Blog Who you filming for, Jesus?: Remembering Marilyn Manson's 1999 Milwaukee tour stop

The late ’90s were a crazy time, weren’t they? Back then, people listened to ska music for pleasure, not as part of a court-ordered punishment. Legendary Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre—get this—played for the Packers. And, most incredibly, Marilyn Manson was actually scary. Can you believe it? The A.V. Club didn’t either until we took a trip down memory lane via two videos that were shot outside Manson’s Milwaukee concert in 1999 just five days after the Columbine school shooting disaster. The videos—which were shot by Chris Schulist of Milwaukee band The Mistreaters and recently posted on YouTube—feature interviews with Manson fans and protestors trying in vain to “save” them from the horrors of eternal hellfire. You can probably figure out how this unfolds—on one side you have sweater-donning, mustachioed Christians, and on the other side you have black lipstick-donning, mustachioed Manson fans. As to which group is more unintentionally hilarious, we call it a draw. But the star of the show is unquestionably the wiry ponytail guy who is totally “suing Jesus for fucking defamation of character!” We’re guessing that case is still tied up in litigation.