"That afternoon, they had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana and listening for six hours straight to the album Stained Class (1978) by the heavy metal band Judas Priest. At nightfall, they went to a playground next to a church with a 12-gauge shotgun. Raymond Belknap, 18, put the barrel under his chin, pulled the trigger, and died instantly. His friend, James Vance, 20, did the same but survived, although his face was disfigured."
"Both Belknap and Vance came from ultra-religious and deeply dysfunctional families, plagued by alcoholism, domestic violence, academic failure, and a propensity for all sorts of addictions and petty crime. Vance had tried to run away from home 15 times, and Belknap had previously attempted suicide. He had even told his sister that he wanted to be a serial killer when he grew up, so it seemed clear that their social and environmental circumstances had sown the seeds of tragedy."
On December 23, 1985, Raymond Belknap and James Vance entered a suicide pact in Sparks, Nevada, after drinking, smoking marijuana, and listening to Judas Priest’s Stained Class for six hours. Belknap died instantly; Vance survived with severe facial disfigurement. Both men came from ultra-religious, dysfunctional families marked by alcoholism, domestic violence, academic failure, and criminal behavior. Vance wrote that alcohol and heavy metal had mesmerized them, and the families sued Judas Priest and CBS for responsibility. The prosecution’s initial attempt to use song lyrics was dismissed on First Amendment grounds, and the families' lawyer later alleged hidden subliminal messages and reversed recordings.
Read at english.elpais.com
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