10.The Cranberries – “The Icicle Melts”
On February 12, 1993, a month before his third birthday, James Bulger was abducted from a shopping center in Bootle, Liverpool by two 10-year-old boys. The children took the boy to a train track 4 kilometers away, where they tortured and killed him. The boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, were convicted of the murder in November 1993, making them the youngest convicted murderers in modern British history. When Dolores O’Riordan learned of the tragedy, she was devastated. Pouring her feelings into her composition, she wrote the song “The Icicle Melts” in reaction to James’ murder. During an interview in 1994, she explained that her case had touched her so much that she had to write a song about it.
Some believe, to this day, that O’Riordan was against abortion and that the song was about being pro-life. However, it has been commonly accepted that “The Icicle Melts” was written as a response to the horrible murder of little James Bulger.
9.Kesha – “Praying”
In 2011, the DAS case against Kesha revealed that the singer had alerted several people in her life in 2005 that Dr. Luke, a former producer and director of Kemosabe Records, had engaged in ‘unethical and illegal actions against her. him raping her in her hotel room in 2005 after giving her a drug to rape her. The battle between Kesha and Luke continued for several years, with Kesha stating that Luke forced her to release “Die Young” after receiving a huge backlash for the song’s lyrics. In 2014, Kesha filed a lawsuit against Luke alleging that he sexually assaulted and beaten her and that the aftermath of her traumatic event saw her suffer from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. Luke responded by filing a counterclaim against Kesha, her mother, and manager Jack Rovner for defamation. Lady Gaga was drawn into trouble when she told a radio host during an interview that she had been sexually assaulted by an unidentified music producer at the age of 19. However, Gaga never confirmed that she was referring to Dr. Luke. she continued, with disturbing emails posted in 2017 in which Luke appears to force Kesha to go on a diet. Luke stepped down as CEO of Kemosabe Records that year. After his departure, Kesha released her first solo song since the lawsuit titled “Praying”. And although the fight between Kesha and Dr. Luke still continues in 2021, this song is the only bright light in all the darkness. Kesha said the song was about hoping that anyone, including abusers, can heal.
8.George Strait – “I Believe”
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother and then made his way to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where he massacred 20 first-graders and six teachers before shooting himself. . A motive was never established, but it was claimed that Lanza had extensive mental health problems that prevented him from interacting normally with other people. In 2013, country singer George Strait, who lost his own daughter in a 1986 car accident, paid tribute to the Sandy Hook victims by writing a beautiful song called “I Believe.” At first he doubted, he did not want to offend the victim’s families by using the tragedy as the inspiration for the song, but his wife finally convinced him to do so.
7.Gary Levox – “She’s Going Places”
In one of the most frustrating criminal trials in history, 22-year-old Casey Anthony was found not guilty in 2011 of the first-degree murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. While her daughter was missing, Casey showed almost no emotion and continued to party around town. When Caylee’s body was finally discovered and the investigation turned into a search for a murder suspect, all the evidence appeared to point to Casey. Still, when it came time for a jury to convict her, there was simply not enough evidence to conclusively determine that she was guilty. If things had gone the other way around and she had been found guilty, prosecutors would have pursued the death penalty as punishment. The country pop trio’s lead vocalist Rascal Flatts released a rewritten version of a song called “She’s Going Places” in tribute to Caylee Anthony in 2011. Cledus T. Judd and Jimmy Yeary rewrote the lyrics and everyone wanted to make sure it didn’t focus on Casey Anthony, but the tribute would only be on little Caylee.
6.Elton John – “Candle in the Wind”
The songwriter, Bernie Taupin, was a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe and, after co-writing Elton John’s hit song “Tiny Dancer,” he began to think about the best way to write a tribute song for her, without making it seem vulgar . Thoughts, the beautiful ballad “Candle in the Wind” was born. The title and lyrics of the song were inspired by a tribute to Janis Joplin in which she used the same phrase. The song was meant to be an honest look at the life of Marilyn Monroe, and Taupin later said that the lyrics could also have been about James Dean, Montgomery Clift or Jim Morrison, who were cut short in the prime of her life. Until 1997, when the shocking death of Princess Diana resonated around the world, Taupin and Elton John decided to rework the song’s lyrics as a tribute to the princess. Elton performed it during Diana’s funeral and the song was also released as a single, becoming the best-selling single of all time in the UK. Elton John never performed the reworked version of the song again, vowing to do so only in case one or more of both Diana’s children ask him to do so.
5.DJ Sammy – “Heaven” 9/11 remix
The song “Heaven” was written and recorded in 1983 and first appeared on the A Night in Heaven soundtrack album that same year. “Heaven” was inspired by the song “Faithfully” by the band Journey and became Bryan Adams’ first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 2001, DJ Sammy released a dance version of the song that quickly caught on. number one in UK Singles. graphic. A simplified version of “Candlelight Mix” was released in 2003. Also in 2003, the KKXX radio station in California recorded a tribute version of the song to mark the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. A former program director asked his daughter to read words from a script while he recorded her. These words were interspersed with the original chorus of the song. “Heaven 9/11 Remix” became one of the most requested songs in the history of the radio station and was soon heard on radio stations around the world.
4.Johnny Cash – “Hurt”
Trent Reznor explained on Netflix’s Song Exploder that he had always felt like a stranger and that sadness and a sense of abandonment always seemed to follow him. He too felt ill-equipped to deal with fame and all these emotions led him to write the heartbreaking song “Hurt.” In 2002, Johnny Cash recorded a haunting version of the song, which provided a different interpretation of the lyrics. Cash, whose health was failing him at age 70, sang the words almost as if he knew his life would soon end. The music video, considered today one of the saddest music videos of all time, was filmed in February 2003. Three months later, Cash lost his wife. In September 2003 Johnny Cash passed away. His last album, American IV, achieved gold status in the United States.
3.Maren Morris – “Dear Hate”
On June 17, 2015, 21-year-old Dylann Roof entered Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He opened fire on members of the congregation attending a Bible study and killed nine. Two days later, singer Maren Morris wrote “Dear Hate” and recorded it a year later. However, she hadn’t released it because she felt it was not the right time. On October 1, 2017, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd of attendees at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas. , killing 60 people. When Morris heard the news, she was devastated and posted the song online in tribute to the victims, saying that she realized that day would never be the right time. She went on to write a lengthy Instagram post that included the following: “Hate is everywhere and I’m sick of not doing enough. In the darkest tunnel, there is still love and music. That’s what it’s here for. Here is Dear Hate. Any penny I see from this I’m donating to the Music City Cares Fund. ”
2.Led Zeppelin – “All my love”
Led Zeppelin was (and still is) one of the most popular rock bands in the world. The band gave the world unforgettable songs like “Immigrant Song”, “Whole Lotta Love” and “Stairway to Heaven”. The leader, Robert Plant, suffered a great tragedy in 1977, when he lost his five-year-old son Karac. due to illness. His wife had called him during the band’s American tour and she had told him that she was very worried about Karac because he had suddenly become ill. Just two hours later, Plant received another phone call, informing him that his son had died. In his pain, Plant was ready to give up on his career, but eventually moved on, working with his band members on the Led Zeppelin finale. album, In Through The Out Door. One of the most memorable songs on that album was the tribute song to Plant’s son titled “All My Love.” The song was recorded in one session, because Plant couldn’t bear to sing the emotional words over and over again.
1.Oslo residents – “Children of the Rainbow”
Pete Seeger released the American popular and children’s song “My Rainbow Race” on his album Rainbow Race in 1973. The song was translated into Norwegian as Barn av regnbuen, which means Children of the Rainbow and became the sixth best-selling single on Norway in 1973 On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people by detonating a truck bomb in Oslo and then opening fire on participants of a summer camp on the island of Utøya. Breivik, who identifies as a fascist and a Nazi, claimed during his trial that “Children of the Rainbow” was an example of Marxist propaganda and that he was “brainwashing” Norwegian children. Norwegian singer-songwriter Lillebjørn Nilsen, who had translated the old American folk song, stood up in defiance of these comments and staged a mass performance of the song during Breivik’s trial. More than 40,000 people in Oslo alone came together to sing the song, and more people joined from squares across the country.
