130
One of the most pathological forms of evil is in the form of the
cult killer or deranged person who believes it is OK to hurt others
or to kill. The Son of Sam who killed eight people in New York was
allegedly into Black Sabbath's music. Ricky Kasso, the teenager
in Long Island who stabbed his friend, took out his eyes, and then
hung himself, followed Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. That is in
Rolling Stone in November 1984 where they interviewed the kids that
were at the funeral.
Most recently, the individual identified by the newspapers as
the Night Stalker has been said to be into hard drugs and the music
of the heavy metal band AC DC [sic].
This is not to say that the music made them into killers, but
that in their insane, drug-crazed thinking, identification strongly
with the lyrics of songs. I see the same process in my work with
chemically dependent and hateful teenagers.
Every teenager who listens to heavy metal certainly does not
become a killer. Young people who are seeking power over others
through identification with the power of evil find a close
identification. The lyrics become a philosophy of life. It becomes
a religion. Young people in our treatment program recovering from
drug problems, do, we ask them to give up heavy metal for at least
a year so that they are not again overtaken by feelings of
resentment, hate, and the urge to party. Partying, wich [sic] teens
identify as a combination of drug use and hard rock music, is a
strong stimulus to go back to that "Highway to Hell,"
which is an AC DC [sic] song.
Young teens who already think too much with their hormones and
too little with their heads, succumb to heavy metal
bombardment.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen thank you very much.
One 16-year-old music listener said to me–in fact, she is
my daughter–you know, I really do not pay very much attention
to the words. And my concern, said she, with labeling is that a
label would simply underscore the fact that there are words here
that really should be listened to, and that therefore, said she,
labeling can make the situation worse, not better.
Do you think she has a good point or not?
Mr. STUESSY. I think she has a point there. Frequently that can
in fact be the case. I think it is a matter of communicating to the
record industry and related industries, whether it is through
labeling, whether it is through ordinances such as are being
considered today in San Anonio and other places, that we are not
going to take this anymore. Do something. Clean up your act. Many
of the problems Mr. Gortikove [sic] related just a few moments
ago–that we cannot do this or that and if we print lyrics,
then we might be guilty of pornography–there is a very simple
answer. Get off that stuff; move on to something else. The industry
itself creates the market for this.
The CHAIRMAN. Well, the industry could obviously stop making
records that advocated this sort of behavior, but we are not
talking abut that today. All we are talking about is making
information available to parents. The information that is available
to parents is
|
previous | next | contents