About a week ago, I caught a music video, Flowers and Football Tops by the Scottish band Glasvegas. It was one of the best I've ever seen. The mood was all gloomy, gray, haunting even, but it still has a feeling of beauty in it.
Little did I know, the song had a very dark background behind it.
It is based on the murder of Kriss Donald.
Kriss Donald was a white 15-year-old Scottish whose murder lead to a controversy in the Great Britain. On March 15th 2004, a Pakistani gang snatched Kriss from the road as an act of vengeance for a previous attack by a local white gang. The problem was Kriss didn't have any gang affiliation. He was picked because he was white.
The kidnappers brought him 200 miles to Dundee and back because they couldn't find a house to take him. Finally they decided to stop at a walkway near Celtic Football Club's training ground. There, they held his arms, stabbed him 13 times, castrated him and cut his tongue, doused him with gasoline, set him on fire, and left him to die.
His brutal death and the capture of his murderers sparked a racial controversy in the country.
It also inspired James Allan, the band's vocalist and guitarist who wrote the song from the perspective of Kriss Donald's father.
Anyway, don't miss the end which contains a segment of the song "You Are My Sunshine".
Little did I know, the song had a very dark background behind it.
It is based on the murder of Kriss Donald.
Kriss Donald was a white 15-year-old Scottish whose murder lead to a controversy in the Great Britain. On March 15th 2004, a Pakistani gang snatched Kriss from the road as an act of vengeance for a previous attack by a local white gang. The problem was Kriss didn't have any gang affiliation. He was picked because he was white.
The kidnappers brought him 200 miles to Dundee and back because they couldn't find a house to take him. Finally they decided to stop at a walkway near Celtic Football Club's training ground. There, they held his arms, stabbed him 13 times, castrated him and cut his tongue, doused him with gasoline, set him on fire, and left him to die.
His brutal death and the capture of his murderers sparked a racial controversy in the country.
It also inspired James Allan, the band's vocalist and guitarist who wrote the song from the perspective of Kriss Donald's father.
"Sometimes when you read things or see things on TV, you can't help but put yourself in the position of people's misfortune. That was on my mind when I heard about the murder of Kriss Donald. It's about a kid who never made it home,"
he said in an interview.
Anyway, don't miss the end which contains a segment of the song "You Are My Sunshine".
nice clip a dark gothic one..humm.. makes me remmember a candle,torture room,whip,strap leather... wkwkwk
ReplyDeletebut isn't this a kind of exploitation?
how could you think of S&M with a video like this?
ReplyDeleteexploitation?
well, did he get profit from it? I suppose so.
did he deliberately do so? I doubt it.
was the murder just too brutal to have? so much that it touched the songwriter so deep, he couldn't help himself but to create a song about it? I'd like to think so.
if the songwriter don't say anything about the background of the song i wouldn't think this is a some sort of exploitation. and this will only be another good written song.
ReplyDeletehumm i don't know that's why i don't date gothic girls :p
the songwriter wouldn't have to say it out loud. the song is quite specific. just look for the lyrics. the intention is quite clear.
ReplyDeleteas for exploitation,
just think it as an ode, or like any other songs, stories, movies, paintings, etc through out history about tragedy, disasters, war casualties, or any kind of misfortune experienced by real people. they weren't initially created to gain profit, but to say something.
Don't see the movie, but heard that stories, just can say "Oh my...".
ReplyDeleteSo cruel.
I know. I can't imagine what made them capable of such horrifying things.
ReplyDeleteRacism.
ReplyDeleteand over the top stupidity.
ReplyDelete