I was listening to a recent episode of Last Podcast On The Left — a multi-part one on Mormon doomsday killers Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell. I found it interesting that Daybell and his first wife got together partially due to a shared love of The Smiths. Perhaps it had something to do with the name of their founding prophet. Anyway, I decided to see if I could figure out the favourite musicians of some prominent killers and mayhem-makers — or, at least an educated guess.
Jeffrey Dahmer | Black Sabbath
Dahmer was known to play music while he tortured and killed his 17 victims between 1978 and 1991. Reportedly, his favourite songs included Iron Man and The Wizard by Black Sabbath.
Al Capone | Fats Waller
The syphilitic Chicago mob boss loved opera, but also jazz. He was such a fan of Fats Waller that his “boys” kidnapped the pianist in 1926 and brought him to play at Capone’s birthday party. The ordeal lasted three days and Waller was apparently treated well, handsomely paid and sent home with a legendary hangover.
Luka Magnotta | Madonna
When I was a crime journalist and video editor, I actually saw Magnotta’s murder video. It can’t be unseen. During it, he plays True Faith by New Order, which is ruined for me now. But he was also said to be a very big fan of Madonna.
Mark David Chapman | Todd Rundgren
The man who shot and killed John Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980 was known to be obsessed with pop stars. He supposedly hated Lennon’s lavish lifestyle, the lyrics to God and Imagine and the former Beatle’s statement on the band being more popular than Jesus. However, when he was arrested, Chapman was wearing a Todd Rundgrem Hermit of Mink Hollow T-shirt. and had a copy of Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren in his hotel room.
Charles Manson | The Beatles
Death-cult leader Manson was a singer-songwriter in his own right. He even had one of his songs recorded by The Beach Boys. But clearly, it was The Beatles who seemed to speak to the pocket-sized prick. He heard things in White Album lyrics (Helter Skelter, particularly) which were never intended and tried to launch a race war, leading to the slaughter of at least nine people in the late ’60s and early 1970s.
Adolf Hitler | Richard Wagner
The failed world conqueror was a well-established admirer of the German composer.
Richard Ramirez | AC/DC
The so-called Night Stalker was quite keen on hard rock, particularly AC/DC and their song Night Prowler. Police say Ramirez owned an AC/DC shirt, and reportedly left an AC/DC hat at one of his crime scenes. He killed at least 14 women between April 1984 and August 1985.
Lawrence Bittaker | Iron Butterfly
One of the so-called Tool Box Killers, Bittaker and Roy Norris kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered of five teenage girls in Southern California over a five-month period in 1979. Bittaker has said the only album he had in prison was In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly, and claimed it was the only music he heard for 40 years.
Roy Norris | Bee Gees
The pre-incarceration musical tastes of Bittaker’s partner in crime are more well-established: Mariah Carey and The Bee Gees.
Anders Breivik | Helene Bøksle
The Norwegian neo-Nazi terrorist who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage at a summer camp in 2011 was apparently a big music fan and was quite particular about the playlists on his iPod. Three favourites were Helene Bøksle, Clint Mansell and Saga. Bøksle gets particular mention because she’s also featured in the soundtrack of one of Breivik’s favourite video games, Age Of Conan. Brevik’s 1,500-page manifesto has been the centre of much analysis. In the document, he fanboys about the music of Norwegian singer Saga — not to be confused with the Canadian prog band behind The Flyer and On The Loose.
John Wayne Gacy | REO Speedwagon
All you have to do is Google ‘Gacy + REO.’ The killer clown loved ’em — particularly Keep On Loving You and Take It On The Run. He made the admission himself in a pre-execution interview after being found guilty of torturing and killing up to 33 young men and boys.
David Berkowitz | Hall & Oates
Son Of Sam lied about Rich Girl by Hall & Oates being the inspiration for his 1977 killing spree. It was released after he started his crimes, so perhaps The .44 Caliber Killer just really liked the song. I guess it was never cool enough to just be a Hall & Oates fan.
Osama Bin Laden | Enrico Macias
The Al Qaeda leader left 1,500 cassette tapes behind in his Kandahar base when he fled from the U.S. invasion in 2001. Locals swept the building for valuables, found the cardboard boxes of tapes and sold them to a music shop. A CNN cameraman managed to get the boxes, which ended up being studied by Arabic literature & culture specialist Flagg Miller at Massachusetts’ Williams College — home of the Afghan Media Project. Among the recordings, most of which were non-musical in nature, was a well-loved tape of Franco-Algerian singer-songwriter Enrico Macias (Gaston Ghrenassia). Macias was very popular in Quebec in the 1960s.
Dennis Nilsen | Edgar Winter Group
Scottish serial killer and necrophile Nilsen killed at least a dozen young men and boys in North London between 1978 and 1983. I’ve read that he was a fan of The Who, reportedly playing Tommy before the death of his final victim. He is also said to have listened to O Superman by Laurie Anderson. Nilsen played keyboards, so perhaps it’s no surprise some of his other top jams inclued Rick Wakeman’s Journey To The Centre of the Earth, Hooked On Classics and his Frankenstein by The Edgar Winter Group.
Kim Jong Un | Hyon Song-Wol
North Korea’s dictator is said to be a fan of Hyon Song-Wol, someone he was also rumoured to have had a relationship with for a short time. Not only a singer, Hyon is a politician and has been a member of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea since 2017. Her musical endeavours include being the leader of an official North Korean girl group, Moranbong Band, as well as a member of the Samjiyon Orchestra. She was a vocalist with Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, but years after the group’s biggest successes. Hyon’s biggest hit is Excellent Horse-like Lady.
Peter Sutcliffe | Eurythmics
The Yorkshire Ripper killed 13 women and attempted to kill an additional seven others between 1975 and 1980. Like Bin Laden, Sutcliffe also left a slew of cassette tapes. But his were of the mixtape variety — a hot commodity among serial killer paraphernalia collectors. He loved the reggae of UB40 and Jimmy Cliff, along with the disco of Hot Chocolate and The Bee Gees, but apparently had a particular fondness for Eurythmics.
John Gotti | Jay & The Americans
Supposedly, The Teflon Don absolutely loved the version of Cara Mia by Jay & The Americans, and counted lead vocalist Jay Black among his friends. Black performed a rendition of it at the wedding reception for Gotti’s daughter.
Aileen Wuornos | Natalie Merchant
Serial killer Wuornos was apparently a fan of 10,000 Maniacs, particularly their original singer Natalie Merchant. Merchant’s debut solo album Tigerlily was special to Wuornos, who listened to it repeatedly while on death row from 1992 to 2002. She requested its first single, Carnival, to be played at her funeral. Merchant gave her blessing to the song being used in the closing credits of the 2003 documentary Aileen: Life And Death Of A Serial Killer.
Pablo Escobar | Héctor Lavoe
The king of Coke, Colombian drug cartel leader Escobar had something in common with Al Capone — the ability to “request” personal performances by his favourite singers and groups. One of them was Lavoe. The Puerto Rican salsa singer and his group were hired to play a party hosted by Escobar. He and his men demanded at gunpoint that Lavoe stick around and repeatedly sing their hit, El Cantante. When they refused to keep going, Lavoe and his orchestra were locked in a room. The musicians managed to escape through a window and fled barefoot through the jungle.
Fred & Rose West | Charlie Pride & Jimmy Young
Between 1967 and 1987, the Wests murdered and dismembered at least 12 women in their Cromwell Street home in Gloucestershire. Fred did two of the murders on his own, while wife Rose is known to have murdered Fred’s stepdaughter. Rose was a fan of 1950s British crooner-turned-DJ Jimmy Young, while Fred preferred the golden voice of Charley Pride, who became famous in the U.K. for agreeing to play dates in Northern Ireland during the height of The Troubles. His version of Crystal Chandelier became something of a unity anthem in the mid-’70s.
And here’s a real killer playlist:
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
