MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - TEENAGERS (REACT: Lyric Breakdown)

♪ (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) ♪