“Better by You, Better Than Me,” by Judas Priest, and “Suicide Solution,” by Ozzy Osbourne - Violent lyrics have been blamed for everything from school shootings to gang warfare to killing cops to even Charles Manson’s crime spree. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, two songs faced legal challenges alleging that they had caused the deaths of several teenagers by suicide. After a 19-year-old California man shot himself in 1984 in his bedroom while Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz album was on his turntable, the man’s parents sued the singer, alleging that his song “Suicide Solution” caused his death. The case was eventually dismissed in 1988 after a judge found that it was not foreseeable that the man would kill himself after listening to “Suicide Solution.” Meanwhile, a couple of years later, the British metal band Judas Priest went to trial after two young men shot themselves in the head. Lawyers for the men’s families pointed specifically to “Better by You, Better Than Me,” accusing the band of implanting subliminal messages such as “try suicide” and “do it” that enticed the men to shoot themselves.

Read our related cover story: “Lawyers, songs and money: Music that changed the law”