Songs That Were Claimed To Have Inspired Real Life Crimes

There's long been a skeptical bent to the debate about whether violent music directly inspires violent behavior. Maybe it's the admirable American bias towards free expression, but beyond slapping a "Parental Advisory" label on explicit CD's in the 1980s — and some harsh words by Al Gore's other half, Tipper Gore – there hasn't been much of a governmental crackdown on what kinds of musical messages kids can access.

Common sense might tell you people in their teens and early 20s are especially vulnerable to catchy kinds of pop-cultural persuasions. Science says the human brain isn't even done physically forming until about age 25, according to the University of Rochester Medical Center. For this reason, research has shown young people quite literally can't make ideal long-term decisions, notes Frontiers For Young Minds. So is it any wonder some people living through the extended adolescence of modern life have purportedly been tipped over the edge by an emotional and hypnotic form of expression that resonates so personally?

Violent lyrics can create "negative emotions and thoughts that can lead to aggression," claims the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (via the American Psychological Association [APA]). Findings like these upend a longstanding notion — going back to ancient Greek times, APA notes — that ritually blowing off some steam with metaphorical forms of mayhem is somehow cathartic. The academic inquiry will go on, but anecdotally, these killers below found twisted inspiration from their favorite songs.

On August 8, 1969, reports Vox, Charles Manson sent four of his brain-washed followers to break into the home of director Roman Polanski. The auteur was out of town, but the maniacal Mansonites brutally murdered everyone inside, four souls total, including actress Sharon Tate, who was nearly nine months pregnant with Polanski's child. Manson believed this murder would bring about his prophecy of a race war with the Black Panthers.

Manson was obsessed with the Fab Four's "The White Album" and blamed them for what he'd done. "It's The Beatles, the music they're putting out," he said to the district attorney who convicted him of these heinous crimes, according to Rolling Stone. "These kids listen to this music and pick up the message. It's subliminal." 

Manson fixated on one track in particular, "Helter Skelter." He named his race war accelerationist movement after the song, according to Vox. Lis Wiehl, a former federal prosecutor, said that that "Helter Skelter" became the cult's shorthand for the racial anarchy Manson was already preaching (via History). More clear Beatles' lines like "all you need is love" were ignored for Manson's manipulative obscurantism, which he cynically used to manipulate his flock. Paul McCartney has clarified the track is actually about playground equipment, but Manson claimed he alone could divine meaning from the innocuous lyrics. "And that meaning had directives implanted," Wiehl explained. "Rise up, do something and kill. And kill they did indeed."

In 2002 a man named Justin Barber was found shot four times, but alive, and slumped over the wheel of his car on a coastal highway in northern Florida, according to NBC News. Justin's spouse, April Barber, was later found dead on the nearby beach. Justin told police they'd been attacked, a robbery gone wrong, but couldn't remember their assailants.

In a shocking twist, forensic evidence showed Justin had shot himself, and his wife. He was heavily in debt and stood to gain millions from an insurance policy on his spouse. A search of his computer also turned up two key pieces of evidence. The prosecution intimated Justin had researched how to survive gunshots, according to News 4 Jax, and that on the day of the murder, downloaded a Guns N' Roses track called "Used to Love Her." The song contains the refrain, "I used to love her, but I had to kill her." The track was played for the jury, and Justin Barber was convicted.

In 2012 another Guns N' Roses fan also took the life of his partner. Thomas Michael Wilhelm had been arguing with his live-in girlfriend about his sprinkler business that was apparently badly underwater. Prosecutors contended (via The Orange County Register) one night Wilhelm was drunk and repeatedly listening to those same lyrics: "I used to love her, but I had to kill her." An argument broke out and he shot Christine Marie Murray multiple times and killed her.

Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" is one of the Seattle band's most iconic tracks from their vaunted debut album "Ten." The song is based on the true story of Jeremy Wade Delle, who in 1991 brought a large caliber handgun to school and, in a terrifying act of hostile masochism, shot himself in front of his teacher and classmates, according to The New Yorker.

Pearl Jam's hit and attendant video were in heavy rotation on MTV in 1992. The band's original video for the song actually featured the "Jeremy" character putting a gun in his own mouth, making it clear this song was about suicide. Pearl Jam even released a fully uncut version in 2020. The version that went to air in 1992, however, had the tragic but clarifying image with the gun in Jeremy's mouth cut from the video. The result was a muddled message that made the story of Jeremy plausibly appear to be about a school scooter who mass murdered his classmates.

That was the idea teenager Barry Loukaitis allegedly took away when in 1996 he walked into his classroom in Moses Lake, Washington, with a rifle and opened fire on his classmates, according to Rolling Stone. He shot four and killed three. His attorneys argued the video for "Jeremy" influenced the shooting. The Seattle jury even watched the video in court several times. In 2017, after a long series of appeals, Loukaitis was sentenced to 189 years behind bars, according to The Seattle Times.

In 2001, 15-year-old Charles Andrew Williams headed to the boys bathroom in his Santee, California, high school. No one knew what he was planning. Suddenly, the unpopular, uncool, and bullied teenager pulled a German-made .22-caliber eight-shot revolver previously concealed on his person, writes The Washington Post.

Some of his friends had an inkling of what he would do. The awkward teen was depressed, suicidal even, and had been threatening violence. But a close friend also described him as a narcissist: "He always thought he was better than everybody else." A witness in the bathroom that day, 17-year old Chris Garcia, recalled, "I went over to the sink, I washed my hands right next to him. He didn't say anything. It was all normal. ... I was walking out and I turned around and I saw him. He wasn't talking. He was just shooting everybody in the bathroom."

Williams shot 15 classmates, according to ABC News. Two would die of their wounds. A friend of Williams appeared on NBC's "Today Show" following the shooting and said the teen killer had been influenced by three Linkin Park songs: "One Step Closer," "Papercut," and "In the End." The band's publicist responded with this bit of boilerplate (also via ABC News): "Like everyone else, we are extremely saddened by these events and our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims."

All was well for the affluent Cooke family nestled in a snowy suburb in Northern Virginia. Following a frozen pizza dinner, patriarch Paul Cooke and matriarch Margaret Cooke retired to their computers. Both volunteered for their church. Paul also doted on his stamp collection in the evenings. Their adopted 19-year-old son, Joshua Cooke, however, was feeling off that day, writes The Washington Post.

Joshua was fixated on "The Matrix," purchasing similar clothes that Keanu Reeves' character wore in the movie. He also bought a similar gun to the one Reeves used in the movie two days before he committed his crime. On that fatal day in 2003, Josh put on headphones and slid a portable CD player into his pocket, blaring the song "Bodies," by Drowning Pool, which he'd been listening to over and over for more than a year, the Post notes. First, he shot his mother in the chest, "Let the bodies hit the floor!" blaring in his ears. Then he shot his father seven times. Joshua called police and waited. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

In 2011 another shooter said "Bodies" was his favorite song. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, shot 18 people and killed six at an event for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, reports The New York Times. Giffords was shot in the head but survived. Drowning Pool dropped this statement (via The Hollywood Reporter): "We were devastated to learn of the tragic events ... and that our music has been misinterpreted, again."