NINE INCH
NAILS
Kurt Loder: Ever since
the Beatles back in the 1960s, certain kinds of
musicians have been trying to use rock as a vehicle
for art statements. Foremost amongst these people
in the 90s were Chicago's Smashing Pumpkins and
Cleveland's Nine Inch Nails.
(clip from 'Closer'
vid)
Anthony Keidis: You
know, Nine Inch Nails, when they first, you know,
hit MTV was beautiful, you know, masterpieces of
music and video making.
(clips from a couple
of NIN vids)
Billy Corgan: When
I saw that 'Closer' video, I thought, "This is such
an amazing video."
Dave Grohl: 'Closer'
was such an amazing video.
Tayler Hawkins: That
was a good song. That's the one "I wanna fuck you
like an animal."
Trent: I thought 'Closer'
was a catchy song but I thought it was crippled
because of the lyrics. (clip from 'Closer' containing
that line) I didn't think MTV would play the song
anyway. Then you get into, "Well we're spending
X amount of money on something no one's gonna see."
I have to admit when we got the video back, it made
me like the song more than I did when I did it.
And I think that the visuals that go with it were
abstract enough, and it made it more disturbing
to me.
Tayler Hawkins: Lead
singer of Nine Inch Nails in a ball gag?
Dave Grohl: Mmm, yummy!
Shifty Shellshock:
It was sick! It was kinky! It was freaky! It was
everything that I love.
Trent: Mark's insistence
on just putting 'Scene Missing' instead of just
glossing it over, I think worked in the sense that
it was in a way calling attention to the censorship
of MTV towards the video, and also, it intrigued
a lot of people who wondered what was behind the
'Scene Missing's.
Billy Corgan: Someone
like Mark Romatik (sp?), he really brought a lot
of, sort of... he brought the art world into MTV.
Trent: When we delivered
'Closer' to MTV I was very surprised that it got
as much airplay as it did. And I do credit that
for definitely escalation in our popularity.
MARILYN MANSON
(clip from 'Tourniquet'
vid)
Manson: I suppose
if I've had any impact on MTV it's definitely been
keeping it in check, as far as rock music goes.
Someone from Matchbox
20 - the MTV2 logo was over his name: He makes good
records, I think. Just really great sounding records
and some great beats, and stuff like 'The Dope Show'
and stuff like 'Beautiful People' (clips from both
vids as he mentions them) I mean it was stand out,
which I think, that was what got people to notice
that he was a freak.
Manson: I think, starting
back as far as 'Sweet Dreams', the 'Beautiful People'
(clips from both vids as he says them) I think I
did raise the bar on creativity to a certain extent.
I'm not the only one, but I think it was important
to set a standard and say that, you know, there
is something more exciting you can do with videos.
(clip from 'Tourniquet')
(Manson introducing
'Beautiful People' at the MTV Awards: You want to
be in a place that's filled with a bunch of ASS*****?!!
[Yes, that's how they censored it - I would have
thought the 'ass' part would be more offensive,
but there you go] song starts playing. More bits
from the performance play while people are talking
about it)
Manson: I have a lot
of interesting memories of MTV. I remember the MTV
Awards when we did 'Beautiful People' was really
great.
Gwen Stefani: I remember
seeing his little chicken cutlet butt (laughs) cheeks
hanging out.
Dave Grohl: I was
sitting next to my mom when he turned and showed
his big white ass to the audience. It was great,
man. She loved it, too!
Trent: His glistening
white buttocks were exposed.
Sebastian Bach: When
he came out, yeah, he did that pose at the end (demonstrates,
then a clip from the performance showing the pose
is played). Oh that was kick ass!
Dave Grohl: We were
sitting there, and we could see, like, uh, Puff
Daddy and a lot of the other rappers (shot of audience
showing stunned rappers) and they were, I mean the
whole vibe was, they're all so heavily into religion
and God, and here you have this guy who's posing
as the Antichrist onstage. And really, all of them,
they wouldn't even look.
Trent: It's good to
get a rise on people, you know. I think if people
passionately respond, good or bad, it's much better
than if no notice was taken.
(clip from 'Dope Show'
performance)
Sebastian Bach: His
image was dark, uh, in the 'Beautiful People', and
'Sweet Dreams', and it was, like, uh, decadent and
dark and then 'The Dope Show' (clip from 'The Dope
Show' vid) was glam, and he was wearing pink sequin
boots. I mean, I love pink sequin boots! Who the
hell doesn't?
Manson: I thought
it was even funnier when we played 'The Dope Show',
because the cameramen were very, uh, specifically,
avoiding me below the waist. (clip from 'Dope Show'
performance) So I felt a lot like Elvis on that
night.
Matchbox 20 Guy: I
thought that his performance of 'The Dope Show'
was dope! I mean, it was, that was pretty sick,
you know what I mean? That was a great song, too.
(clip from 'Disposable
Teens' vid)
Billy Corgan: Marilyn
Manson, to his credit, has helped say, "This is
what I'm putting across, but there's another message
here that you can deduce". And I think he's at least
taken responsibility for the messages he's put across.
And he's tried to be proactive, and particularly
after those shootings in Columbine, be proactive
about what it means to be who he is, and I think
that's the right level of responsibility.
Lars Ulrich: He's
obviously good at pushing people's buttons. (clip
from MTV New Years Eve performance) And I think
that some of the thoughts and the viewpoints he
has on things are very valid.
(clip from 'The Fight
Song' vid)
Guy from P.O.D. -
they were all together & not individually named:
He's slow to speak and quick to listen.
Billy Corgan: He's
an A level visual artist. [I don't think he realizes
the slightly insulting connotations of that description
in the UK, where A-levels are exams] But he did
say about me that I'm not that good a visual artist,
but I'm a better musician. So, I'm a better musician.
Trent: I think a good
thing that came out of Marilyn Manson, um, becoming
big, was that it helped kill off the... (clip from
'Starfuckers Inc.' vid - just 2 seconds but better
than nothing I suppose) bland grunge scene that
had burned itself out. So now everybody that did
have spandex clothes on, now have flannel shirts
on, now like putting clown makeup on.
Manson: I suppose
if I hadn't pursued rock, I probably wouldn't have
done too well with show tunes or break dancing.
I'm not very good at it.
(clip of the end of
'The Fight Song' vid)
