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Biography

Manson Biowork
The Rise of the Dead

Marilyn Manson

The following is a consice biography written by me about Marilyn Manson from the beginning, to present

When the Boy Was Still a Worm:Marilyn Manson's Early Years

Marilyn Manson is not just one individual, but the embodiement of five distinctly talented musicians. The band's front man, affectionately known as, "Reverend Marilyn," or, "Mr. Manson," is however the mastermind behind the musical genius of which the band has become. Marilyn's childhood is somewhat shrouded in mystery, yet there are some facts that managed to be let known. First of all, Marilyn's real name is Brian Warner. He was born in
Canton, Ohio on January 5, 1969, and later moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In his adolescence he experienced many traumatic events that contributed to his demeanor today. In his words these incidents made him, "the strongest weed." For instance, he was sexually abused by his next door neighbor, forced to attend a catholic christian private school, got beat up almost every day for being the, "metal-kid," and lived in the tough opression of a religious family and community. Marilyn was definately not a happy child as he attempted suicide several times and couldn't cope with the way his life was turning. He found solice in music. A big fan of 80's mainstreamers like, "Kiss," "David Bowie," and "The Eurythmics." This, along with other influences like,"Black Sabbath," helped meld his musical structure. He revelled in deep, dark sounds that metal bands would provide, and the synthetic, electronic sounds that the new wave was bringing. Marilyn now found his calling. He would dedicate himself to creating introspective music that would deal with his uncontrollable emotions. In 1989 he got a concept for a band and set out to recruit members. He found the members he needed through mutual friends and came upon three open-minded, creative individuals. The real names of these people are not all formally known, however, this is when the trademark, "beautiful woman," meets ,"serial killer," pseudonyms surfaced. The original band entitled,"Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids," had a line-up of performers named, "Daisy Berkowitz(guitar)," "Olivia Newton Bundy(bass)," and "Madonna Wayne Gacy(keyboards) who was briefly preceeded by "Zsa Zsa Speck." Marilyn took upon his pseudonym for the fact that he felt the two dispositions of Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson describe his personality very well, furthermore, they were the two most recognizable faces while he was growing up. This diametric paradox seemed like a perfect description Manson and his band. No drummer was found, therefore, a drum machine accompanied the initial performances until they obtained a real person that they named, "Sara Lee Lucas." The minutely known,"Olivia Newton Bundy," was also, shortly thereafter, replaced by another bassist called, "Gidget Gein." With this, Marilyn had successfuly formed the first piece of his dream.

The Spooky Kids:The Beginning

In 1990, Marilyn Manson, and his spooky kids, made a name for themselves in their community. Usually garnering attention in the media for their infamous musical and theatrical assaults on clubs in and around the Fort Lauderdale area. Their live sets contained instruments on fire, backdrops of papier-mache cyclops, bloodied Ronald McDonald dolls, shredded bibles and Ouija boards. Also making appearances in the Marilyn concerts were caged monkeys, chickens and crucified nude women. With all of the theatrics aside the music was exceptional enough to stand on it's own. However, the creative and diverse style of the live band served to elivate them into stardom, atleast in there home town. The sound of Marilyn Manson was taking on a decidedly industrial edge. They mixed digital loops, samples and synthesizers with an eclectic natural sound that can be forked off into metal, pop, or just about any other variety of rock. This is what distinguishes Marilyn Manson as being one of the most revolutionary and experimental artists today. Marilyn and his industrial-ghoul troop were busying themselves clubing throughout Florida. This is when Marilyn Manson first encountered Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor saw one

of their shows and was so impressed that he wanted to do a concert with them. Apparently the two groups hit it off really well, and this would soon become the break that Mr. Manson was waiting for. However, he didn't know it at the time because NIN was also trying to make their mark in the music industry as well. In 1991 Manson released their first demo tape entitled, "After School Special." The tape was handed-out sparcely and contained only four songs. It was a precursor to the upcoming demo tape, released in the same year, called,"Lunchbox." Which also had four songs. These tapes are no longer available as they were only sold at shows or local record stores. To promote the live shows Mr. Manson made posters and flyers himself, depicting ghoulish and dark artistry. He was so fond of his works that he kept them and pasted them on the walls of his room. In 1992 Marilyn Manson released another demo called, "Family Jams." which contained six songs. Their most ambitious demo tape to date, however, was to be their last one. It was made in 1993 called, "Refrigerator." It comprised of eight songs and was recorded much more professionally than the last three of their demos. With the release of this tape, the band felt compelled to take a new turn in the direction the band was heading. They wanted to be more serious and thus shortened the name, "Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids," to just, "Marilyn Manson."

Portrait of a Rising Star:Major Label Debut

Now came the time that Marilyn Manson could finally reap the benefits of their close relationship with Trent Reznor. Reznor obtained his own music label and proceeded to make Marilyn Manson the first to be signed to his, "Nothing Records," company. Trent was very impressed by the latest Marilyn demo incarnation and scheduled a full studio recording for their major label debut. At this time the band had allready won the approval of their hometown, winning the South-Florida based Slammie Award for, "Band of the Year." And the song, "Dope Hat," was nominated for, "Song of the Year," as well. All was not pleasent, however. The band fired their long-time bassist, Gidget Gein, over a reported heroin addiction. He was replaced by Twiggy Ramirez shortly thereafter and the presence of Twiggy filled the air at the impending Manson shows. His cakes of make up, wigs, and odd behaviour quickly made him a fan favorite. Now the band was heading upward at a hectic pace. In 1994 the recording for their first album, "Portrait of an American Family, " was released and the band proceeded to open for Nine Inch Nails on their club tour. Before this, however, the band put forth their first single, "Get Your Gunn," and an accompanying video in support of the new album which was released a month later. MTV played this video sparcely (most noteably on Beavis and Butthead) and garnered the band some attention. From Marilyn Manson earned themselves a spot on the Jon Stewart Show. During the first of two songs, "Lunchbox," Manson torched the set carpet, causing the frightened Ginger Fish to fall off of his stool. "Dope Hat," was the second song performed on the show. Now came the big tour. Opening for Nine Inch Nails on their highly proclaimed, "Self Destruct" tour. It was an interesting journey to say the least. In between the usually theatrical shows was a spectical put on for the fans at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. During the NIN set, Reznor invited Mr. Manson onstage, who was holding The Book of Mormon. Manson proceeded to tear pages out of the hypocritical black book as Reznor read a letter from the Mormon protesters who earlier offered Manson $10,000 to not attend the show. This earned Marilyn a ban from performing in Salt Lake City. As it outraged the local concervatives but further gained attention for , "Reverend Marilyn." The score was: Marilyn=1, Crazy Christians=0. And this rise was to continue as Marilyn further infuriated the Christian community, much to the pleasure of his growing fans. To close off this incidentful tour, the band was handcuffed by NIN as a prank and left deserted. After kicking off a mini-headlining tour at the Club 5 in Jacksonville, Florida, Manson was arrested on the set after being charged with public nudity. He was released on $1500 bail sixteen hours later. The second single in support for their album was called, "Lunchbox." This became one of the better selling singles of the year as it quickly rose up the charts reaching number 5 on Billboards' Alternative Music chart. Another video was also done for the song, "Dope Hat," and it remains as one of their best, yet was deemed unsuitable for air on most Music video stations. In March of 1995, at the end of one of their shows, Manson set fire drummer Lucas's drum kit. An ifuriated Lucas quit the band for good after the incident. It didn't take long before they found a more than competent drummer to fill the void. A studio technician replaced Lucas and performs under the name, "Ginger Fish."

Sweet Dreams:Diary of a Dope Fiend

On October 24, 1995 the bands first EP was released called, "Smells Like Children." It is a maniacle masterpiece that chronicles the strange time the band was going through. All of the songs were either remixes from the previous album, cover songs, or short-clip instrumentals. Also appearing on the EP was a few non-instrument

sound clips. In support of this creation the band put forth a superb video for the devilishly sweet remake of, "The Eurythmics," song, "Sweet Dreams." This afforded the band the recognition that they always deserved. Now Marilyn Manson was achieving what he always wanted. The accolades and attention made him a, "Rock and Roll star." A "Sweet Dreams" import CD single was also released in Australia that year. This was now the stage that Marilyn wanted to unleash his greatest album yet. The band highly publised the recording of their sophmore effort entitled, "Antichrist Superstar." October 8, 1996 was the day that the Antichrist would surface and rule rock music, and create an, "Armegeddon of the mind."

Apocalyptic Dreams:Antichrist Superstar

Previous to the release of, "Antichrist Superstar," was the first single from the album entitled, "The Beautiful People." The astounding video was shot by Toronto director, Floria Sigisimundi and is perhaps even better than all of their other videos. The song quickly rode up the charts and on the day of the release of the album, music stores everywhere were flooded by Manson family devotees that wanted a piece of their Antichrist's creation. The ablum itself so unbelievably good, that's it's hard to define. The gang went through a grewling tortureous session in Trent

Reznor's New Orleans studio that included acts of sleep deprivation, rituals, and succuming to various torture devices. The end result is a decidedly perfect record. Quite amazing really. It trandsends all of the boundaries and yet offers the realism of society to keep everything in perspective. It is a very experimental record that is much more industrial influenced. From Madonna Wayne Gacy's seething synth lines and accompanying computer sequence and programmiming, to harsh and melodic guitar and bass riffs. It truly is Marilyn Manson's baby. He was quoted as saying, "with this album(antichrist superstar)i hope to accomplish my fans to get in touch more with themselves and start believing in themselves. It may take them further from god, but will bring them closer to themselves, and that is a good thing." And he also stated, "Antichrist Superstar is not just about one man, it's the collective disbelief in christianity and the continuation and progression of the myth that has become anti-Christian. This album might bring upon the apocolypse. Maybe not an Armegeddon of the traditional sence, but an apocolypse of the mind. Where Christianities biggest fear might come true. That the Apocolypse may occur, but not in the sence that they percieve it." "I feel i have to take things to such an extreme that the world is forced to be born-again and appreachiate the magic of taboo." For all of the people that dump on Marilyn Manson, they truly don't understand this man and the message he preaches. The wise Marilyn Manson will, "be forever."