Where Visibility Meets Stigmatization

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I'm not sure how I feel about Paste's list of 10 brilliant musicians who've battled mental illness. Aside from the somewhat problematic language used in the title (I hate the phrase "battled mental illness"), something about listing the ten really great artists who happen to have a mental illness -- the same way one would the ten best songs about rain, or the ten greatest albums to take with you on a desert island -- seems wrong. Visibility is a wonderful thing (I had no idea Ray Davies had bipolar disorder), but the reality is the "damaged genius" trope almost always comes with exploitation. It's hard to imagine a Nick Drake, a Syd Barrett, or a Kurt Cobain without the accompanying stories of such "brilliant madness."

I'm not denying having celebrity representation is a worthy and valuable tool in overcoming some of the stigma attached to mental illness, but as often the case with musicians and writers, mental illness is seen as a badge of authenticity. I think it's telling that I mentioned that I never knew Ray Davies had bipolar disorder. Unlike Syd Barrett or Nick Drave, it isn't one of the first things mentioned in article written about him. I wonder how he managed to mostly escape the stereotype?



Another thing I'd like to briefly touch on is how women in the industry who've talked openly about their mental illness are treated differently from male artists who have. The list is very male-centric save for the addition of Poly Styrene and Sinead O'Connor. Kristin Hersh, another songwriter who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, had this to say about the media's attention to her illness and how it has become part of her legacy in a 2003 Venus interview:

[...] I was very disappointed in that particular angle because people had implied that music was made by crazy people before and I had always said, "No, this is what would come out of your wife or your friend. It's only strange to your ears because you were raised on Top 40." That was my argument and I stand by it, so to have them say, "Ah we knew it!" [when she said she had bipolar disorder] was disappointing and yet people weren't cruel about it. I still don't think [songwriting] has anything to do with that, and I'm not sure I agree I was ever bipolar.

As someone who's been on the other side of mental illness -- as a family member and caregiver -- this hasn't been the easiest post to write, and I'm sure I've made a few glaring errors myself. As I said earlier, representation is essential, and I don't think the list was intentionally in bad taste, but I'd rather have the artists tell their stories themselves instead of seeing them laid out in list-form