Interview:2004/04 Q Magazine

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How does the God Of Fuck handle supermarkets?
2004-04 Q-Magazine cover.jpg
Pictures Nick Wilson
Interview with Marilyn Manson
Date April, 2004
Source Q Magazine
Interviewer Matt Allen


How does the God Of Fuck handle supermarkets? Is he OK with blokes buffing the happy lamp over his glamour model girlfriend? And, "dildocam" aside, is he really as bizarre as he's cracked up to be? Over to you, Marilyn Manson...


Marilyn Manson has just bought a new sex toy. But, unlike the common or garden love aids available from, let's say, Ann Summers, this one has an extra special feature.

"It's a silver dildo," he says in a deep-throated drawl as his purple lips curl into a lopsided grin. "And it has a video camera fixed in the tip. You can hook it up to your TV for some exploratory dildocam pornography."

His right eye twinkles mischievously. His left, smeared in make-up and clouded with that eerie opaque contact lens, fixes me with a lifeless glare.

"Shirley Manson from Garbage deep throated it the other day because she'd recently had some mouth surgery and we wanted to check out the scars. That was pretty sexual. But Avril Lavigne was terrified of it when I showed it to her."

And who can blame her? It's reassuring to note that after five albums of generation-terrorising goth metal, numerous legal tussles with authority and a recent sortie into 1930s Weimar Republic chic, Manson still oozes sexual menace. Today, however, he resembles a Rocky Horror bellboy sprawled across a sofa in a darkened hotel suite. He will also prove to be surprisingly funny.

"I hear Cash For Questions is like sitting in the psychiatrist's chair," he growls, extending his Bambi legs and reclining into a clutter of cushions with groan. "I may as well adopt the position then..."

Do you still enjoy the odd enema party?

James Merriman, London

Not lately. It's too close to the whole bathing thing and I try to avoid that these days, although I do get hosed down after shows. I find that if you keep yourself dirty you stay drunk longer and drugs work better. It also makes your body an uncomfortable place for germs to live so you don't get sick.

But there have been enema parties in the past. They're fun, although there's no social etiquette to them. It's not as if you lay out the fine wine and snacks, play some classical music and then have an enema. The only thing that's come close to that for depravity lately is dildocam. It's seen the sights, I can tell you.

Did you really touch that security guard's head with "Little Marilyn"?

Claire Willis, Torquay

No, and people made it sound like I'd had sex with this guy, which was absolutely ridiculous. But it went to trial and I won. I proved that it was total bullshit, that I didn't take off my pants. It's still tied up in legal stuff at the moment so I can't say too much about it, except some people saw an opportunity to sue somebody for doing something stupid. I was glad that the jury saw through that. And this jury had born-again Christians and older people in it, people that wouldn't normally take my side.

When was the last time you went out without make-up on?

Kelly Green, Glasgow

When I went to the airport a couple of days ago, they don't really take kindly to that sort of thing at passport control. I think people overestimate the amount of make-up I wear though - it's just a bit of lipstick and eyeliner. But I get recognised with the make-up off all the time and I haven't had much luck with disguises. One time when I was leaving a movie theatre I was mistaken for Michael Jackson, though. It wasn't a children's movie theatre, I'd like to add.

My girlfriend convinced me to take her to a Manson gig and left me the day after. Can this be related to the fact she listens to your music, and can I have my money back?

Fabiano Corsetti, Rome

[Laughs] Firstly, did she come home with one of us that night? And secondly, no you can't have your money back because if you get suckered like that, then it's your own fault. I always play a game after shows: it involves dangling a backstage pass in front of a girl while her boyfriend's there. It interests me to see whether the girl will leave her boyfriend behind. Of course, they always do and I think there have been some violent reactions where guys - husbands sometimes - have tried to get into the room where we're staying. If a relationship breaks up that easily it wasn't meant to be, I suppose.

What's your biggest vice?

Rob Jones, Birmingham

Absinthe, closely followed by many others. I discovered it eight years ago and it's highly, highly addictive.

Given Arnie's leap into politics, do you think it might be time to follow suit?

Gordon Allen, Dorset

God, it just seems so boring. I live in California and when there's a political debate going on I know that it'll be humorous, because he can't even speak English that well. Personally I try to internalise my politics into art. If you make art and people like it then it may have a butterfly effect and they may change their personal politics because of it. These days I'd much rather be the president of the Mickey Mouse Club than get into politics.

Do you"do" supermarkets?

Darren Drake, Bromley

Sometimes if I'm drunk. If I'm on tour and we're in the middle of nowhere, I'll buy a load of shit that no one wants and then wake up and wonder how and why I've got a T-shirt with an Indian on it or some polished rocks. When I'm at home I have this speed-freak woman who takes care of my house. She's very interesting - her teeth fell out last Christmas, but nobody's sure whether that's because of all the speed she takes or because she smashed her mouth on a crack pipe. I leave her in charge of getting my food, so I rarely eat.

Have you ever met anyone and thought: Ooh, they're a bit strange?

Wendy Lonsdale, Nottingham

Yeah and oddly enough it was Avril Lavigne. She came to one of my shows and we met backstage and I thought she was very, very strange, because she really doesn't have anyone babysitting her. There weren't any bodyguards and I don't know whether that was impressive because she was independent, or strange because she doesn't know that somebody might kidnap her, cut off her toes and sell them to someone like me on E-bay. I found her to be nice... but strange. And it's very impressive of her to hang out with me with dildocam around. No good can come of that, can it?

Michael Jackson's "secret room": your thoughts please?

Jenny Simmons, Cardiff

I still want to see pictures of it [the concealed room supposedly discovered behind a walk-in wardrobe at Jackson's Neverland ranch] because people hype things up to a certain degree. I guess I'm just jealous because it sounds better than my house. I've only got one child skeleton and a couple of pictures of Macaulay Culkin at my place.

Just how mental was your notoriously unhinged bus driver Wiggins?

Chloe Brown, Littlehampton

Pretty mental. I think the idea of limitations passed him by. I remember he once stuffed some bible pages in a girl's ass - by her request of course. It's tough when people ask me what's crazy because all that stuff seems so normal when you're wrapped up in a tour. When you're doing bad things every day, it seems natural.

How do you respond to people who say you've toned down your act recently? And do you still feel compelled to be shocking?

Paul Durose, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

I've never considered anything I've done to be shocking. I think it's a real challenge to be shocking when you consider what's going on in the world versus what you can create with your imagination. What's grotesque? What I make up in my head or what's going on in the real world?

I only draw the line of what's unacceptable according to my personal taste, not by what other people judge as acceptable. I do things that suit me and feel right.

Things that I wouldn't do? Right now, grow a beard or play an acoustic guitar. Wear jeans onstage, have a bath... those things to me are pretty twisted.

If you believe what you read, almost everything wrong in the world is your fault. What's the most ludicrous thing you've been blamed for?

Jeff Whomas, Carlisle

Besides the Columbine shootings, I guess the guy you mentioned losing his girlfriend because of me is weird. But I don't think I get enough credit for the some of the bad stuff that goes on in the world, which is good. I think recently I've made some pretty bad things happen to people I don't like, because I really believe that you can affect people with the way you feel.

For example, if you love somebody then that can affect that person in a positive way. The same can happen if you feel the opposite. That's the basic idea behind witchcraft: nature and applied karma. So recently I've made some bad things happen to people I don't like. These aren't people who you would know. These are people who have attacked me mean spiritedly for no reason and they've gone straight to hell recently.

Twiggy Ramirez: what happened?

Graham Lyons, Glasgow

Good question. I've seen pictures of him recently and he looks like a completely different person. He wanted to go in a different direction to us and that's fine. I had a lot of ideas about taking our thing up a notch and to make life and the album and the tour much more exciting and decadent. I guess he wanted to do something a lot more conservative.

The split was amicable and I think there was only ever one argument between us. I think his decision came down to personal stuff, too, like relationships. Ultimately I don't want to speak for him, but I didn't think that he was going to enjoy what we were planning and if he wasn't going to enjoy it, then we weren't going to enjoy it and that would have resulted in a shit job.

Do you regret the meat helmet incident? [where Manson and his bandmates, while on tour, masturbated over a girl whose head was covered in raw meat]

Dave Horsefield, London

No, not at all. I would only have regretted it if it was being exploitative or the girl wasn't having a good time, which she was. That would have upset me. I've had bad things happen to me all my life and I try not to be bad to people. I don't go round trying to hurt people for no reason, not that the meat helmet is painful, you understand.

Those pictures you took of your girlfriend, Dita Von Teese, for Playboy - are you uncomfortable with blokes shaking one off over them?

Hywel Griffiths, London

No, and I've never had a problem with that from the beginning. If I did it would have been an unsuccessful relationship. She has to deal with me having sex with security guards' heads and I have to deal with guys getting off over pictures of her. I think it would have been a little harder to deal with if she was a porn star, and I've dated a few in my time. Is it hard to maintain a relationship with a porn star? You don't, you just try to maintain an erection.

How did you end up in Lost Highway? And while we're at it, do you have any idea what was going on in that film?

Nick Cull, Wembley

I got a call from David Lynch and he wanted me to do a scene. We got there and he said, "OK, I want you totally naked. Patricia Arquette is going to be there and then I want you to die. I want you to die violently and then you're going to be fucking these girls, but please don't scare them."

So I'm standing there in front of Patricia Arquette naked, which was the worst bit, and I said, "I really liked you in Nightmare On Elm Street 3", and that defused my embarrassment and put it on her. And as for what's going on in that movie, you've got me.

Where do you keep all your old outfits? Would you ever consider clearing some space with an Elton John-style auction?

Colin Edwards, Wimbledon

I keep them in one of my big closets at home, but I'm rather attached to them all so I don't want to part with them. I always have a couple of each because they get torn, so I could sell some of the damaged ones, I suppose. Or one of my old jockstraps, but I'd have to know they were going to a good home.

The Mickey Mouse ears (as seen on last year's Golden Age Of Grotesque tour) - what the hell were you thinking and did Disney ask you to drop them?

Dave Lee, Aberdeen

The key thing was that they're not really Mickey Mouse cars, it's a hat that was made for me, so it wasn't even bought from Disney. The intention is to evoke images of Mickey Mouse, Disney and what that represents in American culture.

I haven't infringed any Disney copyright because it hasn't been mass marketed for money. I think Disney have a great respect for artists who have used Disney imagery like [Andy] Warhol, [Roy] Lichtenstein and now me. It's good that they respect it as art.

Do you have a walk-in wardrobe of sex toys?

Aaron Brown, Winchester

I get sent a lot because certain companies would like me to test them out, but I don't because I'm a traditionalist. [Laughs sarcastically.] I'm a family man.


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