Luke Bass is what we could call an obsessive and dangerous Eminem fan:
http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/06/02/nbass02.xml
He is the kind of fan Marshall would warn us against in his song ‘Stan’. You could have confused him with ‘Stan’ in Eminem’s video. He used to bleach his hear blonde and to listen to Eminem’s albums all the time.
Luke Bass went so far in misinterpreting the lyrics of his favorite track ‘Stan’ that he beat his girlfriend with a bicycle chain. This tragedy happened in Newark, England. Donna Grimwood, the victim, was left injured and unconscious, lying in a pool of blood.
Luke’s behavior clearly shows that he needs some psychiatric help, which has been ordered by the Court.
It seems like we don’t listen to the music with the same ears, because the lyrics don’t have the same effect on different persons. The great majority of the Eminem fans have been listening to ‘Stan’ without acting weird nor harming or hurting anybody. Exceptions like Luke Bass make us think that they had mental problems since the beginning and that those persons would have started acting crazy even without listening to Eminem’s music.
The story mentioned in ‘The Portal Telegraph’ is like a scary tale. This young man didn’t even realize that he was wrong acting this way. Moreover, he was actually thinking in his mad mind that Eminem was encouraging him act like a monster towards his girlfriend.
We may ask how Luke interpreted those lines from ‘Stan’:
‘I really think you and your girlfriend need each other.
Or maybe you just need to treat her better.’
Eminem clearly states in his song that he doesn’t encourage any foolish behavior from his fans. Stan’s crazy behavior in the lyrics as well as in the video appears to be a warning that Marshall addresses to his huge fans. It sounds like this: ‘Be my fan, but never act crazy in my name…’. When Marshall wrote ‘Stan’, he also wanted to express his own fear of mad fans who misinterpret his lyrics.
The fact that Donna Grimwood has been totally disgusted by Eminem’s music is understandable. But still, Luke Bass is the only to be held responsible for his actions.
Don’t blame Marshall Mathers for Luke Bass’ mental problems.