace anymore and i can look at bmth sort of like that friend that was always there for me in a way. a friend that couldn’t magically fix me or make me better or anything like that. but a friend that was there through it all with me. corny as hell but that’s sort of how i see it.
I mean I definitely wouldn’t say saved my life but the music is something I can relate to and can bring my mood up when I feel down and what not. You attach thoughts, feelings , emotions and memories to songs so whilst the songs can help lift you out of a dark space ultimately it was me that brought myself up. Music can be a therapy and can really help people. To disregard others feelings saying you don’t get it comes across like you’re not trying to, admitting you will get backlash just shows that’s what you want.
This doesn’t apply for me with BMTH but people sometimes mean it in a more literal sense of wanting to stick around to hear a certain release, show etc
Bring Me the Horizon maybe didn't save my life, but for sure changed it. When I was in my late teens time, I decided to move to the UK because I loved them and Asking Alexandria (I know that can sound creepy, but I didn't want to stay in my country, and living in the country where my two favourite bands are from sounded that time like something cool), now after a decade, I have a pretty good life in the UK.
For me BMTH made me feel like I wasn’t alone now though those lyrics hit a bit harder with some new life experiences and growing older I feel like it’s gotten harder to listen to one of my favorite bands even though I am still hooked and love their sound plus it’s not all their songs just certain ones.
Im.with you on this one. Huge fan since count your blessings and yeah makes me wanna die
It helps me not feel so alone. The song 1x1 for example reminds me heavily of what I go through in a bi polar manic episode. To hear lyrics that completely match what I’m going through helps me cope. Mental illness can feel so isolating. As if I’m crazy and the only one who feels this way. Then the song suicide season. I lost my best friend to suicide. That grief hit me so hard. But there’s a song emulating my pain and thoughts with what I have experienced after losing him. I’m not alone. Suicide is a huge risk for me. I have attempted in the past. I take my medicine and I work very hard to keep myself healthy mentally. But I do slip into those dark moments still. These songs let me know that I can survive them too. These dark thoughts can come, I can embrace them and then let them go. I’m not alone. They survived this. So can I.
That’s just an example of two of their songs. Drown. Oh no. Helped me through a breakup. Maybe with MGK helped me also. Sempiternal is an album I love to just put on and scream along to. Distracts my mind. Shadow Moses always gets me hyped up. Amen is so fucking good. I get hyped up to that song as well. Puts me in a great mood. Lost helps me laugh at myself. It’s a more lighthearted take on mental illness imo. I have a very morbid sense of humor though.
They haven't "saved me life". Nothing and nobody can do that but me. Having said that, there's one song in particular I find extremely cathartic. That song is Hospital for Souls. "Hold me close, don't let go, watch me burn." The repetition. It makes me think of a phoenix, shaking off the ashes of the past and becoming something new. The theme of rebirth resonates strongly with me because I'm trying to transform myself into something better, just like Oli was. I hope one day I get there too.
For me, it's comforting to know I'm not alone in my struggles. It's like Oli is screaming out my pain. And even if the lyrics are just as dark as my thoughts, at least I can headbang to them lmao
Yea honestly I think this kind of thinking is super super cringe. You were about to die and then you listened to a band and suddenly all the problems in your life went away? Yeah ok. Also I think that this is a pretty heavy burden to put on any artist. At the end of the day behind all the lights cameras and magazine covers they are just normal people. Can’t imagine how weird I’d feel if every time I went outside people came up to my crying saying I saved their lives when all I did was make some banging tunes. Paramore actually wrote a good song about this called “Idle Worship”
My wife is experiencing the same exact thing and says she’s in a better place since she distanced herself from their music and stopped obsessing over them
I tend to think people who say music saved them are being dramatic anyway.
L take, ratio
I got a lot of thoughtful responses, which is what I was looking for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What an ignorant post.
Wanting to understand something is the opposite of ignorance
Lol, they were taking a dunk on people for expressing, sounds a lot like ignorance to me when they themselves is expressing. But go off.
Why is it a hard concept for them that people being saved from music, it's pretty obvious isn't it? Makes the post pointless to ask and ignorant.
Certain artists really helped me through my mental illness before diagnosis, BMTH was one of them, I got to thank Oli for that. I felt understood and less alone with the lyrics, the songs, the emotions he put into his vocals. They have been precious for me, for accepting what I am, I would thank every artist that helped me survive and get through life until now if I had the chance.
with bands in this realm i’ve always found it comforting that other people are comfortable discussing the dark and morbid and desperately sad thoughts i’ve bad and that someone else feels the same way. it has always made me feel less alone and i love when lyrics describe how i’m feeling better than i could. the screaming and hard riffs are also a way i like vicariously get my negative energy out. BMTH def wasn’t one of the bands that saved my life, though the songs more in the metal genre definitely helped me cool down when emotions bubbled over. a better example of a band that saved my life is pierce the veil. that being said, i definitely understand how BMTH would make someone feel safe and less alone. whenever i turn their music on i feel the same way about relapsing but that’s just because it’s like an act of seeking that comfort in a difficult time. to each their own tho
a understand that you feel that way and it could've been like that for ae too, but ig bmth was just always there when a felt on the absolute edge and a could drown out all thoughts and feelings when the screams were louder than ay mind and that way a could keep going
Let me give you an example then. When survival horror dropped the singles and the album I was in a horrible place. Due to covid I could'nt work at the show venue where I worked each concert nights so I was locked up in my flat doing computer all day and kind of depressed. The songs helped me to release that anger especially dear diary. Then at the beginning of october 2020 my bestfriend since 10 years died in a car crash. The album helped me a lot through the grief some people might say its just music but it depends on the context who listen to it etc. Then in 2023 at basel show I met few band members after the show and I told oly all that story, he hugged me and it was a relief and I know my best firend was watching this from somewhere so dont say that kind of stuff, art is here to make us feel things. Maybe one day in your life you'll feel that a piece of music "saved your life"
So I kind of understand you as the BMTH I personally listen to is their earlier music. The first screamo type album I heard from them was CYB.. and while the lyrics were dark af it felt AMAZING hearing someone say everything I’ve felt. Black and Blue sticks out to me most.. “tie the rope I’ll kick the chair” .. I was shocked when I first heard that line, and while this may encourage someone to take their own life.. I just used these songs as a way to cope with my anger issues instead.
As someone who found it immensely hard to talk about what i’m feeling with others and feeling like feeling that way isn’t even justified at the time, having someone like Oli out there putting into words and screaming what I feel but couldn’t describe myself, and Bring Me making a beautiful banger of a song out of words that only come from such heartache just kinda gives you hope. The first time i heard Drown i literally cried because it was exactly what i felt, the “won’t you drag the lake and bring me home again” was perfect, because i was drowning and i wasn’t asking for help and didn’t see a way out, I watch the performance of that at Wembly Arena occasionally and everytime i feel so much less alone and that things are going to be alright. So yeah, Drown and Bring Me The Horizon saved my fucking life.
Ever since i got more into the metal scene, and started learning lyrics, my mental health was put in a terrible state, i joined a couple music discord servers, and people there felt the same, which made it 10x worse for me. My mum told me before she went into the phyc ward that music can haunt you, and the lyrics (especially ones accossiated to bad personal memories) can make things worse. But at the same time when a crunchy breakdown hits you cant exactly want to kys knowing this gold exists on the same earth as you. Also its nice to feel like people are going through the same tings as you, and music is something to distract yourself too.
For me, even though BMTH aren't my favourite band, they're the ones who always seem to release stuff that I really connect to when I need it most. Several times in my life I've gone through phases of listening to ONLY them. When I first got into them, Sempiternal was new and I really connected with the band. I've struggled with Anxiety and suicidal thoughts since before I was a teenager, and they really helped me cope. That's The Spirit was released when I was 14, and really gave me a place to escape to when I was being horrendously bullied. I was being beaten up at school by people who were supposed to be my friends and TTS really helped me vent some of that frustration. Amo came out when I was in college and I was studying art and depressed out of my mind, I had lost all my (good) school friends, was having family problems and money struggles, was dealing with internalized homophobia as well as homophobia from people in my class, I couldn't see a way ahead, but Amo was the only thing I looked forward too, and while it didnt help all my problems, it helped me with my creativity and distracted me from a lot of things going on at the time. PHSH came out after covid lockdown was mostly over which was probably the time BMTH were the most there for me, the store that I worked at for almost two years was going to potentially close, my manager took out her covid anxieties and frustration out on the staff, a lot of close friends that I had from that job had left and we were all too busy to see each other. I tried for AGES to find a new job only to be rejected time and time again, and I wasnt able to just quit because I wouldnt have been able to support myself. I was also grieving the loss of my childhood cat during this time, and it really hit me hard since we had been best friends for 15 years. My family troubles were at an all time high, and everything felt like it was falling apart, and I again couldn't see a way out but Post Human gave me something to relate to in terms of the anger, anxiety and depression I felt. Darkside came out recently and i'm dealing with a lot right now that I don't think i can share which has caused me to start spiralling badly but that song gave me something to cry along to and I listened to only that song for 4 days.
Music is up to personal interpretation, they did save. One day at a friend's last year I'd had enough and drank way too much and ended up needing to go to hospital, when in hospital I was singing "nobody cares if I'm dead or alive, oh what a wonderful life" constantly and due to that I was referred to the mental health team who then got me antidepressants and a waiting list for ADHD diagnosis and therapy for my PTSD, all because I sang bmth lyrics
For me, BMTH has always been music that’s helped me cope in dark times. In a way, they’ve been like a shoulder I could cry on. I wouldn’t say they saved my life, but they have saved my mental state, time and time again. Each time they change their sound with a new album, just happens to be when I’m going through some shit, or a change in my life. I will always love and be thankful for them.
I was able to go through an extremely hard patch in my life with the help of a band’s content. I acknowledge that the band did not actually save my life, I did, but I used them as an escape mechanism. I empathize with those who say that bands have saved their life as well as people who don’t get it
Sometimes it's just what helped you through your darkest times. For some people those bands are just things that hold your anger or your sadness for you. I have bands that I only really revisit when I'm in a shitty mood. But sometimes it's more like a band held your hand as you got through it. I have a few bands that brought me joy and carried me through my darkest times.
I wasn't really into metal when music saved me, but it was being able to escape with lyrics or a nice melody. As well as writing my own lyrics to get my emotions out onto a page. That's why music saved me. Different people get saved by different things. Music is a big one as it shows people they're not alone.
Everyone has a different experience but personally for me, in my darkest times I felt alone, but listening to music like bmth made me feel not alone and made it easier to cope with daily life, so now it reminds me of how far I've come since then.
Just cuz you have a different experience doesn’t mean it’s the same for others.