Marilyn Manson -Shock Theory (Marilyn Manson in general)

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Product:	Marilyn Manson in general
Date:	20/04/01 (360 review reads)
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Marilyn Manson, one of the controversial artists of all time, he is hated amongst a lot of people, where as other people look at him as a huge figure in the music industry, so is this man a genius, or is this man a poser who is turning the general public into sheep, this is something I am going to attempt to talk about now.

Any of you who have read my opinions will know that I rated Marilyn Manson’s album, Mechanical Animals very highly indeed, and I still believe it is an inspired piece of art, that does not mean however that I agree with the way he goes about doing things, and some of the things he has done at gigs, I would like to make this clear from the out set that although I like his music, this does not necessarily mean I like him.



Thought 1

Is music the reason for the decline of civilization, or is civilization the reason for the decline of our music, I hope this made sense to somebody out there, but please try and follow as I run the argument through.

A lot of people have blamed acts like Marilyn Manson and Eminem for bringing civilization down, for corrupting the minds of our children, and for poisoning society, but lets try and look at this from a different angle. Marilyn Manson has been created by the world, and as an artist he is releasing music, some of which is not loved by the general public, in fact quite a lot of it.

But I doubt that he is just singing about random things that he thinks will get a reaction, and I think that most people if they sat down and thought about this would come to the same conclusion, Marilyn Manson is singing about things that mean something to him, and he is attempting to express himself, it is civilization that has given him these thoughts, as I doubt he just makes them up, he may make a point out of them, exaggerate them if you like, but I doubt if he is making them up.

How many people do you know that will listen to music that makes no sense (apart
from dance music fans, obviously), how many people are going to sit down and listen to an album that talks complete rubbish about the world, if people could look out at the world and think; “What a load of balls” then they probably wouldn’t keep on listening to the album that much. It is really only because people can associate with what is being said that this type of music ever becomes an issue.

It is a fair point to say that he doesn’t help matter, and he builds up these types of feelings, but surely the main point about this whole thing is that those types of feelings were there in the first place, he just has the guts to sing about them.



Back to the review
All Review must have a discography, it’s just one of those things, so here we go.
Portrait of An American Family 1994
Smells like Children 1995
Anarchist Superstar 1996
Mechanical Animals 1998
Last Tour on Earth 1999
Gift Set 1999


The Real Story And History
Marilyn Manson; came into the world as Brian Warner, lived for the early part of his life in Canton, Ohio, he lived in a normal family, his parents didn’t break up or anything (I realise that this is a strange thing to mention, however, it is one of those things that can sometimes have a huge effect on a child)

At the age of 18, Warner moved to Florida, working as a music critic in the Tampa Bay area. It was probably though this profession that in 1989 made him bump into a guitarist who, in his post-Manson days, went by the name of Scott Mitchell (real name Scott Putesky). The two became friend and soon realised that they shared some similar ideas about the South Florida music scene. Marilyn Manson convinced Mitchell to change his name to Daisy Berkowitz (a combo of Daisy Duke and Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz), thereby setting the stage for the names of the new band members over the years. When bassist Gid
get Gein and keyboardist Madonna Wayne-Gacy joined up, they suddenly had a real band, and they were - Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids. They soon found themselves complete with paying gigs, their own cassettes, and some home-grown special effects (everything from Manson's makeup to Lite-Brite toys reading "Kill God" and "Anal Fun"). They soon replaced their drum machine with Sara Lee Lucas (later replaced by Ginger Fish) this was the change that gave them much more of a hardcore than an industrial sound — and in 1992, they were nominated by fans for both Best Hard Alternative Band and Band of the Year in South Florida's ‘Slammie’ Awards.
The band decided to round their name to a much more easily remembered ‘Marilyn Manson’ and during that summer of 1993, the band received five more ‘Slammie nominations and won the prestigious honour of ‘Band of the Year’. More importantly, Trent Reznor dished them up a recording contract with his Nothing Records label, and the chance to open for Nine Inch Nails in the spring of 1994. Manson accepted both offers, and the troop laid down its first full-length album, Portrait of an American Family, which was released in July 1994.

It was over the next year that Manson got the fame that he was so craving; opening for Nine Inch nails really helped the band to receive the publicity they needed. It was also over this time span that Manson became a reverend for the Church of Satan. All these things helped to make the band bigger, each thing gave the fans more and more reason to rebel by supporting them.
Back in Florida after the tour, Manson quickly wound up in jail on a charge of "violation of the Adult Entertainment Code" following a nudity-filled gig in Jacksonville. As soon as Manson was sprung, the band went on tour again, this time as headliners.

In South Carolina they ran into the greatest controversy of the bands young
career: the infamous chicken incident. APPARANTLY, the band decided to toss a chicken from the stage and into the vicious wilds of the mosh pit during its show. But instead of being shredded by belligerent fans, the bird was eventually rescued by a Marilyn Manson-PETA fan. Still, the chicken's ultimate fate did nothing to dispel rumours of Manson offering sacrifices to Satan.

It was also at this time that the murmur that Manson had removed several of his own ribs in order to perform fellatio on himself. I would like to point out at this time that this is mostly rumour, nobody can really be sure how much of all of this is truthful, things do tend to get distorted from different sources and events, I am merely telling you what COULD be true.
The EP Smells Like Children was released in October 1995, and Marilyn Manson's cover of the Eurythmics classic "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" grabbed airplay, MTV, and media attention. Suddenly, it became cool to dig Marilyn Manson. Upon its return to Florida, Berkowitz quit the band, and although he's credited in the liner notes, some insiders claim he doesn't actually appear on Marilyn Manson's 1996 LP, Antichrist Superstar. He would later sue Manson, claiming to be owed substantial sums in unpaid royalties. To replace Berkowitz, the band placed an ad in the Village Voice to find a new guitar player, and after sifting through 150 responses, it finally settled on a Chicagoan dubbed Zim Zum. Antichrist Superstar, which was released in October 1996, debuted at the No. 3 spot on Billboard's charts and garnered general critical acclaim. The songs were lyrically deeper and far more intense than the band's earlier carnival-style efforts; it was a far more "serious" effort than the Mansons had yet produced.
By early 1997, Marilyn Manson was at the top of its rather peculiar genre. Shortly after the release of Antichrist Superstar, you couldn't spit without hittin
g a new fan wearing a Manson T-shirt or a mainstream magazine carrying Manson interviews. If you owned a radio during this period of time, the single "The Beautiful People" was unavoidable. Curiously, though, given the tremendous fuss over Antichrist Superstar, the album sold a relatively modest 1.4 million copies by mid-1998, according to SoundScan sales figures.

Regardless, the band would go on to have its most successful year ever in 1997, both in terms of popularity and headlines generated. The tour in support of Antichrist Superstar was met with protests in many American cities, some of which successfully forced venue changes and even cancellations. Religious outlets like the 700 Club took up the cause, as did one U.S. Senator — all the while, Manson was laughing his way to superstardom. The anti-Manson campaign crested in June with a well-publicized battle to force the band from an Ozzfest tour stop at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. The group eventually won and played the gig, though the Ozzfest tour wound up as something of a sidestep for Manson and his mates, who had grown too popular to share a festival bill.

The high (or depending on your perspective, low) point of Manson's triumphant year was a September 1997 appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards, at which the dark master himself addressed the crowd from a mock presidential podium before launching into "The Beautiful People" and exposing the better part of his naked buttocks to millions of viewers the world over. The group capped the year by releasing a five-song EP, Remix & Repent, in November. Manson also solidified his relationship with the Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan (who would help to shape the direction of the band's next album) by joining him onstage at the annual Bridge School benefit concert in Mountain View, Calif., in October, and again at a Pumpkins gig in Florida in December.
For the first half of 1998, Marilyn Manson maint
ained a low profile while recording what would become the band's third full-length album. With the completion of the record, however, the Manson lineup suffered another casualty — Zim Zum departed for a solo career and was replaced by former Two guitarist John "John 5" Lowery. The first hint of a new musical direction for the group surfaced in August in the form of a reverent cover of David Bowie's "Golden Years," featured on the Dead Man on Campus soundtrack. (The album also contained "I Only Want to Be With You," a humorous duet between Twiggy Ramirez and '60s supermodel Twiggy.) Six weeks later, Manson's third album, Mechanical Animals, hit stores (though many chains refused to carry it due to its provocative cover art), which saw the band wholeheartedly embracing glam rock styles. Manson fans bought 220,000 copies of Animals in its first week on the shelves, enough to send the album to No. 1 charts.
Immediately after the release, Manson and Co. kept a relatively low profile. That changed in late November, when the band had a bit too much pre-show fun at the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., stop of its just-launched Rock is Dead tour. The fire department had to be called to the Poughkeepsie Civic Center, after a dressing room rampage culminated in a burning T-shirt setting the carpets on fire. Not having done enough harm, the crew headed over to a local Sheraton hotel, where the New York Post reported that $25,000 in damage was done. (The tour was eventually captured on the live disc The Last Tour on Earth, released in November 1999.)

Not everything in the life of a rock star revolves around parties and vandalism, though. On Feb. 16, on Howard Stern's radio show, actress Rose McGowan announced that she and Marilyn Manson were officially engaged and even flashed an antique diamond ring for the shock jock to see.
While it seemed that no controversy could ever affect the public behavior of Manson, in Apr
il, just shy of completing the final five shows of the tour in support of Mechanical Animals, two students attacked Columbine High School, killing 13 and wounding 28 before taking their own lives. Manson immediately cancelled the rest of the band's tour "out of respect for those lost in the tragedy." In a statement, the singer said, "People are trying to sort out what happened and deal with their losses. … The media has unfairly used the music industry as a scapegoat and so-called Goth kids and speculated — with no basis in truth — that artists like myself are in some way to blame. This tragedy was a product of ignorance, hatred, and an access to guns."
Manson stayed mostly quiet throughout the rest of 1998, perhaps only in preparation for much noisemaking in the New Year. In January of 1999, it was announced that Marilyn Manson would be joining Courtney Love and Hole on the Beautiful Monsters tour. The event brought together two bands that didn't have much in common musically, but did unite two public icons famous as much for their statements in the media as for their music. Adding two volatile personalities and egos together on a long tour is risky business, and sure enough, it didn't quite work. After just 10 dates, and with more than 30 dates remaining, the tour collapsed when Marilyn Manson took a spill for atop an amplifier, injuring his ankle. Courtney Love immediately pulled the plug on the remaining dates amid rumors of sniping between the opposing singers.

In the summer of 2000, with rapper Eminem all over the radio and media, Manson took the opportunity to express admiration for an artist steeped as much, perhaps more, controversy as the rocker. At his official Web site (www.marilynmanson.net), Manson praised Eminem and his songs in playing a critical role in the fight for free speech: "I think he's not afraid to tell anyone and everyone to 'fuck off,' and I like and respect
him for it." Eminem returned the favour by name-checking him in a song, "The Way I Am": "When a dude's getting bullied and shoots up his school/ They blame it on Marilyn."

With an aesthetic contrived to shock and scare the majority of the public, it made sense for Marilyn Manson to join forces with the minds behind Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 — a film that was contrived to shock and scare the majority of the public. While the film was a flop, it did give Manson fans a peek at what the band had in the works for its Mechanical Animals follow-up. The Book of Shadows soundtrack was released on Manson's brand-new Posthuman record label and contained his group's cover of "Suicide Is Painless," otherwise known as the theme song to the hit TV show M*A*S*H, as well as tracks by like-minded artists such as Rob Zombie and System of a Down.

The month of November finally saw the release of Marilyn Manson's long-awaited album Holy Wood (In the Valley of the Shadow of Death), an epic number clocking in at 19 songs. Boasting that this was his White Album and saying that the CD was inspired in part by the Columbine tragedy, Manson saw Holy Wood bow at No. 13 on the Billboard album chart on the same week that The Beatles hit No. 1 with their hits compilation 1. Holy Wood met with lukewarm reviews and a lack of interest despite the band being in the middle of its "Guns, God, and Government" tour at the time of its release.

Perhaps to stir up interest in his record or perhaps just to provoke the establishment, Manson, a resident of Florida, took time in November to give his opinion of the disputed presidential election that hinged on the electoral votes of the singer's home state. While hardly a George W. Bush supporter, Manson got a kick out of thinking of life in America under a Republican president. "I think that art of all sorts, whether it's music or comedy or literatu
re, or even journalism — everything flourishes under conservative rule, because it gives people something to rail against."

Manson found an interesting target to rail against later that month, as he met in New York's Times Square one afternoon with record mogul and rap impresario Puff Daddy. Apparently the interaction wasn't at all friendly. Manson was waiting outside of MTV headquarters, before an appearance on Totally Request Live, when Combs emerged from the offices of his record label. "Puffy saw Manson and became all badass," a witness told the New York Daily News. "He and his posse walked over to Manson's car in a very aggressive way." Representatives for both artists quickly assured the media that there was no bad blood between the two performers.
Continuing his confrontations with his fellow artist, Manson chose techno-whiz Moby as his next target, deriding the DJ as a "TV-commercial soundtracker." The latest high-profile spat began with an article run in the New York Post about Marilyn Manson's Nov. 25 concert at the Roseland Ballroom, in which drummer Ginger Fish broke his collarbone in the show's destructive finale. The Post quoted Moby as saying that violence isn't necessary at rock shows, to which Manson replied in a statement, "On my stage, that kind of violence is completely necessary — it's just unfortunate that Moby wasn't injured." It turned out, however, that Manson was retorting to a quote that was actually four years old, something Moby had said after seeing a 1996 Manson concert where Ginger Fish was knocked out by a flying mic stand.

The dawn of 2001 brought both good news and bad news on the Manson front. The good news was that the shock rockers nabbed a Best Metal Performance Grammy nomination for "Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes" (from The Last Tour on Earth). The bad news, however, was that after three years toge
ther and a two-year engagement, Manson and Rose McGowan officially split up. "There is great love, but our lifestyle difference is, unfortunately, even greater," said McGowan in a statement issued by a representative, though she didn't specify which aspect of the notorious singer's habits were most at odds with her own.

So that is his life so far, no doubt I will have to edit it as time goes by, this man will no doubt keep shocking us right the way through till he retires, I have left out the recent feud with Limp Bizkit, but I might come back and try and add that in later, I just figured you all have enough information to read with this.
I appreciate anyone who has taken time to actually read this.
Mr.T

(Thank you to all the anti MM sites and pro MM sites that have enabled me to do this review)

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