Twenty One Pilots is an American musical duo originating out of Columbus, Ohio. The band was formed in 2009 with original members Tyler Joseph, Nick Thomas and Chris Salih. In 2011, Thomas and Salih left the band due to busy schedules. Tyler Joseph was soon joined by Josh Dun. Tyler came up with the band's name while studying “All My Sons” by Arthur Miller, a play based on a true story about a man who made the decision to send out faulty airplane parts to the U.S. Army during World War II. As a result, twenty-one pilots died when their planes crashed. The main character tries to justify why he sent those parts out. He ultimately ended up committing suicide at the end of the play. Tyler explains that this story of moral dilemma was the inspiration for the name of the band. It’s a constant reminder that you have to make the right decision even though it may be a hard decision. Tyler Joseph explains this by saying, “Basically, we are all responsible for the preservation of our personal joy; but happiness is different. Joy is not circumstantial, happiness is.”
Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S., experiences mental illness in a given year. Adults tend to believe that youth don’t actually experience these mental illnesses. Twenty One Pilots’ song “Guns for Hands” addresses this problem. Tyler expresses this when he says “… I feel like a lot of the older generation, when they hear about someone struggling with it, their first reaction is like, ‘No you’re not, you’re not struggling with that, don’t think about that, you know, think about something else, you know, you’re just trying to get attention’”. Adults may think this but they aren’t the only ones who experience mental illness. In fact, high school age kids can experience mental illness more severely than an adult. 1 in 5 youth aged kids, experience a severe mental disorder at some point during their life. Joseph says, “‘Guns for Hands’” is talking about, I wanna tell you that I know you have the ability to hurt yourself” and even if people are ignoring that…“this song really was trying to say I know you have the ability to hurt yourself, I recognize that, but let’s take that energy and let’s point it at something else, let’s divert that, let’s kind of shift momentum and look at something like art, or something like this music specifically or even point it at me, you know, just point it anywhere but just don’t point it at yourself.”
In the first verse of “Guns for Hands”, Tyler is letting you know that he has been where you, the listener, have been.
I know what you think in the morning
When the sun shines on the ground
And shows what you have done
It shows where your mind has gone
And you swear to your parents
That it will never happen again
I know, I know-ow-ow what that means,
I know-ow-ow-ow
It refers to your thoughts in the morning, the regret and fear, seeing what you did the night before, whether that being, self-harm or attempted suicide. Another interpretation could be that the rising of the sun is a relief, revealing that you’ve survived another round with your darkest demons. You lie to your parents and the ones you love, telling them that it you won’t ever happen again, even though you know you’re not fine. Tyler is letting you know that he knows what you’re actually saying, and that he knows how you feel because he has been there himself.
In the chorus Tyler is acknowledging the fact, that everyone has their own kind of “gun” and they never stop to think about putting the “safety” on.
That you all have guns
And you never put the safety on
And you all have plans
To take it, to take it, don't take it, take it, take it
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
They’re just sitting there contemplating, instead of talking to someone about it or thinking of the people who love you. He knows they all have plans to harm themselves or take their lives, but he’s begging you not to. Tyler is losing sleep over the thought that there are people out there who are trying to harm themselves on purpose, or even kill themselves.
In the second verse, Tyler is trying to get the listeners who are struggling with things in their life, whatever they may be, to slow down and take each day one second at a time.
Let's take this a second at a time
Let's take this one song, this one rhyme
Together, let's bre-eathe
Together, to the beat
But there's hope out the window
So that's where we'll go-o-o
Let's go outside and all join hands
But until then you'll never understand
He wants them to use the music. Stop listening to the thoughts in your head, listen to the lyrics, and really listen. Together, you can focus on breathing to the beat of the music, and you can relax in the assurance that you aren’t alone. You can start over each morning if you need to. If you are holding hands with someone, you can’t use them to harm yourself, and until then you won’t realize what you’ve been doing to yourself and others.
In the last verse, Tyler has a lot to say. Again, he is acknowledging the fact that you have the power to hurt yourself, and he hopes that this music will allow you to find a different escape.
We've turned our hands to guns, traded our thumbs for ammunition
I must forewarn you, of my disorder, or my condition
Cause when the sun sets, it upsets what's left of my invested interest
Interested in putting my fingers to my head
The solution is, I see a whole room of these mutant kids
Fused at the wrist, I simply tell them they should shoot at this
Simply suggest my chest and this confused music, it's
Obviously best for them to turn their guns to a fist
He’s trying to explain that our hands, tools of creation, can just as easily be turned into tools of destruction. He wants to warn you of his disorder, he’s letting you know that when the sun sets and he is left alone with his thoughts, they consume him. Killing what is left with the little interest he had in staying alive that day, now leaving him more interested in harming himself. His solution is bringing all the people that feel this way together, to help one another. Even though they want to harm themselves sometimes, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t hesitant to do just that. So, Tyler is suggesting that you take that harmful energy and aim it at something else, anything else, if it’s at him.
“Guns for Hands” is one of my favorite songs by twenty one pilots. It addresses the fact that a lot of people are struggling with the questions “What’s the point?”, “What’s my purpose?”, and “Why am I here?” and without the answers to these questions, it can sometimes cause you to do something that shouldn’t do. The purpose of twenty one pilots making music is to “make people think.” Think about those questions that sometimes haunt our existence and come to a decision about what you believe, even if you decide that you don’t believe in anything.
I’ll leave you with one last quote from Tyler Joseph: “When you write about stuff like that, kids will come out of the dark to see if there truly are people just like them.”
