Difficult Music

SATANIC PANIC
I'm going to step back from the music-related stuff temporarily, although what I'm going to talk about does have a slight connection to rock 'n' roll. A few years ago I saw a movie at the Ridge that I'll never forget--Paradise Lost: the Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. This documentary chronicles the aftermath of a triple murder in West Memphis, Arkansas. Three 8-year-old boys were killed, their bodies dumped in a ditch. Three local teenagers were accused and convicted of the crime based on extremely flimsy evidence. It seems that, down Arkansas way, wearing black, listening to Metallica, and reading Stephen King is enough to get you sent away for a couple consecutive life sentences. One of the convicted boys, Damien Echols, received the death penalty and is still awaiting execution.

I borrowed the video from the library and watched it again this weekend. It's not all that far removed from Harmony Korine's legendary freak show, Gummo (another night I spent at the Ridge that provokes nervous nip-ups upon recollection) in that there's plenty of mobile-home squalor and malformed people on display. If you ever see Paradise Lost, pay attention to John Mark Byers, the father of one of the murdered boys. He gets scarier with each new revelation, and his head gets progressively more peanut shaped until at the end you're expecting it to erupt and expel a clump of God-fearing brain matter into his lap.

Anyway, here's the site for the Free the West Memphis Three campaign, where you can read the latest updates on the case, buy a t-shirt (as seen on Eddie Vedder) and contribute to the legal defense fund. Paradise Lost also has a sequel, Revelations: Paradise Lost 2, that I haven't come across yet, but I desperately want to see it.

KILLER ROCK: SUBMIT TO LEW SIFFER
It's true, Satan does have all the best tunes. Here is one band's story, and it's a sad one. I'm also intrigued to see that lyrics like "We're gonna Rock, Rock, Rock/Rock with the Rock!" apparently go over big with the kids.

Is that what's gonna happen to Stryper?

SLEAZE!
My friend Bruno pointed me to Metal Sludge, a site devoted to the more carnal side of rock 'n' roll. There's nastiness, innuendo, and mud-slinging aplenty. I like the site's unabashed attitude, but I don't really care for any of the personalities involved. Does anyone care about these people anymore? To my way of thinking, heavy metal isn't about sex (except for Led Zeppelin, but are they metal to begin with?). It's about wallowing in misery, catharsis, and craftsmanship. Still, this is a fun site, especially if you're interested in various rock stars' shameful pasts, and have prurient curiosities about certain guys' dimensions, in-bed performance, and predilections. So, enjoy. I'm washing my hands of the whole thing.