 I always wonder what is the difference between justice and revenge, and the extraordinary news of Osama Bin Laden’s death on Sunday night, brought back this idea back in my mind. Was it vengeance, or justice, or both? For people who have lost family members and friends in the 2001 attack, it was a form of payback, there is no doubt about this,.. yeah we try to hide this ‘bad’ feeling under a nobler term, the dignified justice, but I actually think there’s nothing wrong with vengeance when it is directed toward such a piece of crap of human being.
So here are ten songs about revenge and getting even, because there are many more about this feeling than about true justice. • Blondie -‘One Way Or Another’: The ultimate ‘I'm gonna getcha’ song, and Debbie Harris has never been sexier and more dangerous when she roars ‘I will drive past your house’… • James Brown -‘The Payback’: It says it all with funk and style, we were so ready for the big payback. • Spoon – ‘Revenge!’: There are enough repeats of the word revenge with big drumbeats to make you sure of what we are talking about. • Slayer – ‘Payback’: Because revenge is often violent, it was in this case; and these lyrics!! ‘For my own peace of mind I'm going to/Tear your fucking eyes out/Rip your fucking flesh off/Beat you till your a fucking lifeless carcass’,… so much hatred, but probably the feeling of many. • Judas Priest – ‘Screaming for Vengeance’: Another loud one, metal is appropriate for vengeance, because it can only be screamed. • Black Flag – ‘Revenge’: Another revenge song with these straight-to-the-point lyrics • Mudhoney – ‘Judgement, Rage, Retribution’: A menacing song with stormy guitars and dangerous lyrics, ‘The shadow I cast/Is dark and long/Beware of my shadow/It's dark and long/When I turn your corner/You best be gone’, and the rage inside that may consume you. • Sonic Youth – ‘Justice Is Might’: The song is weird and distorted but it says what it had to say. • The Walkmen – ‘Revenge Wears no Wristwatch’: The title says it clearly, even ten years later, it is still revenge, even though the song may be about another kind of revenge. • Alice Cooper – ‘Vengeance is mine’: Yesterday, it may have been the feeling of most the people who survived the attack ten years ago.
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