Members of the Skeleton Clique are known as anything but ‘normal’, but don’t be fooled into thinking that they’re all the same; fans are about as diverse as a box of lucky charms. The Skeleton Clique, often referred to as just ‘the clique,’ is what members of the Twenty One Pilots fandom have dubbed themselves. The clique enjoys the band because their songs typically have a deeper meaning and are easy to connect to.

“[Twenty One Pilots] write about a bunch of stuff that’s pretty deep,” Alex Reece ‘18 said.

According to Reece, the topics Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun tackle include depression, anxiety, insecurity, love, and self-doubt, while most other musicians typically write about partying or that really hot person they saw across the bar. Understanding that many of their fans suffer from mental illnesses also helps the band write more influential songs without the fear of being rejected by their own fanbase.

In the last year, the popularity of Twenty One Pilots has dramatically increased due to widespread support of their most recent album, Blurryface. Though their sudden popularity should make longtime fans feel happy for Tyler and Josh, many believe that these new fans are just ‘fake’ and don’t appreciate the new album. As an old fan, Sean Brady ‘18 said that it’s unfair that this is happening and that “it doesn’t make [new fans] bad for just getting into them now.”

Tyler received so much hate for the album that he sang different lyrics to the song Blurryface at a concert in Cleveland, Ohio. The new lyrics reflected how he knew that old fans didn’t like how overplayed the song was and that he wished he hadn’t written the song at all. Almost immediately after the concert, there was an uproar on Twitter claiming true fans wouldn’t be angry about the recent success of their favorite band. (The complete changed lyrics can be seen here).

Unfortunately, mistreatment has followed Tyler and Josh within the last few months. On Aug. 26, the band went to Reading and Leads, a rock music festival in England, where Tyler decided to go crowd surfing during the song Car Radio. He was held by the crowd for nearly two and a half minutes before being returned to the stage, but when he was able to go back, his shirt was torn and he had been jostled around quite a bit. According to Twitter and Instagram users, Tyler’s attempt to surf above the crowd was unsuccessful due to the uncooperating crowd — some people didn’t let go of him and others couldn’t support his weight. After the incident, Tyler immediately ended the concert.

“I don’t think that was cool because people should respect him more because they’re going to see his music,” Brady said.

Fans have remained loyal to Twenty One Pilots for many years and it seems as though they will continue to do so in the future. No matter what obstacle, the Skeleton Clique is there to defend Tyler and Josh from harm, both physical and mental.