Crust punk. Rave twink. Middle-aged Substacker. I have more identities to answer for in my life than Bob Dylan does. Yet around Y2K I was mostly pretending to be an adult—that stage you do right after your teen years that also allows space for the next generation to be stupid. That means I missed out on the worlds of nü metal and its hip-hop cousin, Eminem.
In 2001 in the UK there were concerts one month apart by Eminem and a pre-allegations Marilyn Manson that collectively shook that nation’s parents and commentators. Photographer Neil Massey was there.
This isn’t about exported rock stars though. Massey knew the fans were as interesting, if not more so, than the artists and instinctively captured the crowd as well. Collected decades later in a photo zine, the images are a mirror for the viewer to see yourself in, no matter when or how you punched your troubled teen card.
