Heavy Metal and the Tucson Shootings

Drowning Pool, the metal band whose song "Bodies" made an appearance on alleged Tucson shooter Jared Loughner's MySpace page, has responded to the very stupid suggestion that their dumb song had anything to do with last Saturday's horrific crimes. As The Daily Caller reports:

A recent Washington Post article chronicles instances in which music has apparently influenced killers, most notably Charles Manson, whose fascination with the Beatles song "Helter Skelter" guided some of the killings for which he was convicted.

The Post noted similar parallels in a song by the heavy metal band Drowning Pool: "'Let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor,' the singer barks in a refrain that carries an eerie echo in the context of the shooting rampage Saturday in Tucson."

Members of Drowning Pool disagree. "'Bodies' was written about the brotherhood of the mosh pit and the respect people have for each other in the pit. If you push others down, you have to pick them back up. It was never about violence. It's about a certain amount of respect and a code," the band said in a statement

Read the whole story here. Brian Doherty discusses Loughner and Drowning Pool here.