Satan's Got Me in Gear (part II)

[robinturner]

A few years back, I commented in my old diary about a Satanist panic that was hitting Turkey. Now it's back again. The first time the scare was set off by a ritual murder; this time it's an epidemic of suicides at a prestigious High School. Apparently some kid had been inducing his friends to worship the Devil, listen to heavy metal, and kill themselves. Once again, rock music is the root of all evil, to the extent that I've just been given a Marilyn Manson CD to listen to, as the parents of its young owner are worried that it may lead to Satanism and, ipso facto, suicide. Rather touchingly, they wanted my opinion on the lyrics. I wasn't particularly familiar with MM before, but it struck me as the kind of sub-Goth stuff that's pleasant to listen to for a few tracks but gives me a headache and a desire to listen to Bach after a while. as for the lyrics, they seem to be the usual anti-religious, anti-militarist, anti-government irony. the cassandra Complex did all that ages ago, but I suppose it's worth repeating.

Co-inicidentally, I saw a documentary on AC//DC today - they had the same problem way back. "Highway to Hell" was read as a Satanist manifesto, when it was actually about the rigours of life on the road. "Night Prowler" was assumed to be the inspiration for the "Night Stalker" serial killer, when it was about sneaking a look through your girlfriend's window after her parents had gone to bed.

Actually, I've only met two people who described themselves - however jokingly - as Satanists. One was an all-round wanker, the other was a saintly fellow who once said words to the effect that if Christians could go to church on Sunday and listen to sermons about love and peace, then spend the other six days of the week screwing each other, he didn't see why Satanists couldn't perform blood-curdling rituals every full moon, then devote the rest of the month to charitable works.

By the way - can anyone remember who wrote "Satan's Got Me in Gear"?

Comments

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

Marilyn Manson appeals to kids who are angsty because it's cool to be angsty, and they want an identity separate from that of their middle class parents, so they embrace a "non-conformist" image even though they all look like each other.

Total schlock; Kiss and Alice Cooper were visionary in comparison.

[solri.livejournal.com]

What do you mean, "in comparison"?

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

Huh? Did I violate some holy rule of grammar and not realize it? Should I have instead said that "Compared with Marilyn Manson, Kiss and Alice Cooper were visionaries"?

[solri.livejournal.com]

It was the implication that Kiss and Alice Cooper were only visionaries when compared to Marilyn Manson! Just me being silly. Actually, I was never that into Kiss, and I didn't really appreciate Alice Cooper until I was directing the music for a rock opera of Paradise Lost(!). Most of the songs were Alice Cooper covers, and it made me realise how good he really was.

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

Hah! I never realized that sentence could have been interpreted in that way.

From memory, so probably not entirely accurate: "He has a woman's name and wears makeup. REAL original." -Alice Cooper on Marilyn Manson

[solri.livejournal.com]

LOL. That's good enough to go in a sig file.