As soon as we heard about the tragic bombing/shooting in Norway, the initial shock over how horrible and tragic one man’s actions were quickly gave way to a dreaded feeling of knowing that the music, movies and video games that Anders Behring Breivik consumed would enter the conversation. It turns out that if music influenced him to enact his one-man terror campaign, at least it wasn’t metal. “With a music video playlist on his profile that included Dutch trance DJ Armin van Buuren and dance music vocalist Audrey Gallagher, Breivik appears to evade the stereotype of being influenced by metal music,” South Africa’s Mail and Guardian reported. Of course it’s a ridiculous notion to think the music he listened to alone would have anything to do with his despicable actions in the first place, but at least metal is out of the crosshairs. And considering he looks like he should be in Belle and Sebastian, we’re not surprised he’s not a metal fan.
Not so lucky, on the other hand, are video games, as Breivik’s 1500 page manifesto says that he used the video game Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as training for his shooting spree. He also used the excuse of the immersive multiplayer online game World of Warcraft as an excuse for his long periods of absence while training for his terror attack.
Meanwhile, Norwegian band Kvelertak was among the countless musicians condemning the act. “What has happened in Norway is now completely unreal,” a post on their Facebook page reads. “We think of all the wounded and dead. You have our deepest sympathy. Stand together, folks. Towards the hatred and racism. It does not belong here, or anywhere else!”
