The Devil Inside
by Mattman
I think there is something about Florida's abundance of sunlight and old people that really warps the kids there. It causes them to rebel against life itself. Late last year a group of "vampire" kids, who had been drinking each other's blood as an afternoon activity (whatever happened to gang banging?), tried to kill the mother of one of the clan and then fled to neighboring southern states. They didn't fit in too well in Kentucky either and were quickly captured. The land of sunshine breeds sickly kids who fear light, colorful makeup and smiles.
Which, of course, brings me to Marilyn Manson. The band, the singer, the trend. Now, I have nothing against the music at all. I remember being at Goth night in Florida the first week they played "Beautiful People." I thought it was the best dance/grind song I'd heard all summer. The beat, the guitars, all that talk about the penis and sex. I really didn't think I'd hear the song again, though. Not many people danced to it (was it my pelvic thrusts?).
I moved away from that haven of Goth-dom in September and was quite surprised when MTV picked up on the band that would become rock and roll's new rebellion group. There have been a lot of them. Bands who seem very serious about their doom and gloom (and Satanic rituals), but really are just playing a game. Maybe they're serious about it at first, who knows?
I would love to believe that Jim Morrison was a prophetic shaman, but I think he was an Irish drunkard who read too many Thomas Hardy novels and Greek Tragedies. Besides, if he lived his life the way it was portrayed in Oliver Stone's movie (he was drunk/stoned/tripping on something in every frame--including the flashback as a little kid), people might have done a little more than bitch about his "erratic behavior."
In my run through teenager-ism, we had a whole slew of "Devil Bands." W.A.S.P., Ozzie Osbourne, Dio, Metallica (all of whom where preceded by Kiss, Black Sabbath and Boston...purely for musical content), any band that played really fast, and, of course, Motley Crue. No one knew why they had those little dots above the o and the u, but when they changed the dots to skulls--whew, that was fuckin' cool.
There was always a question in my head, though. If they really are worshipping Satan, does that mean I go to Hell for listening to it? Church people said yes. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to Hell for Motley Crue--the music wasn't that good. Bon Jovi, maybe, but not Motley Crue. Just in case, I listened to Stryper (a Christian rock band) to offset any damage done to my soul.
I went to church a lot through high school. Mostly it was because of this stupid crush I had (that I never really acted on for some idiotic reason), but I also got to go skiing every year as long as I went to enough youth groups and bible studies. There was a time during my senior year that people in our community were quite concerned about the amount of Satanic activity in our area. We heard about "black books," "circle of trees," "witches," "animal mutilations," and, of course, music.
Guns N' Roses was huge at the time. I went to three different seminars on "Satanism & Our Children," mostly to see if I was listening to the right music. Guns N' Roses scared the PMRC (who were formed because of a Prince song--an artist who has always professed to believe in God) and the other haters of Satanism, not because there were racist and homophobic lyrics (they didn't seem to mind this at all), but because there was an "air of promiscuity about sex."
Of course there was. Why the fuck do you think we listened to it? They had all the bad words, they got laid, they had tattoos and they got wasted all the time. These were all things we wanted to do, although probably not to the same mind-boggling abandon. One reason the Use Your Illusion discs were not as revered by music buyers was the lack of anarchy. Hell, Axl seemed like he actually wanted to say something.
It's been awhile since music was called Satanic (the big S is for "super-bad"). The Seattle scene was dark, but they didn't tell anyone to have a lot of sex and be egocentric (well, there is an egocentrism to self-inflicted depression, but it's more implied than stated). And while many church leaders are egocentric and have a lot of sex, they don't preach it in those words. And no one in Seattle (other than Andrew Wood and he was dead before anyone knew who he was) wore a lot of make up by the time they were famous. So our buddy Marilyn seems to have stirred up a little fire in a big bucket, because he's got it all with dildos to spare.
Church groups protest outside of his shows. Televangelists have someone new to bitch about. Kids have a new hero. Ride the lightening, baby. When the teenagers figure out you're faking it (and it could take a while), they're gonna drop you like a hot potato. By that time you won't have to worry about losing that Revlon sponsorship. You can buy the condo by the Gulf and realize the reason people retire in Florida: it's warm all the time, no one wears much in clothing and if you go bankrupt, you get to keep all your shit.
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