Every month, new trends go viral, while old ones fade away. Trending songs blow up on apps like TikTok, inspiring young creators to follow new video formats and dance trends. However, sometimes these trends bring more negatives than positives — with people being oblivious to the message sent within the song clip they are posting. This is the case with a new trend using Alice in Chains’, “Them Bones.”
The trend is meant to show off people’s weight and how they worked to become healthier — showing their progress. The video transitions from them in the past, to their current look, ending with the lyrics, “Gonna end up a big ol’ pile of them bones.”
While this may seem like a harmless trend, the implications of this song seem to be missed by those participating. The lyrics, “Gonna end up a big ol’ pile of them bones,” refer to the weight loss associated with drug addiction, and more specifically heroin abuse. On April 2, 2002, the vocalist of Alice in Chains, Layne Staley, passed away due to an overdose. At Staley’s time of death, he weighed in at just around 86 pounds, a shocking size for his 6 ‘1 frame.
The trend glamorizes weight loss, forgetting that the song has a very real, grounded meaning associated with abuse as well as Staley’s death. He truly died “a big ol’ pile of them bones,” and it is dangerous to see people use “Them Bones” in such a way. Its use is not just harmful, but disrespectful to Staley’s passing.
The trend stems from online communities, many of which are denoted as “ED TikTok” or “ED Twitter,” of course standing for eating disorders. With the videos having blatant body checking, an action that is oftentimes associated with EDs, they only exacerbate the danger of trends like these. The glorification of these trends needs to die. Time and time again these trends pop up, triggering those who have suffered with EDs while pushing youth on the track for them.
