Songs about School Shootings--Decades of trying to make sense of this...

The two most ballyhooed "School Shooting" songs plus an old Elton John song that freaked me out as a wee lad.

LINK "I DON'T LIKE MONDAYS"-BOOMTOWN RATS

quote:

---

Brenda Ann Spencer (born April 3, 1962) is an American convicted murderer who, at the age of 16, carried out a shooting spree from her home in San Diego, California, on January 29, 1979.

During the shooting spree, she killed two people and injured nine others at Cleveland Elementary School, which was located across the street from her home. Spencer showed no remorse for her crime, and her full explanation for her actions was "I don't like Mondays; this livens up the day."[1] The explanation inspired the song "I Don't Like Mondays", by the Irish New Wave band The Boomtown Rats, which was a number-one single in the United Kingdom for four weeks in mid-1979.[2]

---

LINK "TICKING" -ELTON JOHN (although this ancient fave of mine seems to be more of a student who kills in a barroom)

LINK "JEREMY" -PEARL JAM

quote:

---

"Jeremy" is based on two different true stories. The song takes its main inspiration from a newspaper article about a 15-year-old boy named Jeremy Wade Delle from Richardson, Texas who shot himself in front of his English classmates on the morning of January 8, 1991. In a 2009 interview, Vedder said that he felt "the need to take that small article and make something of it—to give that action, to give it reaction, to give it more importance."[5]

Delle was described by schoolmates as "real quiet" and known for "acting sad."[6] After coming in to class late that morning, Delle was told to get an admittance slip from the school office. He left the classroom, and returned with a .357 Magnum revolver. Delle walked to the front of the classroom, announced "Miss, I got what I really went for", put the barrel of the firearm in his mouth, and pulled the trigger before his teacher or classmates could react.[6] Lisa Moore, a schoolmate, knew Jeremy from the in-school suspension program: "He and I would pass notes back and forth and he would talk about life and stuff," she said. "He signed all of his notes, 'Write back.' But on Monday he wrote, 'Later days.' I didn't know what to make of it. But I never thought this would happen."[6

---

"The Kinslayer" by Nightwish

"The Ballad of Charles Whitman" by Kinky Friedman

"New Hope" by Five Iron Frenzy

"So Long" by Everlast

"Sniper" by Harry Chapin

"The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" by Julie Brown

"Jeremy" by Pearl Jam

"Rival" by Pearl Jam

"I Don't Like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats (also covered by Bon Jovi, Ron Sexsmith and Tori Amos)

"A New Hope" by Five Iron Frenzy.

"Youth of the Nation" by P.O.D.

"Educated Hate" by Rorshack

"Stole" by Kelly Rowland

"The Anatomy Of a School Shooting" by Ill Bill

"Ticking" by Elton John

"To the Teeth" by Ani DiFranco

"Classtime Horror" by Madd Maxxx

"Vengeful Possesion" by Madd Maxxx

"The Nobodies" by Marilyn Manson

"Ronnie" by Metallica

"Cassie" by Flyleaf

"April 20" by Yellowcard

"Weisses Fleisch" by Rammstein

"Monday" by The Living End

"Rock the 40oz." by Leftöver Crack

"Lullaby For Wayne" by Weezer

"She's Anti" by Home Grown

"Hero" by Superchic[k]

"Black Shadow Symphony" by Westworld

"Columbine High Blues" by Countess

"Columbine Killing Machine" by Ressurrector

"In Praise of School Shooters" by Pink Eye

"This Is Your Time by Michael W. Smith (also covered by Five Iron Frenzy)

"Friend of Mine" by Jonathan and Stephen Cohen - survivors of the Columbine School Shooting