by Flack » Tue Feb 02, 2021 11:17 am
Over the weekend, actress Evan Rachel Wood announced to the world that her former fiancé, Marilyn Manson, was a bad guy. She has claimed multiple times in the past that she was sexually and physically abused and hinted that Manson was her abuser, but this is the first time that she has called him out by name. Among other things, she claims that she was "groomed" by Manson to become his sex slave.
I'm not sure who on the planet didn't know that Marilyn Manson was a weirdo, but here's a brief history. Manson's stage name came from combining the name of a model with the name of a serial killer. His major label debut contained a poem written by Charles Manson. One of Marilyn Manson's early gimmicks was to cut himself on stage. Marilyn Manson is a minister in the Church of Satan, met with Anton LaVey multiple times, and wrote the forward for LaVey's last book. In his autobiography, which I have sitting right here, he talks about the time he and his guitarist "smoked human bones they found in a cemetery." At one point, Trent Reznor, the founder of Nine Inch Nails, said Marilyn Manson was too weird and creepy for him. To put that in perspective, Trent Reznor bought Sharon Tate's old house (where the Manson murders took place) and recorded an album there. THAT GUY said Marilyn Manson was too weird!
There are two arguments to be made here -- one, that Brian Warner and Marilyn Manson are not the same person, and two, a discussion we've had in the past, can you separate the artist from the art?
As for the first... I don't want to sound overly dramatic, but I wonder how much of Brian Warner is left at this point? You can make a case that what Manson does on stage is different from his off stage persona, but when he acts the same way off stage as on stage... can you? There's a story in Manson's autobiography about a groupie who showed up to the recording studio that the band convinced to get naked, cover herself with meat (ham and hot dogs, mostly) and then let the band take turns pissing on her. This was not on stage, or part of a show -- this was a bunch of guys just, you know, peeing on some girl covered in lunchmeat. Is that something Marilyn Manson did, or Brian Warner? Dita Von Teese, Manson's second wife, summed it up the best after their divorce: "It was difficult, because I was trying to get him help for his problems, and eventually I realized that he didn’t want help."
I hate to even bring up the second topic because we've done it already, but earlier today Marilyn Manson was dropped from his record label. Being accused during the #meToo era is quite possibly the worst thing that can happen to your career. Marilyn Manson once plopped his dick out onstage and started pissing on the crowd, paid a couple thousand dollar fine, and was on his way. Accuse someone of vague abuse 12 years prior, and there goes the ol' career. Will Manson bounce back? Of course. (I'd be surprised if there's not a bidding war at the moment trying to scoop him up.) Marilyn Manson once sold his own brand of Absinthe called Mansinthe (literally, it was 66.6% proof -- you can't make this up!) and said it goes best with "lots of cocaine" and nobody blinked an eye. It's amazing that one tweet could affect his career so greatly.
I'm sure more details will come out about this Evan Rachel Wood situation, but based on what I've read, Manson began "grooming" her when she was 18, and they hooked up when she was 19. 18, for the record, is the legal age of consent in most states. Wood, for her part, hooked up with Manson while he was married to Von Teese, which starts the relation off on shaky ground in my book. Again I don't know the details and maybe things are worse than are being reported, but... if you seek out a Reverend in the Church of Satan who does massive amounts of coke, cuts himself on stage, and has set out to be the world's most depraved and shocking entertainer... is it all that surprising that the guy was, in fact, depraved and shocking? I'm trying very hard not to victim blame here, but if the victim is a willing participant... are they a victim? It's a complicated issue for me. If I started hanging out with someone and they suggested I take my clothes off and cover myself with lunchmeat while they piss on me, that's a "no" from me, dog. To me this is like one of the guys from Jackass suing the show for making them do things on the show 12 years after it was cancelled.
All is this is made much simpler by the fact that I haven't bought a Marilyn Manson since the 90s.
Over the weekend, actress Evan Rachel Wood announced to the world that her former fiancé, Marilyn Manson, was a bad guy. She has claimed multiple times in the past that she was sexually and physically abused and hinted that Manson was her abuser, but this is the first time that she has called him out by name. Among other things, she claims that she was "groomed" by Manson to become his sex slave.
I'm not sure who on the planet didn't know that Marilyn Manson was a weirdo, but here's a brief history. Manson's stage name came from combining the name of a model with the name of a serial killer. His major label debut contained a poem written by Charles Manson. One of Marilyn Manson's early gimmicks was to cut himself on stage. Marilyn Manson is a minister in the Church of Satan, met with Anton LaVey multiple times, and wrote the forward for LaVey's last book. In his autobiography, which I have sitting right here, he talks about the time he and his guitarist "smoked human bones they found in a cemetery." At one point, Trent Reznor, the founder of Nine Inch Nails, said Marilyn Manson was too weird and creepy for him. To put that in perspective, Trent Reznor bought Sharon Tate's old house (where the Manson murders took place) and recorded an album there. THAT GUY said Marilyn Manson was too weird!
There are two arguments to be made here -- one, that Brian Warner and Marilyn Manson are not the same person, and two, a discussion we've had in the past, can you separate the artist from the art?
As for the first... I don't want to sound overly dramatic, but I wonder how much of Brian Warner is left at this point? You can make a case that what Manson does on stage is different from his off stage persona, but when he acts the same way off stage as on stage... can you? There's a story in Manson's autobiography about a groupie who showed up to the recording studio that the band convinced to get naked, cover herself with meat (ham and hot dogs, mostly) and then let the band take turns pissing on her. This was not on stage, or part of a show -- this was a bunch of guys just, you know, peeing on some girl covered in lunchmeat. Is that something Marilyn Manson did, or Brian Warner? Dita Von Teese, Manson's second wife, summed it up the best after their divorce: "It was difficult, because I was trying to get him help for his problems, and eventually I realized that he didn’t want help."
I hate to even bring up the second topic because we've done it already, but earlier today Marilyn Manson was dropped from his record label. Being accused during the #meToo era is quite possibly the worst thing that can happen to your career. Marilyn Manson once plopped his dick out onstage and started pissing on the crowd, paid a couple thousand dollar fine, and was on his way. Accuse someone of vague abuse 12 years prior, and there goes the ol' career. Will Manson bounce back? Of course. (I'd be surprised if there's not a bidding war at the moment trying to scoop him up.) Marilyn Manson once sold his own brand of Absinthe called Mansinthe (literally, it was 66.6% proof -- you can't make this up!) and said it goes best with "lots of cocaine" and nobody blinked an eye. It's amazing that one tweet could affect his career so greatly.
I'm sure more details will come out about this Evan Rachel Wood situation, but based on what I've read, Manson began "grooming" her when she was 18, and they hooked up when she was 19. 18, for the record, is the legal age of consent in most states. Wood, for her part, hooked up with Manson while he was married to Von Teese, which starts the relation off on shaky ground in my book. Again I don't know the details and maybe things are worse than are being reported, but... if you seek out a Reverend in the Church of Satan who does massive amounts of coke, cuts himself on stage, and has set out to be the world's most depraved and shocking entertainer... is it all that surprising that the guy was, in fact, depraved and shocking? I'm trying very hard not to victim blame here, but if the victim is a willing participant... are they a victim? It's a complicated issue for me. If I started hanging out with someone and they suggested I take my clothes off and cover myself with lunchmeat while they piss on me, that's a "no" from me, dog. To me this is like one of the guys from Jackass suing the show for making them do things on the show 12 years after it was cancelled.
All is this is made much simpler by the fact that I haven't bought a Marilyn Manson since the 90s.