Marilyn Manson (band)
Marilyn Manson is an American rock band formed by namesake lead singer Marilyn Manson and guitarist Daisy Berkowitz in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1989. Originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids, they gained a local cult following in South Florida in the early 1990s with their theatrical live performances. In 1993, they were the first act signed to Trent Reznor's Nothing Records label. Until 1996, the name of each member was created by combining the first name of a female sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe, and the last name of a male serial killer, Charles Manson. Their lineup has changed between many of their album releases; the eponymous lead singer is the only remaining original member.
In the past, band members dressed in outlandish makeup and costumes, and engaged in intentionally shocking behavior both onstage and off. Their lyrics often received criticism for their anti-religious sentiment and references to sex, violence and drugs, while their live performances were frequently called offensive and obscene. On several occasions, protests and petitions led to the group being blocked from performing, with at least three US states passing legislation banning the group from performing at state-owned venues. They released a number of platinum-selling albums, including Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals. These albums, along with their highly stylized music videos and worldwide touring, brought public recognition to Marilyn Manson. In 1999, news media, infamously, falsely blamed the band for influencing the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre.
As this controversy began to wane throughout the 2000s, so did the band's mainstream popularity. Despite this, Jon Wiederhorn of MTV, in June 2003, referred to Marilyn Manson as "the only true artist today". Marilyn Manson is widely regarded as being one of the most iconic and controversial figures in rock music, with the band and its lead singer influencing numerous other groups and musicians, both in metal-associated acts and also in wider popular culture. VH1 ranked Marilyn Manson as the seventy-eighth best rock band on their 100 Great Artists of Hard Rock. They were inducted into the Kerrang! Hall of Fame in 2000 and have been nominated for four Grammy Awards. In the U.S., the band has seen ten of its releases debut in the top ten, including two number-one albums. Marilyn Manson have sold in excess of 50 million records worldwide.
History
Formation and The Spooky Kids (1989–1992)
In 1989, Brian Warner was a college student working towards a degree in journalism at Broward College, gaining experience by writing music articles for the South Florida lifestyle magazine 25th Parallel. It was in this capacity that he met 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. That December, he met Scott Putesky, who proposed the two form a band, after reading some lyrics and poems written by Warner. 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. Bundy left the band soon after, and was replaced by Gidget Gein, born Brad Stewart. They were later joined on keyboard by Stephen Bier, who called himself Madonna Wayne Gacy. In 1991, drummer Fred Streithorst joined the band under the name Sara Lee Lucas.The stage names adopted 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." Over the next six years, all of the band's members would adopt names that combined the first name of a female sex symbol and the surname of a serial killer. Images of both Monroe and Manson, as well as of other famous and infamous figures, were common in the band's early promotional materials.
The Spooky Kids' popularity in the area grew quickly and because of the band's highly visual concerts, which drew from performance art and used many shock techniques such as "naked women nailed to a cross, a child in a cage, or bloody animal body parts." Band members variously performed in women's clothing or bizarre costumes; and, for lack of a professional pyrotechnician, would set their own stage props on fire. The band would contrast these theatrics with elements drawn from their youth: characters from 1970s and '80s children's television made regular, often grotesquely altered, appearances on band flyers and newsletters, and were frequently sampled in their music. They continued to perform and release cassettes – shortening their name to Marilyn Manson in 1992 – until the summer of 1993, when they drew the attention of Reznor, who had just founded his own label, Nothing Records.
''Portrait of an American Family'' and ''Smells Like Children'' (1993–1995)
Reznor offered the band a contract with the label, as well as an opening slot supporting Nine Inch Nails on their upcoming "Self Destruct Tour". After accepting both offers, recording sessions for their debut studio album began in July 1993 with Swans producer Roli Mosimann at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida. Recording a selection of new songs along with material from their Spooky Kids repertoire, the first version of their debut, titled The Manson Family Album, was completed by the end of the month. However, it was not well received. The band's members, along with Reznor, criticized Mosimann's production as being flat, lifeless and poorly representative of the band's live performances. At the same time, Gidget Gein had begun to lose control of his addiction to heroin. Before reworking the album, the band played two shows in Florida under the name Mrs. Scabtree. This band featured Manson on drums, Gacy on keyboard, Berkowitz on guitar, and Jessicka from Jack Off Jill sharing vocal duties with Jeordie White of Coral Springs thrash band Amboog-a-Lard. Four other local musicians, bassists Mark Dubin of Sister Venus and Patrick Joyce from The Itch, guitarist Miles Hie and violinist Mary Karlzen were also involved.Reznor agreed to rework production of The Manson Family Album in October 1993 at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles. Gein, who had been hospitalized after his fourth heroin overdose, was not invited to participate, and was fired from the band soon after, replaced by White, of Amboog-a-Lard, who undertook the alias Twiggy Ramirez. After seven weeks of mixing, re-recording and remixing, the album – now titled Portrait of an American Family – was presented to Nothing's parent label Interscope. The album was released on July 19, 1994, and peaked at number thirty-five on Billboards Top Heatseekers album chart. The band began its first national headlining tour in December 1994, with Jack Off Jill opening. During the band's stint as opening act on the Nine Inch Nails tour, Manson met Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. LaVey bestowed the title of "Reverend" on Manson– meaning a person who is revered by the church, and not necessarily one who dedicates their life to preaching the religion to others, as with a priest or minister. Manson would use this title in the liner notes of the band's following album, citing himself as "Reverend Marilyn Manson".
In March 1995, the band began a two-month tour, this time with Monster Voodoo Machine as support. This would be drummer Sara Lee Lucas's last tour with the band. Kenneth Wilson, better known by his stage name Ginger Fish, then joined the group before they embarked on a tour with rock band Danzig and metal band Korn. The band then relocated to the new home of Nothing Studios in New Orleans to begin work on remixes and b-sides for Portraits third single, "Dope Hat", releasing a music video inspired by the boat ride scene from the 1971 movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The proposed single eventually developed into Smells Like Children, which included the band's version of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams ", their first hit; the song's music video was placed in heavy rotation on MTV, in stark contrast with the "Dope Hat" video, which the same channel had banished to late-night airplay only a few months prior.
''Antichrist Superstar'' (1996–1997)
The band's second studio album, Antichrist Superstar, was released on October 8, 1996. It was recorded at Nothing Studios with Reznor, Manson, Sean Beavan and former Skinny Puppy member and longtime producer Dave Ogilvie sharing co-production duties; members of both Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails took part in its recording. The process of making the album was a long and difficult one, highlighted by experiments involving sleep deprivation and near-constant drug use, in an effort to create a violent and hostile environment suited to the album's content. During this time, antagonism between band members was high. Daisy Berkowitz, the band's founding guitarist, departed the band partway through the album's recording process, with Twiggy performing much of the album's guitar work. Timothy Linton responded to an advert seeking Berkowitz's replacement. He would form a close relationship with Madonna Wayne Gacy, who was responsible for the inclusion of one of the major sources of inspiration for the album: Kabbalah. Breaking with the six-year tradition of naming band members after female icons and serial killers, Zim Zum was chosen as Linton's stage name. It was derived from the Lurianic Kabbalah concept of Tzimtzum. "The Beautiful People" was released as the album's lead single. It created enough anticipation for Antichrist Superstar that the album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 132,000 copies. Manson also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, who awarded the band their 'Best New Artist' accolade in 1997. The year-long "Dead to the World Tour" followed, which was the band's longest and widest-ranging tour yet. In the US, 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 bipartisan congressional hearings, led by conservative violent entertainment watchdog group Empower America co-directors Republican Secretary of Education William Bennett and Democratic U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, to determine the effects, if any, of violent lyrics on young listeners. In addition, nearly every performance of the tour was picketed by religious organizations.In July 1997, Manson collaborated with British trip hop group Sneaker Pimps for the single "Long Hard Road Out of Hell" from the soundtrack to the 1997 film Spawn. The band released their second EP, Remix & Repent, on November 25, 1997. It featured new versions of Antichrist Superstar's four singles: "The Beautiful People", "Tourniquet", "Antichrist Superstar" and "Man That You Fear". In February 1998, Manson released his autobiography, The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, as well as a live video entitled Dead to the World. It was also confirmed that Antichrist Superstar would be the first installment in a concept album trilogy which the band called their triptych.