Awesome Songs about Serial Killers!

Because what better way to pay tribute to a favorite mass murderer or two?

"Dirty Frank" by Pearl Jam: The chief inspirations for this infectious, PJ "Lost Dog" are the Red Hot Chili Peppers (with whom Pearl Jam were touring) and famed murderer/cannibal Jeff Dahmer. Dahmer's "murders were particularly gruesome, involving acts of forcible sodomy, necrophilia, dismemberment, and cannibalism", according to Wikipedia. Of course, eating the bodies is quite simply the most infective way to dispose of the bodies, a fact that Vedder clearly comprehends in this possessed vocal performance (cannibalism is the sincerest form of flattery!). Esssentially, Pearl Jam were fantasizing that their bus driver at the time was a murderer of similar methods and turn-ons, and the result is a strangely upbeat moment for a band known for taking themselves too seriously. Key lyric: "Wanted a pass. So she relaxed. Now the little groupie's getting chopped up in the back."


"Son of Sam" by Elliott Smith: It is my humble opinion, and you may feel free to disagree, that David Berkowitz (popularly known as Son of Sam) set an unreachable standard for serial killers of the past and present. Get this: He went around killing folks (generally a given for serial killers) and then blamed it on the motherfucking neighbor's dog! It's a demon dog; possessed by satan! Gave me orders! How can one outdo that? It can't be done. And you know he ain't lying with a story like that. And then he went to jail and found Jesus and all that jazz...Yes, Mr. Berkowitz is without doubt my favorite serial killer.

Anyway, perhaps dear Elliott may seem an unlikely candidate to set this drama to song, what with his Beatle-esque harmonies and poignant piano melodies, though, in the wake of his troubled demise, it's no secret Smith harboured a darker side. The song is both melodic and foreboding, depicting a "king for a day", "acting on orders from above." The climax comes when Elliott casually declares, "I'm a little like you, more like Son of Sam." The most effective serial killer anthems are the ones that manage to somehow sympathize with our blood-thirsty protagonist, portraying monsters as the humans they once were. More about that later.



"John Wayne Gacy, Jr." by Sufjan Stevens This haunting ode to a tragic madman is similar to Smith's "Son of Sam" in that it portrays the killer as an actual person, with actual emotions and jobs and families and 08uq3tqtr398408itqe9i0t90i4ojt49o-grjmo4t235...

Perhaps the most striking about the song is how absolutely lovely it is to a non-English speaking person. Rustling acoustic guitars and various string instruments make this a beautiful offering on a masterpiece filled with them.

"The neighbors, they adored him for his humor and his conversation..."

Gacy was well-loved at the neighborhood block parties he threw, dressing up as Pogo the Clown and entertaining the children. Children who knew not of the 27 boys ("with their cars, summer jobs") he buried, murdered and raped underneath the floor of his house (not necessarily in that order). Sufjan understands this horrifying reality lying underneath a harmless, even charming demeanor. He was reportedly a model prisoner, though. A blood clot in his brain caused by a swing set accident ("When the swingset hit his head..."). Possibly sexually abused by an uncle.

Also a parallel to the aforementioned "Son of Sam" is the frightening ending to the song - a haunting anti-climax in which Stevens admits that...

"...in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid" Yeah! Rock Lobster!



"Ted, Just Admit It..." by Jane's Addiction: Perhaps the most bizarre inclusion on this list, Perry Farrell and the game kick it about Ted Bundy over a midly creepy, seven-minute funk jam. Bundy sometimes followed murder with rape. Sometimes the other way around. The exact bodycount is unknown, though Bundy ha admitted to over thirty murders, all young women. Like Gacy, "Bundy was frequently described as educated and charming. His personal friends and acquaintances would remember him as a handsome and articulate young man" (Wikipedia).

"Ritual de lo Habitual" remains their peak, their chief accomplishment, yet some could argue they never quite returned to the twisted vibe and dark pleasures of "Ted, Just Admit It..." Some highlights from Farrell's manic ode to a disturbed gentleman:

"Everybody's so full of shit (everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody...)"

"Showed me everybody
naked and disfigured
Nothing's shocking...
And then he came, now sister's not a virgin anymore
Her sex is violent! Sex is vy-oh-lent!"

"I am the killer of people
You loook like a meatball
I'll throw away your toothpick
and ask for your forgiveness"





"Charlie Manson Blues" by The Flaming Lips: Okay, so technically he wasn't a serial killer. Not a murderer at all, in fact - merely convicted of Conspiracy to Commit the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders. The "Helter Skelter made me do it!" biz is almost as wild as Son of Sam's shtick, so I figured he deserved a place here. Bite me.

"Charlie Manson Blues" is the Lips numerous 90's opus's in incubus, complete with hilarious "lalalalala" and "Hoo! Ha! Hoo! Ha!" background harmonies. Wayne moans about slipping into Charlie Manson Blues over a riff so simplistic it's almost complicated. Certainly among the highlights on the fun yet underdeveloped reverb-city of full-length debut "Hear It Is". "I'm a stupid-dressed Jesus son!"



"Psycho Killer" by The Talking Heads: Nah, I don't know who it's about either. I am a bit of a freak for Talking Headcheese and couldn't resist. Byrnes switches between English and French, vaguely assuming the role of a paranoid killer, unable to accept the implications of his crimes. The "Stop Making Sense" version is superior to the album version, by the way.

"Midnight Rambler" by The Rolling Stones: The song's about Albert DeSalvo, better known as the Boston Strangler, who molested and strangled thirteen single women throughout the early sixties. He was found murdered in the infirmary of Walpole State Prison in 1973; his killer remains a mystery.

The Stones' tribute is soaked in even more blood, sweat and Jagger-guts than usual. The guitar drips with dirty blues and the chilling harmonica helps to set the mood. Jagger vaguely describes the sneaky pusuits of a "midnight rambler, leaving footprings up and down your hall."

"I'll stick my knife right down your throat, baby, and it hurts!"

(Notice how many of these songs assume that inevitable first person tense? Eek.)


"Nebraska" by Bruce Springsteen: Ah, another first person. I'll be honest witchoo: I can't remember the last time I sat through the "Nebraska" album. It's depressing and dry, none for me, thanks. When I'm in the mood, I opt for Neil's "Tonight's the Night" ten times out of nine.

The title track remains a highlight, and pretty fucking uninviting opener. Bruce takes the character of Charles Starkweather, a disgruntled "spree killer" who murdered 11 victims during a road trip with a girlfriend (thirteen years old, no less!) in the late fifties. Perhaps it's no surprise for Charles to be a wee bit bitter - he was cursed with a birth defect, Genu varum, causing his legs to be slightly deformed, in addition to a speech impediment. In addition to this song, Starkweather inspired "Natural Born Killers", along with numerous Stephen King novels. His life motto? "Dead people are all on the same level."

Back to the song. "Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent people died...Through to the badlands of Wyoming, I killed everything in my path." Bruce tells it how it is over a fading harmonica moan, essentially giving an autobiographical account of Starkweather's life, from his first murders to his experiences in jail. It seems many of these serial killer songs have utterly ingenious final lines. "Nebraska"'s closing statement may very well take the cake:

"They wanted to know why I did what I did.
Well, sir, I guess there's just a meanness in this world."

Depressing as balls in a coconut patch. Born in the USA!
(Sorry, can't find a mugshot for this one, but this picture's quite groovy:)


"Arcarsenal" by At The Drive-In: Like Pearl Jam's "Dirty Frank", this 2000 At The Drive-In punk assault deals with Jeffrey Dahmer, though his screams seem to indicate that Cedric doesn't find it very funny. "I'd really like to meet him!" he ejaculates over drum spazzes and cutting guitar gasps, leading to an intense reprise of "Have you ever tasted skin?" Delicious homestyle taste!


Obligatory bonus song that isn't about serial killers in the least:

"Shimmy Shimmy Ya" by Ol' Dirty Bastard: I got back from seeing "Knocked Up" and immediately hunted for the name of the song playing over the opening credits and subsequently listened to it over and over and over. Best piano loop ever. Who gives a shit about songs about serial killers? It mentions "psycho killer Norman Bates", so close enough. I like it raawwww!

The Top Six Most Dangerous Albums to Listen to While Driving

+


=







These days, it's rarely a secret that as many as 6,420,000 car accidents occur in the United States alone each year - that's a person killed every thirteen minutes. Perhaps such statistics are too sobering, too staggering even to really comprehend. We've all been through Driver's Ed and heard the various causes for these wrecks: there’s drunk driving, of course - that’s always a biggy. Fatigue. Road rage. Fatal distractions.

But the guarded holy secret is the correlation between driving ability and the silver compact disc spinning in the stereo. Join me on this quest for solid answers as we examine the top six culprits; namely, the records that are most likely to cause potentially fatalities if listened to behind the wheel. Note: Do not try this at home, kids.

Alvin Lucier - I Am Sitting In A Room (1969)

I've had this album...errr, piece playing while going to sleep every night for the past week or so. I can measure its success solely from the fact that I've never been awake to hear the end. And I suppose I can stop right here – it should be obvious why this doesn’t make ideal driving music.

But it’s important to note that the genius lies in the fact that it ain’t really music at all - rather, the introduction makes up the entire piece. See, Master Lucier recorded himself describing his intentions clearly: to record his own voice and play it back into the room. And record that re-recording. Over and over and over and over, "until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves, so that any semblance of my speech...is destroyed", thus "smoothing out any irregularities [his] speech may have." Remember the game Telephone? Ever seen a picture of a picture of a picture? Lucier revives this intriguing concept in audio form.

Result: Driver will be utterly mesmerized by Lucier's voice, leading to loss of consciousness and instant death after slamming into an intersection, thereby landing the vehicle in oncoming traffic.

Important note: The words "minimalist composition" and "driving" should never appear in the same sentence. Ever. Which brings us to our next selection...

Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians (1976)

Important driving tip: Drones are always unsafe. In reality, there’s nothing sexy about hypnosis from yellow road lines, and this magnum opus from Steve Reich will put you at great risk. Like I Am Sitting In A Room, this record has found great success in lulling me to sleep. Essentially, Reich composes a drone based around elevens chords which repeat over and over through various instruments and octaves for sixty-seven minutes, utterly addictive or obnoxious depending on one's mood. Strings and xylophones swirl and evolve through a haunting, multi-layered fantasy-land. A fantastic piece of music, yet utterly unsafe for the road.

Result: Car plunges straight off cliff at 60 mph. Driver too engrossed in music to notice.

The Stooges - Fun House (1970)

I encourage everybody and anybody to immerse him or herself in the shocking proto-punk masterpiece that is The Stooges' Fun House. Iggy doesn't just scream, yelp and moan of hell; he'll take you there and maybe back. Who ever said art had to be pretty? But, please, please, please...

For the love of God, don't do it while driving. As if a law of modern science (where’s Newton when we need him?), two factors become inevitable while spinning this album: speed and volume. It doesn't matter whether you're getting lost in the filthy groove of "Dirt" or navigating the sensual saxophone farts of the title track - either way, that 11-level volume won’t allow you much of an opportunity to hear that meat truck’s urgent honking and the gas pedal will be pumped way too hard to maintain control in those precious, desperate seconds before the collision. Even the pacing of the album resembles an increasingly hellish trip into the unknown (ie: each song is a bit more unleashed than the last); don’t let this reflect your driving.

Result: Collision. Meat truck. Explosion. Boom! Outta my mind! Sat'day night! 1970! Rolling in sight! Radio burnin` up above!

The Flaming Lips - Zaireeka (1997)

First of all, if you're fucked up enough to attempt to synch up all four discs while operating a real, breathing motor vehicle, than I might as well quit here and swallow a live mailman. Please report directly to the Heavenly Gates; your Darwin Award is waiting, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars...

And second of all, Wayne Coyne, in his typically messianic nature, was kind enough to provide ample warning as to the dangers held within. For example, let's consult the album’s extensive liner notes:

"This recording also contains frequencies not normally heard on commercial recordings and on rare occasion has caused the listener to become disoriented."
or:
"This track should not be listened to while driving."
or:
"I envision this as music for a cartoon about a group of determined vegetables."

It's all true, honey. The record requires four boom boxes in one place at one time, the music itself is beyond the comparison of any other twentieth-century recording, both in concept and execution. But it just ain't for the open road, Harry and Lloyd. Perhaps it’ll be the disgustingly epic drum solo on "March of the Rotten Vegetables" that does you in. Maybe the descent into atonal madness on "A Machine in India". Or, more likely, those dangerously low and high frequencies during "How Will We Know (Futuristic Crashendos)" (the main cause for Coyne's thoughtful warning). Either way, the result will be the same:

Result: Disorientation. Specifics depend on the song playing at the time, but will mostly likely end with vehicle upside-down, adult opossum suspended halfway through the windshield. Strange things afoot in Oklahoma City.

Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music (1975)

Need I even bother? Honestly.

Result: Bad things happening to good people.

Wilco - A Ghost Is Born (2004)

Vaguely psychotic. Quietly disturbing. Slightly uneven. Mildly unnerving.

Something's off about Wilco's fifth studio album. Tweedy's voice sounds a bit too strained, the piano's a bit too soft, and the guitars gnarl and shriek with a hearty dosage of Neil Young-esque anxiety. It's brilliant, too. There's a quietly buzzing sense of paranoia, as if a sturdy underpinning; you can’t hear it, but you know it’s there. Of course there are still moments of undeniably fine pop songcraft ("Hummingbirds", "Theologians", "The Late Greats") tastefully mixed in with the brooding Valium-tinged weirdness. Fans will make no mistake, this is miles away from the Stonesy double-album shuffle of Being There or the pleasant country-pop of Summerteeth.

Result: Again, this depends on the song. Ten-minute, kraut rocking drone "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" will cause results similar to that of Music for 18 Musicians. The nearly 15 minute blur of ambient noise that closes out "Less Than You Think" could very well be a leading cause of suicide. "At Least That's What You Said" is far too gripping an opener to even be permitted - driver will most likely veer off roadway and hit side rail. Noisy transition between "Handshakes Drugs" and "Wishful Thinking" will cause sudden paralysis, obviously rendering victim incapable of operating motor vehicle. Keep in mind, people, trees are unforgiving creatures.

Note: I recommend the above recordings whole-heartedly, just provided the unsuspecting listener doesn't assume the wheel within thirty minutes of listening. Drive safe

Top 10 Bands/Artists Of The 90s.

A lot of people look back at the 90s and think of the grunge era of the early 90s with Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Others think back on the late 90s and the teen pop of N Sync, Britney Spears, and the Backstreet Boys. This is definitly not the case for me.

My favorite 10 bands/artists that were arguably at their "peak" during the 90s (no particular order):

The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin is one of my very favorite albums of the decade and the rest of their 90s output is almost as great. In fact I think every single album they released in the 90s is a great album from A Priest Driven Ambulance to The Soft Bulletin. One of the best things about these albums is how different they are from each other. As different as all of their albums are they all share the same spark of creativity. The same sense of true psychedelia. They were pushing themselves forward into new territory throughout the decade. They never allowed themselves to get into a rut.

For someone who has yet to hear the Lips I would recommend starting out with The Soft Bulletin and 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and then work your way back through gems like Clouds Taste Metallic. If you are more of a noisy rock guitar kind of guy or gal then you might want to start with A Priest Driven Ambulance and make your way towards the newer stuff.

Radiohead - I don't really like their debut album Pablo Honey much at all. To me it sounds too much like all the other bands in tired the "alternative" genre of the time. But The Bends is great and OK Computer is legendary. These two albums I consider to be so good that if I were ranking instead of listing my top 10 they would likely be #1. But choosing 10 is hard enough without putting them in order. My only reservation about placing them on this list is that I'm not really sure I consider the 90s to be the peak of Radiohead because I love their output from this decade so much.

Oasis - While this is an extremely unpopular choice among the type of indie snobs that this blog is aimed at (and I'm sure the other contributers on this site will be turning up their noses at this selection) I don't really care. I think they are an excellent band that writes insanely catchy tunes and certainly they were at their peak with 1994's Definitely Maybe and it's more poppy follow up 1995 (What's The Story) Morning Glory? I also like Be Here Now as much of a mess as it is. It's over the top nature I now find to be quite endearing. Especially in this era of emo nonsense.

Along with Noel Gallagher's perfect songwriting in the 90s his brother Liam brought the perfect rock voice to the band. To me Liam Gallagher is arguably the best rock singer of the decade. In fact I suppose I'm arguing it right now. His delivery can make the most insipid lyrics (and no doubt most of Oasis' lyrics are very insipid) and the most tired tune and turn them into something that grand. When he sings "Tonight I'm A Rock N Roll Star" I believe that he really means that. He's not being ironic, he really means it. To me this sort of attitude is what's missing from so much of the music of the past, I don't know, 30 years.

The Olivia Tremor Control - I didn't start listening to the Olivia Tremor Control until a few years ago but I now consider them to be near the very top of my list of great 90s bands. They've only released two albums and they came out in 1996 and 1999 so clearly they fit the criteria of their peak being in the 90s. While they only released two albums they were both so great and so epic in scope that I consider them to be one of my absolute favorite bands.

Their music is some of the most psychedelic pop rock music I've ever heard. There are seemingly infinite layers of sound going on in their tunes. The arrangements and instrumentation are always surprising. Certainly they take their cues from The Beach Boys and The Beatles and they often called retro but I never feel like I'm hearing any attempt to recreate the magic of an earlier time when I listen to them. I hear something far greater than just some recreation. I hear music that is timeless, from some place where time is just an idea.

If you are new to the Olivia Tremor Control I would start off with their first album 1996's Dusk At Cubist Castle and once that has been thoroughly digested move on to 1999's Black Foliage. I suggest this because if you get both of them at once I think you may be overwhelmed. Both of their albums deserves it's own gestation period so to speak. I think they are equally great with Dusk At Cubist Castle probably being easier to get into at first but Black Foliage being even more layered and intricate.

Beck - Beck was undoubtedly one of the most innovative and important artists of the 90s. 1994's Mellow Gold is widely known mostly for it's hit single "Loser" but it's actually filled with great inventive tracks that have a delicious DIY type weirdness to them. If you want to get really weird and really DIY with Beck then you should check out his lesser known album Stereopathetic Soulmanure which is brimful with insanity.

Of course Beck became known as more than a one hit wonder with 1996's Odelay which was more polished than his earlier work and won much wide acclaim. While my friend Mozart Breath doesn't care for it much I think it's quite a wonderful album and it holds up quite well with time.

Believe it or not I'm one of the few Beck fans who doesn't love 1998's Mutations. For some mysterious reason I've just never been able to get into that album.

Primal Scream - To me Primal Scream is one of the most underrated bands in the world. It doesn't seem like many people here in the US listen to them or even know who they are. Admittedly their last couple of albums haven't been mind blowing but Screamadelica and Vanishing Point are two of my very favorite albums of the 1990s. 2000's XTRMNTR is awesome too, but I'll keep this focused on the 90s, alright?

As you may gather from my list I'm quite the "psychedelic" music fan. Not psychedelic as if it's some specific genre of music from the 60s but in the sense that I enjoy music that tickles the brain a bit. Using this wide open to interpretation definition of psychedelic I'm not sure there are many albums that are more psychedelic than Screamadelica and Vanishing Point. Primal Scream's music is often a trip, even if you're not tripping. Although that may help your appreciation.

Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space is an album of pure Godliness. It's one of my top 10 albums of all time and it's the main reason I am including them on this list. Like Primal Scream I feel that they have lost the edge that made them great with their recent albums but back in 1997 not too many could touch them.

Their earlier albums are fantastic too and I know they are preferred by some hardcore Spiritualized fans but to me Ladies & Gents is some sort of perfect culmination. Spiritualized is another British band that is too often overlooked here in the US.

Blur - Yes I've got both Oasis AND Blur on my list. Got a bit of a hard on for the "Brit Pop" do I? Aye. Blur is a bit hit and miss for me but I really like a lot of their stuff and I find myself enjoying them more and more as time goes by. I prefer their late 90s albums Blur and 13.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is just a tremendous album. There's something about it that's magical and timeless. While I'll always choose Olivia Tremor Control over Neutral Milk Hotel when it comes to a clash of the Elephant 6 titans (which I'm sure will be an event at the next Wrestlemania.) I really love both of them for different reasons. I'm not usually someone who cares much about lyrics but Jeff Mangum has a way with words that really draws me in. It's actually a lyric from On Avery Island that may be my all time favorite lyric. It's "How Strange Is It To Be Anything At All." Somehow that sums it all up for me.

Ween - An extremely underrated band. Too many people think they are merely a "joke" band. While some of their songs are funny, they are far more bizarre than hilarious. Bizarre being much more interesting to me. They are the combination of extreme musical talent with even more extreme imagination. This combines to create masterpiece albums like 1997's The Mollusk. If you've never given Ween a real shot before I suggest you really listen to their music with an open mind starting with the aforementioned The Mollusk.

You may have noticed I've named quite a few albums from 1997 on this list and for some reason quite a few albums from that year really stand out for me above all others. Definitely my favorite year of the 90s as far as music goes with albums like Radiohead's OK Computer, Spiritualized's Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, Primal Scream's Vanishing Point, Ween's The Mollusk, The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka, Bob Dylan's Time Out Of Mind, and Cornershop's When I Was Born For The 7th Time.