Side effects of those wacky tunes by Metallica and Linkin Park

Serial Killer: METALLICA And LINKIN PARK Influenced Me To Kill - Mar. 3, 2005

Serial killer Richard Paul White (photo), one of Colorado's most notorious killers, recently spoke from jail about his crimes. He has confessed to six murders in the Denver area. A lifetime of untreated mental illness, heavy metal music and violent movies drove him to kill, he said, in an exclusive interview with CBS4 Denver News reporter Rick Sallinger.

Music was a big influence in his life, White said. His spree of killing was accompanied by a soundtrack of heavy metal.

"METALLICA probably the most," he said.

A set of lyrics stand out: "Guilty as charged, but damn it, it ain't right, there's someone else controlling me." (from METALLICA's "Ride the Lightning" off the album of the same name.)

Music by LINKIN PARK would also play in the background.

"I would listen, actually, to LINKIN PARK before I would kill," White said. "And, while I was killing usually that music LINKIN PARK was on."

A childhood of abuse, coupled with untreated mental illness, set the stage. A society filled with violence did little to hold back White.

"Today's culture, here in America, everything is based on violence," he said.

White talked about movies he would watch that influenced him to kill. There was one in particular, "The Boondock Saints", about two Irish youth who set about to rid Boston of gangsters.

"There's just a lot of killing," White said. "And it makes it seem right and makes it almost OK to go out and kill."

Add to the mix violent video games, such as Doom, that White played.

"I think they influenced me towards killing," he said. "It desensitized me to the killing, because when I pulled the trigger on the TV screen, something would just go away."

Watch the complete 48-minute interview with White, conducted by CBS4 Denver News reporter Rick Sallinger, at this location.

BTW, Metallica's forum got hacked.