Marilyn Manson

I started this blog as a way to talk about great music from any genre, not as a forum for attacking any performers who I disagree with or don’t like. However I think that today’s blog is almost certainly going to sound like I have an axe to grind, although I really don’t. For the record like all of my other blogs I don’t write anything until I have researched the subject and have all of the facts.

Quite recently Goth Rocker Marilyn Manson posted a piece on his MySpace blog that attacked and threaten journalists and bloggers who take issue with him, his tunes, and his band. The blog was in response to an interview that Travis Keller who founded BuddyHead.com gave to LA Weekly. In the interview Keller suggested that Manson was a “paranoid cocaine addict who is nothing like his onstage persona”.

Now I personally can understand anyone not just entertainers getting angry if someone said such a thing about them and it was not true. A statement like that is a very inflammatory remark to make about someone. I for one would never say such a thing unless I could absolutely prove it, and even then I probably wouldn’t simply because that is not what this blog is about.

However there is one lesson that Manson has apparently failed to learn in his let’s educate the rock start class. That lesson is that when you are in the public eye as he certainly is, and you are making statements publicly about what you think, feel, and believe in, you have to be ready to here the other side’s point of view. After all if you are going to exercise your right to free speech so are your detractors.

Personally I can give a rat’s ass what kind of lifestyle Manson chooses to live, and I also don’t give a damn about his religious views either. I will also be honest and tell you that I am not a devotee of his music and I don’t even know what his thoughts are on politics, economy, ecology, or anything else that might be considered relevant to the times we live in, but now I know how he feels about other people’s constitutional right to free speech.

What is sad about this whole thing for me is that I will probably never write anything else about Marilyn Manson on this blog, but that is just because I haven’t heard anything musically that has sparked my interest. I will tell you that I saw hem at an Ozzfest concert a few years ago and he put on a great show, but I hadn’t even thought about him since then until now.

Now if Manson takes exception to anything that I have written here today well I am real sorry about that. Therefore If Manson feels the need for me to repeat any of this to his face he is more than welcome to come here and I will. However should Manson decide to do just that he needs to know that I am not only a vicious defender of the 1st amendment, but I am also an avid practitioner of my 2nd amendment rights as well.

So there are no mistakes or misconceptions made about myself and those who write for Simple Man Music in the future the readers of this blog to know that we reserve to right to write whatever we want. We will without reservation take full advantage of our 1st amendment right to free speech/free press and if that is unacceptable to anyone then simply don’t read the blog.

I hope you all have a great weekend and I also hope you enjoy this blog as well. I will be back again soon my friends CIAO4NOW!!!!!