Marilyn Manson's tattoos
Most of Marilyn Manson's tattoos were done by four people: Lou Sciberras, Donovan Stringer, Albert Sgambati and Ken Cameron - who all worked at Tattoos By Lou in South Beach, Miami, Florida. The first nine tattoos were created over a four-year span, beginning in January 1991 until 1995. In the credits of the band's first album Portrait of an American Family Albert Sgambati and Donovan Stringer were credited for tattoos, the latter simply referred to as 'Donovan'. All tattoos are listed in the order they were inked.
In 2007 Manson had new tattoos inked for the first time in 11 years.
The current tattoo artist is Norm. Marilyn Manson found him through David Labrava who played Happy on Sons of Anarchy.
The list of tattoos[edit]
Baphomet | On Manson's 21st birthday, band member and friend Gidget Gein took him to Tattoos By Lou in Miami, Florida to get his first tattoo. At this same session, Gein got a Creepy Crawly Spider tattooed on his wrist. Baphomet became known in the nineteenth century when it was applied to pseudo-historical conspiracy theories elaborating on the suppression of the Templars, and it became associated with a "Sabbatic Goat" image drawn by Eliphas Lévi. The tattoo appears on his upper left arm, under The Lucky Devil. | |
Spooky Tree | Also on Manson's 21st birthday, Manson requested a second tattoo that would mark his retribution. He presented to Lou Sciberras a rough drawing of a spooky tree reminiscent of a tree that appeared in several of the band's promotional ads, explaining how it had been copied without his authorization by a man referred to as Carl, who had persistently been imitating Manson. Having the image inked onto himself was Manson's effort to permanently copyright his own creation. Later, a skull was added as an extension of this tree, making the tree appear to be rooting from the skull. The tattoo appears across the outside of his right arm. | |
Cyaegha | In July 1991, Manson and Gein returned to Tattoos By Lou where Manson would receive his third and fourth tattoos, where tattoo artist Donovan Stringer was presented with Manson's pre-drawn art interpreting the Western German mythic creature formally called "Cyaegha the Great Old One". Both tattoos are typically comprised of a circular green eye at the center of a mass of black tentacles, each one slightly varied from the other. Reportedly, the right arm was tattooed first, and both were done in the same session. The fee was reportedly $50.00 and a six-pack of Heineken brew. The tattoos appear across the inside of both lower arms. | |
Cyclops | Sometime in 1991, Manson returned to Tattoos By Lou (possibly with Gein once again, but this is unconfirmed) to receive his fifth work of body art. The tattooing was performed by Albert Sgambati and depicted the head of a cyclops (Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids had previously recorded a song bearing the same name). The tattoo appears on his right shoulder. | |
The Lucky Devil | Sometime around September 1993, Manson and Sgambati began collaborating on artwork that would become Manson's sixth and most flamboyant tattoo. The Lucky Devil depicts a grinning red devil amongst a horseshoe with '1' and '3' at each respective end. Above the devil's head is an 8-ball and below it three dice, each displaying the number '6'. Staying ever mindful of how it would look onstage, Manson still gave Albert lots of freedom with the elements surrounding the devil's head. The tattoo appears on his left shoulder. | |
Skull | Sometime during mid-1993, Manson came to notice a sketch Albert Sgambati had been working on, depicting a long and narrow skull. The tattoo became Manson's seventh tattoo, and would become an addition of a previously inked tattoo, a deviated tree. The tattoo appears across the outside of his right arm. | |
Uncle Creepy | In Fall 1994, Manson had been looking into getting a tattoo of Uncle Creepy, the narrator character and "host" of the Warren Comics horror magazine, Creepy. Manson approached longtime tattoo artist Albert Sgambati in regards to the tattoo, but Sgambati was unable to come up with a satisfactory drawing. Fellow Tattoos By Lou artist Ken Cameron (southbeachtattoo.com) drew the design directly on Manson's arm and Manson decided to have Ken Cameron do the tattoo instead. The tattoo appears across the outside of his lower left arm. | |
Cobweb | It is widely believed that this simple tattoo depicting a cobweb was won by Manson as a bonus for winning the award for Best Vocalist at the Slammie Awards in Florida on July 3, 1994. However this is uncertain due to the fact that the tattoo offer was offered by Outrageous Tattoos, whereas all of Manson's tattoos by this point were inked by Tattoos By Lou. An alternative to the theory on the artist responsible is that Ken Cameron returned to ink it in conjunction with the Uncle Creepy tattoo, similar to the case of the Skull and Tree tattoo. The tattoo appears on his left wrist. | |
Beezlebub | In Spring 1995, Manson returned to Tattoos By Lou to attain what would be his tenth and last tattoo for well over 11 years, inked again by Albert Sgambati. This tattoo depicts Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies. While not directly a fly, two eighteenth century magical textbooks, the Grimorium Verum and the Grand Grimoure, state that the supreme trinity of evil consists of Lucifer, Beelzebub and Astaroth. When summoned by a magician, Beelzebub appears in the form of a huge fly, allegedly. The tattoo appears on his upper right arm, under the Cyclops. | |
Spiral Heart | On February 14, 2007 - over 11 years since his last tattoo - Manson had a new tattoo inked on his left wrist at the same time Evan Rachel Wood had her thigh tattooed in a joint session at their home. It is a simple tattoo of a spiral heart used throughout the Eat Me, Drink Me era, possibly derived from/inspired by the 1935 horror film "Mad Love", though it is unknown as to who the artist is that did this tattoo. It stands for mad love and Manson stated that If he'd want to cut himself he will break someone's heart. | |
Totenkopf | During the Rape of the World tour interim period Manson had a new tattoo inked depicting a green skull by Tokyo Hiro could be found on his upper right arm. The tattoo is identical to the Death's Head included in the Celebritarian imagery of 2006 (example). | |
Butterfly | Manson had a tattoo of a skull butterfly designed by Martin Emond tattooed on his left wrist. A picture of the full tattoo still has to appear. The tattoo was done by "Dark Mark" of Illicit Tattoo's (now of Sacred Tattoo) in Auckland City, New Zealand. A picture of Manson getting the butterfly tattoo inked can be seen here. | |
WOW | On April 20, 2009, TMZ spotted Marilyn Manson at an airport sporting a new tattoo on his outer right wrist which reads "WOW", likely in reference to the song of the same name from The High End of Low. Manson has since stated that the tattoo was inked because of how many times the word is said. | |
Tursaansydän | As revealed in the liner notes for The High End of Low, Manson has received a fourteenth tattoo. This depicts a tursaansydän, a symbol believed to bring good luck and protect from curses, and incorporates a swastika in its center. Tursaansydän has been used in Finland for centuries as a magical symbol, often carved on wood, and its still used today. | |
15 | Manson revealed in a May 2009 interview with Noisecreep that he received another tattoo, which reads "15", behind his ear, describing it as "the new number of the beast."[1] Manson's Fiancée Evan Rachel Wood also has "15" tattooed behind one of her ears, as well. Later, as seen in the 2024 Tour shows, the tattoo was removed(Confirm). | |
etc. | Manson also described in the May 2009 interview with Noisecreep the "etc." tattoo he had inked on his inner-right wrist. He explained, "I've seen on the news, stories about death, rape, murder and they tack on the 'et cetera.,' which shocks and amuses me. Such terrible things have become mundane and reduced people to 'etc.,'. I got 'et cetera' tattooed on my wrist. If I cut my wrist, I would cut through 'etc.,' which is triply ironic."[1] | |
Kot | The first new tattoo was published on the 28th February, 2011 by L.A Weekly in their blog. According to the book "Criminal Tattoos" this tattoo came from Russian criminal culture. It includes a cat with glasses, a rose, knife and a nazi swastika on the hat. [2] According to the "Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia" by Danzig Baldayev, the meaning of this tattoo is "I turned 18 in prison". | |
M-Swastika | Another tattoo has been discovered on his neck in various photos in early February, 2011. The Born Villain tattoo is located directly above Manson's heart. | |
No Reason | Manson was pictured by L.A. Times photographer Lawrence K. Ho in May 2012 with the words "No Reason," a recurring lyric in the song "Overneath the Path of Misery," inked on his left wrist directly above his Spiral Heart tattoo. Friend Johnny Depp shares the same tattoo on his arm. It has been reported that Damien Echols shares the same tattoo. (Confirm) | |
The Les Fleurs du Mal | Manson said in an interview that he and friend Johnny Depp share a tattoo based on the artwork of Les Fleurs Du Mal (The Flowers Of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire. The tattoo has yet to be seen in it's full form, and is located on the back of each man. | |
Celebritarian Cross | In December 2012 a Russian fansite [3] uploaded an image of Marilyn Manson with a celebritarian cross on his back, below his hairline and above where the Les Fleurs du Mal tattoo would be. | |
Solve Coagula | In January 2014, Manson revealed new tattoos that goes from the back edge of his hands to his wrists. The term originates from Solve et Coagula, an alchemy reference. Roughly translated, it means "Dissolve and join together" or transmutation. The tattoo was done at Will Rise Studio in L.A. | |
Fated, Faithful, Fatal | (Confirm) | |
Death's Head (Acherontia atropos) | As of Jan. 13th, 2016, a new tattoo of a Death's Head Moth appeared on Manson's left collarbone above the Born Villain tattoo. | |
Acherontia atropos | ||
TDP | TDP stands for Tight Dick Player, an inside joke shared with ex-fiance Dita Von Teese. | |
L | The L tattoo is dedicated to Lily White, who died in 2016. | |
Love | This is a tattoo taken from the film character, Buffalo Bill played by Ted Levine in the 1992 film 'The Silence of the Lambs'. | |
Double Cross | ||
Sigil of Lucifer | ||
Orphic Egg[4] | ||
Sigil of Lucifer over a Buffalo Bill Knife tattoo from The Silence of the Lambs. | ||
BOOM | BOOM as seen in "KILL4ME" video (rotated) | |
Tripple lightning bolt | ||
Swastika triangle (?) on the left chest | ||
alchemical symbols | Right after Manson's 50th birthday party, Manson got eight new tattoos on his fingers. The tattooed alchemical symbols are:
| |
666 | ||
Sigillum Dei | The making of the tattoo was posted as a story by Marilyn Manson in his Instagram on September 13, 2019. | |
List of fake tattoos[edit]
WILL/RUST | Will and Rust on the knuckles of the right and left hands respectively |
Photo Gallery[edit]
"Les Fleurs du Mal" as seen on Johnny Depp "Les Fleurs du Mal" as seen on Marilyn Manson's back in the "SAY10" music video
Trivia[edit]
- Manson stated his intention to have a self-appropriated mantra titled "Together As One, Against All Others" tattooed onto his back on January 7, 2008, as a belated birthday gift from Evan Rachel Wood. It was to be inked, according to Manson, by Jonathan Shaw, a personal friend of Manson's. Seemingly, however - and possibly due to Shaw's extended stay in Brazil - the tattoo has not yet been inked as when Manson revealed his lower back during the Rape of the World tour in March 2008 there was no tattoo.
- On February 8, 2008, online magazine GIGWISE made a list of the 30 greatest tattoo's in music, with Manson on 10th place. The full list can be seen here.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Marilyn Manson: Still a Cultural Lightning Rod After All These Years?. Amy Sciarretto. Noisecreep. May 27, 2009.
- ↑ mCriminal Russia tattoos
- ↑ liveinternet.ru
- ↑ Interview:2017/10/05 Marilyn Manson: ‘Heaven Upside Down’ Needs to Be ‘Chaos and F–k S–t Up,’ Because That’s My Job (Exclusive Interview)
- ↑ MM new tattoos (photo). The Manson Family. Reddit.