Songs About Mass Murderers, Vol. 2 | Playlist

Move over twisted serial killers.  The equally, if not more disturbing mass murderers are the subject of this criminally insane playlist.

Serial killers = bad people.  Mass murderers = bad people.  What’s the difference between serial killers vs. mass murderers? Interestingly, quite a bit.  The key word with mass murder is the mass part, which means lots of deaths. But we won’t use this latest, greatest, dark, twisted playlist to debate something the experts have debated and discussed for years.  What we will do is deliver 10 MORE songs about mass murderers – spree killers who ripped the life right away from the innocent.  While there are fewer songs devoted to mass murderers compared to serial killers, musicians and society continue to be fascinated with the sheer evil of these people.

1. Bastille, “Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith)”

Album: Wild World | Mass Murderer Referenced: Perry Smith

“‘Being brought up one way and trying to see another way is very difficult.’” The somber “Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith)” is among the most beautiful, thought-provoking moments of Wild World. Wild World is the intriguing sophomore album by British alternative collective, Bastille, fronted by Dan Smith.  As beautiful as “Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith)” is, the subject matter isn’t beautiful.

“These four walls to keep you /…These four walls to contain you / Supposed to save you from yourself… / And now we’re faced with two wrongs… / I don’t know, oh, I don’t know.”

Perry Smith was a mass murderer who was executed by hanging.  Dan denounces the mass murder’s actions, but argues against execution and capital punishment as atonement.

“We could be born to anything and now what, now what? / What you have done is terrible, and now you, and now you / Now you carry it with you / You carry it with you / You carry it with you.”

2. Filter, “Columind”

Album: The Amalgamut, 2002 | Mass Murderers Referenced: Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold |

Previous Appearance: 17 Songs Written in the Aftermath of Columbine | Playlist

Industrial rock band Filter had a lot say about the events at Columbine High School.  From the jump, the tone is incredibly accusatory and biting towards the perpetrators.

“What do you think you did here, kid? / You’re living like some rich kid bitch / The scratch that makes you flinch / The scratch that you can’t itch / What do you think you got done here, man? / You’re putting on a show / What do you think you got done here, kid? / Did you reach your killing goal?”

Essentially, Filter paints Harris and Klebold as despicable, entitled kids, without specifically naming them on “Columind.” Unlike some of the other songs, there are no sympathetic vibes to be found.

3. Deicide, “Carnage in the Temple of the Damned”

Album: Deicide, 1990 | Mass Murderer Referenced: Jim Jones 

“Sacramental ceremony / People’s temple of the holy / Sepulcher for salvation / Suicidal confirmation.” “Carnage in the Temple of the Damned” opens with the audio excerpts of delusional cult leader/mass murderer Jim Jones. Jim Jones commanding his flock to commit suicide. It’s a chilling start to a dark, unsettling joint by American death metal band, Deicide.  Naturally, “Carnage in the Temple of the Damned” features ample religious references, coupled with utterly hellish vocals, gritty guitars, and sense of being damned for merely listening to the carnage.

“Forgive me father for I have sinned / You will never sin again!”

“When we meet again it will be the promised land / Death is in command to the victims of the plan.”

“Carnage of the dead / Mass cremations of the blessed / Sermonizing fatal end / In the temple of the damned.”

4. Macabre, “What the Hell Did You Do?”

Album: Sinister Slaughter / Behind the Walls of Sleep, 2000 | Mass Murderer Referenced: James Edward Pough

“Here’s a story that’s true about James Edward Pough / Who’s car was repossessed so here’s what he decided to do.”

It wouldn’t be a murderous playlist without Macabre! The 80s doom-metal band has excelled at covering serial killers and mass murders throughout their career.  This time, the source of their music is African-American mass murderer, James Edward Pough.  The 42-year old ‘went off’ to say the least, with revenge on his mind.  Revenge for what? A repossessed car.  Macabre tell the story simply, but exceptionally well.

“James Pough, eleven human he slew / James Pough was forty-two / With thirty caliber carbine semi-automatic / Shooting at random caused the GMAC office to panic /James Pough, eleven humans he slew / James Pough what the hell did you do?”

5. Macabre, “Sniper in the Sky”

Album: Sinister Slaughter / Behind the Walls of Sleep, 2000 | Mass Murderer Referenced: Charles Whitman

“He killed his wife and mother, then packed up his supplies / Like food and guns and ammo, and went out taking lives.” 

Macabre makes the second of three appearances on this playlist, tackling Charles Whitman this round. An unlikely mass murderer with his clean-cut, All-American looks, nonetheless, Charles Whitman was indeed a mass murderer.

“At the school observatory, he went to the top / And killed sixteen people before he could be stopped.”

He’s known for his hellish killing spree atop the tower at the University of Texas in 1966. Ultimately, the former military sniper took the lives of 16 innocent victims.

“Charles Whitman was the school tower hitman / Charles Whitman shot at people and hit them / Charles Whitman had a brain tumor in his head / Charles Whitman was the cause of eighteen people… / He kept on shooting people, the police they tried and tried / To kill Charles Whitman, the sniper in the sky / They finally snuck up on him, surprised him at the top / Then Charles Whitman was gunned down by a cop.”

6. Nicole Dollanganger, “Nebraska”

Album: Flowers of Flesh and Blood | Mass Murderer Referenced: Charles Starkweather

“The prairies of Nebraska soaked in blood / The love made between them using his gun / And the bodies stacked in rows / The dead they will never know.”

Phew – what a chilling portrait painted by the aforementioned lyrics. Our previous mass murderer playlist featured a song entitled “Nebraska.” That “Nebraska,” written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, is the definitive one.  However, Canadian singer/songwriter delivers her own, unique “Nebraska,” also referencing a famous spree killer, 19-year-old Charles Starkweather, who murdered 11 people.

“He came and shot her parents both in the head / Dragged them outside, put the bodies in the shed / Collected up her things, put them in his trunk / He sat her on his lap right next to his gun.”

As evidenced by the lyrics above and below, she’s poetic describing the events that took place in 1958. This includes his ‘ride or die,’ his 14-year-old girl/accomplice, Caril Ann Fugate. Ultimately, for his crimes, which took place in Wisconsin and Nebraska, Starkweather went to the electric chair.

“Showed his Caril Ann how to use a knife… / Shot who they could, snapped the neck of a dog / Stole a dead man’s car and the engine stalled.”

“They executed him with her name on his lips / He loved her in life just as much in death.” 

7. J Church, “Hate So Real”

Album: Open Road: The Allied Years (1992-1997), 2007 | Mass Murderer Referenced: Charles Starkweather

“I can’t say I’m sorry for the things I know I’ve done / For the first time me and Caril had a lot of fun.”

American punk-rock, pop-punk band J Church becomes the second act to dabble in the horrid, murderous choices made by teen murderer Charles Starkweather.

“By the time we’d reached Wyoming we’d left 10 people dead…”

Like most of pop culture obsessed with the utter stupidity and cold-bloodedness of Starkweather, his love for Caril remains ‘front and center.’

“I just wanted to see Caril / But I can’t pretend that death is accidental / When her mom hit me again / If they had just left us alone I wouldn’t have hurt nobody /But with my brother’s .22 I’d live to see the bodies.”

“Tired of feeling useless and living in my car / Now we lived as man and wife
/ Fucking all the time /But nothing lasts forever (at least not in my life) / So in a week we were running down the road /Confessions to the wind.”

“Caril can deny me but to this day I swear / She should be sitting on my lap / When I go to the chair.”

8. Church of Misery, “Reverend”

Album: Early Works Compilation, 2011 | Mass Murderer Referenced: Jim Jones

Previous Appearance: 18 Chilling Songs About Serial Killers | Playlist

On “Reverend,” Church of Misery speak as the voice of the insane, delusional cult leader Jim Jones. The record begins with spoken word excerpts that ultimately finds the parishioners addressing Jones as if he were God himself.  In regards to singing, there are few lyrics.  The featured lyrics ultimately focus on the demise of the people of Jonestown for no reason whatsoever.

“You die, don’t ask me way / Temple is the place where dead Angeles lies / Don’t pray for your tomorrow / Suicide is the way to escape from your pain / I’m your farther and lead you to death.”

9. Ill Bill, “The Anatomy of a School Shooting”

What’s Wrong with Bill? • Uncle Howie • 2004

Mass Murderers Referenced: Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold (Columbine)

Question: What wrong with Bill? Another question: Who is Ill Bill? Ill Bill is a Queens, New York rapper and producer.  Here, on “The Anatomy of a School Shooting,” he specifically references the Columbine Massacre. “The anatomy of a school shooting, shotgun under my trench coat / Columbiners did it / …My mind consume the doom as I walk through the school 15 people killed and over 14 wounded.”

Unlike many of the songs written in the aftermath of Columbine, Bill specifically names the perpetrators.  He focuses on Eric Harris, painting a portrait of Harris’ social status and mindset.

“My name is Eric Harris, I was forever harassed, an outcast You fuck with us and now me and Dylan is pulling out gats I've been wantin’ to murder people
Suicide is played out, if you gonna die, take people with you.”

“A bunch of ticking time bombs y'all, is more like me Overflowin’ with hate, bullied to get raw like me
They constantly get picked on and shitted on like me
You'd probably get your head blown off by a kid like me...
This ain't a game, the nerds that you be fuckin’ with might flip.”

Perhaps the most hard-hitting lyrics arrive near the end of record.  Essentially, Ill Bill establishes the reasons for the tragedy, from the perspective of Harris, and other potential school shooters.

“Now everybody wanna talk shit and cry asking why
Two geeks picked up guns and turned murderous…
Two nerdy kids is that a crime?
Why I've gotta be one of the cool kids just to walk by
Without being tripped, thrown down on the ground and kicked
Insulting me for no reason, I was treated like shit
The teachers let it happen
I've even seen some of them teachers laughing
That's why I had a smile on my face when I started blastin’
I wasn't crazy - all of y'all were sick
I was the nicest person in the world – y'all were dicks
Don't even try to analyze me now you have no chance, back then
Maybe you could've been my friend.”

10. Macabre, “Montreal Massacre”

Album: Sinister Slaughter / Behind the Walls of Sleep, 2000 | Mass Murderer Referenced: Marc Lépine  

For a third time, Macabre earns a spot on this list.  That means, friends, Macabre are comprised of 30% of this mass murderer playlist!  This time, the subject at hand is Marc Lépine, a misogynist with serious disdain for women.  His disdain led him to murder the innocent, ultimately, committing suicide after killing 14.  Macabre being the literal band that they are, are blunt imparting the tale of Lépine.

“Mark went out with his rifle to the university of Montreal / Divided up a classroom and then only shot girls / Mark Lupine killed fourteen / In Montreal, he only shot girls / He must have hated women to do what he did / He divided up a classroom, and the females lives he did end /Mark Lupine killed fourteen / In Montreal, he only shot girls.”

📷: Virgin, Reprise, Roadrunner, Decomposed, Nicole Dollanganger, No Idea, Emetic, Uncle Howie