♪ (rock music) ♪
"They're gonna clean up your looks
with all the lies in the books
to make a citizen out of you."
I am confused and intrigued.
I think I might know what this is.
It's My Chemical Romance: Teenagers.
They tryin' to clean you
and tryin' to make you proper,
but, nah, you're not about that.
The person, right, is an outcast or almost a rebel
and they're gonna make them into a cookie-cutter type of person.
He or she probably was dressed like a rebel or something
that doesn't match society, so they're gonna make her look
something that society would be okay with.
Sounds like somebody's conforming to the government standard.
It's already pretty deep from what I can pick up.
"Because they sleep with a gun
and keep an eye on you, son,
so they can watch all the things you do."
It's kind of reminding me of System of a Down.
"Keep an eye on you, son."
I'm assuming they're talking about someone younger.
"So they can watch all the things you do."
That kinda reminds me of the NSA.
I'm pretty sure this talking about America and the government.
Like Edward watching Bella or something
when they're sleeping, it sounds that guy's like
"I'm gonna be watching you, like, all the time!"
The parents are always, like, watching out for their kids
and making sure they don't go out and do bad stuff...
(sarcastically) like all teenagers do.
"Because the drugs never work,
they're gonna give you a smirk
'cause they've got methods of keeping you clean."
Thinking of a really dark futuristic thing,
kind of like 1984, George Orwell.
It sounds like this person's in rehab
and the medication they're trying to give you
to control whatever you have, what they think is wrong with you.
Prescription drugs make you "better".
This stuff never works, actually.
It just makes you more depressed.
The drugs are the lies.
Like, they have other ways that they can make sure
that you don't do anything bad that they don't want you to do.
"They're gonna rip up your heads,
your aspirations to shreds,
another cog in the murder machine."
You're predestined to be how they want you to be
and anything you want to be, you should just totally forget about it.
You go into the machine as, maybe, a happy kid with big dreams
and come out as a dull person who just works a regular job
during the day.
I feel like this is just kind of what society does to you.
It tries to take away everything that makes you unique and cool
and interesting so you can fit in and be what society thinks is normal.
You're a machine.
You're programmed to do this set of things
because this path is okay with society.
"The boys and girls in the clique,
the awful names that they stick,
you're never gonna fit in much, kid."
So this is bullying, when people who different,
and slapping a label on them.
This is about how the popular people,
they're always gonna bully you or tease you for not being like them.
I don't like this song. It's making me feel sad.
"But if you're troubled and hurt,
what you got under your shirt
will make them pay for the things that they did."
Now it's taking a darker path,
so I'm assuming that they're talking about guns,
like what you've got under your shirt.
Recently, you know, we have all these school shootings
of people going crazy 'cause of bullying.
But this guy's kind of taking it to an extreme.
Deep down inside, you're gonna far in life
and you're gonna make the kids that bullied you pay
and you're gonna make them look like fools.
"All together now, all teenagers scare the living [bleep] out of me.
They could care less as long as someone will bleed."
The person singing this song,
up to now it's him talking about how all teenagers
who are cliquey and so conformed scare him.
He himself is now scared of teenagers, not all of society.
This is the parents beyond teenagers and how parents
and the authority figures are just scared of all the rebellion.
The higher power is actually more scared of you, the teenager,
than you are of it, therefore they're going to
try to brainwash you-- they don't care how they do it as long as you bleed.
"So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose.
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me."
These feelings are really angsty and really betrayed and upset.
Are we talking about emo people or depressed people
or suicidal teenagers?
Maybe those people that are bullying you
will leave you alone, but not me.
Maybe the singer's trying to help these teenagers get past it.
So they're gonna leave you alone 'cause, guess what,
people are gonna forget about you, but the singer, he cares.
He's gonna reach out to that person and help 'em out.
At one point I thought it was the government, or the people,
the teenagers-- this the most confusing song of all time, dude.
(Finebros) What's this song about?
How, as a teenager, you should react to bullying.
School shootings and violence and stuff.
Someone who puts a façade of being tough and mean,
but in reality they need help.
A higher power attempting to brainwash teenagers
and other people that may seem like a threat
to their order of the world.
Authority and society aren't letting teenagers
make their own decisions for themselves.
(Finebros) The artists states that this song is a commentary
on kids being viewed as meat by the government and by society.
As meat? That doesn't surprise me.
It conforming teenagers to be the new model of citizens.
Kids are looked at as-- I wouldn't say meat,
but blank disks that you can download all your information on.
We're gonna get these kids. We've got them.
We're gonna put them through the machine,
make 'em do whatever you want, conform 'em so they can be
our 9-to-5 workers for the rest of their life.
You should just be who you are,
whether you're the coolest kid on the block
or that nerdy art kid sitting in the back of the room.
Everyone should just kind of stop trying to mold these kids
in a way they don't want to be because, in the long run,
even if they'll be richer or cooler they're not gonna be happier.
They're like, "Oh, but you're our future generation.
You're the one who's gonna be innovative."
But how do we be innovative if we can't think for ourselves?
(Finebros) So do you know the song's artist and title?
I don't know! Anyone, really.
I can guess. Eminem?
Jay-Z? Kanye West?
It might Nirvana.
Someone Will Bleed by Nirvana.
Teenagers. I don't know. Just throwing that out there.
Don't think that's right.
Blink 182? Green Day?
Fall Out Boy.
Simple Plan?
My Chemical Romance?
It's Teenagers by My Chemical Romance.
(Finebros) It's called Teenagers by My Chemical Romance.
Yep, that explains a lot.
Teenagers totally makes sense as a song title.
(Finebros) It's called Teenagers by My Chemical Romance.
(gasps) Oh, it's My Chem--
(groans)
Oh my god. I was way off.
I listened to their stuff in elementary school
and they would be talking about stuff like this.
I was never a big My Chemical Romance fan.
I can appreciate their music.
I've never heard this song though.
I've never actually thought about this song.
I just know it's catchy. I never analyzed it.
Thanks for watching us break down Teenagers on the React channel.
Subscribe, everybody. New shows every week!
Comment what song you want us to break down next.
See you guys. And, remember, be yourself.
♪ (rock music) ♪