15. Earl Brooks a.k.a. The Thumbprint Killer (“Mr. Brooks”)
Earl Brooks is a family man and successful business owner. Marshall, his alter ego, directs him to kill couples and leave their bloody thumbprints at the crime scenes. Brooks treats his compulsion towards killing as an addiction, and he struggles with it as such. Since he enjoys engineering and design, he probably relates to well-structured expressions of that struggle—e.g., Linkin Park’s “Breaking the Habit” or Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab.”
14. Heather Taffet a.k.a. The Gravedigger (“Bones” S2, S4-6 )
Heather Taffet buries her victims alive and then demands a ransom from the victim’s family in exchange for the victim’s whereabouts. Interestingly, the ransom amount fluctuates based upon the family’s assets. Market forces ’n all that. Adam Smith would be proud. Since money is her prime motivator, maybe she’s a fan of hip-hop that deals with ostentatious wealth and gettin’ paid—perhaps Eric B. and Rakim’s “Paid in Full” or Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.” or Lil Wayne’s “Money on My Mind.”
13. Marcus Andrews a.k.a. Richard Thompson (“The Bone Collector”)
Marcus Andrews’ whole schtick is to cut out a chunk of bone from his victims while they’re still alive before he ties them to something—railroad tracks, a pier—and leaves them to die. All this is done to revenge-torture one detective. Andrews likes toying with cops, so clearly he ain’t a fan. I bet he’s a fan of classic hip-hop, though. I bet he knows every word to anti-cop songs like N.W.A’s “Fuck the Police” and Geto Boys’ “Crooked Officer.”
12. Joe Goldberg (“You” book and TV series)
Book-snob Joe Goldberg is a charismatic control freak who obsesses over women and sees them as possessions. His murders are just an extension of that. Beneath the nice-guy act, there’s an infinite well of creepiness. You get the sense he’s definitely said, “She’ll be eighteen next month, so what’s the problem?” He owns vinyl, likes Pat Robitaille, and once (jokingly?) requested Sabbath for a duet, but he’s closer in personality to broken-hearted-emo-dude bands like Brand New and Death Cab for Cutie. Seems like he made the latter’s “I Will Possess Your Heart” into a personal mantra.
11. Dr. Martin Whitly a.k.a. The Surgeon (“Prodigal Son”)
Dr. Martin Whitly is a well-respected surgeon who’s really into dissection. I bet he goes in for death metal, especially stuff related to demented surgery, like the first coupl’a Carcass records. Notably, Dr. Whitly was turned in by his son, so he might also appreciate infanticidal songs like Cannibal Corpse’s infanticidal “Split Wide Open” or Six Feet Under’s “Slaughtered As They Slept.”
10. Jame Gumb a.k.a Buffalo Bill (“The Silence of the Lambs”)
Jame Gumb struggled with his identity throughout his life. Born a man, he desires to be a woman—hence his M.O. of skinning women for a “woman suit.” He might find some comfort in TLC’s “Unpretty,” but the ugliness inside of him indicates that he took Mother Mother’s “Body” a bit too literally. Thus, he’d likely be drawn to the inner struggle of indie stuff such as The Velvet Underground’s “Candy Says” or Against Me!’s “Transgender Dysphoria Blues.”
9. Joe Carroll (“The Following”)
A Dollar Store Charles Manson, Joe Carroll is both a serial killer and a cult leader. He’s got a god complex that Jesus Christ would find over the top. He’s also a professor and failed novelist who loves Edgar Allen Poe. This all reeks of a partiality towards death rock bands that are performatively transgressive, like Christian Death and Specimen.
8. Randoku (“The Ritual Killer”)
Randoku is an African witch doctor who kills because he believes that ingesting certain body parts grants him powers. Since he’s into, um, alternative medicine, he’d probably vote for RFK Jr. for president. Randoku’s a pretty goddamn intense dude, slashing anyone’s throat who gets in his way. He’s a metalhead for sure. Perhaps he prefers bands from his part of the world like Arka’n Asrafokor, Vale of Amonition, and Wrust.
7. Victor Zsasz (DC Comics)
Victor Zsasz’s tallying of his victims into his own flesh suggests he likes to count. He’s also brilliant and aware of it. Worse yet, he sees killing people as freeing them from the banality of life—in other words, doing them a favor and/or offering a prescription for their suffering. Therefore, he probably basks in the self-satisfied smugness of bands that play in odd time signatures—Tool or King Crimson, say—so as to confirm his humongous intelligence. Think of Zsasz as the Jordan Peterson of serial killers.
6. John Doe (“Se7en”)
John Doe despises pretty much all of existence and everyone in it, so he probably listens to black metal, but only the most suffocatingly depressing stuff—think early Mayhem or Burzum. And it’s gotta be the lowest of the lo-fi stuff, obviously. The production’s gotta be rougher than life under Idi Amin. Darkthrone’s “A Blaze in the Northern Sky” would be a go-to just because it sounds like it was recorded on a Talkboy. If it was made in a studio, do Doe a favor and just shoot him in his fucking head.
5. Errol Childress (“True Detective” S1)
Errol Childress checks all the serial killer boxes: highly intelligent, deeply troubled, comes from an abusive cult, was himself abused. He’s a sadistic fuck who rapes and tortures children. He’s also big on symbology, nature, and being one with existence or whatever. Safe bet, then, that he’s into pompous black metal bands that shriek about nature and cosmic tripe, like Wolves in the Throne Room or Panopticon or Agalloch.
4. John Kramer a.k.a. Jigsaw (“Saw” franchise)
From his perspective, John Kramer enjoys using his considerable wealth and engineering skills to teach lessons about the value of life. What he really does is he forces them to choose between self-torture and death. His favorite album, then, might be the torturously droning nonsense that Lou Reed called “Metal Machine Music.” It’s been argued that Kramer isn’t *technically* a serial killer because he hasn’t killed anyone. That’s pretty fitting, because “Metal” isn’t *technically* music, and death is the better option, anyway.
3. Hannibal Lecter (“Red Dragon,” “The Silence of the Lambs”)
Hannibal Lecter is a man who desires the finest things in life—even when he’s sauteeing someone’s fucking brain—so of course he goes for classical music. J.S. Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” seems to be particularly transcendent to him. If asked, he’ll surely explain in a conceited manner why the twenty-fifth is the work’s true climax, while feeding you your own intestines paired perfectly with a lovely Cab.
2. Jack a.k.a. Mr. Sophistication (“The House That Jack Built”)
Red-pilled Jack, who calls himself Mr. Sophistication, spends his time trying to impress Virgil with his murders. He values artistic expression over people, and uses the latter to create the former. His ego makes Caligula look like a monk. He once told Virgil that pianist Glenn Gould represents art, so Jack’s keen on pretentious aesthetics. He probably prefers ornate classical stuff like Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Für Elise” or Frédéric Chopin’s “Nocturne in E Flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2.”
1. Charles Ambrose (“Solace”)
Charles Ambrose kills people with terminal illnesses, but before they’re diagnosed. He can see their future (don’t ask) and how badly they’ll suffer. Thus, he kills them painlessly. It’s like if Jack Kevorkian were a precog. His taste in music is probably stuff you haven’t heard of because it doesn’t exist yet, but he’s still a total douche about it.
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