He's sinister and loud, a magnet for controversy and rumor, and the leader of what U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman once described as “perhaps the sickest group ever promoted by a mainstream record company.”
He's Marilyn Manson, of course, the guru of shock rock who is bringing his Guns, God and Government World Tour to the Toledo Sports Arena Tuesday night.
The 31-year-old native of Canton has just released his fourth studio album, “Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death),” an album that, like previous Manson releases, combines pulverizing rock music with lyrics that mock many of the institutions that mainstream America holds dear, from church and family to media and government.
In an interview with The Blade, Manson said the album was inspired by, and a reaction to, the phenomenally intense media pressure he endured following the May, 1999, Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo.
He was incensed and offended by reports that linked the tragedy to his music, even after the initial media frenzy cooled off and it became clear that the teenage shooters were not fans of Manson.
Why, after a career filled with controversy, was Manson so taken aback this time?
“It wasn't my war to fight,” he said in a calm voice strikingly different from his manic stage persona. “People can attack me for what I say, they can attack me for how I look, or for what I do. But people were trying to blame me for something that I had absolutely nothing to do with, and something that was completely out of my control.”
Rather than try to explain to a world he felt was determined to destroy him, Manson withdrew from the media crush and devoted his energy to the new album that eventually took shape as “Holy Wood.”
“I probably could have thrived over the controversy, but that goes against everything that I stand for. That is the criticism that the name Marilyn Manson itself takes of America,” he said, referring to the way that a notorious criminal (Charles Manson) can become as equally famous as a movie star (Marilyn Monroe).
Manson said he and guitarist and bassist Twiggy Ramirez, drummer Ginger Fish, keyboardist M.W. Gacy, and drummer John 5 grew stronger as a group during their “Holy Wood” sessions, which were more collaborative than the band's previous releases.
“Being attacked by the whole world really united us together. It seemed like we were a real team and had a real purpose.”
While the average CD contains a dozen songs, Manson squeezed 19 onto “Holy Wood” and had to leave more out.
“I feel like we stepped into a very prolific period as a band” because of the heightened sense of unity.
“I think it's still there. I think we're ready to be working on new material. I think that's a gift that we were given. Through all the ugliness, we were able to put the energy in a positive direction.”
Manson, who was born Brian Hugh Warner and changed his name after forming the band in Florida in the early 1990s, said he is essentially the same person on and off stage.
“When I adopted the name Marilyn Manson, a lot of people assumed that included adopting a persona. But what it was more was unleashing things in me that I was always afraid to do and say. And I've grown to the point now where it's my nature. It's not something that I have to contrive, or struggle to come up with.”
During a concert, Manson's energy level is off the scale, but if he lived at that pace offstage, “I don't think I could physically survive,” he said. On the other hand, “just because I wash my lipstick off, it doesn't mean I stop being Marilyn Manson. It's what I am inside.”
He doesn't worry about what critics say or how his CD sales compare to such pop phenomena as the Backstreet Boys or Britney Spears.
“What I do is very ... concentrated, I guess,” Manson said. “It has a lot of potency to it. And I'm surprised that I'm as successful or as well known as I am. What I do and say is a lot more extreme than most of the people around me. I'm thankful for my success.”
Marilyn Manson's God, Guns, and Government World Tour comes to the Toledo Sports Arena at 7 p.m. Tuesday with Cold and Godhead opening. Tickets are $27.50. Information: 698-4545.
First Published December 2, 2000, 5:31 p.m.
