The Falling Boy: Pete Wentz
Pete Wentz, a total heartthrob for angsty teenage girls, and younger musicians idolize him. No bassist has upstaged a frontman like him, with the habit for grabbing headlines: from his suicide attempt, photos with celebrities like Kanye West, or his extravagant Alice In Wonderland themed wedding to his ex-wife Ashlee Simpson. Wentz might seem like he has it all and more, but truth is, he had to hit rock bottom before he even got to his superstar status now. Pete Wentz overcame depression by realizing that he needed to change, expressing his feeling through his lyrics, and having a son to care for.
Around the peak of Fall Out Boy’s career, Wentz was abusing Xanax and Klonopin like it was candy. Even if he tried to cut back once Bronx was born, when the hiatus began he relapsed badly. "I was probably physically and mentally addicted," Wentz says. "It started from insomnia and anxiety from flying, then it spiraled.” Wentz was paranoid all the time, even had his house checked for bugs; he was scared of everything (Fall Out Boy: Life After Emo). It was like there was no escape, his life was a constant nightmare. Wentz said, “I was paralyzed by anxiety and depression at the beginning of my career, and I felt so lost and alone I attempted suicide.” Wentz said, "The darkest moment was when we had just finished recording out major label record and two days later we were going to go to Europe and I felt completely lost and out of control” (A Depressed Pete Wentz Attempted Suicide). But even music affects the musicians such as Wentz, saying that Jeff Buckley’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” saved his life (Rolling Stone). His suicide attempt was actually in his car in the parking lot of a Best Buy. Went...
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...r the suicide attempts, Wentz still came through. Came through for himself, the band, and his son. Wentz being here still, alive and healthy is important not only for his family members or band members, it’s important to the fans as well. He has saved lives, helped people with their own depression and addictions, and much more. Really, this teenage heartthrob covered in thick guyliner and skinny jeans is a saint in disguise.
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Sheff references Kurt Cobain’s suicide note saying “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” This seems to comes to represent what seems to be Nic’s ending unless he gets the help he needs. Nic was on a path that was seeming to lead to death by overdose, in which he would “burn out” instead of being able to “fade away like an old soldier”. Kurt Cobain is referenced again when Sheff states that he “wants to scream like Kurt Cobain. I want to scream at him.” This gives insight as to how the musical stylings of Kurt Cobain seem to be a trigger for David Sheff’s memories of his addict of a son. These references illustrate the emotion that is being felt by the author while making connections to the life of a famous man who was a great influence on Sheff’s
Releasing Emotion Everyone has good days and bad days, good months and bad months, but what people need when they are down is someone to talk to. In the short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin, Sonny is in a rough patch in life, and he has no one to share his feelings with. Sonny turns to music to let out his emotions, but like many artists, he struggles to do so. He turns to drugs to make his troubles go away, but this leads to even more problems.
In Justin Pearson's memoir, From the Graveyard of the arousal Industry, he recounts the events that occured from his early years of adolesence to the latter years of his adulthood telling the story of his unforgiving and candid life. Set in the late 1970s "Punk" rock era, From the Graveyard of the Arousal Industry offers a valuable perspective about the role culture takes in our lives, how we interact with it and how it differs from ideology.
Fame, flashing lights, screaming fans. Poverty, neglectful parents, no real feeling of having a home. Even though these words paint two very different pictures, they both have one thing in common, a story of resilience. In the autobiography Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It by Nick Carter and Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle, Carter and Walls both have internal and external factors that are the basis of their struggles, but their mental and emotional resilience helps them to overcome their hardships in an unfavorable environment.
Suicide is the most accepted theory to Kurt Cobain’s death, gaining support from not only the Seattle Police Department but Cobain’s own family at the time of death. Cobain was reported to have been clinically depressed for the majority of his life and was crippled with severe drug addiction. In photographs taken of the body viewers can plainly see the medical bracelet for the drug rehab center he had broken out of. He was completely dependent on heroin and was quoted saying “This is the only thing saving me from blowing my head off”. Band members also reported that Cobain was disconnected from his friends and family during his final days. Photos of Kurt Cobain’s body have been stated to show Cobain splayed out on the floor with a shotgun firmly gripped in his hand and a box of
Our hero is Kurt Cobain, he is considered a hero because he helped many people in the 1990’s feel happy with his music, and the things that he spoke out against. In the 1990’s about 60,000 families were divorced, most of them had teens. Those teens could relate to Kurt Cobain, and he told them that they weren’t alone.Some background information about Kurt Cobain is that when he was going into his early 20’s he started experience stomach pain due to his scoliosis. This is the reason that he started to take heroin. When he was in high school, he met the bassist of Nirvana, Krist Novoselic, and they became instant friends. They started to practice together every day, and they recorded their first album “Bleach” with Chad Channing on drums. The best reason that Kurt Cobain is our hero is because he knew that he was famous in all but he thought “Since I am well known then maybe I can help prevent men from raping women”.
Music can also help people, particularly those going through painful times (such as adolescence) to understand that they are not alone and that other people have the same feelings that they do. After grunge-rock superstar Kurt Cobain committed suicide in April 1994, one fan wrote to Rolling Stone magazine describing how the music of Cobain's band, Nirvana, made her feel. "I could be feeling like total shit," wrote Carrie Loy, "and hear a Nirvana song and end up feeling renewed afterward.
Some people are born to become legends, Bruce Springsteen is one of them. From the second he was born and through his younger years everyone knew he was destined for something bigger than a regular nine to five life, they just didn’t realize the magnitude of what was to come. Born into a all around food middle-class family, no on in that house hold even Bruce, didn’t realize that within fifty years he would reach living legend status. Also have a title of one of the best musicians to every live. After working hard at what he loves, Bruce has become known as a musical hero and inspiration to his fans and fellow musicians. With his deep lyrics, amazing stage presence, incredible guitar skills, and his passion, he is an untouchable force in the music industry. Using his lyrics to vent his emotions and past, but to also add awareness to social issues around the world. Bruce and his love for music affected him his whole life, and has shaped into what he is today. His music now affects the world. His music has truly changed the world (musically and socially) forever.
Celebrity success is often idolized as a magic solution in which all of an individual’s problems will suddenly be erased and furthermore, the new on-brought attention will bring positive and lifting influence to the individual. Unfortunately, success is often not the solution. In To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar discusses his path to success, as well as the disappointment and turmoil associated with fame to demonstrate that success does not alleviate depression.
lead to him starting his own band. This was all at the age of seventeen.
Many people have heard or were even fans of the famous band Nirvana. Even if the name isn't entirely familiar, songs from them are popularly known because of the band's great success. On April 5, 1994, the world lost a legendary rock singer, Kurt Cobain. Being the front man of the successful band Nirvana, he created a new era of rock called grunge. Along with the predictable troubles of fame came difficulties in Kurt's life, struggling with his drug addiction, spasmodic behavior, and medical problems that were never examined nor treated. One might agree and say yes, it is obvious Kurt committed suicide but many others beg to differ. His death greatly affected Nirvana fans and some began to speculate that his death, in fact, was not a suicide. Even though Kurt Cobain's life was difficult with the fame and his bipolar disorder, his death isn't believed to be suicidal because, he and his wife, Courtney Love, were on bad terms; he was leaving behind a two-year-old daughter, and Nirvana was at the height of its success.
him- what more should or could we have done? Cobain left behind a fairly new family.
depressed that he wishes he could melt away into nothingness or commit suicide. It is also very apparent in this
... Cobain is dead at the age of 27. He leaves behind a wife who loved him, a daughter who will never know him and millions of strangers whose lives have been enriched because he lived. (53)
The Beach Boys were a sensation throughout the 1960s. While it has been said that their best albums weren’t respected until many years later, there is not a doubt that they were one of the most popular and influential musical groups in history. The Beach Boys’ front man, Brian Wilson suffers from mental illness (Moverman, 2015). For many years he had a greedy psychotherapist that misdiagnosed him in an attempt to essentially drug him to death (Moverman, 2015). A documentary showcasing the life of Brian Wilson depicts the struggles he faced, and still faces with what is now known as schizoaffective disorder (Moverman, 2015). He called it Love & Mercy, after a song he released after finally receiving the proper treatment for his