Marilyn Manson is an American alternative metal band based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Advocates of nonconformity, and often utilising controversial imagery and lyrical content, the band is commonly described as shock rock. It is difficult to categorise the band, as it displays influences from many genres of hard rock, including industrial, heavy metal, glam rock and gothic rock. Each album thus far has had a distinct and individual sound, and the band and frontman endeavor to devise and use a unique image and aesthetic for each album's era. The band was formed in 1989 as "Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids". The band's uniquely theatrical performances gathered a local cult following that subsequently developed into a worldwide fanbase. The band's lineup almost always changes between album releases. The current members of the band are the eponymous lead singer Marilyn Manson, bassist Twiggy Ramirez, drummer Ginger Fish, keyboardist Chris Vrenna and guitarist Rob Holliday.
Marilyn Manson's reputation has likewise grown, with the band now considered one of modern music's most widely-known and most controversial; this has been due, in large part, to eponymous lead singer Marilyn Manson — born Brian Warner — and his frequent clashes with religious and political figures. The name of each band member was originally created by combining the first name of an iconic female sex symbol and the last name of an iconic mass murderer or serial killer. In recent years, new members of the band have strayed away from this formula and used their own names. The members of the band dress in outlandish makeup and costumes, and have engaged in intentionally shocking behavior both onstage and off. Their lyrics often receive criticism for their anti-religious sentiment and their references to sex, violence and drugs. Marilyn Manson's music and performances have frequently been called offensive and obscene, and, more than a few times, protests and petitions have led to the group being banned from performing.
As this controversy began to wane, so did the band's mainstream popularity. Despite this, its many devoted fans have made Marilyn Manson a consistently high-profile group: three of the band's albums have been awarded platinum certification and three more have been awarded gold, and the band has seen four of its releases debut in the top ten, including two number-one albums. In June 2003, Jon Wiederhorn of MTV.com referred to Marilyn Manson as "the only true artist today".Band history
The Spooky Kids and the early years (1989–1992)
In 1989, Brian Warner was a college student working toward a journalism degree, and gaining experience in the field by writing music articles for a South Florida lifestyle magazine, 25th Parallel. It was in this capacity that he was able to meet several of the musicians to whom his own band would later be compared, including My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. He met Scott Putesky shortly afterward and, after showing him some lyrics and poems he had written, proposed that they form a band together. Warner, guitarist Putesky, and bassist Brian Tutunick recorded their first demo tape as Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids in 1990, taking on the stage names of Marilyn Manson, Daisy Berkowitz and Olivia Newton Bundy, respectively. They were soon joined by Stephen Bier, who called himself Madonna Wayne Gacy; Bundy was replaced by Gidget Gein, born Brad Stewart. In 1991, drummer Fred Streithorst joined the band, with the stage name Sara Lee Lucas.
The stage names used by each member were representative of a concept the band considered central: the dichotomy of good and evil, and the existence of both, together, in every whole. "Marilyn Monroe had a dark side", explained Manson in his autobiography, "just as Charles Manson has a good, intelligent side". Images of both Monroe and Manson, as well as of others equally famous and notorious, were common in the band's early promotional materials.
The Spooky Kids' popularity in the area grew quickly, largely because of radio DJ Scott David of WYNX-FM, an early fan who eagerly played songs from the band's demo tapes on the air; and because of the band's highly visual concerts, which drew from performance art and used many shock techniques. It was not uncommon to see onstage "naked women nailed to a cross, a child in a cage, or bloody animal body parts"; Manson, Berkowitz, and Gein variously performed in women's clothing or bizarre costumes; and, for lack of a professional pyrotechnician, they would occasionally set their own stage props on fire. The band would dramatically contrast these grotesque theatrics with elements drawn from the culture of the members' youth in the 1970s and 1980s: characters from that era's children's television made regular, often somewhat altered, appearances on Marilyn Manson flyers and newsletters, and were frequently sampled in the music. They continued to perform and release cassettes — shortening their name to Marilyn Manson in 1992 — until the summer of 1993, when the band drew the attention of Trent Reznor, who at the time had just founded his own record label, Nothing Records.
Portrait of an American Family and Smells Like Children (1993–1995)
Reznor offered Marilyn Manson a contract with his new label and the opportunity to support Nine Inch Nails on their upcoming headlining tour. The band accepted both offers, and recording sessions for its national debut, Portrait of an American Family, began in July 1993. Working with producer Roli Mosimann at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, the band recorded a selection of new songs along with material from their Spooky Kids repertoire and, by the end of Autumn 1993, had completed the first version of their debut, titled The Manson Family Album. It was not, however, well-received. The abrasive sonic "rawness" that Mosimann's production had brought to such groups as Swans had failed to materialize on The Manson Family Album; Reznor and all the bands found it flat and lifeless, and poorly representative of Marilyn Manson's dynamic performances. "I thought, 'This really sucks', Manson explained, "so I played it for Trent, and he thought it sucked". At the same time, the band was having difficulties with bassist Gidget Gein, who had begun to lose control of his addiction to heroin.
In October 1993, Reznor agreed to rework the production on Marilyn Manson's album, taking them and their tapes to The Record Plant in Los Angeles. Gein, who had been hospitalized after an overdose, was not invited. After seven weeks of mixing, remixing, and rerecording, the album — now titled Portrait of an American Family — was ready to be presented to Interscope Records. Even as the first single "Get Your Gunn" was beginning to receive radio airplay, Gein received a letter declaring his services "no longer needed" by Marilyn Manson after he overdosed on heroin for the fourth time; he was replaced by Twiggy Ramirez, then known as Jeordie White, of Miami thrash band Amboog-a-Lard. In December 1993, Ramirez first performed as the band's new bass player on a week's worth of headline dates through Florida with then girlfriend Jessicka's band Jack Off Jill opening. Half way through the tour, Manson and singer Jessicka spent a night in jail when they were arrested after a concert in Jacksonville, Florida, after being accused by the town's Christian Coalition for breaking the town's adult entertainment codes. Both singers were charged with misdemeanors. On the first date of a fourteen-week national tour opening for Nine Inch Nails, Ramirez made his national touring debut. It was during this tour that Manson had occasion to meet with Church of Satan founder Dr. Anton LaVey. After a cordial meeting, LaVey honored Manson with the title of "Reverend" — meaning, in the Church of Satan, a person who is revered by the church, and not necessarily one who dedicates his life to preaching the religion to others, as with a priest or minister.
In March 1995, the band began its first national headlining tour, a two-month outing with Monster Voodoo Machine as support; this would be drummer Sara Lee Lucas's last tour with the band. Tension between Lucas and Manson had apparently grown as the tour wore on and, on the next-to-last night of the tour, Manson secretly decided to end the show with a flourish: during a performance of the then-current single, "Lunchbox", he doused Lucas's drum kit in lighter fluid and set it ablaze — with Lucas still attempting to play on behind it. (Manson apparently forgot that the band had one more date to play.) Lucas quit the band after the final gig the next night. Less than two weeks later his replacement, Ginger Fish, joined the group, Marilyn Manson was touring again, this time on a bill with Danzig and Korn. That tour ended in summer 1995, after which the band relocated to the new home of Nothing Studios in New Orleans, Louisiana to begin work on the third single from Portrait of an American Family, "Dope Hat". Accompanied by a music video which featured Manson in the role of Willy Wonka in a shock-horror version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the proposed single for "Dope Hat" eventually developed into an hour-long Remix album, Smells like Children. The album's fifteen tracks of covers, remixes, and bizarre sonic experiments also included the band's version of the Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams (are made of this)", which would prove to be Marilyn Manson's first legitimate hit: the video was placed in heavy rotation on MTV (in stark contrast with the "Dope Hat" video, which MTV had banished to late-night airplay only a few months before) and the mainstream music press was suddenly clamoring to cover the group. A five-month headlining tour followed, from September through February, during which the band began to debut new material like "Irresponsible Hate Anthem", "Minute of Decay", and "Smells like Children". Rumors of a new album circulated widely during this time, and were confirmed when the band returned to Nothing's New Orleans studio in early 1996 to perform what Manson termed "a musical ritual designed to bring about the Apocalypse".
Antichrist Superstar (1996–1997)
Marilyn Manson's second full-length studio album, Antichrist Superstar, was released on October 8, 1996. It was recorded at Nothing Studios with Trent Reznor himself acting as executive producer; the process of making the album was reportedly a long and difficult one, highlighted by experiments allegedly involving sleep deprivation and near-constant drug use in an effort to create an environment suited to the album's moody and occasionally violent content. During this time, antagonism between band members was high, which caused the departure of guitarist and founding member Daisy Berkowitz. With Berkowitz out of the band, Twiggy Ramirez performed lead guitar for much of the recording of Antichrist Superstar, and the group placed an ad seeking a new guitarist for its upcoming tour; Timothy Linton, of Chicago band Life Sex and Death (LSD), auditioned for and was given the position. Breaking with the six-year tradition of icon / killer naming structures, the newest member was dubbed Zim Zum – a name derived from Kabbalah, one of the major sources of inspiration for the album.
The album's first single, "The Beautiful People", made a fairly major impact on the alternative rock charts, and created enough anticipation for Antichrist Superstar that the album debuted at number three on the album charts. The year-and-a-half long Dead to the World Tour in support of the album followed; it was the band's longest and widest yet, and included Marilyn Manson's live debut in Alaska, Hawaii, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, South America, Asia and Australia as their fame spread to all corners of the world. In the United States, however, the band was receiving more attention than ever before, and not all of it was positive.
As the tour was getting underway, the band found itself the target of congressional hearings, led by Senator Joseph Lieberman, to determine the effects, if any, of violent lyrics on young listeners. Lieberman would later go on to refer to Marilyn Manson as "perhaps the sickest group ever promoted by a mainstream record company". In addition, nearly every performance on the tour was picketed by religious organizations, pleading with fans to not see the musician who once said "I think every time people listen to this new album maybe God will be destroyed in their brainwashed minds. . .".
On November 10, 1997, the band released a remix/live EP, Remix & Repent, featuring new versions of Antichrist Superstar's four singles, "The Beautiful People", "Tourniquet", "Antichrist Superstar", and "Man that You Fear", alongside songs recorded live on the U.S. leg of the Dead to the World Tour. Two unreleased songs from the Antichrist Superstar recording sessions were contributed to film soundtracks: "Apple of Sodom" to David Lynch's Lost Highway, and "The Suck for Your Solution" to the Howard Stern biopic Private Parts. As the year ended, Manson made the announcement of the upcoming publication of his first book, the autobiographical Long Hard Road out of Hell; the book was released in February 1998, along with another live document of the world tour, a home video entitled Dead to the World. The release of the follow-up to Antichrist Superstar was, according to the band, also imminent, accompanied by early rumors of the involvement of Billy Corgan and The Dust Brothers with the as-yet-untitled album.
Mechanical Animals (1998–1999)
On September 15, 1998, Marilyn Manson released Mechanical Animals, an album strongly influenced by David Bowie. Interscope's promotion of the album was massive, including an enormous billboard of singer Manson as an androgynous extraterrestrial over Times Square, and repeated appearances on MTV and other networks to promote the album and the single "The Dope Show"; propelled by the success of Antichrist Superstar and by this press push, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. The band had recast itself in a new image for this album; setting aside the bleak gothic darkness of the previous record for a more concealed morbidity. Marilyn Manson was now a glam rock band, borrowing its visual presentation largely from Bowie, and from Roxy Music and its contemporaries. By this time, the band had permanently relocated to Los Angeles, and Zim Zum had been replaced by glam-influenced guitarist John Lowery, who joined the band as John 5. After a brief promotional tour, the band set out on the Rock Is Dead world tour with Hole and Monster Magnet as support. The tour, however, would be a problematic one: on March 1, 1999, the three bands played the first show in Spokane, Washington; by March 14, Hole had left the tour and Manson had broken his ankle, forcing postponements of some shows. Jack Off Jill and Nashville Pussy were asked to take select remaining opening slots on tour.
Less than three weeks after the tour resumed, two students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado killed thirteen people; early media reports declared them fans of "violent" music and video games. On April 28, out of respect for the victims, Marilyn Manson canceled the remaining dates of the Rock Is Dead tour, and would not reappear in Denver until the 2001 Ozzfest. Manson's song The Nobodies was directly inspired by the shootings.
Holy Wood (2000–2001)
The rest of 1999 and much of 2000 was a period of relative silence for Marilyn Manson. The band spent over a year quietly writing and recording in a studio in Death Valley, with only the single Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes — an outtake from Antichrist Superstar[11] — appearing during that time. On November 14, 2000, Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) was released. Returning to the darker, more visceral sound of Antichrist Superstar, much of the album's content was written in response to the Columbine massacre. Despite much critical acclaim, Holy Wood was Marilyn Manson's poorest selling album. Described by the band as the third part of a trilogy begun with Antichrist Superstar and continued in Mechanical Animals, its overarching theme is an exploration of the relationship between death and fame in American culture, and its lyrics and artwork contain many references to John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald, John Lennon and Mark David Chapman, and even Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. The Guns, God, and Government world tour expanded upon the exploration of America's fascination with violence, and with the tour's logo — a rifle and handguns arranged to resemble the Christian cross — Manson made no attempt to conceal what he saw as the source of that fascination.
On May 16, 2001, it was announced on the Marilyn Manson website that Manson planned to quote the Bible at his next concert, to "balance out" his violent lyrics, "so we can examine the virtues of wonderful Christian stories of disease, murder, adultery, suicide and child sacrifice. Now that seems like entertainment to me". On June 21, 2001, Manson did indeed read from the Bible onstage in Denver, Colorado, presenting such passages as Leviticus 20:9 ("For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death") and Psalm 137:9 ("Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones") as a means of comparing rock sensationalism with religious texts on a parallel platform.
The Golden Age of Grotesque (2003–2004)
With the "triptych" of the previous three albums now complete, Marilyn Manson was free to begin a fresh project. In 2002, Jonathan Davis of Korn invited Marilyn Manson into a studio to record vocals on a track he wrote entitled "Redeemer". The song, produced by both Jon and Richard Gibbs, was then released on the Queen Of The Damned soundtrack. After finding inspiration in the decadent Swing era of the 1920s, the band recorded The Golden Age of Grotesque that year and the album was released on May 13, 2003. Eschewing the lyrical depth and volume of symbolism and hidden meaning of Holy Wood, the new album was relatively straightforward; in an extended metaphor, Manson compares his own often-criticized music to the entartete Kunst banned by the Nazi regime. New member Tim Skold, replacing Twiggy Ramirez, added a new dimension to the band's sound; he brought with him from KMFDM that band's use of heavy industrial beats, for better or worse — The Golden Age of Grotesque was frequently impugned as derivative of KMFDM and lacking the originality that Marilyn Manson had become known for. The album still managed a number one debut on the album charts, selling over 118,000 copies in the US its first week of release.
Another world tour, the Grotesk Burlesk, followed, which furthered the album's Weimar Republic-inspired theme by adding elements of German Kabarett to the group's performances. Elaborate artwork by Gottfried Helnwein appeared in the band's stage dressing, and the members began appearing both on-stage and off- in designer suits and with fashion superstars.
Lest We Forget (2004–2005)
Lest We Forget: The Best of was released on September 28, 2004. It was referred to by the singer as his "farewell" album. It was supported by a series of "greatest hits" performances, the Against All Gods tour. After the release of the single "Personal Jesus", the band made a number of promotional appearances; at one of these, the Comet awards show in Germany, drummer Ginger Fish fell from his drum riser, fracturing his skull and wrist. Former Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna replaced him; since his recovery from the accident Fish had been recording and performing with a new band, Martyr Plot, before rejoining Marilyn Manson. John 5 had also been replaced; Mark Chaussee of Fight took over lead guitar on the Against All Gods tour, and was subsequently replaced in the studio by Tim Skold. Though John 5 denied any hostility towards Marilyn Manson following the announcement of his departure, at the band's appearance on the Rock am Ring music festival in 2003 an incident took place between John 5 and Marilyn Manson where Manson deliberately collided with the guitarist, as was part of the singer's stage interaction with him. John 5 however responded with anger, throwing off his guitar mid-song and raising his fists to Manson as if to fight with him, before resuming the song without any further incident. Lest We Forget was certified Gold in 2005.
It has been speculated that Manson's "farewell album" comment may be an indication that the membership of Marilyn Manson may no longer be permanent, and that the musicians who record the albums and play live may, in the future, rotate, as has been the case with Nine Inch Nails and KMFDM. Manson's 2007 album, "Eat Me, Drink Me", was recorded by the core Manson and Skold.
Eat Me, Drink Me (2007–2008)
Marilyn Manson's sixth studio album, Eat Me, Drink Me, was released on June 5, 2007, debuting at number 8 in the United States with more than 88,000 copies sold. Released more than four years after The Golden Age of Grotesque, Eat Me, Drink Me marked another change in musical styles that the band has become famous for. The sound was of a mix between his David Bowie styled Glam rock and a Bauhaus styled Goth rock. One remarkable note of the album is that it was written entirely by Manson and Skold in a rented home studio. The album is also the first major label Manson album without Madonna Wayne Gacy (Pogo) as a listed member, making lead singer Marilyn Manson the only original member since Portrait of an American Family. Chris Vrenna, who replaced Ginger Fish temporarily on the Against All Gods Tour on drums will be replacing Pogo on tour for the time being. Marilyn Manson co-headlined a tour with Slayer in order to promote the album with Bleeding Through as the opening act, as well as Deadly Apples on select dates. Rumors also circulated for some time that Marilyn Manson wrote the song "Mutilation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery" as an attack on the band My Chemical Romance, for his Eat Me, Drink Me release (which he later denied, saying that it was aimed at people in general seeking to imitate him). In another interview Manson stated that "I'm embarrassed to be me because these people are doing a really sad, pitiful, shallow version of what I've done". In response to this, Gerard Way, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance claimed nothing Manson could say would bring the band down.
On January 9, 2008 Marilyn Manson posted a bulletin on MySpace confirming that former bassist Twiggy Ramirez was rejoining the band, and Tim Skold had parted ways with the band. The duo have apparently started writing new material already. Future collaborations with Skold haven't been ruled out as of yet.
Seventh studio album (2008–present)
The seventh studio album by Marilyn Manson began recording sessions following the band's Rape of the World tour, which ended on March 2, 2008.
On November 29, 2007 at The Heirophant, it was reported that Marilyn Manson planned to begin writing songs for their seventh studio album in January or February (2008). Manson said "after my greatest hits album (Lest We Forget: The Best of) came out I took a long break from music because it was a period where I was not sure who I wanted to be. I left music for a while but that's not an error I want to repeat in the future," and mentioned Kerry King, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as likely contributors. On January 11, 2008 in the interview Everyone Will Suffer Now at MansonUSA, Manson said "I just feel like there is a big change happening now. It's going to be the one. Eat Me, Drink Me is opening the window and this is going to be the Hurricane Katrina."
Since Manson parted company with Skold and reunited with Ramirez, the two, along with Fish and Vrenna are working on the album in Los Angeles ahead of a planned December 2008 release following soon to be announced tour dates. Rob Holliday is also said to be working on the album, as Manson had recently confirmed him a permanent member. In a recent interview with Steppin' Out, Manson described the new album as, "very ruthless, very heavy, and very violent".
Controversy
In December 1996, a press conference was called by William J. Bennett, Senator Joseph Lieberman, and activist C. DeLores Tucker, aimed at MCA, the owner of Interscope Records. Calling several albums released by the label — including Antichrist Superstar — "profane," "violent," "filth," and "crap,"[23] the group questioned MCA president Edgar Bronfman, Jr.'s ability to head the label competently while profiting from such material. That November 6, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management and Restructuring held a public hearing on the effect of violent rock and rap lyrics on youths. Supporters of the band claim it was merely another salvo in Senator Lieberman's declared war on the band. The hearing, chaired by Representative Sam Brownback, featured the testimony of Lieberman and Tucker, and of Raymond Kuntz, of Burlington, North Dakota, who blamed his son's suicide on Antichrist Superstar, which Lieberman denounced as "vile, hateful, nihilistic and damaging."
In addition, the band's performances have come under fire — the Dead to the World Tour, in particular, was followed by protesters at nearly every North American venue it visited. The band's March 10, 1997 performance in Columbia, South Carolina was canceled "in response to growing public pressure by religious, civic and political leaders who criticized the group's image". The owner of Calgary's Max Bell Centre had Marilyn Manson's July 25 show canceled, citing "immorality" and the band's "use of animals on stage." Another concert in Portland was canceled a few days later due to Manson's reputation, and the venue's inability to get insurance for the show. Protesters outside a concert in Greensboro, North Carolina included state senator Mark McDaniel.
The New Jersey date of Ozzfest '97, to be held at Giants Stadium, was canceled by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, who cited Marilyn Manson's performance as its reason; the event was only held after Ozzy Osbourne himself successfully sued the state, which compelled the authorities to allow the concert. Legislation was introduced and passed in South Carolina and Utah allowing state-operated venues to ban groups like Marilyn Manson from performing and, in at least one instance, in Florida, local schools have gone so far as to threaten expulsion for students in attendance of Marilyn Manson concerts.
School shootings
Following the Columbine High School massacre, there were accusations that killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were influenced by Marilyn Manson's music. When later evidence was presented that neither Harris nor Klebold were fans of the band, many were led to criticize the media for using the band as a scapegoat instead of analyzing the underlying societal problems surrounding the incident.In the controversial documentary Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore interviewed Manson about the tragedy. When asked what he would say to the two if he had a chance to talk to them before the killings, Manson replied "I wouldn't say a single word to them; I would listen to what they have to say, and that's what no one did".[27] Eminem referenced the controversy in his song 'The Way I Am', which contains the line, "When a dude's gettin' bullied and shoots up his school/And they blame it on Marilyn, and the heroin/Where were the parents at?". Marilyn Manson made a cameo in the video for the song, and even contributed vocals to a guitar-heavy remix.
The controversy connecting Marilyn Manson and American school shootings continued on October 10th, 2007 when 14-year-old Asa Coon opened gunfire on his high school in Cleveland, Ohio. SuccessTech Academy went to lock-down status around 1:15pm, when Coon shot four people; including two students, and two teachers, before turning the gun on himself. Police reports, and student interviews claim that Coon was wearing a Marilyn Manson t-shirt during the rampage. On several occasions, Coon told students and teachers that he did not believe in, nor respect God; instead worshipped vocalist Marilyn Manson. Coon was known for violent behavior, and stood out among a predominately black student body for his appearance -- which included black boots, a black trench coat, black nail polish, and rock t-shirts.[28]
Musical style
Marilyn Manson has come to be known for altering both its image and its musical trappings frequently; the group's sound incorporating, at various stages, elements of spoken-word poetry, glam rock, and — more recently — vaudeville and burlesque. Lead singer Manson was fond of David Bowie, Black Sabbath and Kiss as a young music fan,[2] but every permanent member of the band has brought his own unique style and set of influences to the band's sonic palette. Attempting to blend the typical heavy metal sound of heavily distorted guitar and kick-drum-heavy percussion with industrial metal's emphasis on electronic musical instruments, and Gothic overtones, Marilyn Manson's alternative metal is also marked by tendencies toward unconventional recording techniques and musical experimentation[citation needed]. Furthermore, many of Marilyn Manson's songs include obvious homages to other artist's iconic songs.
Influences
Initially, after being introduced to Big Black by a fellow Miami clubgoer, who would become his keyboard player, Madonna Wayne Gacy, Manson had the desire to form a rock band that used a drum machine — an uncommon technique outside of dance music at the time.[2] The earliest incarnations of Marilyn Manson used this setup, and produced experimental, drum-heavy compositions similar to Steve Albini's work with Big Black; later, with the addition of a live drummer, the band's composing process, recording techniques, and live performances were by necessity altered. Guitarist Daisy Berkowitz and bassist Gidget Gein, who came from punk rock backgrounds, brought the musicianship and songwriting style of the Jim Carroll Band (whose "People Who Died" was an early favorite cover for Marilyn Manson) and the showmanship of The New York Dolls to the mixture. The result was something that Nothing Records would initially compare to Jane's Addiction,[29] but which, after the band spent some time at Nothing, would also gather sonic elements from other bands on that label's roster, like Nine Inch Nails and Prick.
Manson was also influenced by his mentor who raised his notoriety in the Industrial scene, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor. Reznor started Manson on his record label, Nothing Records, as well as allowing him a spot in his touring entourage.
Evidently, Manson is heavily influenced by the shock rock stylings of such artists as Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Kiss and some of Iggy Pop; however, late influences have come from the glam rock of David Bowie (who Manson claims is his biggest influence), whose chameleon-like ability to shift from one style to another, replete with a new look and musical philosophy, was a characteristic which would also be frequently ascribed to Marilyn Manson by the music press.[30] Such an influence is exemplified in the similarities between the music videos of Bowie's "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" and many of Manson's videos, such as "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)". (Florian Sigismondi has directed music videos for both Bowie (Little Wonder) and Manson (The Beautiful People and Tourniquet)) The hard rock background of John 5 amplified this aspect of the band's sound in live performance; Tim Skold, a former guitarist, bassist, and vocalist in Shotgun Messiah, later blended in that band's so-called "ultra-heavy beat" of industrial drums and guitars. Both Manson and Twiggy Ramirez have mentioned the influence of Queen on their more melodic work, particularly on Mechanical Animals and Eat Me, Drink Me in which Twiggy didn't work.
Composition and songwriting
All of the band's lyrics are written by Manson, whose songwriting style is characterized by a tendency toward misanthropy and attacks on organized religion, as well as by sharp and inventive wordplay. He frequently makes use of puns and double entendres in his writing — for instance, a song on the Holy Wood album, which references the shootings at Columbine High School, is titled "Target Audience"; the album also makes frequent allusions to assassination, and the song "The Fall of Adam" refers to "Abraham Lincoln Town Cars". These witticisms often take the form of neologisms, frequently delivered several at a time in rapid-fire fashion: the title song from Mechanical Animals includes the lines "We were neurophobic and perfect / the day that we lost our souls . . . You were my mechanical bride / my phenobarbidoll / A manniqueen of depression / with the face of a dead star".
Music is primarily composed by the other permanent band members, who at present are Twiggy Ramirez on studio & live bass and occasional studio guitars; and Ginger Fish, on live drums. Until their respective departures from the band, Daisy Berkowitz and Twiggy Ramirez were the chief contributors to the compositions, with one or both receiving "music by" credits on every Marilyn Manson album prior to The Golden Age of Grotesque with the exception of Portrait of an American Family, with Berkowitz sharing many songwriting credits with Gidget Gein. According to the albums' credits, every permanent member of the band has had input, at some point, in its songwriting process.
Marilyn Manson has also become extremely well-known for recording cover versions of songs by other artists; the band's two most successful singles have been a brooding punk-metal version of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", and a heavily synthesized "Tainted Love" (as popularized by Soft Cell, though originally performed by Gloria Jones). Notable covers the band has recorded have been by Depeche Mode ("Personal Jesus"), David Bowie ("Golden Years"), Gary Numan ("Down in the Park"), Patti Smith ("Rock N Roll Nigger") and numerous other artists.
Manson has also dabbled in "psychoacoustics", the effect of sound (audible and inaudible) on the mind. These experiments were put to use by Manson when he scored the film "Resident Evil". Of the soundtrack, Manson stated that he used a number of methods to create "tension" in the film, including the use of sounds that, while inaudible to the human ear, still register and affect the brain.
Band members
Most, if not all, members of the band have contributed performances (either live or in-studio) on instruments other than their primary ones. For instance, Gacy has played theremin and calliope, Manson has played pan flute, harpsichord, and guitar, and Berkowitz has been credited with bass guitar and drum machines. Further details on these contributions can be found in the individual members' articles, and in the articles on the band's albums.
Discography
- 1994: Portrait of an American Family
- 1996: Antichrist Superstar
- 1998: Mechanical Animals
- 2000: Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
- 2003: The Golden Age of Grotesque
- 2007: Eat Me, Drink Me
- 2008: TBA
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