The Life and Times of Michael Alig Told in Popular Culture: Party Monster and Disco Bloodbath Tell Part of the Story

In the late 1980s, Indiana native Michael Alig took the New York City club scene by storm. To that scene, he was a local celebrity, even if the bulk of the rest of the world had never heard of him. In 1996, he and Robert "Freeze" Riggs murdered fellow "Club Kid" Angel Melendez, ultimately resulting in the conviction and imprisonment of both Alig and Riggs. Though this event increased Alig's name recognition outside of New York City, the bulk of his popular notoriety can be tied to two films with the same name: Party Monster. The first Party Monster, released in 1998, was a "shockumentary," which followed Alig's life story, rise to fame, and ultimate downfall. The second Party Monster, released in 2003, was a movie dramatization of the events of Alig's life, starring Macauley Culkin as Michael Alig.

The shockumentary version of Party Monster is considerably more tame than the movie version. Yes, the rampant drug use which was a part of Alig's life and the New York City club kid lifestyle is prominently featured, but some of the extremes of the movie version are toned down to a large degree. The shockumentary seems to focus more on how out of control the entire scene was, and almost paints a sympathetic picture of Alig and his actions. Much of this is related to the fact that Alig's mother, Elke Alig, is interviewed throughout the shockumentary version. Naturally, Alig's mother is going to be sympathetic towards her son, even if he was responsible for the murder of Melendez.

The movie version of Party Monster does still emphasize the rampant drug use and the club kid lifestyle, but manages to both glamourize the participants out of control lifestyle, and yet vilify Michael Alig's actions more heavily than the shockumentary. This is in large part due to the fact that the movie version of "Party Monster" was largely based on Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland (1999), written by James St. James, Alig's one-time mentor in the world of the New York City club scene.

It seems likely that James St. James was not satisfied with the somewhat sympathetic treatment that the shockumentary gave Alig, and thus wrote his memoir to tell his side of the story. His side of the story then became the movie, and arguably more popular, version of Party Monster. Despite St. James's participation in the club scene and Alig's life, he was not involved in the murder of Melendez, and ostensibly wanted to make that crystal clear for those swept up in the sensationalism of a murder in "clubland."

The 1998 shockumentary, St. James's 1999 book, and the 2003 movie version of the life and actions of Michael Alig each tell a piece of the story of the New York City club scene and the murder of Angel Melendez. Interestingly enough, both Alig and St. James are currently working on books. Michael Alig is writing his autobiography, tentatively entitled Alig-ula, and James St. James is due to publish Freakshow in the summer of 2007. One would suspect that Alig's autobiography will add another layer to this story, admittedly from a slanted perspective, and it seems likely that St. James's new book will contribute to the whole pictures as well.