Interview:1994/12/01 Trash worship part of Marilyn Manson's moral agenda
| Trash worship part of Marilyn Manson's moral agenda | ||
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Photo: Jeffrey Weiss
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| Interview with Marilyn Manson | ||
| Date | December 1, 1994 | |
| Source | See Magazine #56 | |
| Interviewer | Ken Ilcisin | |
With a brutal approach to revealing what they see as truths about society, the raucous frenzy of Marilyn Manson has been known to scare people.
However, I'm not sure whether they should be frightened by the raw madness inherent in the music or by the fact that the singer, who has adopted the band moniker for himself, is far more methodical and educated than his songs would suggest.
Portrait of an American Family, the band's first album, has all the makings of a sonic garburator - taking the trash society has created and blending it into a fitting display of what America is supposedly all about.
Musically, it's a septic tank for the expunged bowels of heavy metal and industrial music, yet it embraces neither.
In a recent press release, Manson wrote: "To whom it may conform: We are your shit. You should be ashamed of what you have eaten."
In a recent interview before opening for Nine Inch Nails in Vancouver, Manson stated, "I'm coming from the journalistic point of view. I'm seeing it happen and telling it as I see it."
Besides being co-produced by industrialists Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, the album also has the distinction of being the first release on Nothing/Interscope Records, which until now has been the sole stomping grounds of NIN.
The Los Angeles-based band was formed to represent thoughts and philosophies Manson began investigating between the late '80s and 1990.
Hollywood Babylon
"Marilyn Manson was a name that came to me from my research and fascination with Hollywood Babylon, mass murder and cult leaders and their relationship to pop stars," he explained. "It's sort of along the lines of Hegel's theory of diametrically-oppossed archetypes. I took two extremes, Marilyn and Manson, names which immediately identify with each person."
Added Manson, "I thought putting these two together created the perfect dichotomy of male and female, beauty and ugliness, extreme positive and negative."
With those opposites at play, the Marilyn Manson universe was in total harmony.
"With that balance," said Manson, "I was able to be in a grey area that transcended good and evil, male and female."
After the formation, which started out as a duo, subsequent band members took on pseudonyms which outrageously emphasized the band's concept.
Guitarist Daisy Berkowitz, bassist Twiggy Ramirez and percussionist Sara Lee Lucas joined the fold with previous experience. Manson and keyboardist Madonna Wayne Gacy took on the project as musical novices.
"I think there's a certain quality to amateur attempts at music," said Manson, "because you don't know all the rules so you're not afraid to break them."
Sublime structures
Altough one would expect the band to be driven after hearing too many GWAR albums and Kode IV remixes, Manson actually found his footsteps following the sublime structures of such artists as David Bowie.
He also found works like the Beatles' White Album and the early recordings of Alice Cooper to be inspirational.
With all the work put into making the album function as a display piece for his thoughts instead of a collection of singles, one may ask about the band's source of motivation. A possible answer can be found in one of Manson's first comments during the interview.
"I'm suggesting a new moral agenda, much like Nietzsche said: 'Man is his own god on earth.'"
Manson quickly added, "You make up your own rules, but to get that great freedom, you have to pay the price of responsiblity and be responsible for your own actions. It's a trade-off."
So be afraid - be very afraid - if you want to, but just remember that if you try to dismiss it as obscure ramblings, in reality it's probably more thought-out than you'd like to believe.
But for any confused outsiders or those wanting to capture the essence of the group's message, however strange and contradictory it may be, Manson's parting shot said it all.
"This music will probably make you kill yourself, and if you're that stupid, then you deserve it."
