Ransom Riggs
Songs About Serial Killers, Part I
by Ransom Riggs - July 30, 2009 - 7:26 AM

I was researching a post about murder ballads — a fascinating musical genre all its own — when I happened to discover an even more rareified subgenre of murder ballad: the serial killer song. A lot of people find serial killers fascinating, and it seems musicians are no exception; from Jack the Ripper to the BTK killer, almost every serial killer of even minor notoriety of the past hundred years has had a song written about them. (Feel free to debate the merits of honoring the most brutal members of our society with these kinds of tributes in the comments.) There are a lot of these songs out there, and I wanted to cover a wide range of them, so this’ll be the first of a two-part blog.

Jeffrey Dahmer: Pearl Jam’s “Dirty Frank”
I heard this song plenty of times growing up, but because Eddie Vedder’s singing is incoherent on this track, I could never figure out what he was singing about. Until I looked it up:

Dirty Frank Dahmer he’s a gourmet cook, yeah.
I got a recipe for anglo-saxin soup, yeah.
Wanted a pass. So she relaxed. Now the little groupie’s getting chopped up in the back.
I got a cupboard full of fleshy fresh ingredients

Apparently it was inspired by a creepy bus driver named Frank, who Vedder jookingly theorized might actually be a Dahmer-style serial killer. They were touring with the Red Hot Chili Peppers when they wrote this, and the stylistic influence is undeniable.

Ed Gein: Blind Melon’s “Skinned”
Ed Gein was a mother-loving weirdo who made ladies into lampshades in a creepy old Wisconsin farmhouse in the 50s, inspiring characters as disparate as Norman Bates, Leatherface and “Buffalo” Bill — as well as a number of songs. Check out this country-fried classic from Blind Melon:

Son of Sam: Elliott Smith, “Son of Sam”
Elliott plays it on Conan O’Brien:

John Wayne Gacy: Sufjan Stevens’ “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.”
Absolutely haunting. (Also, one of the best “spec” music videos I’ve seen on YouTube. Kudos, Clairesquare!)

Ian Brady: The Smiths, “Suffer Little Children”
Ian Brady was a Scottish serial killer who raped and murdered five children in the 1960s (sometimes with the help of his lover, Myra Hindley, dumping their bodies in a remote moor.

The Green River Killer: Neko Case, “Deep Red Bells”
Gary Ridgway killed some 48 women in the Pacific Northwest, mostly dumping their bodies along the Green River in Washington during the early 80s. He was finally caught in 2001.

A few of Neko’s lyrics:
It always has to come this
Red bells ring this tragic gun
Lost sight of the overpass
The daylight won’t remember her
When speckled fronds raise round your bones
Who took the time to fold your clothes
Who shook the Valley of the Shadow

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Comments (33)

  1. Psycho killer. Quest que cest. Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better. Run run run run run run run away… OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO….

    posted by Kevin on 7-30-2009 at 7:52 am

  2. “213″ and “Angel of Death” by Slayer, from Divine Intervention and Reign in Blood, are about Dahmer and Josef Mengele. Not much of a surprise Slayer might have such songs in their rep.

    posted by Joel on 7-30-2009 at 8:25 am

  3. “Ted, Just Admit It…” by Jane’s Addiction – clips from Ted Bundy

    posted by rob1000 on 7-30-2009 at 8:33 am

  4. They’re folklore, but The Decemberists’ “Shankhill Butchers” is a classic

    posted by Andrew on 7-30-2009 at 8:54 am

  5. Ransom, you make me feel old saying you listened to Dirty Frank growing up.
    I’m also impressed you heard it then as it was only a B side to the Jeremy single.

    posted by Marty on 7-30-2009 at 9:27 am

  6. I hear that the song “Arcarsenal” by At the Drive-in was about Jeffrey Dahmer. One line in the song is “Have you ever tasted skin?”

    awesome song

    posted by andy on 7-30-2009 at 9:28 am

  7. I love love love John Wayne Gacy. The song, that is. Can’t wait for you post on murder ballads – may I recommend Westfall by Okkervil River? Or anything by Okkervil River, when it comes right down to it.

    posted by Diana on 7-30-2009 at 9:50 am

  8. Also, RIP Elliot Smith. I still can’t get over that – what a talent and Son of Sam is great song.

    posted by Diana on 7-30-2009 at 9:53 am

  9. any post about serial killer songs is pure FAIL without mentioning the band Macabre and/or the Macabre Minstrels. look up the album ‘Sinister Slaughter’, for one. they’ve been around perfecting “Murder Metal” for 25 years.

    posted by TC on 7-30-2009 at 10:00 am

  10. Robert Berdella, Christopher Wilder, Leonard Lake and Charles Ng were all serial killers obsessed with John Fowles’ mega-creepy novel (and subsequent film, play, and tv shows) about a serial killer who slowly and thoroughly details his process. Many songs, including Slipknot’s “Prosthetics” and Nine Inch Nails’ “The Collector” refer to some version or other of this, insanely creepy novel. Check out the wiki page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collector
    If you can find it, Maxim magazine did a several-page spread about the novel and it’s effect on killers a couple years ago.

    posted by Matt R. on 7-30-2009 at 10:06 am

  11. Am I the only one that immediately thought of “Saucy Jack” after reading the title of this post?

    ReCaptcha: dicing the…oddly appropriate.

    posted by Bert on 7-30-2009 at 11:25 am

  12. I immediately thought of “Hitch Hiker Joe” by the Rugburns. Don’t think it is about a real serial killer, but it’s catchy and will remain in my head the rest of the day. bom bom bom bom bom

    posted by Lisa on 7-30-2009 at 11:37 am

  13. My favorite was Steve Dahl & Teenage Radiation’s ode to John Wayne Gacy to the tune of Another Brick in the Wall….Hey Gacy, leave those kids alone…all in all it’s just another kid in the crawl…

    posted by Tom Hamann on 7-30-2009 at 11:51 am

  14. “Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife” by Drive-By Truckers. The song is Patterson Hood (member of the band) trying to make peace with the murder of his friend, his friend’s wife, and their two daughters.

    posted by James on 7-30-2009 at 12:04 pm

  15. Only knew Dirty Frank, which I immediately pegged as being influenced by the RHCP when I heard him use the word “copasetic”.

    I really liked The Smiths song of the ones I hadn’t heard before.

    posted by Jonny on 7-30-2009 at 12:26 pm

  16. Slayer’s “Dead Skin Mask” is about Ed Gein.

    posted by Rachel on 7-30-2009 at 12:28 pm

  17. Robert Pickton was a British Columbia pig farmer who buried the women he killed on his pig farm. A few songs are written about him.
    The Accused-”Hooker Fortified Pork Products.”
    Mad Sin-”Pigfarm.”
    He also had a recent CSI episode based on him.

    posted by AWH on 7-30-2009 at 12:32 pm

  18. Every single song by the death metal band Macabre

    posted by SimonCabron on 7-30-2009 at 1:27 pm

  19. The Serial Killers! 1980′s Philly punk.

    http://recordrobot.blogspot.com/2005/07/souvenir-from-heidniks-house-of.html

    posted by hr on 7-30-2009 at 2:06 pm

  20. “Nebraska,” Bruce Springsteen, based on Charlie Starkweather (although the events were probably better described as a “killing spree” than serial murders; I’m not sure of the difference.)

    posted by Julia on 7-30-2009 at 2:08 pm

  21. Greeenskeepers: Lotion

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgrRrAyY18U

    posted by Hurricane on 7-30-2009 at 2:29 pm

  22. How about “Riders on the Storm” by the Doors and “Excitable Boy” by Warren Zevon?

    posted by Ray on 7-30-2009 at 2:38 pm

  23. I thought of Nick Cave’s album Murder Ballads. Though most of the songs are fictional.

    posted by Addie on 7-30-2009 at 3:57 pm

  24. ATWA by System of a Down is either about Manson or Son of Sam…I forget which…

    posted by Eric on 7-30-2009 at 5:56 pm

  25. Chris Morris did an awesome parody of Pulp on an episode of Brasseye with a song about Myra Hindley

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxNyyZpP3GM

    posted by Carlos on 7-30-2009 at 7:20 pm

  26. I heard the Rolling Stones “Midnight Rambler” was about the Boston strangler. And Kinky Friedman’s “The Ballad of Charles Whitman” is about the 1966 Austin TX spree killer.

    posted by Devin Greaney on 7-30-2009 at 8:24 pm

  27. Pearl Jam’s site lists the lyrics to “Dirty Frank” as “I got a recipe for anus ankle soup, yeah.” I always thought it was “famous ankle soup”. Regardless, that Dirty Frank was a bad muther *shuts mouth*

    posted by Jeremy on 7-30-2009 at 9:43 pm

  28. “Sadie” by The Alkaline Trio–one of the Manson killers. Great song, horrible person.

    posted by Mart on 7-30-2009 at 10:54 pm

  29. Check out industrial pioneers Schloss Tegal’s work. Their early albums The Soul Extiguished, Shitsickness and The Grand Guignol deal with serial murder, cannibalism and the like. One of their members lived in the same area as Bob Berdella about whom they did a track called “Watch me flop around”.

    posted by Micowoco on 7-31-2009 at 4:58 pm

  30. I interviewed Shannon Hoon a year before the first Blind Melon CD came out. We got on the topic of serial killers and I mentioned that I had just read a book called “The Deviant” about Ed Gein who used to skin his victims and wear their skin. I met Shannon in person shortly thereafter and gave him my copy of the book. Did I help inspire that song? Unfortunately, Shannon died before I got to ask him. Here’s the audio clip from that interview which may or may not have helped inspire him to write “Skinned”.

    http://www.atomicned.com/mp3/shannon_skinned.mp3

    posted by chip on 7-31-2009 at 7:51 pm

  31. @ray: i was just thinking of riders on the storm, b/c the spree killer it is about is from (or lived in) the area i’m from in SW MO. creepy.

    posted by darcy on 8-5-2009 at 9:15 pm

  32. A great song told from the perspective a woman in love with a serial killer is Aloha Japan by The Grimm Generation.

    posted by Cathy Smith on 11-3-2010 at 11:45 am

  33. Ok, I have a few to add…the most obvious being “Night Prowler” by AC/DC! Granted, there has been some debate over whether Richard Ramirez inspired the song or vice-versa. Regardless, I think it’s worth mentioning. And a few slightly more obscure but awesome songs:
    1.)Finger Paintings of the Insane by Acid Bath (John Wayne Gacy)
    2.)Richard Speck by Wesley Willis–no need to explain that title
    3.)Cereal Killer by Quincy Punx–OK, technically not a song about a real serial killer–this song is about a boy whose Rice Krispies hiss “SnapCracklePopKILL! SnapCracklePopKILL!…My rice krispies told me to kill you tonight, my rice krispies NEVER LIE…”. That’s even better than the Twinkie Defense, in my opinion.

    posted by Magnolia Henehan on 1-17-2012 at 11:24 pm

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