Article:1997/06/17 A Tour With Past, Present Bogeymen
| A Tour With Past, Present Bogeymen | ||
|---|---|---|
| Article on Dead to the World Tour Ozzfest 1997 Leg |
||
| Author | Elysa Gardner | |
| Date | June 17, 1997 | |
| Source | Los Angeles Times | |
A Tour With Past, Present Bogeymen
Pop music: Marilyn Manson joins forces with Ozzy Osbourne as part of controversial Ozzfest.
By Elysa Gardner on June 17, 1997
Los Angeles Times - Entertainment
Special to the Times
NEW YORK — Judging by the serene looks on the faces of the security crew at Giants Stadium on Sunday afternoon, and by the noisy but non-disruptive crowd in attendance, you would have never guessed that the venue was playing host to one of the most wanted men in America.
That would be the frontman and namesake of the band Marilyn Manson, which was appearing at the stadium as part of Ozzfest '97, the hard-rock and heavy-metal road show put together by former Black Sabbath singer and seminal bogeyman Ozzy Osbourne.
Spanning 21 cities, the monthlong Ozzfest tour--which comes to the Blockbuster Pavilion in Devore on June 29--also features Pantera, Type O Negative, Fear Factory and Machine Head. Osbourne himself performs two sets at each show, one with his current band and one with a reunited Black Sabbath. The festival also has a second-stage roster consisting of lesser-known headbangers.
It was Osbourne who caused parent groups and authorities to circle the wagons in the '70s, when he was accused of all sorts of outrages. With Osbourne no longer at the center of the storm, it is Manson who is giving Ozzfest its small measure of controversy.
An avowed member of the Church of Satan--he recently told Rolling Stone that God and Satan "are two words to describe the two sides of what [people] are"--the singer has incurred the wrath of conservative religious groups with the profane imagery on the group's 1996 album "Antichrist Superstar" and with his onstage antics, which have included ripping pages out of the Bible and wiping his bottom with the American flag.
The American leg of Manson's "Dead to the World" tour, which kicked off late last fall, drew acts of protest ranging from candlelight vigils to bomb threats. In some cities, church organizations put pressure on local authorities to cancel Manson's gigs.
"In Oklahoma City, we had to get a judge's order to allow us to do the show," says Louis Messina, CEO of the Pace Music Group, which promoted Manson's tour and is also promoting Ozzfest. "In another city, they told us 10 minutes before the doors opened that they had to check if every T-shirt security [guard] was licensed. They did everything they could possibly do to disrupt us."
So it wasn't entirely surprising when the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority tried at first to prevent Manson from making its Ozzfest debut at Giants Stadium. (The band joined the tour belatedly because of prior commitments in Europe, where it just finished a short tour.) The authority lost its case on 1st Amendment grounds, but because of the group's presence on the bill, the show was required to end by 9 p.m.
(A publicist for Ozzfest says that the only other problem caused by Manson's involvement in the tour has been opposition in the community of Somerset, Wis., where Ozzfest was originally scheduled to stop this coming Sunday. The show has been moved to the Metrodome in Minneapolis on the same date.)
By 5 p.m. at the Giants Stadium show, half an hour before Manson was scheduled to take the stage, only two protesters had been spotted by the entrance to the sports complex; and according to Lt. Jim Walsh of the Jersey State Police, who oversaw security for the event, neither entered the grounds. (Another security guard reported that signs bearing Christian slogans had also been posted by the entrance before the concert, but said that they were torn down before most fans arrived.)
"Everyone here has behaved in a very orderly manner," Walsh added. "They're respecting our rights, and we're respecting theirs."
Speaking before the Giants Stadium date, Messina said that Ozzfest has thus far spawned "very, very few arrests, and most have been for intoxication, which we can't control, since we don't control the facilities." The promoter said that he didn't expect this track record to be tarnished now that Manson is on board.
"Marilyn is no different than what Alice Cooper was, or what Ozzy was, or is," Messina says. "It's just entertainment. . . . I remember working with KISS years ago, and we had security surrounding the stage, just waiting for them to do something. And they told me, 'If [the members of KISS] do anything lewd, you're going to jail.' This is with KISS--a cartoon band! But that's just some people's mentality. I mean, rock 'n' roll is supposed to be rebellious. And this country was built on freedom of speech, and the freedom to assemble."
For his part, Manson seems as ambivalent about being held up as a 1st Amendment champion as he is unperturbed by his status as a whipping boy for the religious right.
"I don't feel that artists should ever defend what they do," he said the day before the Giants Stadium show. "That's like a snake or a butterfly trying to explain what they are. I don't wanna explain what I am--the music does that. I mean, I try to knock down and expose the hypocrisy of everything in America, whether it's religion or rock 'n' roll, whether it's God or myself. And when people react to me out of ignorance or childishness, when they hide underneath the fascism of Christianity and things like that, it just proves my point. . . . It proves my distrust and my lack of hope in mankind. I feel sorry for them."
The singer, whose given name is Brian Warner, has insisted, however, that certain allegations about his shows that have circulated through written documents and on the Internet are false, including reports that he distributes drugs to the audience and instigates rapes of female fans. He's even considering suing some of the rumor-mongering parties, "so that people know they can't do those things without repercussions."
For the next couple of weeks, though, the button-pushing artist will be preoccupied enough as Ozzfest rolls noisily but steadily on.
"I've been in this business 25 years," Messina says. "And this [tour] is so smooth it's almost boring."
- Ozzfest '97, Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion, 2555 Devore Road, Devore, June 29, 1:30 p.m. $20-$55. (909) 880-6500.
