Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] Re: "Nebraska"

GrnVillageGirl@aol.com GrnVillageGirl@aol.com
Thu, 26 Sep 2002 01:47:16 EDT


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Actually, the title track on this album was inspired by the film "Badlands," 
which was in turn inspired by the Charles Starkweather murders that took 
place in that state in the 50s.
For anyone unfamiliar with the story, it's basically this: misfit 
James-Dean-wannabe in his 20s meets and falls for teenage girl, who 
reciprocates his ardor; her family objects; they pay with their lives, as do 
a bunch of other folks who had the sheer misfortune to simply get in the way 
of Romeo and Juliet.
I love and respect Springsteen, but like the film before it, his song 
romanticizes what in reality was a sorry trail of blood spilt in idiot rage.
This will probably bring down a hailstorm of anger -- but while I don't 
believe that the state should be empowered to execute (for any of a number of 
good reasons), there are some vile examples of humanity around who constitute 
a direct threat to anyone else, and I do mean anyone, so long as they draw 
breath.
And their numbers, and viciousness, just seem to increase.
How they got that way in the first place is probably as complicated as what 
we're supposed to do about them once they unleash their virulence on the 
world at large. 
P.S. I'm not talking about terrorists here, just your garden-variety 
psychopathic murderers(s). 
Read up on serial killers sometime if you want to discover just how 
maniacally sick some people can be; it truly boggles the mind. There are 
real-life versions of Hannibal Lechter who put the movie boogeyman to shame.



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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"><FONT  style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2>Actually, the title track on this album was inspired by the film "Badlands," which was in turn inspired by the Charles Starkweather murders that took place in that state in the 50s.<BR>
For anyone unfamiliar with the story, it's basically this: misfit James-Dean-wannabe in his 20s meets and falls for teenage girl, who reciprocates his ardor; her family objects; they pay with their lives, as do a bunch of other folks who had the sheer misfortune to simply get in the way of Romeo and Juliet.<BR>
I love and respect Springsteen, but like the film before it, his song romanticizes what in reality was a sorry trail of blood spilt in idiot rage.<BR>
This will probably bring down a hailstorm of anger -- but while I don't believe that the state should be empowered to execute (for any of a number of good reasons), there are some vile examples of humanity around who constitute a direct threat to anyone else, and I do mean anyone, so long as they draw breath.<BR>
And their numbers, and viciousness, just seem to increase.<BR>
How they got that way in the first place is probably as complicated as what we're supposed to do about them once they unleash their virulence on the world at large. <BR>
P.S. I'm not talking about terrorists here, just your garden-variety psychopathic murderers(s). <BR>
Read up on serial killers sometime if you want to discover just how maniacally sick some people can be; it truly boggles the mind. There are real-life versions of Hannibal Lechter who put the movie boogeyman to shame.<BR>
<BR>
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