This is the first version of the very first LeShirt I created back in the Fall of 1996. There was an initial run of 50 or so shirts and after seeing them I wasn't too pleased. Everything seemed right except the front which I thought appeared incorrect. I felt the best way to represent this new theme of Antichrist Superstar was to use the Shock Symbol. This was only obvious, yet the way it appeared on the front, it looked as though the bolt was pointing straight down rather than a little to left. When it was corrected on the subsequent version 1.2, I think it was tilted to far to the left. What can I say? I'm a perfectionist!

Another thing that occurred after I got this initial batch of 50 or so shirts was that some of the shows listed on the back had either changed or had been canceled. So I decided to re-do this shirt by correcting tour dates from the first leg of the US tour and adding six more dates from overseas.

Soon after I received a copy of ACS (before it was released, mind you), I immediately fell in love with "Kinderfeld." The repeated "this is what you should fear, YOU are what you should fear" struck a nerve in me that still gets my adrenaline pumping when I hear it today. Upon hearing it over and over then finally isolating that one phrase, it became apparent to me that this one phrase, in my opinion, perfectly summed up the overall message behind Antichrist Superstar. To me, it was the meaning behind the Shock Symbol and symbolic of everything Marilyn Manson stood for (at that time anyway). I've seen ACS dissected, disemboweled and described in so many ways, some eloquent and some not so eloquent. People will continue to draw their own conclusions regarding ACS and the "Man" in many words or very few words, yet the slogan I chose to represent my first LeShirt for the masses defined ACS and Manson succinctly, "this is what you should fear, you are what you should fear." Looking back, this one phrase seems almost foreboding as well as foretelling of the tour and the path that lay ahead for Marilyn Manson.

The dates on the back were the first confirmed for the first leg of the tour. One other difference between this shirt and version 1.2 was that the print was done in white whereas I had the printer use an off-white tone for version 1.2. But this is only distinguishable by placing both versions side by side.

Since this was my first shirt ever, there were no long sleeves produced until version 1.2. The production run on this shirt was roughly 52 total.

The photos of the shirt pictured here are a little off kilter due to angle in which the shirt was photographed. Naturally, as with all my shirts, all the lines are perfectly horizontal. One other interesting note about this shirt was my email to Regina who owned a shirt from the nothing records showcase at Irving Plaza where Marilyn Manson performed some of the new material for the first time. I wanted to include this date for that reason since I consider it the first show of this "dead to the world" period. My email to Regina was to get the exact title of the nothing showcase. Thanks, Regina!

As with all my LeShirts, this shirt also included the Spooky Kids Bat logo I designed in white on the right sleeve and all the shirts were black.

For more information regarding this LeShirt or any others, please email me.

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