G major · Camelot 9B · 81 BPM
Israel's Son
by Silverchair
- 81
- BPM
- G major
- Key
- 9B
- Camelot
- 21
- Danceability
- 0
- Acousticness
In January 1996, lawyers defending two teenagers accused of murder claimed that "Israel's Son" by Silverchair had contributed to the crime. Brian Bassett, 16, and Nicholaus McDonald, 18, of McCleary, Washington, were charged with killing Bassett's parents and a younger brother on 10 August 1995. McDonald's lawyer cited lyrics from the song about hate and wanting someone dead, calling them "almost a script" and "relevant to everything that happened". Prosecutors rejected the defence argument and convinced the jury the murders were committed to steal money and belongings and run off to California.
The band rejected the allegations. Their manager, John Watson, said on their behalf that Silverchair did not and never would condone violence, and that the song was inspired by a television documentary about wartime atrocities. He added that the track sought to criticise violence and war by portraying them in all their horror.
Daniel Johns had described that inspiration in an interview with Request Magazine in November 1995, saying he watched a video of an execution, dreamed about it, and wrote the song after waking up. The track appeared on the Australian band's debut album Frogstomp, released in 1995, and came out as its third single. It later featured on the compilation The Best Of: Volume 1 in 2000, and in April 2022 The Guardian placed it at No. 8 on a ranked list of the band's best songs.
Israel's Son runs at 81 BPM, the tempo of boom-bap hip-hop, reggae and slow R&B. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.96 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 741 ms. It is in G major, Camelot 9B, which shares its notes with E minor and mixes cleanly with C major and D major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.