Backing down after a judge explained to them the clear meaning of the First Amendment, managers of the New Jersey Meadowlands, a major concert venue outside of New York City, abandoned this week their attempt to prevent Marilyn Manson from performing there next month, as part of an Ozzy Osbourne "Ozzfest" package.

Manson has become a political punching bag for showboating local officials across the country this year. The Meadowlands bunch, all employed by the state, made the usual objections about crowd control, which has never been a problem at Manson shows, and the proverbial "community standards of decency," a notion rarely invoked within hailing distance of Manhattan. Overruled in court, they had no choice but to let tickets for the "Ozzfest" date, with Manson onboard, go on sale this weekend.

This victory was clouded only by the death last weekend of a member of Manson's lighting crew, 30-year-old Sean McGrann, who apparently fell to his death while setting up for

a show at The Armory in Washington, D.C. McGrann was said to have been drinking with friends before the accident occurred.