Yesterday evening, I was reminded of a song I really like: Without You by Badfinger. As I listened to the song again, I read about the band’s story, and the tragic events that impacted Without You‘s two songwriters, Pete Ham and Tom Evans. Ham, the band’s singer and guitarist, died by suicide at the age of 27 in 1975. In the months that led to his death, his mental health had declined. Badfinger’s drummer Mike Gibbins recalls1: “I saw Pete in the house put a cigarette out on his wrist, and have a scar, a burn mark”. Whether this self-injurious behavior was repeated or a one-off instance is unknown. The band’s bassist Tom Evans sadly followed the same path and took his life almost 10 years after.
Ham’s self-injury makes me think of Geezer Butler, Black Sabbath’s bassist, who engaged in self-injury in the late 1960s. “I used to be a cutter,” he said to Classic Rock magazine2. “I’d cut my arms, stick pins in my fingers, that kind of thing. I used to get really depressed and it was the only thing that could bring me out from it”. He elaborated on this in his autobiography Into the Void3: “Sometimes, to relieve my anxiety and depression, I’d cut my arm with a razor blade or stick pins in myself. This stopped when I cut myself so deep my arm poured blood, which frightened me so much I never did it again”.
Male self-injury in the 1960s and 70s is not something we typically expect. Were these two cases rare occurrences? It’s hard to tell, but they probably were not the only ones.
In the 1990s, representation of self-injury increased in the media, pop culture, and books. Several celebrities also became known to self-injure, such as princess Diana or Richey Edwards, which began expanding public awareness4. But it was about three decades earlier, in the 1960s and early 70s, that research about self-injury bloomed, especially in the United States, and that self-cutting became the archetype of self-harm5. Prior to that, self-poisoning was considered the most common form of self-harm, and was seen as a means of communication or a cry for help. With the emergence of self-cutting, self-harm became understood as a way to regulate emotion5. Our two cases coincide with that evolution. Yet, studies of the time were limited to clinical settings and predominantly focused on female “delicate self-cutting”, perpetuating gender stereotypes5. Because of that, it’s difficult to evaluate the prevalence of self-injury in the community, and especially among men. It seems more cautious though to assume that some men also engaged in self-injury at the time, and that they were unfortunately not documented. The two previously mentioned cases might just be part of a wider hidden phenomenon.
Stigma might partially explain the invisibility of such cases, as it made it very difficult for people to open up about their psychological difficulties. “Back then, people didn’t talk about mental health,” remarks Geezer Butler in his autobiography3. “If you felt down, you just got on with it. It’s certainly not something I could have discussed with my bandmates, or anyone else for that matter.”
“I stopped self-harming after I cut myself so badly I wouldn’t stop bleeding,” continues Butler in his autobiography3. “But when I went to the doctor to ask his opinion, he simply said, ‘Just go down the pub and have a couple of pints, or maybe take the dog for a walk. You’ll be alright after that.’ That was a common solution back then – not pills or therapy but I knew a couple of pints weren’t going to make me better.” While self-injury probably wasn’t as widespread at the time as it is nowadays, it doesn’t mean people were not struggling. Substance use could be one way for people to try cope with their mental health issues.
Self-harm appears to exist throughout genders and time, but its forms are constantly evolving, hence the importance of documenting them before they disappear. Interestingly, the cases of Geezer Butler and Pete Ham might be more understandable nowadays, as stigmas have lowered and knowledge has expanded.
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References
[1] Gibbins, M. (n.d.). Badfinger Doc 4 of 6. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyQtnUpMLbA
[2] Lach, S. (2016, May 18). Geezer Butler: I used to cut myself. Louder Sound. https://www.loudersound.com/news/geezer-butler-i-used-to-cut-myself
[3] Butler, G. (2023). Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath – and Beyond. HarperCollins Publishers Limited.
[4] Chaney, S. (2017). Psyche on the Skin: A History of Self-Harm. Reaktion Books.
[5] Millard, C. (2015). A History of Self-Harm in Britain: A Genealogy of Cutting and Overdosing. Palgrave Macmillan.
Exploring self-harm 