Hungerford Massacre - Cultural References

Cultural References

• J. G. Ballard's novel Running Wild centres around the fictitious Richard Greville, a Deputy Psychiatric Advisor with the Metropolitan Police Service who authored "an unpopular minority report on the Hungerford killings" and is sent to investigate mass murder in a gated community. Ballard professed an interest in the Hungerford massacre and other "pointless crimes" such as that in Dunblane and the murder of Jill Dando.
• One Bloody Afternoon by Jeremy Josephs is a non-fiction description of all the events of the afternoon, describing each killing.
• The Hungerford massacre inspired Christopher Priest's 1998 novel The Extremes.
• "Sulk", the penultimate track on Radiohead's album The Bends, was written as a response to the massacre.
• Chris Bowsher, founding member of the band Radical Dance Faction, was a witness to the events and wrote "Hungerford Poem" which appears on the band's early album Hot On The Wire.
• Spoof Welsh rap group Goldie Lookin Chain mentioned the killer in their song, "Guns Don't Kill People, Rappers Do", a satire on the supposed links between gangsta rap and gun crime as reported in the press: 'Like Michael Ryan, about to snap, guns don't kill people, it's just rap'.
• Marvel Comics mentioned the Hungerford massacre as background for their fictional mutant antihero Pete Wisdom, stating that his mother was one of the victims.
• The Smiths were due to release the single "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" around the time of the massacre. However, the song was later prevented from being released because it coincidentally contained the line "...and plan a mass murder".. However, Morrissey later allegedly touched on the subject of Hungerford with the song "Michael's Bones" included on My Early Burglary Years.
• The BBC showed a documentary on the Hungerford Massacre on 7 December 2004.
• The 1988 LP by Jack Ketch & The Crowmen (A Billy Childish project on Hangman Records) called Brimfull of Hate featured a track called "The Ryan Factor".