Silverchair was an australian trio who shot to superstardom a few years after their formation
in 1992.
2 years later by 1994, the band whose members weren’t even adults were discovered through
a local radio contest in their hometown of new castle in Australia.
The band’s debut album Frogstomp drew many comparisons to band’s like Nirvana and Pearl
Jam and the album would go double platinum, selling in excess of 2 million copies in the
States.
The album’s most successful single and the band’s most well popular song song was the
track “Tomorrow.”, but it would be the opening track of the record “Israel’s
Son” that landed the group in some hot water.
Let’s talk about the controversy behind the song.
1995 was a massive year for Silverchair who shocked many rock n’ roll fans with their
debut album Frogstomp.
But by January of 1996 the band was soon at the center of a murder trial that they could
have never imagined.
In August of 1995, a 16 year old named Brian Bassett and his 17 year old friend named Nicholaus
McDonald both from McCleary Washington sat in an abandoned shed after both teens were
bounced from their respective homes.
Brian would transform from a shy polite athlete into a troublemaker who found solace in alternative
rock.
He would start fighting with his parents and soon became a familiar face to the local authorities.
It wasn’t uncommon for Brian to leave his home for several days crashing with friends
like Nicholaus or living in a shed about 900 feet away from his parents house.
Sometimes Brian got food from his friends, he ate berries which grew on his family’s
property or snuck into his families house when his parents left town.
One night the pair headed to Brian’s parents house for what Nicholaus thought was a trip
to get food.
Brian used a ladder to enter the residence and Nicholaus watched guard outside, before
hearing loud popping sounds and screaming.
Brian would tell Nicholaus he had taken the lives of his parents.
Shortly afterwards his younger brother would share the same fate by being drown in the
bathtub..
The teens tried to clean up the scene, gather as many possessions as possible, to pawn off
so they could survive while on the run.
The boys stole a family vehicle and planned on heading south to San Francisco to start
over.
The pair would stop just short of the northern california border when they pulled into a
gas station.
While Brian slept in the car, Nick went to a local police station nearby and told the
cops he knew about an out of state crime.
Soon enough, a cluster of cops desceneded on their vehicle with washington state plates
and arrested the pair.
By the spring of 1994 Brian was a good student with a GPA of 3.5 and was a star athlete on
the high school basketball team, but soon enough, he started rebelling hanging out with
kids who drank and did drugs, he dyed his hair and around Christmas of 1994, he almost
died from a drinking binge.
After returning from the hospital, he ran away.
As the tensions escalated between Brian and his parents, his mother started sleeping with
a baseball bat.
Meanwhile, Nicholas grew up in a broken home, witnessing his father unsuccessfully taking
his own life, while his mother was an addict.
By the age of 9 he was already getting into trouble lighting a field on fire.
And by his early teens he built a rap sheet of destroying public property, drug possession,
and theft & by July of 1995 both teens were mostly homeless.
Nicholas mother was on the verge of being evicted by her landlord if she didn’t give
her son the boot because he always got her into trouble, while Brian was fighting with
his parents.
Following their arrest Nick and Brian would both be charged separately with three counts
of first degree murder and they would be tried as adults.
Soon enough Silverchair would get dragged into things when the boys went to trial in
january of 1996.
It would turn out that Brian was a big fan of Silverchair & he would blame his actions
on the opening track Israel’s Son from their debut album.
This wasn’t the first time rock n’ roll had been dragged into a situation like this
as both Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest dealt with fallout from their own songs inspiring
several fans to take their own lives.
One of the boys defense attorney’s wanted to play the song for the jury claiming it
was literally a script for murder.
The lawyer for one of the defendents was quoted as saying ““This is almost a script.
… It’s relevant to everything - the legal issues, the mental issues, why this happened,
& the way it happened,”” The lyrics from the song state "'Hate is what I feel for you/I
want you to know that I want you dead'" The prosecutors case hinged on the fact that the
murders were done to steal belongings and money and head to california
So what did Silverchair think of the whole thing?
Well rightfully so they were horrified that one of their fans misinterpreted their songs
and of course the media soon pounced on the group.
The band's manager, John Watson, was quoted as stating on behalf of the band:
"Silverchair do not, have not, and never would condone violence of any sort.
The band is appalled by this horrific crime and they hope that justice will prevail in
prosecuting whoever is responsible for it.
It is a matter of public record that the song in question, Israel's Son, was inspired by
a television documentary about wartime atrocities.
Israel's Son was never intended to provoke violence and cannot be interpreted by any
reasonable person as doing so.
In fact, the song seeks to criticize violence and war by portraying them in all their horror.
Nicholas' lawyer claimed he was scared for his life and went along with the murders and
plan to escape to California.
At the end of the day Brian Bassett would be sentenced to life in prison with no chance
of parole on the charge of three counts of aggravated first-degree murder while McDonald
got 65 years in prison for two accounts of second degree murder..
But by 2015 Bassett tried to get resentenced and his lawyer presented nearly two decades
of what he thought was good behavior including the fact that Bassett had pursued an education
and made the honor roll, partook in counseling programs, & received trade certifications,
gotten married, and mentored other inmates and hadn’t had any behavioral problems while
in prison.
The judge upheld the original sentence of life in prison.
Bassset would take his case to the court of appeals who in 2017 ruled that life in prison
without the possibility of release for juvenile defendants was unconstitutional because it
violates the state’s prohibition against cruel punishment.
But that didn’t mean that they would be released, but rather they could be resentenced
at some point in the future.
At the time of recording this both men are still in prison serving their sentances.
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