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James Vance (October 12th 1965 – November 29th 1988) was an American teenager from Reno, Nevada, who is best known for having attempted suicide alongside his friend Raymond Belknap in December 1985, after the pair formed a suicide pact while drinking heavily, smoking marijuana and listening to the English heavy metal band Judas Priest. Belknap was instantly killed in the attempt, however Vance survived. Horribly disfigured by the shotgun blast to his face, Vance died three years later.[1][2][3]
In 1990 the incident became the subject of an unsuccessful (and now infamous) civil action brought against Judas Priest and their record label CBS by the families of Vance and Belknap, which alleged that the band had hidden subliminal messages (such as "try suicide", "do it" and "let's be dead") in the song "Better By You, Better Than Me" on their 1978 album Stained Class.[4] The suit was ultimately dismissed, however the case cost Judas Priest $250,000 in legal fees, and CBS were made to pay $40,000 to the plaintiffs' attorneys.
The story was the focus of a documentary film, Dream Deceivers, in 1992. The Residents saw the documentary around the time of its release, and had wanted to do "a piece" based on the story for the three decades after having first seen the interview footage of the disfigured Vance featured in the film, which Homer Flynn of The Cryptic Corporation compared to "a train wreck that you can't take your eyes off of". The footage would ultimately inspire The Residents' upcoming "modern opera", Doctor Dark.[5]
See also[]
External links and references[]
- James Vance at IMDb
- Dream Deceivers: The Story Behind James Vance vs. Judas Priest at IMDb
- The Judas Priest subliminal message trial at Wikipedia
- Stained Class at Wikipedia
- "Better By You, Better Than Me" at Wikipedia
- ↑ Homer Flynn (interviewed by Bob Lee), "LA Beat Interview: The Residents", The Los Angeles Beat, June 9th 2022
- ↑ Noud Jansen, "50 Years of The Residents", Humo, December 27th 2021
- ↑ "Man Who Sued Rock Group Over Suicide Attempt Dies", Los Angeles Times, December 1st 1988
- ↑ Kory Grow, "Judas Priest's Subliminal Message Trial: Rob Halford Looks Back", Rolling Stone, August 24th 2015
- ↑ Homer Flynn (interviewed by Bob Lee), "LA Beat Interview: The Residents", The Los Angeles Beat, June 9th 2022