Historical Figure
Marilyn Manson
b. 1969
American musician (born 1969)
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Biography
Brian Hugh Warner, known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the same-titled band he founded in 1989. The band members initially created their stage names by combining the first name of an American female sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe, and the last name of a male serial killer, Charles Manson.
Timeline
The story of Marilyn Manson, told in moments.
Born Brian Hugh Warner in Canton, Ohio. Raised in a strict Episcopal household. His grandfather kept a basement full of pornography and unusual objects. Brian discovered it as a child. He later said it shaped his worldview more than church did.
Releases Portrait of an American Family, the debut Marilyn Manson album. The name combines Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson. The band's gimmick is America's twin obsessions: glamour and violence. He's a music journalist from Florida playing a character. The character takes over.
Antichrist Superstar hits number three on the Billboard 200. He's banned from venues across America. Religious groups protest outside his concerts. He thrives on it. The more they protest, the more tickets he sells.
Falsely blamed for the Columbine shooting. The killers listened to his music, reporters say. He cancels tour dates. In a later interview, when asked what he'd say to the Columbine students, he answers: "I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say."
In Their Own Words (20)
To me, anything that is a church is really just far too close minded.
As quoted in Ultimate Guitar (2007)., 2007
If they think that an artist can destroy their faith, then their faith is rather fragile.
As quoted in BBC News (23 August 2005), 2005
Is adult entertainment killing our children? Or is killing our children entertaining adults?
As quoted in MarilynManson.com (2000)., 2000
Understand this, tell others: in my dream vultures chase me into my burning house. There, they pick out the brains of my family, dismember them, devour. I emerge from my home and I am burning, skin falling away like a snake as the structure crumbles into a black skeleton. I cannot fight off the vultures. A young man or woman emerges from the ashes. He/she doesn't save me, because he/she is holding my cracked and swollen heart in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. I can read it. It discusses and compares in great detail the differences between me and the vultures. He wraps my heart in the paper and tosses it to the ground. Can you see?
As quoted in MarilynManson.com (6 February 1999)., 1999
I think onstage it was more me trying to show people my pain, and offstage it was just feeling it, period.
On mutilating himself, as quoted in Rolling Stone (15 October 1998)., 1998
Artifacts (15)
Marilyn Manson: The Long Hard Road Out of Hell /Aus dem Leben eines Antichristen
Marilyn Manson erzählt in seiner Autobiografie offenherzig und schonungslos seine Metamorphose vom gottesfürchtigen Schuljungen zu einem der meistgefürchteten und umstrittensten Idole der Popwelt. Ein...
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