Sullivan, J. (1996, October 25). Extreme measures: Marilyn manson’s dark vision becomes a hit. The Boston Globe, p. C5 and the album itself.

OVERVIEW

In mid-October, 1996, a Marilyn Manson album, "Antichrist Superstar," became America’s third best-selling album and highest new entry on Billboard’s chart—just behind Celine Dion and Kenny G.

The band, Marilyn Manson, is named after its lead singer. The other members of this dark group also have names that combine the name of a woman actress and a known killer. "Twiggy Ramirez plays guitar, Madonna Wayne Gacy is on keyboards and loops; Ginger Fish is on drums; new guitarist Zim Zum replaces Daisy Berkowitz." Manson and Gacy are the only original members.

The band’s music is post-grunge industrial rock, pushing down the road paved by NIN (Nine-Inch Nails) and described as "a throbbing, creepy industrial assault on the senses." Manson was formed in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in 1990.

The style of the group, "garish, androgynous makeup and grotesque imagery" follows Alice Cooper and others. But Manson declares he is no demon on stage with a nice guy "alter ego."

Brian Parker (now known as Marilyn Manson) grew up in a conservative home and church, attending Christian schools. But his personal symbols of identity became Kiss, Alice Cooper, Bowie, and Black Sabbath.

Manson says this about his name: "I’m going to guess that (my name) is a badge of rebellion. Because Marilyn Manson is pretty much the closest to that (kids) can get."

Manson adds:

‘For years I was terrorized into believing...all these prophecies of the rapture and finally, after years of it not happening, I started to realize that this was a lie. I wanted to find the truth. As an adult, I’ve become the things that scared me most as a child, as a payback to those who terrorized me. Their fear of an antichrist is what created it.’

"Antichrist Superstar" is the band’s third album. The early EP, "Smells Like Children," was described by C. Delores Tucker as " ‘the dirtiest, nastiest porno record directed at youth that has ever hit the market.’ "

According to Manson, "Antichrist Superstar" expresses what he and his group have been about from the beginning:

Antichrist Superstar was taken from a lot of dreams that I’d been having over the past six or seven years...to make it as powerful as it needed to be...Image and music should go hand in hand. This record is so strong that there’s nothing I can do to detract from it. If the music wasn’t there, there would be no reason for me to even have this conversation.

Also says Manson:

I relate a lot to the story of Lucifer in the Bible, as in the fallen angel who was cast out of heaven for wanting to be God. The antichrist is the collective disbelief in God, and things in this record awaken that in people. It makes them realize that they can believe in themselves—which to Christianity is the apocalypse because that is people taking away from their God.

Is Manson for real, or is this just a stage personal and commercial gimmick? Is he really evil? And how does he assess the importance of his work?

Marilyn Manson is all encompassing: " ‘There’s not turning that off and becoming an everyday guy...I’m not going to come up to somebody in the street and smash a beer bottle on their head. There is a time and a place for everything...Good and evil are what you like and don’t like, different takes.’ "

" ‘I mean the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, but we’re definitely bigger than Satan.’ "

"Antichrist Superstar" comes with a parental advisory on its cover. The album and its lyric booklet are replete with bizarre images, satanic designs, and some obscenity. The first words are from the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation:

...there appeared another wonder in heaven; ...a great red dragon...and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God, and to his throne.

Just below, in finer print, is the dedication to "Antichrist Superstar." It describes oneself as the product of others’ "wishing hell" and calls on them to REPENT:

Prick your finger it is done

The moon has now eclipsed the sun

The angel has spread his wings

The time has come for better things

The time has come it is quite clear

Our Antichrist is almost here

It is done

Sullivan describes the album’s feature single, "The Beautiful People," as a "sardonic, cacophonic...multilayered conceptual affair." It begins with the lyrics: "I don’t want you/I don’t need you/Don’t bother to resist/I’ll beat you..." and concludes; "...Capitalism has made it this way/Old-fashioned fascism will take it away."

The song "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" goes

I am so All-American, I’d sell you suicide

I am totalitarian, I’ve got abortions in my eyes...

You were the one who put the stick in my hand

I am the ism, my hate’s a prism

Let’s just kill everyone, and let your God sort them out

F--- it

The album concludes with "the minute of decay."

There’s not much left to love

Too tired to hate

I feel empty

I feel the minute of decay...

I’m on my way down

I’ve looked ahead and saw a

World that’s dead

I guess I am too

I’m on my way down, I’d like to take

You with me.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Is music like this, no matter how popular, worthy of our attention? What most interests or bothers you about this group and this article?
2. Rock music is interpreted in terms of composition, beat, instrumentals, lyrics or message, and lifestyle. How much information have you gotten about Marilyn Manson?
3. How popular was and is Manson among young people in your area? How can you find this out? Does this group have both hard-core and soft-core fans? What different subcultures do they represent? Why was (or is) this group attractive to different groups of young people?
4. What other groups are moving in a similar direction (musically and stylistically) to Marilyn Manson?
5. How would you talk to young people who enjoy Marilyn Manson? How would you talk to a hard core fan of this group or Marilyn Manson himself?
6. If you found yourself on a long flight seated next to Marilyn Manson, how might your conversation go? What possible relationship might result?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Teenagers have a need to get into things that shock parents and adults. It is almost a necessary part of their subculture and growing up.
2. Music such as this is not just subcultural but countercultural—an oppositional subculture.
3. Most teenagers buying or listening to Marilyn Manson are doing so on a lark or as a kick. Some may just like hard-edged, industrial rock. It may tie into feelings they have about being rejected, misunderstood, or suffering from the hypocrisies, lies, and failures in today’s world. But such listening is probably balanced off with many other healthy activities.
4. Individuals or small groups of young people who become obsessed with music and messages such as this are usually classed as troubled youth. They need intervention from those who really care about them and want to provide them realistic alternatives to hate and despair.
5. Some teenagers are into Satan because they see him as the rejected one, the one totally outside all authority structures who has carved out his own authority. Not only do some young people feel more like Lucifer than God, they say that Satan answers their prayers when God doesn’t.
6. Current popular culture, including its bizarre extremes, needs interpretation. Adults can only do this adequately with the help of young people themselves. This way, both are instructed and helped to grow.
7. Unhealthy and dark sides of a culture need to be brought to light. In addition there is biblical encouragement to be light and salt in all sectors of a society. More is accomplished in the youth culture by relationship and communication than by judgment.

Dean Borgman cCYS