On Say Anything “Fans,” Max Bemis, and Romanticizing Mental Illness

Another year, another Say Anything album! The release of a new SA record is, for me, the greatest event that a human being can experience. Every one is new and exciting. I’m not even a “lyrics person” but for some reason, in 48 hours, I know all the words to every song on the new SA. I just find them compelling, straight up. Other people disagree, and I’m well aware of that But the new record really made me think… Check out these lyrics to “Judas Decapitation,” from the new record Hebrews (which is, by the way, killing it with critics) "I hate that dude, now that he’s married He’s got a baby on the way, poor Sherri That’s not apropos, he’s not the wretch we know Chop his family up so we can feed them to the front row Spike his fifteenth espresso with drugs So he’s convinced it’s a manic delusion to know true love Be 19 with a joint in hand, never change the band Never ever be a dot dot dot real man”Sounds like all that criticism is getting to frontman Max Bemis, and for good reason, too. Look at the pathetic expectation that many SA fans actually have: let’s take this happy punk rocker away from that insipid family of his and get him back on the sauce, and then maybe he’ll make real music with balls again It’s what leads to shit like this (sadly, on my beloved “elite” P2P site, What.cd): Okay, let’s dance Say Anything “fans” need to remember that when they long for the bipolar wretch that was Max Bemis in 2004, that they’re romanticizing mental illness in a big way. Do you realize how the post-…is a Real Boy mélee could have ended? He could have been one more Bon Scott, Syd Barrett, Ian Curtis, Elliot Smith, Bradley Nowell, or any other insert-name-here burnout rocker with a legacy consisting of a handful of decent songs and a drug overdose Instead, Max got the happy ending that people pine for. Hipsters sit around and they say, “Aw, man, can you imagine the music that Kurt Cobain would be making today? If he was still around?" Well, yeah, I can. If he was still around, it means he’d’ve overcome addiction and depression, and it would be happy, triumphant, spiritual music. Meaningful music. And if there’s one thing the Pitchfork set can’t stand, it’s anything that dares to tell them to go choke on their irony No, if Kurt was here today, he’d have a circlejerk of haters in every café, lamenting the pre-album-seven days when he had “an edge,” comparing his latest expertly-composed piano ballad of devotion to Courtney to the sneer of “Pay To Play,” the "real, non-saccharine pathos" of “Dumb.” Can I just speak for everyone here when I say (GIF of Castiel from Supernatural turning and walking away, caption, “Fuck this shit.”) I for one am ecstatic that Max Bemis is happy, well-fed, in love, a father, a dog owner, a religious believer. This is what we wish all those Forever 27 junkies lived to see, amirite? Did not want Hendrix, Moon, Joplin, Morrison, Drake, Johnson, Buckley, Vicious, Lennon, to live to experience and know and feel those very same things?! We did this to Rivers Cuomo and now we do it to Max. It’s fucked Bipolar disorder is not there for your entertainment or your amusement. Drug addiction is not there for your entertainment or your amusement. They are painful and very unfortunate things that happen to good people and can be treated so that those people can live a good life. But you know what is there for your entertainment and amusement? MUSIC Listen to it