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Pop groups told not to announce split in case of suicides?

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Anonymous

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I guess this is sort of an urban legend...

I've heard in various forms the story that stupid/obsessed teenage girls attempted suicide after their favourite boy/girl bands broke up (although i don't think i've ever heard of a confirmed suicide)...

However the particular story that i've heard as a sort of a conspiracy theory more than once is that the reason the Spice Girls (i think) never officially announced that they were splitting up, even though they blatantly didn't make any more records after that ginger one left to marry Chris Evans (or whatever the story was, not particularly paying attention to such tabloid gossip headlines i'm not certain of the exact details, my knowledge is gathered mostly from Mark Lamarr taking the piss out of them on "Never Mind The Buzzcocks"... ;) ) was because there were suicides after the last really big teenage band (possibly Take That, or the one with Robbie whatshisface in it?) split up, and some shadowy body of forensic psychologists or something had predicted that there would be mass suicides if/when the Spice Girls split up, thus prompting a panic at the label which led to them being banned from saying they were splitting u, but rather just quietly fading away...

there are probably versions where it's some other band than the Spice Girls too... (S Club or whatever band it was that DolphinFriend guy on here a while back thought were haunting him or something?)

Does anyone know if there is any truth in this? And have there been any genuine, documented instances of anyone committing suicide because of a band splitting up?
 
At least one fan of Rudolph Valentino committed suicide when he died, but I've never heard of someone committing suicide because of a band splitting up, after all, the band members will still be alive won't they? Seems a bit extreme and if it did happen there would surely be other, personal, circumstances to take into consideration.
 
Re: Pop groups told not to announce split in case of suicide

Goldstein said:
However the particular story that i've heard as a sort of a conspiracy theory more than once is that the reason the Spice Girls (i think) never officially announced that they were splitting up, even though they blatantly didn't make any more records after that ginger one left to marry Chris Evans (or whatever the story was, not particularly paying attention to such tabloid gossip headlines i'm not certain of the exact details, my knowledge is gathered mostly from Mark Lamarr taking the piss out of them on "Never Mind The Buzzcocks"... ;) ) was because there were suicides after the last really big teenage band (possibly Take That, or the one with Robbie whatshisface in it?) split up, and some shadowy body of forensic psychologists or something had predicted that there would be mass suicides if/when the Spice Girls split up, thus prompting a panic at the label which led to them being banned from saying they were splitting u, but rather just quietly fading away...

more a make money from kids thing surely, their (and similar groups') fanbase would be less inclined to keep buying stuff after they've split, at least until they reach their twenties and go through the 90's nostalgia thing ;)

[edit] certainly when Geri left the Spice Girls were still massive-sellers, and any announcement of them splitting would hit sales badly, personally I think that's more likely to be the reason than a large multinational record company being particularly bothered by a few people killing themselves.

incidentally, the Spice Girls did make another record after Geri left, which didn't do that well :lol:
 
The spice girls have split up????

When did this happen and why wasn't I told? ;)
 
GNC said:
At least one fan of Rudolph Valentino committed suicide when he died, but I've never heard of someone committing suicide because of a band splitting up, after all, the band members will still be alive won't they? Seems a bit extreme and if it did happen there would surely be other, personal, circumstances to take into consideration.

There were cases of Beatles/John Lennon fans commiting suicide after his murder in December 1980 - Yoko had to release a statement to prevent more fans taking their own lives.
 
I remeber when Take That split up there were couselling helplines set up for fans to call they publicised them number after the press conference TT had annoucing it. Busted also had a press conference to annoucing they were splitting up. For the record I'm not a teenybopper although I did see Steps in concert :D

Some teenage girls can take things like that quite hard.
 
Apparently in Victorian Germany [and probably England], lots of girls killed themselves after reading "The sufferings of the young Werther" (?) [Das Leiden des jungen Werther].
The book is about some depressed young victorian geezer who is quite down...I think.
If a book can do this, why not a band?
Hormonally challenged people [aka Teenagers] are a strange bunch.
 
Dingo666 said:
Hormonally challenged people [aka Teenagers] are a strange bunch.

I often wonder how so many of them make it to adulthood!

Especially as their method of crossing roads seems to be avoiding the pedestrian crossing (because using it is uncool) and wondering aimlessly across the road in the belief that as long as the drivers see you they will stop.
 
lutzman said:
I often wonder how so many of them make it to adulthood!

Especially as their method of crossing roads seems to be avoiding the pedestrian crossing (because using it is uncool) and wondering aimlessly across the road in the belief that as long as the drivers see you they will stop.

They learn after a while, as motorists don't stop, they just swerve around the idiots crossing the road.
 
lutzman said:
Dingo666 said:
Hormonally challenged people [aka Teenagers] are a strange bunch.

I often wonder how so many of them make it to adulthood!

Especially as their method of crossing roads seems to be avoiding the pedestrian crossing (because using it is uncool) and wondering aimlessly across the road in the belief that as long as the drivers see you they will stop.

To be fair thats not just young people. I had to stop on a main road for a woman and a buggy the other day exactly 50 yards from a pelican crossing.
 
At least one fan of Rudolph Valentino committed suicide when he died, but I've never heard of someone committing suicide because of a band splitting up, after all, the band members will still be alive won't they? Seems a bit extreme and if it did happen there would surely be other, personal, circumstances to take into consideration.

There were a fair few suicides after Kurt Cobain killed himself, but you're right, I don't recall there being any stories about young people killing themselves over Busted's demise etc.
 
Well i was teatering there for a bit but managed to pull through.God bless McFly.
 
Someone tried to kill themself when Jackie Chan got a girlfriend, and I think there were worries that people would try when take that split up
 
My sister cried herself to sleep when Paul McCartney got married to Linda and declared that this meant the end of The Beatles (she was right) and that she couldn't live without them (she was wrong). She got over it and fell deeply in love with Marc Bolan instead :roll:

(Sis is still alive btw)

Jane.
 
My ex is obsessed with ex-Boyzone lead Ronan Keating, which was quite scary sometimes and extremely annoying when we were together. She's nearly 22 now, and is still madly obsessed with him after what, 10 years of him being in the public eye? I think she was in a mess when Boyzone did split, but I can't understand why she doesn't just grow out of it - she still acts like a bloody 13 year old when she sees him in concert! Barmy I say. Bloody barmy.
 
I took my sister to see Donovan on Sunday night and found that she is still scarily star-struck. I reckon that the first crush may stick, with some peeps anyway. ;)
 
I could have sworn I heard about it on tv or something when the Spice Girls split up. :? And, yeah, they did have another album after Geri left (the best of the three in my opinion). One interesting thing that may or may not be significant is that the first song they released off of that album was called "Good-bye".
 
unfortunately this ul might have an elemnt of truth to it. when Take That broke up one of my friends at school, who was unhealthily obsessed with them(even by hormonal teenager standards) first stopped eating and then, rather ineffectively, attempted self harm. fortunately she sonn got over it by transferring her affections to our French teacher!

i know i was wrecked when freddie mercury died.
 
oh ffs!

kids have to learn that everything comes to a end sooner or later,
the sooner theyre told that. the better!

were raising a generation wholl be to damn scared to do anything without "counselling" :roll:
 
So you mean we are becoming America then melf? ;)
 
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