Politicians Go On Offensive Against Marilyn Manson
Ten senators have asked shock rocker's record company to stop distributing his
music to kids.
Contributing Editor Christopher O'Connor reports:
Marilyn Manson's name is being evoked by politicians these days with the same
fervor with which they used to mention Monica Lewinsky and Kenneth Starr.
Ten U.S. senators sent a letter last week to Seagrams, the company that owns
Manson's label, Interscope, asking it to stop distributing to children "music
that glorifies violence."
On Thursday, former vice president and current presidential hopeful Dan Quayle
criticized Seagrams during a fund-raising event in Alabama, according to the
Associated Press. He suggested publicizing the names of the company's board
members, so "maybe their neighbors can go to their fancy cocktail parties and
make them ashamed" of their support of Manson and other rock bands, the AP
reported.
"The media has unfairly scapegoated the music industry and so-called goth kids."
-- Marilyn Manson
Earlier in the week, the Fresno, Calif., City Council unanimously adopted a
resolution condemning music that promotes "anger and hate." The resolution's
author, Councilman Henry Perea, said, "If people were on the street and engaged
in some of the same behaviors that [Manson] demonstrates onstage, they'd
probably be arrested."
Manson's name is likely to be evoked again when Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.,
chairs a Senate committee hearing Tuesday on the effects on children of violence
in music, movies, video games and other media.
Marilyn Manson, frontman for the goth-turned-glam rock band of the same name,
hasn't commented on any of these developments, all of which have come in
response to the high school shootings April 20 in Littleton, Colo. The two
teenagers, who authorities have said killed 12 classmates and a teacher at
Columbine High School before ending their own lives, were fans of Manson's
music, according to numerous media accounts.
A publicist at Interscope said Friday that Manson had not yet seen a copy of the
10 senators' letter and was unavailable for comment on it.
But earlier in the week, when he announced via his official website that he was
cancelling the final five shows of his U.S. tour, Manson (born Brian Warner)
said, "The media has unfairly scapegoated the music industry and so-called goth
kids and has speculated -- with no basis in truth -- that artists like myself
are in some way to blame. This tragedy was a product of ignorance, hatred and an
access to guns."
Seagrams spokesperson Todd Hullin said Thursday the company had received the
letter that day and was in the process of reviewing it. He did not return calls
Friday.
The letter to Seagrams CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr., which was signed by eight
Republicans and two Democrats, said, "As you may know, several news reports have
indicated that the young killers often quoted and mimicked one of your artists,
Marilyn Manson -- as did the young murderers in several other student rampages
that occurred last year.
"Manson's songs glorify death and human destruction -- and his lyrics seem to
eerily reflect the carnage of the recent rampage," the letter continued. "Out of
respect towards the 13 innocent victims of Colorado ... we ask you to strongly
reconsider which lyrics the Seagrams corporation chooses to legitimize and
popularize."
The letter was initiated by Brownback. The other signatories were Wayne Allard
and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, both R-Colo.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Tim
Hutchinson, R-Ark.; Rick Santorum, R-Pa., Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, both
D-N.D.; John Ashcroft, R-Mo.; and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
Investigators in Jefferson County (Colo.) have yet to say whether they've found
clear evidence the alleged high school killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold,
were fans of Manson and two other bands they reportedly followed: KMFDM and
Rammstein.
A county spokesperson said last week that investigators removed CDs, along with
many other items, from Harris' and Klebold's homes during searches April 21. But
Friday, Deputy Wayne Holverson, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County
Sheriff's Department, said a list of those CDs has yet to be released.
Manson, who used gothic imagery when he first became popular but more recently
has adopted a glam-rock image, has angered critics with such song titles as
"Irresponsible Hate Anthem" (RealAudio excerpt) and "I Don't Like The Drugs (but
the Drugs Like Me)" (RealAudio excerpt).
Last week, his shows in Minneapolis and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, drew protesters. His
critics also made themselves heard in Fresno and in Reno, Nev., two cities where
he'd been scheduled to perform before he cancelled the rest of his tour. In
Cedar Rapids, where the tour ended Wednesday, he ran into seemingly unrelated
trouble: He ended the show early, apparently upset at the sight of a large
smiley-face sticker onstage. Twenty-three fans were arrested while allegedly
trying to damage his tour bus afterward.
Ticket sales for the tour were slow. Pollstar, a concert-industry trade
magazine, listed a 15-city average sale of 6,430 tickets, and Editor in Chief
Gary Bongiovanni said that includes cities where Manson played a double bill
with Hole. The latter band dropped off the tour after nine shows for reasons
that were not entirely clear but that, reportedly, were partly due to
differences over the sharing of production costs.
Bongiovanni said protests have probably cut into Manson's ticket sales, though
he added past Manson tours haven't generally produced sell-outs. Metal icon Ozzy
Osbourne and theatrical rocker Alice Cooper, who attracted protesters of their
own in past decades, endured the same fate, Bongiovanni said.
"It's interesting to note how these things are cyclical," he said. "Certainly,
the Marilyn Manson tour was star-crossed, for want of a better word."
Brownback has invited the heads of several record companies to Tuesday's hearing
before the Senate's Commerce, Science and Transportation committee.
Representatives from various record labels, including Virgin, Warner Bros. and
the Seagrams-owned Universal Music Group, did not return calls for comment.
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