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a rock god' among fans and outraged the general public. Soon his shows were full of it, even though this time they were fake animals! Alice Cooper and the rock theatre evolved with faked violence on stage. Shock Rock', Rock Theatre' and outlandish costumes combined to create inspiration for bands like Kiss, where lead singer Gene Simmons spat blood and fire during the act.

Shocking theatre gave way to Punk' and acts like Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols. Iggy would appear on stage half naked and smeared with blood (sometimes his own) and the Sex Pistols would openly abuse audiences and often fight with them. Many riots were caused and tours cancelled because of this. Scum Punk' tries to mix a hard living' philosophy with equally hard sounding punk music. Scum punks usually exhibit a general disregard for hygiene, morality, or respect for anything at all, including themselves.

During the 80's Shock Rock' took on a different guise. Video had made it possible to widen the audience but Michael Jackson's Thriller' was tame in comparison and more of a tribute to B-grade movies than Shock Rock. Madonna used sex as her theme during the 80's and managed to offend most Catholics with her use of the crucifix. Some of her stage shows were just short of the limit but pushed the envelope none-the-less. Kissing Britney Spears at the MTV awards show certainly made the headlines. Wasn't little Britney that cute girl on TV only last year?
Now days we have Marilyn Manson with shock costumes and anti-everything lyrics (mostly religion) and even punk rockers like GG Allin (who incidentally died in 1993) who go to the extreme of including excrement as a stage prop. Courtney Love, bless her cotton socks, often strips for the audience in between spitting on them!

So where will it all end? If indeed it ever will? The envelope is constantly being pushed and there is always someone who manages to go one step further. Whatever happens in future, I say, good for you Alice, Ozzy, Kiss and the like. Without you there would be no Rock' and without Shock' there would be no E-News!

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