NIN’s New Touring Bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen A Scientologist?
Wow, the slimy tentacle-like reach of Scientology managed to ensnare yet another creative type, bassist Justin Meldal Johnsen. Here’s his Scientology course records.
I was checking over at Enturbulation.org when I discovered this thread.
Now, as anyone who knows me well (all three of you) I am a HUGE NIN’s fan, and have been a fan since Pretty Hate Machine was released back in ‘89. Trent Reznor is one of my idols, and here’s a link to the bio Eric and I did on him for our Encyclopedia of Record Producers book. I am also keenly aware of the fact the Church of Scientology is run by sinister individuals who maintain a cult-like control over the organization and mistreat members and critics alike.
I am hereby swearing to the world at large, if Trent Reznor gets sucked into Scientology by this Justin fellow, who is probably a swell, but mislead, guy — the gloves will be off.
Trent is one of my heroes, and if it’s not bad enough I’ve had to write of Beck, Will Smith and even Tom Cruise due to their affiliations with Scientology, I just don’t know what I will do. By the way, not so coincidentally, Justin used to be in Beck’s band as well.
Here’s a strange fact for you. Trent Reznor was living in the Sharon Tate/Roman Polanski house while writing his fabulous album Downward Spiral. This is the same house Sharon Tate, her unborn child and her friends were murdered in by the Manson family. Charles Manson became a Scientologist while in prison. While he was rejected by the group for being “psychotic” he was deeply fascinated and influenced by their mind-control techniques, which he then applied to his “Manson Family” who as you know, became murderers under his control.
Weird, but true. STAY THE F AWAY FROM THE KOOL-AID TRENT.
Pink Stripe WordPress Theme Designed by Joni Mueller &
I’m a big fan of Reznor too. I just can’t see him falling for $cientology’s load of crap. I wish all of these “celebrities” would take some time away from the fabulous “Celebrity Centre” and go see how the kids stuck in the Sea Org are forced to live. Slave labor, coerced abortions, sec-checks, separation from their parents, etc etc. These people should be ashamed that through the hundreds of thousands of dollars they give to this phony “church” they are supporting child abuse. I guess they’re just too busy being pampered to see how the non-wealthy $cientologists live.
And the first review for Will Smith’s movie “Hancock” is in. It seems signing up with $cientology may be about as good for his career as it was for Tommy Cruise:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372561,00.html
Comment by Rachel — June 27, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
Isn’t Trent friends with Maynard James Keenan? I know they worked together on that Tapeworm project that apparently finished an album but abandoned it.
Aaaanyway, Maynard happens to be a very big anti-Scientology guy. Back in the early 90s he mixed in anti-Sci/LRH lyrics into his earlier albums. I hope Maynard can counterbalance any bad influence this Justin character may have.
Comment by chris — June 27, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
*Offers Trent some Anon OJ*
Comment by Anon — June 27, 2008 @ 2:04 pm
Chris, good call on the LRH references by tool.
The line that comes to mind is in the title track from Ænema, “f*** L Ron Hubbard and f*** all his clones.”
Oh Maynard, no one says it quite like you.
Comment by Christy — June 27, 2008 @ 6:33 pm
I believe there was more. Back when Undertow just came out there was an insert (not sure what you’d call it) that came with it talking all shit about Scientology. This was limited production but I definitely remember it. Maynard needs to write a song about them. That would be fantastic.
Comment by chris — June 27, 2008 @ 10:15 pm
Wow. Just found this gem, and had to post it!
“Danny Carey explained that song ‘Eulogy’ is in fact not about Jesus Christ; the song is talking about Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The audience is often misled by the last couple of lines, when Tool is telling the deceased to ‘get off the cross’.”
Comment by chris — June 27, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
Amen!! I have this weird thought: Trent Reznor isn’t easily manipulated.
OK if you have even heard the name Trent Reznor than you probably know he isn’t easily shaken.
I think he will be safe. God I hope so.
Comment by re.vizor — June 28, 2008 @ 12:59 am
Dawn, kudos for your assumption that Justin is swell but misled. He was born into Scientology. It would be great if he had, at some point, woken up and gotten the hell out, but there are many good people like him who haven’t. I think it speaks to the heavy brainwashing involved in being raised a Scientologist. (And then there’s also the heavy family/community ties these people have, which make it harder for them to escape even when they want to.)
I doubt Justin will drag Trent into the cult. Maybe we should be hoping that Trent will get him OUT!
Comment by Beth — June 28, 2008 @ 1:05 am
[...] Justin Meldal-Johnsen A Scientologist? Posted by Temple of Xenu under celebrity NIN’s New Touring Bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen A Scientologist? Wow, the slimy tentacle-like reach of Scientology managed to ensnare yet another creative type, [...]
Pingback by NIN’s New Touring Bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen A Scientologist? « Temple of Xenu — June 28, 2008 @ 5:57 am
If anything Trent will be the one to bring down the cult. In Trent We Trust
Comment by Reznor — June 29, 2008 @ 8:07 am
Hey Dawn,
This is just for you, a clip from the Australian tv show John Safran’s Music Jamboree. It’s from 2002 (before Beck came out as a clam) and hilariously speculates on his involvement. Justin Meldal-Johnsen gets a lengthy name-check.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC4tNPezMu0
Enjoy!
Comment by Guero — June 29, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
!WoW! I’ve worked with disturbed and troubled individuals, and I have to say I see a lot of their scary and dangerous thought-patterns and mental sets echoed in both the blogger’s original column and the unreasoned comments beneath it.
My usual rule is, “If someone is that bent out of shape against something or someone, it’s only a matter of time before he/she convinces him/herself that violence is permissible and justified against the object of hatred.”
This is not the kind of passive-aggressive, and outright aggressive, society that I went to school to live in.
Peace out.
Comment by Clinically experienced — June 30, 2008 @ 4:23 am
I hear your rumor but where are your specifics. Where are your facts.
Thank God, and the Internet, that in America you can cast doubt, make slurs against good people and create havoc without having a shred of proof. Well done!
I’m a Scientologist and I have the facts. I have been helped by L. Ron Hubbard’s technology and I have helped others with it. I have seen the benefits personally. You sir are mistaken or worse.
Keep spreading those lies!
Comment by JB Potter — June 30, 2008 @ 8:31 am
It’s possible that he got suckered in to the Scientology crime syndicate through the syndicate’s quack medical “NarCONon” frauds.
Comment by Fredric L. Rice — June 30, 2008 @ 10:52 am
Where to start? Such unadulterated bigotry and hate is symptomatic of an unproductive, envious existence. How is it your affair what religion someone else practices? Why is this an issue in your life? Are you religious or atheist?
I’ve always found that the busier and more productive I get in my own life the less time I have to keep tabs or be concerned with others. There is actually I believe a proportional law regarding this, i.e. the more one is worried about others the less one is handling ones own life.
Hate is never the answer. Such hate has lead to genocide and discrimination. Hate to the extreme is psychotic.
I’ve been a Scientologist for 30+ years. I have no urge to defend it to bigots. I’m also African American and I won’t be making my case at a Klan rally either.
Bigotry prevents data assimilation and reduces sanity. That fact is on clear display here.
Roger
Comment by Roger Harrison — June 30, 2008 @ 11:22 am
Keeping the faith is sometimes difficult, especially when you are not sure of its truths. As a Scientologist for over three decades I still keep the faith because my life and the life of others around me have benefited from my practice of the principles. Possibly those who attack Scientology have not experienced its workability as I have and has it confused with some other practice.
Pat
Comment by Pat Daugherty — June 30, 2008 @ 12:34 pm
I was shocked to read this article. I really expected some attempt at fair journalism, but as I went through it was clear that this was a one-sided rant, rather than a relay of facts.
I grew up in Scientology and raised my children with it. I am routinely told that my 14 year old daughter is mature beyond her years and one of the best behaved teenagers people have met. She is respectful, happy and competent, without the teenage drama that has become so common these days. Oh, that drama had begun to show up in her life – with discomforts from peer pressure and so on. But after taking a few courses at the Church, she was able to understand life better and that put her in the driver’s seat. She has been calm and happily productive ever since.
It’s sad to see a bigoted article like this one posted, because that could dissuade someone else from helping their child in the same way that I was fortunate to be able to help mine.
Comment by Ava — June 30, 2008 @ 2:33 pm
Greetings $cientology Sockpuppets!
BTW, Elron was a sociopath…
Comment by ThetanXV1923 — June 30, 2008 @ 4:32 pm
Yeah, “bigotry”…
Sad that you guys, who champion “freedom of thought”. can’t handle criticism, reasoned enquiry and valid concerns. Don’t you think it’s strange that all active Scientologists parrot the exact same opinions on psychiatry, critics, and so on? Ask yourself, does that sound like “freedom of mind” to you? No room, no tolerance for dissenting opinion.
I don’t doubt that you might have found a sense community and belonging through Scientology, but the fact that you aren’t allowed to have dissenting opinions to Church doctrine on certain issues MUST give you pause for thought.
Comment by Guero — June 30, 2008 @ 8:17 pm
Both Justin Meldal Johnson and Beck were born into Scientology. Justin is the son of the late Trevor Meldal-Johnson,who wrote “Mask” (TV Series) and the romantic novel “Always” which was made into a film called “De Ja Vu.” Trevor Meldal-Johnson also wrote “The Truth About Scientology” in 1980 a PR type book which was later removed from the Scientology required books. He had been a Scientologist since the 1960’s until his death in 2003.
Comment by jojoanon — July 1, 2008 @ 1:46 am
to all scientologists who respond here:
you really sound foolish. Your “church” and it’s founder, LRH, has been caught in so many documented lies. It truly is seen as the most unethical organization on earth at this point.
we have access to all the proof, so do you, but you decide to not look. You choose not to look at it because someone else told you it was lies. Can’t you make up your own mind anymore by looking at hard evidence? You’re probably afraid of what you might see – the truth.
That’s your fault, not ours.
That’s why we think you are CRAZY!
Get in your car, drive to the courts and look up legal docs, or go to the medical examiners office and look at LRH’s death certificate and report, or go to the RPF and really look at those people. Why aren’t you helping them?
Or, at least feed the fucking poor like a normal church would!
sad, really
Comment by tuffyt — July 1, 2008 @ 10:17 am
Hey Ava
I feel sorry for you and your child.
Seriously
Comment by tuffyt — July 1, 2008 @ 10:19 am
I remember when I was into punk rock and some of the kids were getting into the white supremist punk music. I remember this one kid in the middle of all of them, singing along with them, partying with them.
He was an idiot because HE WAS BLACK.
Reminds me of Roger the Scientologist. Are you sure you know who you are following?
Comment by tuffyt — July 1, 2008 @ 10:24 am
It is good to see a lot of artists in Scientology.
I am a Scientologist and I like what I have studied in Scientology.
All this Anons, etc with their natter and f. words etc just show what they really are…
Comment by Frank G — July 2, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
what they really are, Frank G, is INFORMED
save yourself before you aren’t you anymore
Comment by tuffyt — July 2, 2008 @ 2:34 pm
For all you Scientologists who cry “bigotry” when someone writes a critical article, you might want to hear (yes, HEAR) what your venerable LRH had to say about Christianity: http://file.sunshinepress.org:54445/scientology-hubbard-class-viii-xenu-tape.mp3
Doesn’t say much for Scientology’s alleged “religious tolerance”, if you ask me.
Comment by Guero — July 2, 2008 @ 9:29 pm
Frank G,
Your blanket statements about how great Scientology is reaks of a LEAF-like campaign. Most of your comments don’t seem to address anything in particular other than “Hay, Scienblologee is gwait, guize!”. It’s almost as if you didn’t read anything but decided to randomly post a cheerleader comment to improve some kind of statist–oh, wait. Happy Staturday!!
Comment by Anon, Anon, My Boyfriend's Back! — July 3, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
I laugh my ass off at all the Scientologist posters..
Its funny how they claim they are out saving the world, but have time to post everywhere. Any message board on the planet with negative talk regarding Scientology gets visited by these sock puppets calling everyone bigots. I bet these losers get paid by how many times they can type bigot in a day.
LMFAO… Join the Cult of scientology where 50 % of us troll message boards all day long and call people bigots. Saving the world one bigot at a time.
All you Scientologist… anything better to do with your life beside protect its image from the public day in and day out? Do you think your posts help or hurt your cause? Do you think we can all see right thru your crys of bigotry?
Comment by A N O N — July 7, 2008 @ 2:45 pm
I agree both with the author’s take on this situation and with some of the commenters who say TR is far too smart to fall for LRH’s B$.
But! This [JMJ], combined with the fact that he was/still may be dating a woman who is linked to $ci. as well (as in: her name comes up in the database as having taken courses, but we can’t find definitive proof of her current status), and one begins to become a bit concerned.
As a rule, I mostly try to ignore the private lives of artists I admire. But NIN/TR has played such an enormous role in my life over the past two decades; and because I admire TR so greatly for how he’s grown and how he is revolutionizing the so-called music industry, I would be crushed to see someone with his talent and potential become sucked into this horrific cult (and, as such, be forced to excise something that’s become such a part of me.)
I was fortunate enough to attend the new (freaking awesome, totally amazing) show a couple of weeks ago. I sincerely hope that it was not my last.
Comment by anon NIN fan since '89 — August 10, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
Comment #29 above is a good one — yeah, I think it says it all.
Comment by Karalynne — August 11, 2008 @ 9:05 am
Just went to a NIN concert. It was a great show. At the end as each performer took a bow, I heard several boos in the audience when it was Justin’s turn.
Interesting.
Why is it that scilons have a tendency to post in groups? Does it have something to do with emails (recently leaked) that are sent out to $cientologists instructing them to not read the harmful “entheta” (critical info about the cult) in an article, but to make comments or write letters defending $cientology anyway? This is probably why their comments rarely relate to the actual topic of the article.
And yes, they do seem to follow a formula: an attack on critics (often personal and/or vulgar), accusations of bigotry, and an informercial-style testimonial of how great being in their cult is for them.
I am appalled to see that so many $cientologists feel that their own happiness justifies the suffering their cult has caused so many others. Okay fine, so it helped YOU, but at what cost? Who is suffering for your happiness?
Showing concern for people who may be in danger of being scammed or worse, is the furthest thing from bigotry. Only $cientologist would see people’s concerns for their cult’s victims as bigotry.
But this is hardly surprising since their philosophy is all about greed, power and control. They don’t care about the poor and unfortunate, they list “Sympathy” as being low on the “tone scale,” and “Pity” ranks lower than “Apathy.”
From their own site:
http://www.scientologyhandbook.org/FULL.HTM
Comment by liz — August 20, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
It’s actually simple. The Anons don’t create anything, but look like total fools on the street. They look like fools because — suprise! — they are FOOLS.
The cops have your number. They know you are criminals. People who see the Anons on the street protect their kids from the wierdos in masks. The Anons radiate hatred and insanity and LOSERness.
And meanwhile, the artists who are the coolest ones, who are far smarter and cooler than any Anon retard will EVER be, read the tech, make their own judgement (which is how they got famous, stupid), and go on creating and get even more successful.
The Anon’s masters are all FAILED Scientologists who were kicked out for being criminals and losers. The proof that they are criminal losers is that they are now working for the criminal psych drug companies, and still failing at that, too.
The “evidence” you scream about is beside the point, actually, as it’s warmed lies over from decades ago.
The real evidence is out in he open for all to see: the more the Anons spew their lies, the more people come in to Scientology, if only to say, “Who are those freaks out there?” Keep up the good work, Anon, drive ‘em in.
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers volunteer hundreds of thousands of hours and tons of their personal money helping out in disaster areas. They are there by request of the Red Cross and other agencies which HELP people. Any Anon would be bounced as a troublemaker the second they showed up. Hatred and help don’t mix, and you guys have really made the hatred visible to all, and it will haunt you at the pathetic end of your miserable lives.
By the way, don’t those rubber masks get all sticky inside when you guys go to work in all the soup kitchens YOU set up?
Comment by Avenger — December 13, 2008 @ 1:32 am