Long Hard Road Out of Hell (48 page)

     
MAY 29, 1997, PARIS

I talked to Snoop Doggy Dogg today. Well, I’m not sure if you could really call it talked because I could hardly understand a word he was saying. But I think what he was trying to communicate was that he wanted to work with me in some sort of capacity and something involving marijuana.

     
JUNE 15, 1997, NEW YORK

With the help of our civil rights lawyer Paul Cambria, we won our case against the state of New Jersey and we were able to perform on the OzzFest at Giants Stadium today, despite the objections of the stadium’s management. (It’s funny because I saw the Larry Flynt movie the other day and my friend, Edward Norton—Courtney’s boyfriend—played a composite of Paul and several other lawyers who worked on the
Hustler
case.) Despite the fact that the story was on the news every five minutes, I’m not sure the crowd knew or even cared there was a case. We smashed everything, including ourselves, out of frustration at their apathy. I ended up slashing myself pretty badly, and paramedics won’t stitch ybu on the spot for insurance reasons. They wanted me to go to the hospital, but I stayed backstage and got drunk with Pantera. We talked about the first time I hung out with Dimebag Darrell, who in addition to playing guitar in Pantera is actually the creator of Tony Wiggins. He took Twiggy, Pogo and me back to his house in Dallas. After visiting a series of strip bars and doing other things that people who have rebel flag bumper stickers would do, I vaguely remember someone putting acid in my mouth and waking up in a litter box trying to keep a pig from shitting on my face.

CURRENTLY BEFORE THE COURT IS AN APPLICATION TO ENJOIN THE NEW JERSEY SPORTS EXHIBITION AUTHORITY (“NJSEA”) FROM PRESENTING THE OZZFEST CONCERT, WHICH INCLUDES PERFORMER “MARILYN MANSON,” FROM BEING HELD AT GIANTS STADIUM ON JUNE 15, 1997. MARILYN MANSON IS A HEAVY METAL BAND THAT THE NJSEA HAS DEEMED OBJECTIONABLE. MARILYN MANSON’S RIGHT OF PASSAGE TO PERFORM AT GIANTS STADIUM IS NOW IMPEDED BY ROADBLOCKS CREATED BY THE COLLISION BETWEEN WELL-ESTABLISHED CONSTITUTIONAL AND CONTRACTUAL PRINCIPLES....

ON APRIL 18, 1997, THE NJSEA ISSUED A NEWS RELEASE ENTITLED “STATEMENT OF THE NEW JERSEY SPORTS AUTHORITY MANAGEMENT REGARDING MARILYN MANSON AND THE OZZFEST CONCERT.” THE ANNOUNCEMENT INDICATED THAT MARILYN MANSON WOULD BE PROHIBITED FROM PERFORMING AT GIANTS STADIUM AND CANCELED THE OZZFEST EVENT DUE TO THE INCLUSION OF MARILYN MANSON....

THE NSJEA HAS INDICATED THAT IT EXCLUDED MARILYN MANSON FROM THE CONCERT BECAUSE OF THE BAND’S “ANTICS.” ACCORDING TO THE NSJEA, THESE ANTICIPATED “ANTICS” MAY [CREATE] SECURITY RISKS AND MAY [TARNISH] THE NSJEA’S REPUTATION AND ABILITY TO REMAIN A LUCRATIVE FORUM FOR CONCERT EVENTS....

THE CLAUSE ON WHICH THE NSJEA RELIES FOR ITS AUTHORITY TO EXCLUDE MARILYN MANSON FROM THE SHOW CONFIRMS THE MOTIVATION OF THE NSJEA UNDER THE NSJEA’S PROPOSED CONTRACT, IT MAY EXCLUDE A PERFORMER FOR: “GROUNDS OF CHARACTER OFFENSIVE TO PUBLIC MORALS, FAILURE TO UPHOLD EVENT ADVERTISING CLAIMS OR VIOLATION OF EVENT CONTENT RESTRICTIONS AGREED TO BY BOTH PARTIES AT TIME OF COMPLETION OF THIS AGREEMENT.” THE ONLY ASPECT OF THIS CLAUSE THAT THE NSJEA RELIES UPON IS THAT MARILYN MANSON’S PERFORMANCE IS ANTICIPATED TO BE “OFFENSIVE TO PUBLIC MORALS.” THIS APPEARS TO BE THE QUINTESSENTIAL ESSENCE OF CONTENT BASED REGULATION.

THE NSJEA HAS ARGUED THAT SAFETY CONCERNS PROMPTED ITS REFUSAL TO ALLOW MARILYN MANSON TO PLAY AT GIANTS STADIUM. BUT THE NSJEA HAS PUT FORTH NO EVIDENCE THAT ITS PROFFERED SAFETY CONCERNS ARE LEGITIMATE RATHER THAN PRETEXTUAL. TO THE CONTRARY, NO UNLAWFUL OR VIOLENT ACTIVITY HAS OCCURRED ON MARILYN MANSON’S CURRENT TOUR. AND IT APPEARS THAT THE PLAINTIFFS HAVE COMPLIED WITH NSJEA’S REQUESTS FOR CONCESSIONS INTENDED TO BOLSTER SECURITY....

THE NSJEA ALSO ARGUED THAT THE INCLUSION OF MARILYN MANSON WOULD TARNISH NSJEA’S REPUTATION AND ABILITY TO EARN REVENUE. BUT, THE NSJEA CONCEDED AT ORAL ARGUMENT THAT THE DECISION TO EXCLUDE MARILYN MANSON WAS NOT BASED ON THE ECONOMICS OF THE SHOW IN QUESTION; THE SHOW WAS ANTICIPATED TO EARN SUBSTANTIAL REVENUE. RATHER, NSJEA ARGUED THAT THE INCLUSION OF MARILYN MANSON WOULD SOMEHOW AFFECT NSJEA’S FUTURE ABILITY TO USE THE STADIUM. THE NSJEA’S ARGUMENT IS INSUFFICIENTLY CONCRETE TO BE PERSUASIVE AND THERE ARE NO WRITTEN GUIDELINES DEFINING WHAT MIGHT ENDANGER NSJEA’S REPUTATION. CONSEQUENTLY, THE COURT IS NOT PERSUADED.

ADDITIONALLY, IT APPEARS THAT THE NSJEA’S REQUIREMENT THAT ALL PERFORMERS SIGN A CONTRACT ALLOWING THE NSJEA TO REGULATE THE MORALITY OF CONCERT PROGRAMS MAY BE AN UNREASONABLE RESTRICTION ON ACCESS TO EVEN A NON-PUBLIC FORUM....

IT APPEARS PATENTLY UNREASONABLE THAT GIANTS STADIUM WOULD PERMIT AN ENTIRE CONCERT OF HEAVY METAL BANDS, WHILE EXCLUDING ONLY ONE—MARILYN MANSON—WHICH HAS DEMONSTRATED NO PROPENSITY FOR ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES ON STAGE. THUS, THE NSJEA WILL SUFFER NO IRREPARABLE INJURY FROM ALLOWING MARILYN MANSON TO PERFORM AT GIANTS STADIUM....

IT IS ON THIS 7TH DAY OF MAY ORDERED THAT, PENDING A HEARING ON AN APPLICATION FOR A PERMANENT INJUNCTION, THE NSJEA IS PRELIMINARILY ENJOINED AND RESTRAINED FROM PROHIBITING PLAINTIFFS FROM PRESENTING A CONCERT PERFORMANCE BY “MARILYN MANSON” AT GIANTS STADIUM ON JUNE 15, 1997.

—F
ROM THE DECISION OF THE
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S
TATES
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OURT OF
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J
ERSEY UPHOLDING THE RIGHT OF PLAINTIFFS,
M
ARILYN
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,
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O
ZZFEST AT
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TADIUM, WHICH HAD BEEN CANCELED BY THE DEFENDANT
, NJSEA.

     
JUNE 19, 1997, CHICAGO

I expected the OzzFest crowd to be much more open-minded. This is an audience that grew up in the tradition of Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, and other bands that put on more than your average rock and roll show. But so far it’s just been a bunch of really drunk assholes who are intimidated by the fact that they are confused and maybe they want to fuck me, and it pisses them off. But in a weird way, I think I’m beginning to like this. It’s been a while since we performed and weren’t the headliners. Sometimes a crowd that hates me this much is as good as crowd that loves me, because it inspires me to give my best performance.

     
JULY 31, 1997, TORONTO

Today the police told me that if I sang the Patti Smith song “Rock and Roll Nigger” I would be arrested under the hate crime law for promoting racial disharmony. So to fuck with the police I had a friend of mine, Corey, who happens to be black, accompany me and my bodyguard, Aaron, into my meeting with these moronic individuals. Wearing a police hat, I asked the officer in charge what problems he had with our show. He nervously shuffled through his notes and said, “There’s one song in particular,” as if he couldn’t remember what it was, and then he mumbles “Rock and Roll Nigger,” specifically so as not to offend Corey, who looks like he’ll kick the shit out of anyone who’s white. I went on to explain to him that not only did Patti Smith write the song (and not me) but that the song represents the isolation and discrimination of people for their ideas and their beliefs and their art—which ironically was exactly what this asshole was doing. He still didn’t seem to understand so I told him quite simply I would do the song and we would see what happened when it was done.

Though I told him the show would not be changed, I did change it in several simple ways. I donned a police uniform and something given to me by a fan, a badge formerly in the possession of an officer shot in the line of duty. I also invited Corey to help me sing, in particular the lines with the word nigger in them.

We performed the song as an encore, and I introduced it by saying, “I want to tell you about something that happened recently. There’s a song that’s twenty years old written by a woman named Patti Smith. And a couple of white cops came up to me and they said, ‘You can’t sing that song.’ They said that it’s against black people. What I wanna explain to those moronic fucking idiots is that the song’s about people like me and you, people that get discriminated against for the way we are. Just like they fucking discriminated against us today. And they didn’t understand. It’s because they are a bunch of fucking idiots. So I dedicate this song to the Canadian police force.”

What we and the crowd realized more than anything was that nobody here hated “niggers.” We all hated cops. I didn’t get arrested or even reprimanded. The cops might not have been listening, though. They were probably too busy searching the bathrooms for plungers to stick up our asses.

     
SEPTEMBER 1997, PORTUGAL

Plenty of people could do what I’m doing on an underground level—we did it for years and nobody cared. It’s not until you’re a household name that people give a shit. But what we’ve done onstage with the fascist banners, with tearing up the bible, with the snow falling from above, with the whole beautiful thing—it’s all so much more controversial than nudity or killing dogs onstage because it’s so powerful and it has meaning. I feel proud because in the beginning I hesitated. I didn’t know if I could get away with it. I could have been destroyed. I remember when we first played the record for Jimmy [Iovine, head of Interscope Records], he told us, “This is the best rock record that’s been written in the past ten years. But I don’t want to see you step on the wrong toes because then nobody will ever hear it. Anybody can sell 700,000 records. You can do that out of your garage.” So I told him that the important thing to me was that we’ve written good songs that people will remember and sing. We’ve infiltrated the mainstream in a way that they don’t want, and I think that is a work of art in itself.

     
SEPTEMBER 1997, BRAZIL

I opened a fortune cookie and it said, “When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed.” Well, I’ve gotten everything that I wanted. We’re the biggest band in America. We’ve got platinum albums. We got the
Rolling Stone
cover that Dr. Hook never managed to get. But I’ve managed to destroy and lose everything that I’ve loved along the way. The whole world now looks at me the way I looked at my grandfather. I hope they like what they see, because now I finally do.