A rather sweeping quote was unveiled this week from Foster The Peoples Mark Foster. The pop hit “Pumped up Kicks was to address the growing problem of teenage mental illness and depression. Funny this information is only now being heralded in the aftermath of the Newtown massacres.
Fosters song was pulled from the airwaves in respect for the tragedy, as the song tells the story of mass shooting.
Songwriter Foster hopes the renewed attention on the tune's lyrics will lead to a greater good. A statement from Foster to CNN.com, reads, "I wrote Pumped Up Kicks when I began to read about the growing trend in teenage mental illness. I wanted to understand the psychology behind it because it was foreign to me. It was terrifying how mental illness among youth had skyrocketed in the last decade. I was scared to see where the pattern was headed if we didn't start changing the way we were bringing up the next generation… This song was written as a way to create ongoing dialogue for an issue that was being talked about, but when it came to government intervention, was largely being ignored…
"Now, this topic is finally at the forefront of major discussion and will hopefully lead to some big changes in policy that will prevent these acts of violence from happening in the future. That being said, I respect people's decision to press pause. And if that becomes a catalyst for a bigger conversation that could lead to positive change moving forward, then I absolutely support it.
"My heart goes out to Newtown and anyone that's ever been affected directly or indirectly by gun violence. The only way we're going to be able to change this, is to raise a loud, booming, unified voice and not let politics get in the way of humanity. We're all neighbours and this is in our back yard. It's only going to stay there if we let it. Peace and love."
Do you think society will ever be able to have a tragedy that doesn’t tie to music’s genre or a particular song? Every mass killing wanders back to a simple tune. As we look for scapegoats perhaps we should be looking at the parents of these killing children and see what’s really happening behind these well manicured gates. Please let me know when you come across a mass shooting carried out by a poverty level inner city kid. Until then, fear the obvious.