No matter the genre, songwriters often work real-world events into their work. Sometimes, they write about love, loss, heartbreak, or other deeply personal experiences. Other times, though, they pull their lyrical inspiration from the headlines. In some cases that results in some great songs about true crime cases.
Videos by American Songwriter
The list of songs inspired by true crime and other dark topics is long. Today, we’ll look at four examples of songs inspired by dark headlines.
“I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats
Penned by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers, The Boomtown Rats released “I Don’t Like Mondays” as the lead single from their 1979 album The Fine Art of Surfacing. The song went to No. 1 on the UK Singles chart, giving the band their second chart-topper. The catchy piano-driven song has dark origins.
“I Don’t Like Mondays” was inspired by the Grover Cleveland Elementary School shooting in 1979. On the morning of January 29, Brenda Spencer took a sniper position in her San Diego, California home across the street from the school. She opened fire with a .22 caliber rifle, killing two adults and wounding eight students and one police officer.
A reporter reached the 16-year-old shooter by phone and asked why she did it. Spencer replied. “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.”
“Nebraska” by Bruce Springsteen
Nebraska is one of Bruce Springsteen’s most popular albums. The ten stripped-down acoustic recordings show a different side of The Boss. More than anything, the album’s format allows Springsteen’s songwriting and storytelling to shine. He pulled inspiration for the title song from one of America’s biggest true crime cases.
The moody first-person narrative tells the story of Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. While Fugate’s involvement in the crime spree has been hotly debated. Some believe that she drove her much older boyfriend to commit crimes. Others believe that she was a scared child just swept up in Starkweather’s chaotic crime spree. Still, others believe that the truth lies somewhere between the two extremes. The fact remains that the pair of youngsters committed 11 murders in an eight-day period in 1958.
“Bullet” by the Misfits
Horror punk pioneers the Misfits have never shied away from dark themes in their music. Over the course of their long career, they’ve tapped into subjects including murder, necrophilia, cannibalism, monsters, alien invasions, and much more. Bullet was the band’s second seven-inch single featuring four songs—“Bullet,” “We Are 138,” “Attitude,” and “Hollywood Babylon”—that would later appear on their 1996 full-length Static Age.
Bullet is packed with Misfits classics but the title track is the only song on the release inspired by true crime. They don’t hide the track’s subject matter in metaphor. Instead, they sing openly about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“The Ripper” by Judas Priest
British heavy metal pioneers Judas Priest came into their own with their sophomore album Sad Wings of Destiny. The album helped to solidify the band’s sound and image. It also gave the world one of the best songs inspired by an iconic true crime case, “The Ripper.”
“The Ripper” is more than a Judas Priest classic. It is also a retelling of the crimes of Jack the Ripper in the late 1800s. Active in the Whitechapel district of London, Jack the Ripper is said to have killed at least five women—Mary Jane Kelly, Catherine Eddowes, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, and Mary Ann Nichols—over a three-year span. More than a century later, the crimes remain unsolved.
Featured Image by Ebet Roberts/Redferns
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.