5 of The Most Controversial Artists of All-Time

Jonah Bayer | 06.08.2009

From its inception rock and roll has always been considered a negative influence by the powers that be — but the five artists in this column each took that stereotype to new levels via their music and live performances. From being accused of promoting Satanism to encouraging suicide, all of them pushed the envelope and opened doors for today’s acts to fully express themselves. Ultimately if a little fake blood had to be spilled in the process, we think it’s way worth it.

Ozzy Osbourne

He may be a caricature of himself these days, but when Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne was in his prime he gave every PTA in America something to complain about. Although they were mainly used for shock value, the satanic imagery in his live shows and album art made watchdog groups assume he was a deranged Satanist — and the Prince Of Darkness encouraged these assumptions by writing songs like “Mr. Crowley,” a track that was inspired by Satanist Aleister Crowley. When a California teenager committed suicide in the ’80s after listening to Osbourne song “Suicide Solution” his parents sued the singer — and although Osbourne won, it was the first of many legal battles he had to fight over his music. Oh, and did we forget to mention that Osbourne also famously bit the head off a bat at a concert and urinated on the Alamo, prompting a 10-year ban from San Antonio?

 

Alice Cooper

Although his stage show and music may seem quaint by today’s standards, Alice Cooper’s early ’70s career set the stage for all of the artists in this column and it’s impossible to overemphasize his effect on shock rock. In fact, while most rock acts were trying to be as macho as possible, the always androgynous Cooper utilized guillotines, electric chairs and fake blood to create a spectacle that looked more like a haunted house than a typical rock concert. Additionally his song “School’s Out” terrified parents all over the world, which lead to a ban on the song’s video in England — and a member of Parliament tried to have Alice Cooper and his band banned from the country all together. Predictably, this only made Cooper’s music more popular and he has continued to innovate and inspire youth for the last 40 years through everything from collaborations with Vincent Price to duets with Marilyn Manson.

 

Marilyn Manson

Say what you will about Marilyn Manson, but it’s hard to deny the influence he’s had on rebellious rock for the past two decades. In the late-’90s the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management And Restructuring targeted Manson as responsible for corrupting the nation’s youth, utilizing a parent who blamed his son’s suicide on Manson’s album Antichrist Superstar. Additionally, Manson, who is known for his theatric live performances, has had shows cancelled all over the world for every reason from “use of animals onstage” to “immorality.” Things got even more intense for the singer when there were accusations that the Columbine school shooters were inspired by Manson’s music — and since then critics have tried to tenuously connect Manson’s music to nearly every case of school violence. Despite all this, Manson has proved himself to be extremely lucid and articulate in the face of these accusations, which was evident in the Michael Moore documentary Bowling For Columbine.

 

Rage Against The Machine

Rage Against The Machine may have been amazing songwriters who wrote some of the most memorable heavy alternative riffs of the ’90s, but it was terrifying to parents the way the band’s revolutionary views were encapsulated in classic songs like “Killing In The Name.” Additionally, the band has probably done more than anyone else on earth to expose everyone from activists like the Zapatistas to political icons like Noam Chomsky to mainstream audiences. In addition, the band became well-known for trying to perform with inverted American Flags on Saturday Night Live, protesting political conventions and famously comparing former president George W. Bush to Nazi war criminals, which prompted right-wing strategists to speculate that singer Zack De La Rocha was encouraging people to assassinate the president. Despite all of this the band is still going strong and creating vital music that continues to challenge our conventions.

 

Sex Pistols

There is a lot of speculation over whether the Sex Pistols were really a band or a carefully constructed hoax, but this just deepens the controversy that surrounds this early punk act. Led by abrasive frontman Johnny Rotten, the band terrified authority via their unconventional clothing and songs like “Anarchy In The U.K.” — and these stereotypes were perpetuated by swearing on the Billy Grundy show back home, making them excellent tabloid fodder. Most of the dates on the band’s late-’70s Anarchy Tour were cancelled before the band had a chance to play — and this was all before the band’s legendary bassist Sid Vicious joined the band. From there things got even more out of control and Vicious was charged with stabbing his girlfriend Nancy Spungen in 1978 and died from a heroin overdose shortly afterward. Despite all this drama and controversy, the band’s sole studio album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols remains to be one of the most important rock albums of all time.