Ongoing History Daily: Mass shooting song horror
When a songwriter puts out a song, he or she does it as a way of expressing a personal point of view. It’s an invitation to the world: “This is my world. Come inside.” However, once a song is set free, the creator loses all control over it. Everyone who hears it is now free to interpret in whatever way they see fit.
Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes it’s awful.
Take the case of “Shine” by Collective Soul. It was written by Ed Roland with an uplifting message in mind. However, it was adopted by Cho Seung-Hui, the nutbar gunman behind the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. His roommates said he listened to “Shine” over and over again and even wrote the lyrics all over the dorm wall.
Naturally, Collective Soul was pretty freaked out and disturbed over how their song ended up being so evilly perverted.
Friday’s post covered when The New York Times reviewed The Ramones for the first time.
