Marilyn Manson takes on critics, Columbine fallout By G. Brown Denver Post Popular Music Writer Sunday, June 10, 2001 - HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - More than two years after the shootings at Columbine High School, Marilyn Manson is still dealing with the backlash from those who believe his music shares some culpability for the tragedy. But sitting at his home in the Hollywood Hills, the controversial shock rocker isn't going out of his way to settle the troubled waters. "The honest to God truth is, I really don't find the controversy something to be proud of, or to use to better my career," he said. "I'm not trying to be a lightning rod for all their hatred. ... I just want to be someone who inspires other people to have an opinion, to be an individual, to maybe question things once in a while." Later this month, Manson will perform in Colorado for the first time since the Columbine tragedy as part of Ozzfest at Mile High Stadium. In the face of protests against his appearance, Manson talked at length with The Denver Post about his background, his music, how he views the school massacre and his attitude toward his detractors. It was the first extensive interview given by Manson to anyone in the Colorado media in more than two years. In the aftermath of the April 1999 massacre, which left 15 dead and 23 wounded, Manson canceled his "Rock Is Dead" tour - including a show at Red Rocks - and issued a statement expressing his sympathy for the victims. "But I was surprised," he said. "Even coming back home to Los Angeles, it was strange going out to a restaurant and having people give me dirty looks like I did something wrong. ... I became a poster boy for a big campaign of fear." Columbine, Manson said, "is probably the only event since the Kennedy assassination to really shock America. ... It's grotesque that they used it as a toy to toss around to set up the election - the only thing Bush and Gore were talking about was violence in entertainment and gun control. "I may have nihilism in my music, and it may not be pretty, but at the same time I don't think I behaved in such a disrespectful way as these other people." Citizens for Peace and Respect, or CPR, a group affiliated with Denver-area churches, citizens, businesses and several families of Columbine victims, is protesting Manson's June 21 appearance at Ozzfest. They are "just digging up something that didn't need to be talked about, because I wasn't going to come to Denver and make a point of discussing Columbine," Manson said. "I'm definitely a provocative artist, but I'm not inhuman. "It's very self-serving of these people, because it helps get their name in the paper and have another reason for people to be scared on Sunday. ... (They say) "Marilyn Manson is the devil,' because if they want to be the good guy, they have to find a bad guy." Gov. Bill Owens and Rep. Tom Tancredo support CPR, but Manson said his show will go on. And rather than be on the defensive, Manson challenged them. "Now this trip to Denver is worth fighting for," he said. "These people are saying, "We don't like your message in your music because it represents some of the same motives or feelings that were involved in the shootings.' In some ways, they have a point, because what I say represents the people who are never being listened to, the anger of growing up in a world that takes advantage of you. "I'm lucky - I can put all of my anger into a song. Other people can't. When someone has something to say and no one's listening and it just builds up, then these things happen. People react violently. They cause a spectacle so you're forced to listen." In videos and onstage, Manson may look menacing to adults and thrilling to young fans. But in person, he's thin and sensitive, not favored with classic rock-star features. His careful voice is deep, and his long, detailed (and profanity-free) answers to questions demonstrate his intelligence. He's a genuinely strange man. He wears signature mix-and-match colored contact lenses. During an interview at his home, he's clad entirely in black - a skintight long-sleeve shirt, jeans and Velcro-strapped boots. Manson shows off some of the highlights of his house, where the Rolling Stones wrote "Let It Bleed" in the late '60s. "It's definitely haunted," he says. "The other day I woke up and heard someone running down the stairs." The living room is lit only by three candles and the glow of a crucifix lamp. An African tribal mask made of the skin of natives rests on the mantle. Manson gently caresses a skull on one table. "Someone gave me the skeleton of a 7-year-old child," he said. "I don't know where they got it, and I don't want to know." Manson collects medical items, such as antique models of the brain and other organs. "It's a fetish that goes back to being a skinny, sickly kid," he said, carefully pushing his jet-black hair off his face with a long, bony finger sheathed in a metal talon. "My father was in Vietnam and sprayed Agent Orange, so I had to be tested in the hospital all the time. I don't think there were any real effects, except I had pneumonia four times." Next