America has become such a hostile place that even our amusement rides are killing people. A roller coaster called the X2 at the Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Calif., sent two women to emergency rooms with brain hemorrhages a few days apart last month. When CNN looked into it, they found a trail of brain injuries going back to the coaster’s debut 20 years ago.
The coaster is billed as four-dimensional because the seats spin a full 360 degrees, producing sheer vertical drops and speeds of 75 mph. Six Flags has billed it as a thrill for the “ultimate daredevil.” CNN found dozens of cases of head injuries, including several riders who fell into comas and two who died. The ride has been closed since July 12, leaving park patrons to seek less-than-ultimate thrills from Magic Mountain’s 19 other roller coasters.
Bryan Ferry didn’t need to risk death on roller coaster for his thrills – he was much too cool for that. “The Thrill of It All” was the opening track on Roxy Music’s 1974 LP “Country Life,” the one with the oft-censored cover photo of two models in lingerie. Unlike many of Ferry’s moody ballads, this one’s a moody uptempo rocker. It was released as a single only in the U.S., where it failed to chart.
