Marilyn Manson
Antichrist Superstar
While I am not a diehard fan of Marilyns I do admire him, not as a person, as a person I think he is quite simply a cunt, but he is a marketting genius. How many other people have managed to build up a reputation as big as his?? Not many, if any at all, he is hated around the world by religious organisations as well as complete non believers. He has been accused of self mutiliation, bestiallity and a number of other crimes. Rumours were created by both the people who hate him and his fans, most rumours proved untrue, although the self mutiliation is very true. All of these rumours have helped him to conquer the gothic music scene and build up his cult following.
Marilyn is hated for what his music represents, his music is simply his way of expressing the darker side of himself and venting his frustration at the world. Marilyn Manson AKA Brian Warner is not the twisted parody of a man people take him for but a highly intelligent man who has managed to work his way from a nothing to almost godly status in the eyes of some people. True he has done things that others would not agree with, setting his drummer on fire mid concert for example, but none of the protests have ever slowed down his ascent.
Starting life as "Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids" the band were only known by a few people, only people who were into gothic music at that time anyway. When Trent Reznor discovered Marilyn he never thought he would take off, Marilyn was never meant to be this big, he was supposed to appeal to a few small groups of people and no more. That could have been the biggest miscalculation of recent years, with the release of "Portrait Of An American Family" the band began to get big. The cover of Sweet Dreams originally by the Eurythmics was liked by both Manson fans and haters, there was no denying that they did have talent, despite what anyone said.
Things really went global with the release of "Antichrist Superstar", with such tracks as "The Beautiful People", "Tourniquet" and "Tied up, Dried up and Dead to the World" while they never got into the charts everyone suddenly knew who Marilyn Manson was. The album was supposed to be a reflection of the dark side of Brian Warner, expressing the evil from his past and the torment he had suffered, it was less "Antichrist" and more "Anti-everything" or "Anti-life". Certain lines from his songs prove that he is not racist or pregudiced towards people, "Theres no time to discriminate, Hate every mother fucker thats in your way" is the statement in "The Beautiful People". Still many claim that he is against the church, but all he did was name an album "Antichrist Superstar" he never claimed to be one himself, merely branded one. Also how can that be against the church when the Antichrist is not even mentioned in the bible, the Antichrist has been a relatively recent addition to the churches belief.
The latest album, "Mechanical Animals", is Marilyn expressing the human and empathic side of himself. Expressing his actual feelings, the album is not liked by all Manson fans as he has left his old image behind. But now different people are listening to his songs, and more people are admitting that they are a talented band. I dont know if Manson will be around forever, but it certainly seems like he will be with us for a few years yet, whether this is good or bad is your own opinion, but as long as he keeps turning out albums someone is going to buy them.
Artwork:
click to enlarge
Where the names come from: