Chrome plating is a protective layer

Near the end of rereading the collection of short stories titled Burning Chrome. It's different experience than when I last read it probably in the 1990s. One recurring motif that struck me is just how messed up the protagonists were and/or the people in their orbit. His work is too optimistic to be grimdark, but the edge is there. I can better appreciate why Gibson resisted being pegged as cyberpunk, to have his work categorized based on a superficial gleam.