Oh no! Look over there! It’s a rock band, they must be singing of suicide and murder! And the heavy metal band must be preaching about the devil! Well, even thought many rock and metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, Twisted Sister, Venom, Judas Priest, Decide, Entombed, Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, and Anthrax are said to ‘worship’ the devil and have Satanic lyrics, only two of the bands listed above (Decide and Entombed) “claimed to express or promote “real” Satanism through their lyrics and real life” (Paradise) as where the other bands just used satanic lyrics to gain much needed publicity and money.
Unfortunately, some bands and artist were being blamed for causing teens to murder others and to commit suicide. The band Judas Priest was blamed for making and eighteen years old and a twenty year old to commit suicide. The court said that there was a “toxic influence” from the music they listened to, but that it cannot be blamed for ones actions. The bands Slipknot, Anthrax, Ozzy Osbourne (from Black Sabbath), Alice Cooper, and Marilyn Manson where being blamed for making two men murder a 16 year old boy. It’s said that one of the alleged murderers, Daniel, 28, listened to these bands. A witness also claimed that he was a heavy drinker, had his room decorated with skeletons, and had an upside down cross tattooed on one of his arms, which is said to represent the Antichrist and Satanism.
So, I bet now that you are thinking that all rock and metal musicians are bad people. Well, there are good people too! For example, Alice Cooper, a rocker that was known for singing songs called “Dead Babies”, “No More Mr. Nice Guy”, “Welcome to my Nightmare”, and for onstage beheadings, is opening a Christian youth center. In this center there is going to be a school of rock and roll, a concert hall, and sporting events. Everything that takes place at this youth center will be free for teens for the ages of 12- 18 and will all be Christian oriented. The band Motley Crue made a CD called “Shout to the Devil”. The lyrics to the songs on this CD showed rebelliousness toward Satan, giving off the idea that Satan is bad.
Marilyn Manson, yes, we all know that he was being blamed for the shooting at Columbine high school in April 1999 and the shooting at VT College in April 2007. “But why?” you may ask. Some thinks it’s because he’s an easy target because of his said ‘Satanic’ lyrics. When in matter of fact, Seung-Hui Cho (the instigator of the shooting at VT), Erick Harris, and Dylan Klebold (the instigators of the shooting at Columbine) didn’t actually listen to Marilyn Manson. Though there is no proof that Cho didn’t listen to Marilyn Manson, there is none saying that he did either. As for Klebold and Harris they “hate Marilyn Manson” (Cullen) and Harris liked “Good, Fast, Hard, Strong, Pounding Techno” (Cullen). So, even though many people may think that Marilyn Manson is bad and capable of being a big enough of an influence to make people murderers, many can see what an insane realization that truly is.
Upon the school shootings, Manson was interviewed a countless amount of times. In a radio interview that took place a few days after the VT massacre, Manson said, “Then suddenly Columbine happened and my name got brought up into it and I wouldn’t be surprised if my name got brought into this[VT collage shooting]” (Manson Fears), and it was. During another interview he had with Michael Moore, the creator of many documentaries such as Bowling for Columbine and Roger & me, Manson was asked what he would have said to the Killers of Columbine High School, Harris and Klebold, if he would have gotten a chance. Manson’s answer was one of the most inspiring things that I have ever heard from any one; he said “I wouldn’t have said one thing. I would have listened to them, which is what no one else did” (Bowling for Columbine, 2002). He also said that music is an escape for kids, but unfortunately, the PMRC didn’t see that.
The PMRC, or Parents Music Resource Center, was stated by Tipper Gore (Al Gore’s wife) and three other women. Their goal was to warn parents of the music that their kids were listening to, so they decided that it would be a good idea to use their own opinion to tell people what’s good and what’s bad. And of course, the musicians didn’t appreciate this at all. So they rebelled, many bands criticized and parodied Tipper Gore and the PMRC. Since this affected a large majority of bands and artists from all genres; it up raised a big commotion. As an early parody Metallica put a PMRC “explicit lyric” sticker in the shape of a stop sign on their front cover of their album Master of Puppets the. The band Alice Donut made a song called “Tipper Gore” that used a sexual metaphor to describe Tipper Gore’s actions. Sonic Youth’s album, Goo, featured “a cartoon with a caption “SMASH THE PMRC”” (Parent Music Resource Center). Ministry’s album In Case You Didn’t Feel like Showing Up had “a cut out version of the parental advisory sticker. On the inside they urged you to cut it out and send it to the PMRC” (Parent Music Recourse Center). On the cover of the Twisted Sister Cd, Come out and Play, the band put a parental advisory sticker that said H for Humor as a parody toward the PMRC explicit lyric stickers. In a one minute song “Ode to Tipper Gore”, the band Warrant, “featured nothing but various swear words recorder in rapid-fire order” (Parent Music Resource Center) that they said during concerts and in songs. NoFX named their album The PMRC can suck on this to show how they felt about them. The band Rage Against The Machine did one of the most astonishing tings out of all of the bands and artists that rebelled against the PMRC. During Lollapalooza they spent all of their playing time (14 minutes) standing naked on stage, they had duck tape over their mouths and the letters PMRC painted on their chests. Later, the band played a free show for all of their disappointed fans. Tipper even went as far as trying to turn people against a band by making false accusations about the meaning of their name. She told the public that the band WASP, who originally wore black and yellow striped outfits while playing, stood for “We Are Sexual Perverts” (Parent Music Resource Center). Some other bands (with their song) that ‘rebelled’ against Tipper and the PMRC were: “Rock you to Hell” by Grim Reaper, “Hook in the Mouth” by Megadeth, “The Wild and the Young” by Quiet Riot, “Lovely” by Suicidal Tendencies, “Shelter Me” by Cinderella, “Hard on You” by Floatsam and Jetsam, “Hush” by Tool, “Censors**t” by The Ramones, “Starting up a Posse” by Anthrax, “F*** the PMRC” by Pistol Grip, “Stop the Insanity” by Leftover Crack, “Anarchy in the U.K” by Motley Crue, “MTV- Get off the Air” by Dead Kennedy, “Voldemont Can’t Stop Rock” by Harry and the Potters, “FINE” by Aerosmith, “KKK B****” and “Cop Killer” by The Dead Milkman, “P.M.R.C” by The Fool, “Porn Wars” by Frank Zappa, “Pray for the Juice Maker” by Fishbone, “Sucks” by KMFDM, “IFWHITEAMERICATOLDTHETRUTHFORONEDAYIT’SWORLDWOULDFALLAPART” and “Tennessee” by Manic Street Performers, “Burn down the malls” by Mojo Nixon, “Censor us” by Pinkard and Bowden, “Go Away” by Reset, “Jesse” by Todd Rundgren, “P.M.R.C” by The Bouncing Souls, and the song “Purgatory” which the German Metal band, Running Wild, dedicated to the PMRC.
So people think that rock and metal music is bad, and that people that listen to it are going to go crazy and start killing themselves and shooting people and getting all hyped up on drugs. Well, I, along with a lot of people in our school and even on my team, could be examples of how wrong this stereotype is. I mean sure, I do threaten people, but I never went out a started shooting things and blowing up random objects, even though blowing up random objects does sound fun.
One typical stereotype that I think is true is among a large majority of people that listen to rock and metal is how their appearance is. For example guys that listen to heave metal and rock re more likely to have long hair, wear a lot of black, and wear eyeliner and girls that listen to this type of music are more likely to have black hair and wear a lot of black. But this is just because of the fact that people have a tendency to dress and mimic the appearance of the people they ‘look up to’. So people that listen to rap are more likely to have a lot of ‘bling’ and grills and wear over sized pants and shirts, and people that look up to, let’s say the President are most likely going to dress rather professionally. But once again, not all people do.
So if you are going to go ahead and say that everyone that listens to Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, Judas Priest and other Rock and Metal bands go out and constantly shoot people and then constantly want to kill themselves you are obviously wrong. But if you truly believe that, I suggest you find every one that listens to this type of music and start sending them to consolers, mental facilities, and Psyche Wards.
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