List of songs about or referencing serial killers

This is a list of songs about or referencing killers. The songs are divided into groups by the last name of the killer the song is about or mentions.

A–B

Axeman of New Orleans

• "Axeman" – Amebix
• "The Axeman's Jazz" – Beasts of Bourbon
• "The Mysterious Axman's Jazz (Don't Scare Me Papa)" – Joseph John Davilla

Elizabeth Báthory

• "An Execution" – Siouxsie and the Banshees
• "Bathe in Blood" – Evile
• "Bathory" – Katarína Knechtová
• "Bathory Erzsebet" – Sunn O)))
• "Bathory's Sainthood" – Boy Sets Fire
• "Beauty Through Order" – Slayer
• "The Bleeding Baroness" – Candlemass
• "Countess Bathory" – Venom
• "Countess Erszebeth Nadasdy" – Barathrum
• Cruelty and the Beast album by Cradle of Filth
• Die Blutgräfin album by Untoten
• "Elizabeth" – Aiden
• "Elizabeth" – Ghost
• Elizabeth album – Kamelot
• "Elizabeth" – XIII. Století
• "Elizabeth Bathory" – Sadistik
• "Elisabeth Bathory" – Tormentor
• "Erszebet" – Paths of Possession
• Resurrection album – Forever Slave
• "Rose of Pain" – X-Japan
• "Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix)" - Death Grips
• "To the Memory of the Dark Countess" – Mütiilation
• "Torquemada 71" – Electric Wizard
• "The Sonology of Sex II (La Comtesse De Sang)" – Clock DVA
• "Villa Vampiria" – God Dethroned
• "Woman of Dark Desires" – Bathory
• "The Wrath of Satan's Whore" – Countess

Robert Berdella

• "Diary of Torture" – Macabre

David Berkowitz

• ".44 Magnum Opus" - Exodus
• "Bay of Pigs" – The Acacia Strain
• "Cereal Killer" – Green Jellÿ
• "Death 2" – Meechy Darko
• "Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear The Voices)" – Hall & Oates
• "I Hear Black" – Overkill
• "Hello From the Gutter" – Overkill
• "Hot Damn" – Ivy Levan
• "Insane in the Brain" – Cypress Hill
• "Jumping at Shadows" – Benediction
• "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" – Beastie Boys
• "Mr. 44" – Electric Hellfire Club
• "Reign In Blood" – Necro
• "(Sam), Son of Man" – Marilyn Manson and The Spooky Kids
• "Stay Wide Awake" – Eminem
• "Son of A Gun (David Berkowitz)" – Church of Misery
• "Son of Sam" - Chain Gang
• "Son of Sam" – Dead Boys
• "Son of Sam" – Elliott Smith
• "Son of Sam" – Macabre
• "Son of Sam" – Shinedown
• "Son of Sam" – Violent Soho
• "Summer Of Sam" – Lana Del Rey
• "Unseen Darkness" – Sinister

Kenneth Bianchi & Angelo Buono

• "Hillside Strangler" – The Destructors
• "Hillside Strangler" – The Hollywood Squares
• "The Hillside Stranglers" – Macabre
• "I Wanna Make You Scream" – Battalion of Saints
• "Notown Blues" – The Black Lips

Ian Brady & Myra Hindley

• "Archives of Pain" – Manic Street Preachers
• "Lambs to the Slaughter" – Church of Misery
• "Mother Earth" – Crass
• "No One Is Innocent" – The Sex Pistols
• "Suffer Little Children" – The Smiths
• "Very Friendly" – Throbbing Gristle

Jerry Brudos

• "Fatal Foot Fetish" – Macabre
• "Truest Shade of Crimson – Through the Eyes of the Dead

Ted Bundy

• "Anne" – Bloodbath
• "Black Friday" – Lil' Kim
• "Blackest Eyes" – Porcupine Tree
• "Blow" – Tyler, the Creator
• "Bundy" – Animal Alpha
• "Bundy's DNA" – Acid Drinkers
• "Death 2" – Meechy Darko
• "The Drifter" – Green on Red
• "epaR" – Earl Sweatshirt
• "I, Motherfucker (Ted Bundy)" – Church of Misery
• "Meticulous Invagination" – Aborted
• "Mr. Gore" – Blitzkid
• "Murder Dividead" – Edge Of Sanity
• "Reign In Blood" - Necro
• "Serial Killer" – Vio-lence
• "Stay Wide Awake" – Eminem
• "Stripped, Raped and Strangled" – Cannibal Corpse
• "The Ted Bundy Song" – Macabre
• "Ted, Just Admit It" – Jane's Addiction
• "Till Death" – Lord Infamous
• "Torch Song Trilogy" - Handsome Boy Modeling School
• "Warrior" - Swollen Members
• "We Want Cunt" – Jeffree Star
• "Crack" – Slowthai
• "What Turns You on?" – The Cassandra Complex

C–F

Richard Chase

• "Blood Sucking Freaks (Richard Chase)" – Church of Misery
• "House Sparrow" – Xiu Xiu

Andrei Chikatilo

• "Psychopathy Red" – Slayer
• "Red Ripper Blues (Andrei Chikatilo)" – Church of Misery
• "Ripper von Rostow" – Eisregen
• "Rostov Ripper" – Impious
• "The Butcher of Rostov" – Blood Tsunami

Adolfo Constanzo

• "El Padrino (Adolfo Constanzo)" – Church of Misery
• "Sacrifical Shack" – Pain Teens

Dean Corll

• "Candyman" – Monte Cazazza
• "Candyman (Dean Corll)" – Church of Misery

Jeffrey Dahmer

• "213" – Slayer
• "Arcarsenal" – At The Drive-In
• "Bagpipes from Baghdad" – Eminem
• "Bandit" – Juice WRLD ft. NBA YoungBoy
• "Body Parts" – Three 6 Mafia
• "Brainless" – Eminem
• "Cannibal" – Kesha
• "Celebrity Cannibalism" – Creaming Jesus
• "Choklit Factory" – Marilyn Manson
• "Control" – The Black Dahlia Murder
• "Da Graveyard" – Big L
• Dahmer – Macabre
• "Dahmer and the Limbs" – Nicole Dollanganger
• "Dahmer is Dead" – Violent Femmes
• "Danger Zone" – Big L
• "Dark Horse" – Katy Perry ft. Juicy J
• "Death 2" Meechy Darko
• "Dirty Frank" – Pearl Jam
• "Freeze Dried Man" – Macabre
• "God Bless" – Combichrist
• "I'm On It" – J. Cole
• "Jeffrey" – Juice WRLD
• "Jeffrey Dahmer" – Soulfly
• "Keep it Underground" – Lords of the Underground
• "KKKill the Fetus" - Esham
• "Killer" - Phoebe Bridgers
• "Lift Me Up" - Vince Staples
• "Lord Dahmer" - Final Solution
• "Marlon JD" – Manic Street Preachers
• "Moonshine" - Swollen Members
• "Must Be The Ganja" - Eminem
• "Nature of the threat" - Ras Kass
• "Natural Born Killaz - Dr. Dre ft. Ice Cube
• "Orange Juice" - EarlWolf
• "Particle Accelerator" - Tad
• "Pretty Boy Swag" - Tyga
• "Psycopath Killer" - Eminem ft Slaughterhouse & Yelawolf
• "Rap, Soda y Bohemia" – Molotov
• "Reign In Blood" - Necro
• "Room 213" – Church of Misery
• "Room 213" – Dead Moon
• "Room 213" - G.G.F.H.
• "Said the Spider to the Fly" - the pAper chAse
• "Siccmade" - Brotha Lynch Hung
• "Sinthasomphone" – Venetian Snares
• "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" - Andrew Rannells
• "Still Born/Still Life" – Christian Death
• "Straight Boys" - Jeffree Star
• "The Ballad Of Jeffrey Dahmer" – Pinkard & Bowden
• "Things Get Worse" - Eminem Ft. B.o.B
• "Tom Dahmer Mixtape Freestyle" – Necro
• "Transformer" – Future ft. Nicki Minaj
• "Trigger Inside" - Therapy?
• "Usual Suspects" – Hollywood Undead
• "You're Gonna Love This"- 3OH!3
• "What's That Smell?" – Macabre
• "Now I'm High, Really High" − Three 6 Mafia

Albert DeSalvo

• "Boston Strangler (Albert DeSalvo)" – Church of Misery
• "Dedicated to Albert De Salvo" – Whitehouse
• "Dirty Water" – The Standells
• "Midnight Rambler" – The Rolling Stones
• "The Boston Strangler" – Macabre

Dnepropetrovsk maniacs

• "Dealers of Fame" - Oh, Sleeper

Mark Essex

• "Soul Discharge (Mark Essex)" – Church of Misery

Albert Fish

• "27 Needles" – John 5
• "Albert Fish/Liverwurst" – Green Jellÿ
• "Albert Was Worse Than Any Fish In The Sea" – Macabre
• "Document: Grace Budd" – The Number Twelve Looks Like You
• "Fish" - Tyler, the Creator
• "Fishtales" – Macabre
• "Instruments of Hell" – Exhumed
• "Human Consumption" - Necro
• "Letter to Mother" - Divine Heresy
• "Mr. Albert Fish (Was Children Your Favourite Dish?)" – Macabre
• "Mr Fish" – Sparzanza
• "The Gray Man (Albert Fish)" – Church of Misery
• "The Werewolf of Westeria" – John 5
• "Three Bedrooms in a Good Neighborhood" − Death Grips

Lavinia Fisher

• "Pretty Lavinia" – American Murder Song

G–J

John Wayne Gacy

• "33 Something" – Bathory
• "Clownin' Around" - Deer Tick
• "Finger Paintings of The Insane" - Acid Bath
• "Gacy's Lot" – Macabre
• "Gacy's Place" - The Mentally Ill
• "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." – Sufjan Stevens
• "Johnny's in love with you" - The Bang
• "Master of Brutality (John Wayne Gacy)" – Church of Misery
• "Pogo The Clown" – Dog Fashion Disco
• "Pogo The Clown" – Hubert Kah
• "Reign In Blood" - Necro
• "Suffer Age" – Fear Factory
• "Three for Flinching (Revenge of the Porno Clowns)" – The Dillinger Escape Plan
• "Unaccommodating" - Eminem

Harvey Murray Glatman

• "Harvey Glatman (Your Soul Will Forever Rot)" – Macabre

Grim Sleeper

• "Twistin'" – Lil Ugly Mane (featuring Denzel Curry)

Belle Gunness

• "The Ballad Of Belle Gunness" – TJ McFarland
• "Bella The Butcher" – Macabre
• "Belle Gunness" – Cassius
• "Black Widow of La Porte" – John 5

Fritz Haarmann

• "Fritz Haarman der Metzger" – Macabre
• "Fritz Haarman the Butcher" – Macabre

John George Haigh

• "Acid Bath Vampire" – Macabre

Jack the Ripper

• "Blood Red Sandman" – Lordi
• "The Death of Jack the Ripper" – The Legendary Pink Dots
• "Down on Whores" – Benediction
• "In the Mind of a Lunatic" – Sigh
• "Jack" – Iced Earth
• "Jack the Knife" – The Electric Hellfire Club
• "Jack the Ripper" – Nationalteatern
• "Jack the Ripper" – Screaming Lord Sutch
• "Jack the Ripper" – Buckethead
• "Jack the Ripper" – LL Cool J
• "Jack The Ripper" – Macabre
• "Jack the Ripper" – Morrissey
• "Jack the Ripper" – Motorhead
• "Jack the Ripper" – Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
• "Jack the Ripper" – Rob Kelly
• "Jack The Ripper" – The Horrors
• "Killer on the loose" - Thin Lizzy
• "Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" – Reunion
• "Maxwell Murder" – Rancid
• "Music Box" - Eminem
• "Must be the Ganja" - Eminem
• "Reconstruction of the Female Anatomy"- Through the Eyes of the Dead
• "The Ripper" – Judas Priest
• "Saucy Jack" – Spinal Tap
• The Somatic Defilement – Whitechapel
• "Unsolved Mysteries" – Animal Collective
• "Tombstone Blues" − Bob Dylan

K–M

Theodore Kaczynski

• "Body Parts" – Three 6 Mafia
• "Exploding Octopus" – Ill Bill
• "FC: The Freedom Club" – Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
• "Free The Unabomber" – Code 13
• "I Wanna Be a Unabomber" – Donnas
• "Killer Kaczynski" – Mando Diao
• "Militia Song" – Camper Van Beethoven
• "Unabomber" – J. Cole
• "The Unabomber" – Macabre
• "Unabomber" – M.I.R.V.
• "Unabomber" – The Acacia Strain
• "Unabomber" – Underground Resistance

Edmund Kemper

• "Abomination Unseen" - Devourment
• "Edmund Kemper Had a Terrible Temper" – Macabre
• "Forever" – The Berzerker
• "Fortress/Outer Space/Forever" – System of a Down
• "Killifornia (Edmund Kemper III)" – Church of Misery
• "Murder" - Seabound
• "Severed Head" – Suicide Commando
• "Temper Temper Mr. Kemper" - The Celibate Rifles
• "Urge to Kill" – Throbbing Gristle

Joachim Kroll

• "Evil Ole Soul" – Macabre

Richard Kuklinski

• "The Iceman" – Macabre
• "Lyrical Hitman (Richard Kuklinski)" – Royce Da 5'9" and Marvwon

Peter Kürten

• Dedicated to Peter Kurten – Whitehouse
• "Dusseldorf Monster" - Church of Misery
• "In Germany Before the War" – Randy Newman
• "Vampire of Düsseldorf" – Macabre

Leonard Lake & Charles Ng

• "The Balled of Leonard and Charles" – Exodus
• "Macerate and Petrify" – Venetian Snares

Henry Lee Lucas & Ottis Toole

• "Henry Lee Lucas" - Dahmer
• "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" - Fantômas
• "Lucas Toole" - Downthesun
• "Murder Company" – Church of Misery
• "Serial Killer" – Macabre

Herman Mudgett (a.k.a. H. H. Holmes)

• "Dr. Holmes (He Stripped Their Bones)" – Macabre
• "From the Cradle to the Grave" - Havok
• "Infecting them with Falsehood" – Deeds of Flesh
• "The Torture Doctor"- Alkaline Trio

Herbert Mullin

• "Megalomania (Herbert Mullin)" – Church of Misery

N–R

Dennis Nilsen

• "Cranley Gardens" (Denis Nilsen) – Church of Misery
• "Killing for Company" – Swans
• "Turnabout" — Moth Wranglers
• "You're Dying To Be With Me" – Macabre
• "When Lovers Die" – Children on Stun

Carl Panzram

• "Reminiscenses of a Minnesota State Training School Alumni, Class of 1905" – Flare Acoustic Arts League

Christopher Peterson

• "Shotgun Peterson" – Macabre

Alexander Pichushkin

• "Sewers" – Torture Killer

Robert Pickton

• "Fed To The Pigs" – Devourment
• "Hooker Fortified Pork Products"- The Accüsed
• "Pigfarm" – Mad Sin

Dorothea Puente

• "Dorthea's Dead Folks Home" – Macabre

Dennis Rader

• "Bind, Torture and Kill" – Suicide Commando
• "Bind Torture Kill" – Suffocation
• "B.T.K." - Church of Misery
• "BTK" - Exodus
• "Raider II" - Steven Wilson

Gilles de Rais

• "Barbazul versus el amor letal" - Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota
• "The Black Knight" – Macabre
• Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder - Cradle of Filth
• "Into the Crypts of Rays" – Celtic Frost
• "Tritt Ein" – Saltatio Mortis
• "The Window" - The Black Dahlia Murder

Richard Ramirez

• "Acosador Nocturno" - Soulfly
• "Godzilla" - Eminem
• "Going Going Gone" – Exodus
• "Kamikaze" - Eminem
• "Killer" – King Diamond
• "Knight Stalker" - Shadow Project
• "The Night Stalker" – Bewitched
• "Night Stalker" – Macabre
• "Night Stalker" – Super Heroines
• "Richard Ramirez Died Today Of Natural Causes" - Sun Kil Moon
• "Noche Acosador" – John 5
• "Nocturnal Predator" - Legion of the Damned
• "Ramirez" - The Acacia Strain
• "Where Evil Dwells (Richard Ramirez)" – Church of Misery

Gary Ridgway

• "Deep Red Bells" – Neko Case
• "Green River" – Church of Misery
• "The Green River Murderer (He's Still Out There)" – Macabre
• "Come on down" - Green River
• "I Wanna Know What Love Is" - Julie Ruin
• "Sane vs. Normal" - Mnemic

Danny Rolling

• "Danny Rolling" – The Murder Junkies

S

Shankill Butchers

• "Shankill Butchers" – The Decemberists
• "Shankill Butchers" – Sarah Jarosz

Harold Shipman

• "Lips of Ashes" – Porcupine Tree
• "What About Us?" - The Fall

Peter Stumpp

• "Werewolf of Bedburg" – Macabre

Peter Sutcliffe

• "Archives of Pain" - Manic Street Preachers
• "Leeds Ripper" – Throbbing Gristle
• "Leeds United" – Luke Haines
• "Night Shift" – Siouxsie and the Banshees
• "The Ripper" – Pallas
• "Ripping Into Pieces (Peter Sutcliffe)" – Church of Misery

T–Z

Dorángel Vargas

• "El Comegente" - Soulfly

Fred West/Rose West

• "25 Cromwell St." - Apoptygma Berzerk
• "Evil" – Interpol

Aileen Wuornos

• "Aileen" – Willam
• "Disease of Men" – Kristin Hayter
• "Filth Bitch Boogie (Aileen Wuornos)" – Church of Misery
• "Holy Is the Name (Of My Ruthless Axe)" − Kristin Hayter
• "If the Poison Won't Take You My Dogs Will" – Kristin Hayter
• "Poor Aileen" – Superheaven
• "Sixth Of June" – It Dies Today

Graham Frederick Young

• "Poison" – Macabre
• "Taste the Pain (Graham Young)" – Church Of Misery

Zodiac Killer

• "Dear Editor" – Kamelot
• "Death 2" – Meechy Darko
• "Gemini" – Slayer
• "Nostalgia in Lemonade" − Avey Tare
• "Sick of Living (Zodiac)" – Church of Misery
• "Soul Sacrifice" – Santana
• "Summer of Sam" – Lana Del Rey
• "Venus in Furs" – Electric Wizard
• "The Zodiac" – Kamelot
• "Zodiac" – Macabre
• "Zodiac" – Melvins
• "Zodiac (he is still out there...)" – Christian Death
• "Zodiac Shit" – Flying Lotus

See also

• Serial killer
• List of serial killers
• Murder ballad

Further reading

• Olive W. Burt, American Murder Ballads and their Stories, Oxford University Press, New York, 1958
• Olive W. Burt, "Murder Ballads of Mormondom", Western Folklore, 18:2, April 1959, pp. 141–156
• Olive W. Burt, "The Minstrelsy of Murder", Western Folklore, 17:4, October 1958, pp. 263–272
• Daniel A. Cohen, "The Beautiful Female Murder Victim: Literary Genres and Courtship Practices in the Origins of a Cultural Motif, 1590–1850", Journal of Social History, 31:2, Winter 1997, pp. 277–306
• Chet Flippo, "Nashville Skyline: The Subject Was Murder", CMT.com, February 5, 2004
• Will Robinson Sheff, "The Dark Side of Folk: Songs about Murder", Audiogalaxy
• Michael E. Bush, "Murder Ballads in Appalachia", (thesis) Marshal University, Huntington, West Virginia, 1977
• Kenneth D. Tunnel, "99 Years is Almost For Life: Punishment for Violent Crime in Bluegrass Music", The Journal of Popular Culture, 26:3, Winter 1992, pp. 165–181
• Ellen L. O'Brien, "THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MURDER”: THE TRANSGRESSIVE AESTHETICS OF MURDER IN VICTORIAN STREET BALLADS", Victorian Literature and Culture, 28, 2000, pp. 15–37

Further listening (recorded compilations)

• Bloody Ballads: Classic British and American Murder Ballads, Sung by Paul Clayton, Ed. by Kenneth S. Goldstein, Riverside Records, New York, 1956 (includes cover notes)
• Blood Booze 'n Bones, Sung by Ed McCurdy, banjo accompaniment by Erik Darling, Elektra Records, 1956 (includes 12 page booklet)
• Murder Ballads, by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Mute Records, 1996
• Murder Metal, Macabre, 2003 (This band appears to have become known for a death metal variation of the murder ballad)