Biography
Whether you consider his music shock rock, alternative metal, industrial rock, or just plain bad, there’s no doubt that Marilyn Manson was one of the most controversial performers to emerge during the 1990’s. A Reverend in Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan, he has been accused of everything from exploitation of minors to fornicating with animals, audience manipulation to causing the Columbine massacre in Littleton, CO. As an advocate for free speech, Manson has been pushing the envelope for the last 17 years.
Brian Hugh Warner was born an only child in Canton, Ohio on January 5, 1969. In his late teens, he moved to Tampa Bay, Florida and began working as a music journalist. In 1989, he co-founded a band called Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids with guitarist Scott Mitchell Putesky. Warner took the stage name Marilyn Manson, while Putesky chose the moniker Daisy Berkowitz. Early band members created their stage names from a formula, choosing the first name of a sex symbol, model, or another female icon and the last name of a famous murderer. The combination of the two names not only raised questions about the nature of celebrity and sensationalism, it also created an element of androgyny, a concept that Manson has continually explored in his work.
The Spooky Kids’ stage show began to attract attention with elaborate make-up, costuming, and props, from blood-soaked go-go girls in cages and strap-on penises to live chickens- not to mention the music. In 1993, Trent Reznor of the industrial metal outfit Nine Inch Nails offered them a contract with his record label, Nothing, a subsidiary of Interscope Records. Shortening their name to Marilyn Manson, the band opened for Nine Inch Nails on tour the following spring and released their first major label album, Portrait of an American Family. With the release of the Smells Like Children EP the following year, featuring a cover of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” the group’s popularity began to soar.
Powered by Manson’s stage presence, intelligence, and charisma, the band became mainstream, much to the chagrin of parents everywhere. Violence, drug use, sex, and Satanism had its appeal to a devoted fan base of rebellious, discontented suburban teenagers. Manson was not without his detractors, however. Venues received death threats, religious and civic groups picketed concerts, music critics dismissed him, and right-wing politicians publicly denounced Manson’s music in the media.
Traditionally a five-member outfit with vocals, lead guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums, the only remaining member of the original incarnation of the band is Manson himself. Having experimented with various personas as Marilyn Manson, among them the “Angel with the Scabbed Wings” of Antichrist Superstar in 1996 and the androgynous “Omega” featured on the cover of 1998’s Mechanical Animals, Manson is currently immersed in burlesque, film, and an art movement he refers to as Celebritarianism.
Band Members and Stage Names
Brian Warner (Marilyn Manson: Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson) Vocals
For more information, visit:
Marilyn Manson’s official web page at http://www.marilynmanson.com
Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Manson_%28person%29
Internet Movie Database entry at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001504/
Jeordie White (Twiggy Ramirez: Twiggy and serial killer Richard Ramirez) Third bassist
For more information, visit:
Jeordie’s official web page at http://www.basetendencies.com/
Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeordie _White
Stephen Bier, Jr. (Madonna Wayne Gacy: Madonna and serial killer John Wayne Gacy) Second keyboard player
For more information, visit:
Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_Wayne_Gacy
Kenny Wilson (Ginger Fish: Ginger Rogers and serial killer Albert Fish) Second drummer
For more information, visit:
Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Wilson
John Lowery (John 5) Third lead guitarist
For more information, visit:
John 5’s official web page at http://www.john-5.com/
Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lowery
Scott Mitchell Putesky (Daisy Berkowitz: Daisy Duke and serial killer David Berkowitz) First lead guitarist
For more information, visit:
Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Putesky
Perry Pandrea (Zsa Zsa Speck: Zsa Zsa Gabor and serial killer Richard Speck) First keyboard player
Brian Tutunick (Olivia Newton Bundy: Olivia Newton-John and serial killer Ted Bundy) First bassist
Fred Streithorst (Sara Lee Lucas: baker Sara lee and serial killer Henry Lee Lucas) First drummer
For more information, visit:
Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Lee_Lucas
Mike Linton (Zim Zum) Second lead guitarist
For more information, visit:
Wikipedia entry at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zim_Zum
Bradley Stewart (Gidget Gein: TV character Gidget and cannibal Ed Gein) Second bassist
For more information, visit:
Gidget’s official web page at http://www.gidgetgein.com
Wikipedia entry at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gidget_Gein
Dichotomy of stage names provided by: http://www.rockonthenet.com/artists-m/marilynmanson_main.htm
Major Label Discography
* Portrait of an American Family (1994)
* Smells Like Children (1995)
* Antichrist Superstar (1996)
* Remix and Repent (1997)
* Mechanical Animals (1998)
* The Last Tour on Earth (Live) (1999)
* Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (2000)
* The Golden Age of Grotesque (2003)
* Lest We Forget (The Best Of) (2004) |
