Look At Your Game, Girl

Manson Song May Be Removed From Album : Music: Head of record label joins in criticism of Guns N' Roses. Band leader Axl Rose is considering dropping the cut from future copies of the band's latest release.
December 01, 1993|CHUCK PHILIPS | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Guns N' Roses is considering removing its version of a song by mass murderer Charles Manson from future copies of its new album, sources close to the Los Angeles hard rock group said Tuesday.

The composition, "Look at Your Game, Girl," which appears on "The Spaghetti Incident?" album released last week, has come under fire from law enforcement and victims rights groups, as well as from the head of the band's record company, entertainment mogul David Geffen.

"I would hope that if Axl Rose had realized how offensive people would find this, he would not have ever recorded this song in the first place," said Geffen, who knew two of the six victims killed in an Aug. 9, 1969, Benedict Canyon rampage masterminded by Manson.

"The issue is not the song itself," Geffen said. "The fact that Charles Manson would be earning money based on the fame he derived committing one of the most horrific crimes of the 20th Century is unthinkable to me."

Geffen, who spoke Tuesday by phone from the Caribbean where he is on vacation after overseeing the making of a film in New Orleans, said he learned from a CNN broadcast Monday that the song is on the album.

The decision about removing the song rests with Rose, who could not be reached for comment. But sources said that most of the five band members want the song taken off future copies of the record, and that Rose is considering that action.

In a statement scheduled to be released today by Geffen Records, Rose did not say what he would do about the song.

"Personally, I liked the lyrics and the melody of the song," he said in the statement. "Hearing it shocked me, and I thought there might be other people who would like to hear it.

"The song talks about how the girl is insane and playing a mad game," Rose says in the statement. "I felt that it was ironic that such a song was recorded by Charles Manson, someone who should know the inner intricacies of madness.

"Manson is a dark part of American culture and history," Rose said. "He's the subject of fear and fascination through books, movies and the interviews he's done. Most people hadn't heard anything Charles Manson recorded."

The singer pledged to donate all performance royalties from the song to a nonprofit environmental organization.

Industry sources estimated that Manson's publishing royalties could amount to as much as $62,000 for every 1 million albums sold.

At least 1 million copies of the album are believed to have been shipped to stores since the collection was released Nov. 23. The group's last pair of albums, 1991's "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II," have sold about 5 million copies each in the United States.

Sources said that Geffen Records may donate its proceeds from the song to the Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau, named for the late mother of actress Sharon Tate, who was murdered by Manson's followers in 1969.

Patti Tate, the actress' sister, expressed outrage at the song's inclusion on the album.

"Doesn't Axl Rose realize what this man did to my family?" said Tate, who now runs the victims rights group. "It really hurts and angers me that Guns N' Roses would exploit the murders of my sister and others for capital gain."

Manson, 59, is serving a life sentence in Corcoran State Prison near Fresno.

It's No Illusion: Guns N' Roses Does Charles Manson

Los Angeles Times
November 21, 1993|Steve Hochman

You'd expect to hear old songs by the Damned, UK Subs and maybe even Nazareth on the new Guns N' Roses album saluting some of the band's punk and hard-rock influences.

But a song written by convicted mass murderer and one-time pop aspirant Charles Manson?

Despite heated denials by Geffen Records when a rumor about the alleged track circulated last month, sources close to the label now confirm that the song is part of the package due in stores Tuesday.

Don't, however, look for Manson's name--or even the song title--on the album's credits. The selection, titled "Look at Your Game, Girl," is an unlisted bonus track on the album, which is titled "The Spaghetti Incident?"

The band has kept the Manson tune--described by someone who has heard it as a "pop song"--so hush-hush that it wasn't even included on advance tapes sent out to reviewers.

This wouldn't be the first time GNR singer Axl Rose has invoked Manson's image--he used to perform wearing a T-shirt with Manson's picture on it.

Asked about the song, GNR manager Doug Goldstein would only say, "There is a bonus track on the album, but Axl (Rose) wants it to speak for itself."

As to why the song wasn't on review copies, he says, "It wasn't done for the critics or anybody else. It was a bonus for the fans."

Manson--now 59 and serving a life sentence in Corcoran State Prison near Fresno for masterminding the Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969--was on the fringes of some L.A. pop circles well before his crimes.

In fact, a widespread theory at the time was that Manson ordered his attack on the Benedict Canyon house where actress Sharon Tate and others were staying in the mistaken belief that former tenant Terry Melcher still lived there. The record producer had supposedly rebuffed Manson's pop ambitions. Bootleg albums of some of Manson's demo tapes have been available over the years.

Will one of the most notorious figures in U.S. crime annals get royalties from the sale of the album?

Replied a Geffen spokeswoman, "Our legal office says that we don't comment on legal matters like royalties statements."

Guns N' Roses to Stick With Manson Song on Album : Pop music: Convict's royalties from 'Girl' will be paid to the son of one of those killed in a spree masterminded by the cult leader.

Los Angeles Times
December 08, 1993|CHUCK PHILIPS | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Despite widespread criticism, Guns N' Roses has decided not to delete its version of a Charles Manson song on the rock band's new album after learning that the mass murder ringleader will not receive any royalties.

"When we heard Manson might get the money, we were ready to pull the song off the record," Slash, the band's lead guitarist, said Tuesday. "But then we found out that all the money would go to this guy in Poland who lost his dad (in the murders)."

Manson's share of royalties from the song "Look at Your Game, Girl" on Guns N' Roses' recently released "The Spaghetti Incident?" album will be paid to the son of Wojiciech (Voytek) Frykowski under a 1971 court order against Manson. The royalties will amount to $62,000 for every million copies of the album sold.

Frykowski was one of five victims found bound, stabbed and bludgeoned to death on Aug. 9, 1969, following a Benedict Canyon crime spree masterminded by the cult leader. Frykowski was a friend of film director Roman Polanski, whose wife, actress Sharon Tate, and her unborn baby were also slaughtered in the Manson Family bloodbath.

Geffen Records, the West Hollywood label that releases Guns N' Roses albums, was notified last week about the court order and is expected to be served with a writ of execution today by Los Angeles attorney Nathaniel Friedman, who won a $500,000 judgment in 1971 against Manson on behalf of Frykowski's 13-year-old son Bartek.

The inclusion of the Manson composition on the album has been heavily criticized by law enforcement and victim rights groups, as well as by the head of the band's own record company, entertainment mogul David Geffen.

Ed Rosenblatt, president of Geffen Records, said Tuesday the company "would have preferred that the song wasn't on the album, but given our belief in freedom of speech as well as the clear restraints of our legal agreements with the band, it is not our decision to make. That decision belongs solely to Guns N' Roses. We genuinely regret the distress the situation has caused."

About the decision to put the song on the album, Slash said it was "done with naive and innocent black humor on our part, but looking back on it I think it might have been a mistake. We never expected the flack that came up, but now we know it's a serious issue for the families."

Bartek Frykowski, who lives in Warsaw, could not be reached for comment, but Friedman said his client can legally garnish as much as $1.4 million in interest-adjusted earnings from Manson's past and future income.

"It's small compensation to this young man for the brutal loss of his father, even though that occurred a quarter of a century ago," Friedman said.

Guns N' Roses will not collect any of the song's proceeds from "The Spaghetti Incident?"--which has sold more than 300,000 copies in the United States since its release on Nov. 23.

Singer Axl Rose has pledged to donate all his performance royalties from the track to a nonprofit environmental organization. Geffen Records will pass on its proceeds from the song to the Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau, named for the late mother of Sharon Tate.

"Look at Your Game, Girl" has been a source of friction in the Guns N' Roses camp since Rose, who recorded the track without the other members of the band, first proposed it as a selection for the new album, sources said. The rest of the group reluctantly agreed to include the track only if it remained unidentified in print or in interviews.

As a result, the Manson composition appears uncredited following the last track on the album after a 12-second silence. Manson is mentioned nowhere in the liner notes and acknowledged only at the end of the song when Rose coyly whispers, "Thanks, Chas."

The song appeared as a track on the 1970 album "Lie," a bootlegged Manson collection originally issued by Awareness Records.

That album, comprising 14 demos cut during the '60s by aspiring musician Manson, is still available on compact disc today. Indeed, Rose said he was inspired to record "Look at Your Game, Girl" after hearing a copy of the Manson album purchased by his brother.

"Lie" is owned and distributed by New Brunswick, N.J.-based Performance Records, which contributes Manson's royalty proceeds to the Victims of Violent Crime Fund, an arm of the California attorney general's office.

Vincent Bugliosi, the Manson case prosecutor who wrote the 1974 best-selling "Helter Skelter" book, said he found it "appalling" that Manson's music had penetrated the pop mainstream.

"It's a sad commentary on justice in America that a murderer who was supposed to receive the death penalty ends up having his song appear on a hit rock album," Bugliosi said. "From a moral standpoint, it's truly distasteful."

In his statement last week, Rose said he recorded the song primarily because it related to a "personal situation" he had been going through, not because he had any respect for Manson, whom he called "sick."

Free-lance writer Heidi Siegmund contributed to this article.

Blackstar wrote:Chris Cornell's opinion:

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Soundgarden are also one of the few acts on the [Spaghetti Incident] album unscarred by fatality and tragedy. Some had more pain in their history than others like the New York Dolls who over the years lost original drummer, Jerry Nolan. But for pain by association it's pretty hard to beat Charles Manson. Mr Chris Cornell, counsel for Guns n' Roses.

Cornell: "I think he (Manson) wrote some cool songs regardless of who he is or whatever. What he did and what he was involved with - which I would never condone at all, it sucks - still doesn't mean that what he did as an artist should never be heard. I don't think there's any reason to edit out art.

"If it was snuff films that's a different story. If somebody was using other people against their will to make art that's definitely a different story. But what's ethical about burying art because of something the artist did? That's too close to censorship really. If his music was saying about or condoning or encouraging that type of behaviour and he was known to have done, that type of thing I could understand that more. But I guess my point is I'm against any type of censorship or disallowing individuals to make those kind of choices at all. I don't think if you go out and buy a Charles Manson record or if you listen to a Charles Manson song and you like it or even dislike it, I don't think that means that you're an accessory to his life. I think that's a big misconception that people have. People will go meet their favourite rock star and that person will maybe be rude to them or be drunk or be acting in a way that they don't agree with or dislike and they won't like that artist anymore. I don't think that's fair. I don't think art has anything to do with the individual that creates the art as far as you have to agree with the person to like the art that person creates." [Time Off, January 12, 1994]

http://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/articles/timeoff_1-12-94.shtml

Blackstar wrote:Soundgarden are also one of the few acts on the [Spaghetti Incident] album unscarred by fatality and tragedy.

Uli wrote:Sadly not true anymore now.