LOS ANGELES—“It was all there, all the time,” adult-director-turned-shock rocker Matt “The Lord” Zane says of rock and roll/porno excess, in the beginning of his new music documentary Everyone Dies—Rockstars Don’t Count, which debuted today on Amazon Prime Video.
By combining the worlds of adult entertainment, performance art, and industrial metal, Zane and Society 1 pulled off performances that shocked the likes of Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Dave Navarro, Fred Durst—and American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson.
“Initially, we signed an exclusive contract with a primarily exclusive music website, a streaming service called Thunder Flix. It's like a Netflix of music. It only deals with only music,” Zane told AVN of the movie’s premiere.
“So, that was where we originally got it picked up. Then, it went to number one on that platform. And then when that exclusivity was done, then we had it pitched out to all the major platforms like Netflix and Hulu and Prime. And out of all of them, Prime was the one that picked it up,” he said.
The movie documents the band’s 2023 tour, with flashbacks to Zane’s earlier exploits in the adult industry, including titles like Zane Productions’ Backstage Sluts. Interviews with Zane and the other members of Society 1 tell the story of the band’s journey from the heights of '90s hedonism to the era following the sea change of the #MeToo movement.
Zane acknowledged that his in-your-face style of public sex, body modification and boundary-pushing live performances could not be duplicated in today’s social climate.
“I was never a pop star. I was very on the outer edges of the most extreme type of shock rock performer,” he said.
“Like, you can watch the movie and you can see these massive orgies and, you know, pussy-eating contests and just this complete and utter debauchery, cocaine, drugs, and the whole bit. The reason why I'm not worried about it is because everything, not only did I show it—I didn't have an issue with showing it because it was all consensual and all these people that you actually see in the film at one point signed a release form,” he added.
“I mean, the last tour wasn't anything like the old days. We talk about it in the movie. It covers all of that,” Zane continued. “It talks about what we came up against, and the issues, and what was done to us and how people were incredibly worried. So, I just think that what we did was something that is a time capsule now, within the movie, that can be experienced. But, you know, as far as where society is now, I don't think it could happen.”
And what about inaugural American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson? She fell under Zane’s influence when they were cast together in a never-aired reality show titled In the Studio. In the documentary, Clarkson appears in an outtake with Zane, when they are inexplicably toilet-papering someone’s house.
“I think HBO may have wanted it at the time, but the producer wanted it to go to MTV and it was too racy for MTV,” he said. “Then, it was a big issue because when it circulated and leaked out—Kelly Clarkson at the time was like freshly out of American Idol and she's hanging out with this ex-pornographer suspension guy in the same show. It went south fast and they really tried to bury it.”
Everyone Dies—Rockstars Don’t Count is available now at Amazon Prime Video.
