Plenty of people love The Smiths , the 1980s English rock band ( led by Morrissey ) behind songs such as “ This Charming Man , ” “ There Is A Light That Never Goes Out , ” and “ Please , Please , Please Let Me Get What I Want . ” But in 1987 , one teenage lover in Denver , Colorado pick out his love for the lot too far . harmonize toan urban caption , the 18 - year - quondam supposedly beat back to his local radio set post and deem the DJs surety at gunpoint , draw them to wager songs by The Smiths on repetition .
The narration get thecrazy anticsof haunt Beliebers look tame by comparison , but did it really happen ? Different accounts of the incident appeared inThe Denver Post , Denver ’s hebdomadary newspaper;Westword;DetailsMagazine ; a Morrissey life ; and discrepant anamnesis from the radio post ’s employees . In 2013,Westwordgotto the bottomof the urban legend , explore the differing version of the story and secernate fact from fiction .
agree toWestword , The Denver Postgave the first account statement of the incident . The brief report stated that a “ last minute alteration of essence apparently averted the highjacking of a Lakewood radio post but pull up stakes an Arvada teenage in jail Wednesday . " The write - up discover the wannabe hijacker as an 18 - year - previous — after identified asJames Kiss — who said he was planning to take over the Top 40 radio station KRXY ( Y-108 ) . fit in to the police force spokesman , Kiss surrendered his rifle to one of the post ’s employees and inquire the employee to call the police force . The teen was then arrested in the place ’s parking lot for attempted kidnapping and extortion .
The week after the incident , a pillar inWestwordstated that Kiss , who was carry a rifle , seven cassette , and an album by The Smiths , was arrest after he enter the station . Seven days by and by , an April 1994 interview with Morrissey inDetailsMagazinereferredto the incident , saying that Kiss have the radio station at point for four hour , “ demanding that they playact only Smiths ’ songs . ” Morrissey was surprised that the interviewer had even asked him about the incident because most citizenry had n’t heard about it . “ ' If it was any other creative person , it would have been world news . But because it was poor old tatty Smiths it was of no outcome whatsoever , ” he said .
A ten later , in the 2004 biographySaint Morrissey : A portrayal of This Charming Man by an Alarming Fan , author Mark Simpson gave his own explanation of the case , writing that the radio station was coerced to play songs by The Smiths for four hours . Simpson added that almost none of the radio station ’s attender had learn of The Smiths , and the law surrounded the station until Kiss give up .
To picture out which version of the account is accurate , Westwordinterviewed former KRXY employees . A sales coach recalled seeing the young military personnel ’s individual - shooter , bolt - action 22 rifle , but another employee thought that Kiss may have not even had a weapon . The place ’s product theatre director told the constabulary that as he walked to his automobile after work , a untested human in a station Charles’s Wain call him over , distinguish him to tell the radio receiver place employees to call the police , and pointed his rifle at him before reach it over .
" This is one of those legends that bloats with prison term , " say broadcaster Dom Testa . " It ’s morphed from ‘ detained in the parking circumstances ’ to ‘ held hostage for four hours at point . ' " The police officeholder ’s version of events validate Testa ’s take ; according to thepolice report , Kiss brought a Remington .22 caliber Apache 77 rifle , a magazine with .22 quality rounds , a pellet hit man , a magazine clipping , and several Smiths cassette . He confessed that he plan to take surety at the radio station , forcing the DJs to play The Smiths because the Top 40 station had tons of auditor and was , in his brain , shallow . Kiss was accommodative with police force , telling them that he had come to the station before to act on his design but had n’t been able to work up the courage . The law report noted that Kiss had a button with Morrissey ’s photo on it in his shirt pocket .
The police by and by found Kiss ’s letters and poems , in which he expressed his despondency , explained his motives , and carry his promise that his parents would forgive him . “ I do n’t feel right here , " he wrote . " I feel as if I ’m out of place . My spirit is lost and my body is pollution filled … I approximate what I ’m doing is a protest about life . The world ’s death and most do n’t worry … in a mode the Smiths and Morrissey are one reason I ’m doing this . "
The district attorney determine not to pursue Kiss because he turned himself in and did n’t commit a law-breaking . Despite his unfledged transgression , Kiss finally went to college , overcame his depression , and now works helping youthful people . “ I can see it when small fry start to paint themselves into corners , and I attempt to get them to work their room out of that , ” hetoldWestwordin 2013 . Explaining his depressive disorder — he had recently graduate from high schooling , could n’t work due to a rosehip accidental injury , and had no succeeding plans — Kiss said that his intellection was clouded . “ My purpose was to throw my biography away , ” he say . Kiss also shared that he had decided not to go through with his plan because he bring in that he did n’t want to hurt or frighten away the tuner station employee .
The incident allegedly inspired the plot of the 1994 filmAirheads , and it ’s getting the big CRT screen discourse in the near hereafter . With Morrissey ’s boon , Joe Manganiello willproduce and starin a moving-picture show calledShoplifters of the World . Based on the incident , the film will include strain by , of course , The Smiths .
“ I ’m a vast The Smiths fan , " Manganiellotold Collider . " It ’s just really great to be afforded the chance to go out and tell apart stories that I ’m really aroused and passionate about . ”
