Here’s a question that is not only incredibly trivial, it’s most likely unanswerable, but…here goes:
The Kinks song ‘Around the Dial’ is from the 1981 album Give the People What They Want. The song opens with the sound of a radio dialing across various stations and static before landing on the clearest snippet of sound just as the song begins. The snippet is from a (presumably) actual radio news broadcast, with the anchor saying “…making him a hero in the Muslim wold.” (The guy actually pronounces it ‘Moslem,’ but never mind).
OK. Now assuming that the song (and the added ‘radio dial’ effects) were recorded in 1981, how likely is it that the “hero” being referred to is Osama bin Laden? From Wikipedia, we see that in 1979, bin Laden “joined mujahideen forces in Pakistan fighting against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan” and “gained popularity among many Arabs.”
So it would appear that the timeline fits well enough for it to be a reference to Osama. What do you think? Were there a lot of other “heroes in the Muslim world” worthy of a newscast reference in 1981? Could an early 80s Kinks song contain the first popular culture reference to the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks?
I’d love to get some thoughts from the Teeming Millions.
I doubt it. bin Laden would’ve been barely known at the time, and likely only in the Muslim world if then. More likely it was a major leader, say Sadat or Massoud.
Actually, I just listened to the opening again and the anchor says “…become a hero in the Muslim world.” It almost sounds like there’s a “he’s” in the sentence, but it’s hard to make out.
Also, there’s another snippet just before this line, separated by static, where it sounds like the same anchor saying “…by killing the…”
So the actual line sounds like: “…by killing the (static) [he’s] become a hero in the Muslim world.”
So my point is that it sounds like a reference to someone who was relatively unknown in 1981 but making a name for himself in battle.
I stand by my allegation that this could possibly be a reference to Osama!
I always heard “…by killing the Pope, he would become a hero in the Muslim world.” Based on that, I assumed the snippet referred to Mehmet Ali Ağca, who shot Pope John Paul II. The timing is correct. The shooting occurred in May 1981, which (according to Wikipedia) is when The Kinks began to make the album.
ETA: I always liked “Around The Dial”. When I did college radio, I would often use it to lead off my show.
It’s also probably worth noting that the Pope wasn’t actually killed. The newscast snippet doesn’t mentioning anything about an “attempt” - it says “…by killing the…”
Yeah, now that I can sort of hear “he’d become” and not “he’s become,” I agree that the line is most likely referring to the would-be assassin of the Pope. The words “the Pope” are mostly drowned out by static but the line is probably: “…by killing the Pope he’d become a hero in the Muslim world.”
Ignorance fought, it’s not a reference to Osama. It’s still pretty interesting, though.