And I don’t care who knows it.
I cite him as a major influence.
From Rolling Stone:
“The other night I took an eighty-year-old taxidermied monkey, set it on fire in the pool and filmed it from beneath with an underwater camera,” says Marilyn Manson, sitting in his home in Los Angeles. “It was beautiful, like the Titanic, the Hindenburg and King Kong all mixed into one.”
Manson has come to a crossroads in his career. “I no longer want to make art that other people — particularly record companies — are turning into a product,” he says. “I just want to make art.” And he’s invented a new genre for his new breed of art: “horripilation.” “It’s horrifying, and it’s depilatory,” he explains. “It will horrify the hair off of your legs.”
First up is PHANTASMAGORIA: The Visions Of Lewis Carroll, a set of four short films to be released through his Web site. “It’s the visions of Lewis Caroll — in fact I’m playing Carroll,” he says. In Installment One, Manson explores the origin of Alice in Wonderland’s Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. “I might add that the girls playing Tweedle Dee and Dum are twins who get to have real, genuine sex with each other. I like to make dreams come true.”
Manson is also opening an art gallery in L.A., publishing a book of paintings, planning to convert his basement wine cellar into an opium den (“I don’t drink wine”) and sporting a goatee for an upcoming cameo opposite Lucy Liu in Rise.
He’s also got eighteen songs in the can. “It’s not like I’m going to stop making music and start knitting,” he says. “I just don’t think the world is worth putting the music into right now. First we’re gonna fix the world with horripilation.”
(interview by AUSTIN SCAGGS)
Yeah, i’d agree. Although musically he lost me at mechanical animals.
I went and saw them live back in ’96 when they first toured here. Had the full on goth make-up as well. Mainly because i was under age and had a fake id. I didn’t look anything like the guy in the pic. one of my all time favourite concerts though.
Musically, twiggy and daisy seemed to make that band. It’s weird to look back and realise that I remember the day that daisy was fired.
Even though I don’t care for much of his art these days, I still love that he’s out there doing it.
>It’s weird to look back and realise that I remember the day that
>daisy was fired.
Wow, you’re old school. My primary image of Daisy is from reading TLHROOH, which paints him as a petty and laughable buffoon.
Twiggy was a key figure in the band but I liked GAOG a lot and when I saw them in 2003 they were surprisingly good.
And it’s not really about the band for me anyway.
Marilyn Manson has never really done it for me. Maybe because the time he appeared on the scene I had stopped wearing goth make-up and got real ID.
However I did hear a rumour he was Tim Burton’s orginal choice for Willy Wonka in the remake. If ever there was a role he was born for, it would have to be that.
Marilyn Manson was awesome at Big Day Out 1999. I just loved the ballsy-ness and flamboyancy of the act. At the start of “I Don’t Like The Drugs” a giant neon flashing sign “DRUGS” scrolls down the stage to the first few bars. Awesome.
However, once again, the boorish Australian crowd ruined the day. At one point, Manson was hit by a flying bottle. The music stopped. Unfortunately for the assailant, Manson had picked him out clear as day.
“We’re not playing another sound until you bash the shit out of THAT guy – yep, that guy right there…” yells Manson, pointing.
There’s a wild scramble and a sheepish lout makes exit stage left from the mosh pit. Brilliance.
I actually thought Mechanical Animals was the best Marilyn Manson album. I loved the creepy electro-goth (shoot me now, I’m the genre-police) sound. Antichrist was just a great, dark, rock album, and sits a close second for me. However, still some of my favorites are the oldies; the Mansonification of Patti Smith’s “Rock n Roll Nigger” and a neat remix “Everlasting Cocksucker.”
What would our parent think?
Yeah, I was at that show as well. I remember they played right after Korn. I was tripping off my head and during Korns set, I realised that i couldn’t here any guitars at all. nothing, just bass and some vocals. I kept looking at everyone to see if anyone else was noticing the bad sound. no one. except for one guy, who as i passed i overheard talking to his friend that there were no guitars in the mix. As far as i know, myself and that guy were the only two people at the entire big day out that noticed that.
But manson came on next and for me, it was that show that actually put me off manson.
It was also the day i discovered the virtue of hardcore techno, so i guess that’s more where my headspace was at. On that day, one those drugs, manson appeared as a tragically pathetic figure to me. I remember feeling rather sad about it.
Baby sis was at that Big Day Out gig too. I’ve met so many people who claim to have been there. (Which is not to cast doubt on either of you guys.)
I liked the album and the whole concept of Mechanimals very much but I agree it was overplayed in the live aspect.. it was kind of embarrassing. If the record had been hugely, world-eatingly successful he might have been able to pull it off. But I think all he did in the long term was alienate a large chunk of his fans. (Although I am a fan of the famous surrealist DRUGS rant.)
And Holy Wood (which again I think is a good record and an impressive Work) was all too recognisable as a somewhat ham-fisted bid to win them back.
I believe that he’s now reached a point where he genuinely doesn’t give that much of a shit about his audience (or lack thereof)… and that’s a good thing.
Rorschach:
>I had stopped wearing goth make-up and got real ID.
😀
>”We’re not playing another sound until you bash the shit out of
>THAT guy – yep, that guy right there…” yells Manson, pointing.
When I’m the boss of Neurocam, I’ll be able to do things like that.
I can’t wait.
I saw Maz and co in Sydney in 1997. Enmore theatre – smaller gig. But I remember almost deciding to boycott the gig out of spite.
I was at a goth club a night or two before in a section that was, unknown to me, cordened off because the band turned up and wanted a part of the club to create their own little VIP room.
So my claim to fame is taking a slash with Twiggy at a urinal.
Anyway, I left some friends, walked out past the bouncers to get a drink at the bar and came back only to have his security detail shove me backwards quite forcefully.
“sorry, you’re a guy, you’re not getting back here, only chicks are allowed”
“but I just came out of there 2 minutes ago”
“tough shit”
“but my car keys are in there with some friends”
“tough shit”
Deciding that taking a swing at the bouncer was probably not a life affirming strategy, I decided I would take my business elsewhere. So I sat out the front until my friends emerged so I could actually get home and get into my flat.
So much for a dramatic principles based exit.