Make It Stop (September’s Children) Lyrics

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About

Genius Annotation

This song stabs at homophobia for its link to teen suicide was the result with a message of hope. The punk-rock anthem lays a critic to diminishing homophobic slurs and lays a message of hope for those struggling with their identity.

On September 22, 2010, Tyler Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge. An eighteen-year-old student at Rutgers University in Piscataway Township, New Jersey, he was provoked into his tragic act after his sexual encounter with a man in his dorm room was video streamed by his roommate and a fellow hallmate over the Internet. The same month, Asher Brown, 13, Billy Lucas, 15, Raymond Chase, 19, and Seth Walsh, 13, all committed suicide, in each case allegedly due to being taunted about their homosexuality. The series of suicides made national news, bringing to light the subject of bullying and the plight of gay teenagers in the US. Seeing that none of his rock music contemporaries were saying anything about the troubling issue, Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath knew he had to speak up.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Rise Against say about "Make It Stop (September's Children)"?
Genius Answer

Tim McIlrath spoke about this song:

The song was written inspired of the teen suicides in the month of September 2010, who were bullied for being homosexual. It deals about how people are treated from homophobic bullying and feeling so tormented that they feel there’s no place for them in the future and that killing themselves is a better option.

After the music video was nominated for the MTV Video Music Awards' Best Video with a Message award, McIlrath revealed that “Make It Stop (September’s Children)” was also based on a gay friend of his who committed suicide when he was young. He added to his comment on MTV News by saying:

When the month of September rolled around, and the wave of gay-teen suicides happened, I realized there needed to be a song about this, and also because the rock scene in general kind of fails to comment about this stuff — it sort of doesn’t comment about this stuff; it largely ignores this kind of thing.

And rock being a male-dominated, testosterone-driven place that I’ve been in the eye of the hurricane now for several years, I realized that it can be a place that can perpetuate homophobic behavior unless it’s addressed by bands like us."

McIlrath also spoke about the song’s message:

The message is: It can get better, it does get better, give it a chance to get better, don’t end your life prematurely. And don’t give credence to all these bullies that would give you all this crap and try to make your adolescence something that’s hard to deal with.

Credits
Lyricist
Mastering Engineer
Assistant Mixer
Recorded At
The Blasting Room, Fort Collins, Colorado
Release Date
January 1, 2011
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