This is a brief story I would like to share about how a song saved a girl from killing herself.
I was in my car listening to Casey Kasem on satellite radio when he read the letter of a young girl in Alabama written some years ago. She had endured many years of abuse from her alcoholic mother. At a very weak moment in her life her boyfriend had moved with his family to Oklahoma, the boyfriend Jesse, was her best and only friend as well as the person that held the key to her heart. Feeling there was nowhere else to turn she found herself in her bedroom holding a gun to her own head. After a full night of despair and trying to find a reason to live, she pulled the trigger. The gun jammed, no bullet was fired. In a hysterical state, she tried desperately to figure out what was wrong with the gun. As she sat committed to ending her life, her morning radio alarm clock went off. The DJ had announced that the next song would be “Dancing Queen” from Abba, contrary to the announcement he played Barry Manilow’s “Can’t Smile Without You”. This was the song that Jesse had always dedicated to her and she decided to put the gun down and call her friend. She was explaing to Jesse that she felt helpless that she couldn’t help her mother and her mother wouldn’t help herself, and that they would both be dead soon, her from a gunshot and her mother from alcohol abuse. At that moment her mother who had over heard the conversation came into her room in tears and promised to get some help to save the life of her daughter. At the time the letter was written the mom was in a rehabilitation facility and our girl from Alabama was enjoying a life with new meaning. The DJ never explained why he played that record but it was the song that saved her life.
I spent many years in the music industry, and like so many of us were exposed to the criticisms and congressional hearings on the negative impact of some popular music. Some of this backlash was certainly warranted, primarily as it related to the negative social messages being delivered from the rap and metal communities. From the beginnings of recorded music when religious zealots would go on about how much popular music was too seductive, and condemned teens to an eternity in hell if they listened to it, to the point where a single person was able to convince millions of people that playing the Beatles Sgt. Peppers backwards offered satanic messages. Some of the most harshly criticized artists and songs of the modern music include; Slipknot’s “Surfacing”, Bile’s “In league”, and Marilyn Manson’s “Irresponsible Hate Anthem”. Rap songs Tupac Shakur’s, “Hit’em Up”, Ice Cube’s, “No Vaseline” and finally Eminem’s “Kim.”
Studies that have been conducted on music preference link preference with various social conditions or behaviors. Wass, Miller, & Stevenson (1989) found that students who listened to music that promotes homicide, suicide, or satanic practices were more likely to have remarried or unmarried parents and more likely to be white males in urban public schools. Another study found that there is a strong correlation between a preference for rock music that has destructive themes and antisocial or destructive behavior (Wass, Miller, & Redditt, 1991). In addition, there is a link between preference for heavy metal or rap and below average grades, behavioral problems, sexual activity, drug and alcohol use, and arrests (Took & Weiss, 1994). It is important to note that correlational studies do not verify any cause and effect relationship heavy metal or rap and a given behavior.
Studies have focused on whether music lyrics can be directly blamed for the rise in adolescent suicide. The general consensus of these studies is that while there may be a connection between music and suicide, suicidal ideation, and thoughts of suicide (Scheel & Westefeld, 1999), there is no empirical data that links heavy metal or rap to suicidal behavior (Ballard & Coates, 1995). These conclusions, however, have not stopped lawsuits from being filed holding music liable for the suicides of young people. The rock band Judas Priest was blamed for the suicide of two males, 18 and 20 years of age. The court found that while the music did have a “toxic influence” or a negative effect on adolescents, it could not solely be blamed for the actions of the youths (Litman & Farberow, 1994).
The conflict will most likely on for as long as angst ridden teans are writing and recording music. I thought it important to publish an example of music having a positive impact on suicidal behavior and how it can lift a person out of the depths of despair. I am a person that has always leaned on music to comfort me during times of emotional despair or confusion. I have no doubts that there are as many positive impressions in defense of music, as there are negative. Please let me know if you know of any.
Steve Smith
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