Boston's Alternative Source!
     
Feedback

Marilyn Manson
State of the Art

BY SEAN RICHARDSON

With a cross-generational dream bill including Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, and Slipknot in the top slots, Ozzy Osbourne’s venerable OzzFest package tour, which hits the Tweeter Center this Tuesday and Wednesday, is making as much noise as ever. But the notoriously purist metal community hasn’t been shy in voicing its distaste for the pile of lite-metal crossover acts (Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Crazy Town) that litter the undercard. Count Manson — whose band are playing their second OzzFest after performing on one of the earliest editions of the tour in ’97 — among the malcontents. What kind of, uh, kinship does the shock-rock icon feel with his younger tourmates?

" None, " he answers decisively. Not even demented elder statesman? " Maybe schoolteacher. The only reason I wanted to do this was on the terms that it would be us, Sabbath, and Slipknot. Because I think we represent everything that, ironically, most of the bands that play during the day don’t. It’s kind of TRL during the day and then it’s a much darker, left-hand path at night. It’s kind of like when you go to the movies and you see a cartoon before the movie and then you see the real movie.

" I’m just out there showing people what a real rock band is. I don’t have anything against any of the bands. I just feel like there’s a lot of people that need to be taught a lesson. And they’re learning, so that’s good. "

Manson should know — he learned the hard way his first time around. " I actually never thought I would do OzzFest again, because the first time we did it, it wasn’t the most pleasant experience. It was the first Sabbath reunion, and there were a lot of older fans that weren’t very receptive to what I was doing. I got hit with a lot of bottles. And that still exists, but now it’s more of a challenge to me to play in front of a lot of fans who haven’t heard me — old and young. "

In the face of mass protests, Manson recently played his first show in Colorado since he was dubiously implicated in the tragic Columbine High School shootings of ’99. He calls it " one of the best shows I’ve done in my whole career. It was a real triumph for everyone — the fans, the people who supported me, and the music industry in general. I wasn’t going to be blamed for something I didn’t do, and I wasn’t going to be silenced, either. "

Other than that, it’s been a relatively controversy-free year for Manson. Expect that to end in the fall when he releases his first novel, which shares a title with his most recent album, Holy Wood (Nothing/Interscope). " This book is going to cause a lot of problems, and I want it to because I think it has a lot of important things to say. The only thing I can compare it to — not in content, but in power and controversy — is A Clockwork Orange. I’m most likely going to be talking about it on television shortly. I’m thinking about [Fox News Channel’s] The O’Reilly Factor, because I think he’s quite smart and he’s not a sensationalist. I’d like to have a serious talk with him about all these clowns like Joseph Lieberman. "

Marilyn Manson perform as part of OzzFest this Tuesday and Wednesday, August 7 and 8, at the Tweeter Center, 885 South Main Street, in Mansfield; call (617) 228-6000.

Issue Date: August 2 - 9, 2001