Adecade on from thedeath of the Judas Priest fans, another tragedy was blamed on metal by a media looking for an easy scapegoat. Following the murder of 12 students and a teacher in Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, politicians and the US media made sensationalist claims that the killers were influenced by Marilyn Manson and his group’s music that was said to glorify violence. Manson remained articulate in his measured responses to the accusations, including a piece in Rolling Stone, but his name is inexorably linked to these hysterical, misguided reactions.