Marilyn Manson - the Misfit, by Brantley Bardin.
Details, December, 1996
As a twenty-seven-year-old Satanic superfreak, do you feel you're snatching rock 'n' roll back from
God and returning it to the Devil?
MM: Yeah. Because I associate God with boring music like Hootie and the Blowfish, In the tradition of
Jerry Lee Lewis burning his piano and balling his thirteen-year-old cousin, we're what rock 'n' roll's supposed to be.
Apparently the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame agrees, since your band is featured there and
Hootie isn't. By the way, why didn't they put your discover-producer Trent Reznor's statue next to yours?
MM: Well, Trent's statue is standing in the doggie style position, and they were probably afraid that if they put it
too close to our display, he'd be sodomized when the lights went off.
I see. You were ordained the Reverend Marilyn Manson by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. Can you tell me a
little about the ceremony?
MM: I'm not allowed to. Or if I do I'll have to kill you afterward.
Then let's move on. When did you first meet Satan?
MM: As a teenager, I was very interested in selling my soul. But after reading books and investigating, I realized
I'd just be selling it to myself. I see the apocalypse and the destruction of Christianity as giving people back to
themselves so they can wake up and realize that they have the ability to be their own God and their own Devil and
accept responsibility for both halves. Which is all Satanism is.
It's pretty ironic that thoroughout your nascent satanic studies, you were also attending a private
Christian school. Did you ever sing in the school choir?
MM: Well, we had a music class which I hated. One time we got to bring our own music to sing and I brought
AC/DC's "Highway to Hell". I got kicked out of class.
Even as little Brian Warner of Canton, Ohio, you were caught in the devil's web?
MM: Yeah, I've always been attracted to the flawed characteristics of the antihero, Willy Wonka being a fine
example. I used to look do forward to watching it as a kid when it came around on Thanksgiving that I'd even go
to the store and buy candy for the event. It's the definitive Marilyn Manson movie.
What was it's charm for you?
MM: I saw a lot of Christian symbolism in it - with Willy Wonka standing in for Lucifer. And the story of Lucifer,
the fallen angel, is my favorite story of all. Maybe with the new record, Antichrist Superstar, I can show people
that that character isn't such a bad guy - it's just that history was written by winners. In the Bible's case, the winner
is God.
So Antichrist Superstar - I'm assuming it wasn't inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
MM: Since I was about sixteen I've had really intense dreams, and over the past four years they've gotten more
detailed, and that's where the songs on Superstar came from.
What were the dreams about?
MM: As a kid I was terrified of the apocalypse and the Antichrist, and in my dreams I'd always be trying to find
out who it was going to be. Then at one point I saw myself. That's when I knew I wanted to be like Nietzsche or
Aleistair Crowley - men who have, in their own way, drawn people closer to the apocalypse. So I hope that each
time Antichrist is played, it brings people one step closer to the end of the world - in their hearts on in their flesh.
And when they get to the end of the world, what will they arrive at?
MM: The beginning of a new one that's better.
That's kind of Christian, Marilyn.
MM: That's the paradox! (laughs) Sometimes I think the most shocking thing I could do would be to behave
politely and speak of Christian morality. Covering "Sweet Dreams" on our last record was me trying to be
shocking that way. But that song was a little piece of cheese on the rattrap, and a lot of people got their necks
snapped: They thought, Oh, I'm gonna but this innocuous "Sweet Dreams" EP, and they got stuck with Smells
Like Children and "Everlasting Cocksucker".
You do have a way with a song title - the new batch includes "Wormboy" and "Irresonsible Ahte
Anthem". Tell me, does Marilyn Manson ever crack you up?
MM: Yes, and sometimes I'm the only one entertained.
Do you acknowledge your debt to Alice Cooper?
MM: Absolutely. And to Iggy Pop and David Bowie.
I heard Alice doesn't really approve of you.
MM: Well, he's a born-again Christian now. What always disappointed me as a kid about him was his separation
from his stage role, as far as it being just a character. I've never wanted people to mistake that in me. I want it to
be a real as it can be.
Have you ever been to therapy?
MM: No. But I've been told by psychologists that I suffer from a condition called the delusion of self. It's when
you feel that everything is related and all circumstances have something to do with one another. Some people think
of it as a mental disorder, but I just think of it as a higher plane of awareness.
Your work reeks of kinky sex. What was your first exposure to the dirty deed?
MM: This sounds like such a crazy story that people don't believe it, but. . . my first introduction into sex was
when I was about thirteen; I'd spy on my grandfather, who used to hang down in the basement with his train set
running to mask his clandestine self-abuse. He had an extensive collection of deviant pornography down there -
and he'd also has a tracheotomy, so he didn't talk so much as bark - and at the height of my fascination with him I
broke into his house in the middle of the night, sneaked downstairs, and broke into this one locked drawer. I found
really disturbing things there, like wigs and women's panty hose and stuff. So I think Grandpa Jack was wearing
lingerie under his clothes. And he was a truck driver.
Sound like Jack was doing your act.
MM: I think I have a long-standing fantasy to be him, and for those around me to be the innocent that I used to
be.
So what's your favorite brand of panty hose?
MM: I like L'Eggs, but I wish they still came in the egg, because I had a fetish for those. You cracked 'em open,
and the brown panty hose coming out with that crotch panel was somehow very appealing to me. I love brown
pantyhose - I think they're both the most disgusting and sexually appealing item of lingerie a woman can wear.
We've now arrived at the "Are you gay, straight, of bi?" question.
MM: I would say I haven't decided yet. I mean, it's predominantly heterosexual, but--
But you still like to suck the occasional dick.
MM: I don't know if occassional is the right word - that makes it sound like it happened on a holiday. (laughs)
What fuels your exhibitionism?
MM: My shyness.
Who's the most important figure in the twentieth century?
MM: Me. What's a pick-up line that would work on you?
MM: It was in the form of a fan letter a girl wrote to me. She said, "I would rip out my eyes so you'd have two
more holes to screw me in."
Are you into collectibles?
MM: I have an extensive collection of prosthetic limbs that I love. so if anybody want e to send those, I'd be
grateful.
On that note, tell us a Marilyn Manson Christmas story.
MM: I've always been a fan of the Grinch, and one of my favorite Christmas pastimes used to be driving around
and stealing the black wise man and the white baby Jesus from everyone's lawns. I wanted not only to ruin
Christmas, of course, but I wanted to create some sort of political uproar. Unfortunately, it was just written off as
vandalism.
Marilyn, do you ever disgust yourself?
MM: A lot of times. And in many ways my desire is actually to be pure again and not dirtied by the world. But I
feel it's my duty to be as ugly and filthy as I am - to have that element of Jack in me - so the audience can
experience what I've experienced. It's cathartic.
Are we gonna hear about Satanic rituals now?
MM: When people ask me about Satanic rituals, they say, "Do you stand around in a burning pentagram and
have naked girls?" And I say, "Yeah, but that's not in a satanic ritual - that's lunch."
You show's been described as "T.Rex at Nuremberg." Do you consider it a ritual?
MM: I think anybody's ritual is what they're strongest at. And I think all artists are Satanists at heart.
But you even look like one. What's with all the make-up?
MM: I've always used cosmetics as a terrorist act: It's hard for me to accept any kind of role as a sex symbol
when I'm onstage, so I try to make myself more unattractive just to see what people's reactions will be. And I can't
look bad enough - they just keep eatin' it up. (chuckles)
Why do you lead your fans in that "I hate love/I love hate" chant?
MM: I'm just excited by the contradiction. Hate is just as healthy and worthwhile as love if you vent it correctly.
That whole "Love everyone including thine enemies" thing is a ridiculous idea. If you concentrate your love on the
things that really matter to you, it has so much more value. If you dispense it to just anyone, it's a waste. And the
same goes for hate.
So what do you hate?
MM: I hate when I go somewhere and people are smiling and laughing and having a good time. It makes me
depressed.
Okay, I'll try not to laugh around you.
MM: It's okay if you're laughing at my jokes.
Then tell me about your first kiss.
MM: It was a minister's daughter names Jill Tucker who had whitish blond hair and buckteeth. I liked her a lot,
but even in the third grade I saw that her being a minister's daughter would prove a problem for me.
As Satan's handmaiden, do you ever fear for your life?
MM: I'm sure there are a lot of people who think that they'd be doing the world a favor by killing off the
Antichrist, so yeah, I see it as a danger. But at the same time I often feel immortal - I've had this sense since I was
a kid that I've got something important to do. So I don't have time to die - I'm too busy.
Your notorious drug use must take up a lot of
time. Onstage, you say "Rehab is for Quitters".
Do you consider yourself an addict?
MM: Not at all. I'll try or do whatever interests me.
But whether it's ideas or chemicals, I refuse to be
bound down or controlled by anything. I do feel,
however, that drugs should be dispensed without
restriction. Then the people who want to kill
themselves will do it and there'll be more room for
the people who can do the rest of the drugs.
So what's in store for the twenty-first century?
MM: We can't go any further without starting over.
It's like, what sexual positions are left, what other
violence can you show, what other drug can you do,
what other thing can you get pierced?It's all been
done. Sickly enough, maybe what America really
needs is for everyone to become a Christian so we
can all be excited by the taboos again.
Till then, what's your guiltiest pleasure?
MM: Watching The 700 Club and hoping they'll
mention me.
And your last really exciting taboo experience?
MM: Well, I played miniature golf last week. That was pretty bad.
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