BIOGRAPHY AND THE BEGINNING OF CREATIVITY
One needs to learn about the key moments of Marilyn Manson’s life and work in order to understand whether he is a real Antichrist superstar. He is known as an American musician, founder, and leader of one of the most successful rock bands of the nineties. The most controversial rock singer, idol of thousands of teenagers, and the real horror for their parents, the forbidden fruit called Marilyn Manson.
Brian Warner (a real name of the singer) was born on January 5, 1969 in the United States in the city of Canton, Ohio. The Warner family, according to Brian, came to America from Poland and Germany, where their name sounded like Uonamakery. Marilyn’s parents are Barb and Hugh Warner. Barb is a nurse, and Hugh is a furniture salesman, but most interesting fact about his family is that Manson's grandfather was a big fan of toys, he loved to play dolls, he had a model railway on which he drove trains. In one of his interviews, Manson said: "I am grateful to my grandfather, he helped me to realize an important truth - the basement of America is not as clear as it seems" (Manson, Strauss, 183). Prior to the tenth grade, Brian attended a private Christian school ("Heritage Christian School"). He wanted to leave the seminary and go to study in a regular school in any way, but his parents were against it. Then Brian became addicted to Rock `n Roll, and even began to make money on it. After listening to the album "Love Gun" Kiss, he joined Kiss Fan Army and even went to their first concert in 1979. Ironically, Brian plunged into rock music in his seminary. And then he realized that he wanted to have long hair and earrings. At the same time, Brian found his first project: "Big Bert and Freaks" which he made together with his cousin Chad. At this very moment, Brian realized that if he wanted to leave the seminary, then he should say so the teachers. That is what he did. The teachers were "for", and soon he moved to public school (Manson, Strauss, 92).
When Brian was 18, he graduated from high school in Ohio and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he found a job at a local music publication. There he worked as a journalist and music critic; he wrote articles about local idols and decided that being an idol is very profitable. During this time, he composed the verses. He wrote an autobiography titled "The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell". He later starred in the film "The heart is deceitful above all things" by Asia Argento. Brian sounded a character in a computer game "Area 51". He is pursuing a new exhibition of paintings "Trismegistus". By the way, Manson still holds exhibitions of his works. In Hollywood, a full house served as an exhibition, it was entitled "The Golden Age of the grotesque." Many famous guests came to see Manson as an artist. His paintings were bought for good money, and among those customers were only the celebrities. Manson says that he likes to draw, because in those moments he is alone with himself. The concept of the exhibition was the fact that Manson portrayed Hollywood of 30s in all its splendor, reductio ad absurdum. No matter how he calls himself, but not everyone knows that Manson began painting long before he became famous. And today's fame prevents perceive him as an artist. Staying true to himself, Marilyn picks the subjects for his paintings from death and mutilation. To this day, Manson continues to draw - problems in his personal life did not reflect on his inspiration. The musician creates watercolors since 1999, and today he has a collection of more than 150 paintings. The most expensive one costs 55 thousand dollars - Hitler was depicted on it as a hermaphrodite.
In 1989, Manson created the group ‘Marilyn Manson And Spooky Kids’ together with Brian Scott Puteski. Firstly, when he decided to make a journalist to becoming a rock star, his main aim was to change the name. He becomes Marilyn Manson, which name was made up of the names of the two icons of the 60's, movie stars and famous beauties - Marilyn Monroe and the American serial killer Charles Manson. Therefore, an alias is understood still either as handsome or terribly attractive. This unusual compound, according to Warner, has a number of meanings, ranging from the approval in principle of the inevitability of the presence of a man of good and evil, black and white. Manson liked the combination of names also because of a mystical point of view; as it is part of the good and the bad. There are seven letters in the word "Marilyn" - it is a number of God in numerology, and the word "Manson" has six letters, which are the number of the beast (Manson, Strauss, 21).
WORLD FAME AND ANTI-CHRISTIAN AESTHETICS
After working on the album "Marilyn Manson" with "Nine Inch Nails", Manson went on the first tour, leaving a "trail of blood" in the United States. Trent Reznor, who was the mentor of the young group, said that he wanted a lot of fire and blood, naked female breasts, and other obscurantism. Manson’s show led into shock even the most radical fans of macabre. However, the number of fans has grown rapidly.
In 1995, the band embarked on a self-tour, and a year later they released a cover version of "Sweet Dreams", which became a hit and gained platinum status. Manson decided to record the new album in New Orleans - "murder capital of the US" (Manson, Strauss, 120). An excitement around the album began long before its release, and when it came out, it conquered the love of fans from the whole world.
Therefore, "Antichrist Superstar" (1996) was Manson’s first concept album. Its plot is twisted in three cycles that narrate about the metamorphosis of the Bible Worm. First comes the confrontation between the outer and the inner world of the creatures, then his reincarnation in Angel. Finally, the return of Angela back to the sky. According to Manson, the main idea of the plate is the statement that the cause of all ills lies in Christianity. People need to believe in his mind, and then they are free (Heath, 36).
"Antichrist Superstar" made Marilyn Manson incredibly popular. According to music critics, his fans adored him and hated church. Sinister rumors, which began to spread across the country, fueled an interest in the musician. For example, it was said that he ate insects, took drugs, raped teenagers of both sexes, committed acts of oral during his performances of the band. Manson is constantly subjected to repression by the authorities who banned his concerts, the church bought up all the tickets, so the youth was not able to buy them. The shocking rocker took it philosophically, and said that because he became the same sensation as Jesus Christ (Byfield, 37).
In 1998, he released an album "Mechanical Animals", and in 2000 - "Holy Wood", which completed a conceptual trilogy about the Messiah. Millions of copies were sold worldwide and became the best of Manson’s works. His following works have not had much success, except that "The Golden Age of Grotesque" (2003), created under the influence of the musician’s girlfriend Dita Von Teese.
THE COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL MASSACRE
However, it is believed that his influence on the young people can be disastrous too. During the investigation of the dreadful incident of the Columbine High School massacre, it was revealed that the teens who have committed crimes, listened to Manson’s music. This fact was the main proof of communion of Manson’s creativity to the incident. Mass protests against his speeches and music in general began after the incident (Burns, 6). Parents of adolescents and various Christian society (not only in the US but also in Russia and Europe), tried to disrupt his concerts or buy tickets back earlier. Marilyn often quoted lines from his philosophical essay "Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?" before his concerts. He did not deny the influence of his work on the immature psyche of teenagers who killed their classmates.
In addition, he brought many other factors of the influence on teenagers’ behavior. In response to the accusations, the rock idol blamed teachers and parents that they did not try to talk to their pupils at the time (Wright, 365). In 2000, the singer released the album "Holy Wood", in which there are two songs dedicated to the Columbine massacre - "The Nobodies" and "Disposable Teens".
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, Marilyn Manson is a shocking figure in show business, which aims to epater public, because today everyone has heard his name. Some pronounce it with a touch of horror and outrage, while others do it with enthusiasm and wild fun. However, anyway, it is on everybody’s lips. He is shocking, but he also attracts. Some consider him crazy and insane, accuse him of murder and Satanism; while others consider him a genius, approve and admire. In any case, Manson was and remains a popular and controversial character in the show business and will go down in history as such.
Marilyn had a strong influence on the development of the American rock music. Of course, he was not the first one: there were another gloomy, ominous "eaters of corpses," the era of thrash and black metal, but the genre and style of performance of Manson’s antisocial texts are unique. His work was influenced by the Christian religion. Church felt the massive resistance on the part of one person. A person who hated religion with all his heart and despised an excessive naivety of the American society. He personified their appearance with his creative concept. He dresses like a woman and wants to seem asexual and the ugly, tearing chunks of the Bible, embodying the Antichrist at his concerts. Perhaps it echoes from a childhood trauma; or it is simply a scenic image, public relations campaign. At least Marilyn Manson is a fairly adequate and well-educated person with a good sense of humor in his interviews. Analyzing his work and fragments of the biography, one can notice very interesting facts and situations. All of them are contradictory and often cause a public discontent, but still is he good or bad? Is Brian Warner a real Antichrist superstar, or an image of an ordinary man who likes a great fun? I believe that everything is equally.
Works cited
Burns, Gary. "Marilyn Manson And The Apt Pupils Of Littleton." Popular Music & Society 23.3 (1999): 3-8.
Byfield, Ted, and Virginia Byfield. "Marilyn Manson may be frankly diabolical, but he teaches Christians a vital truth." Alberta Report / Newsmagazine 11 Nov. 1996: 37. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Heath, Chris. "The Love Song Of Marilyn Manson." Rolling Stone 797 (1998): 36. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Manson, Manson, & Strauss, Neil. “The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell.” New York: ReganBooks. (1998). Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Wright, Robert. "'I'd Sell You Suicide': Pop Music And Moral Panic In The Age Of Marilyn Manson." Popular Music 19.3 (2000): 365. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
