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--What is your proudest sporting achievement? - Vox Magazine October
1997
MM:"I'm most proud of not liking sports. That would be my proudest
achievement, because America is so wrapped up in sports and sports
figures. But I don't believe in them, and when I see it I just pretend
like it doesn't exist."
--Positive things - Kerrang Magazine September 20, 1997
MM:"There's definitely ritual in music, it just depends if artists
are smart enough to use it or not. Anything from a sporting event
to a totalitarian rally to a rock concert has a lot of energy, which
can be either chaotic or focused. When you focus it, it has a lot
of power. A lot of people have learned to do that over the years
for evil purposes, whether it be Julius Caesar, Stalin or Hitler.
Others, whether it be me, Madonna or Elvis Presley have used it
for positive things."
--Fitting In - Kerrang Magazine September 20, 1997
MM:"I grew up feeling like I could never fit in no matter how hard
I tried. One day, I realised that I didn't want to fit in. I could
make my own standards and I'd live by them. That's what I try to
tell people. Don't be afraid to say what's on your mind, and if
it pisses someone off that's too bad. If you make everybody happy,
you're an idiot."
--Darker Side - Kerrang Magazine September 20, 1997
Q: Why do you think rock musicians are attracted to the darker side?
MM:"Because the darker element is in everything, and some people
are more willing to acknowledge it than others. It's strange for
me, because I live in a different world to most people. They come
up to me and say, 'Why is your performance so violent, dark and
hateful?', and to me it's not. To me, it's very normal. At times,
I feel like I'm beyond other people's experience. Like I've been
through things they'll never go through."
--Open Minds - Kerrang Magazine September 20, 1997
MM:"I think anyone who has any sense of open-mindedness can relate
to a lot of what I say, because it boils down to isolation and the
feeling of not being able to fit in. Some people don't ever deserve
to understand, but those people are necessary. Because what Christianity
started out as wasn't anything more than what we saw at the show
today. It was one person getting up and saying what he felt, and
a lot of people going, 'Yeah, I feel that too.' Jesus was the first
rock star, the first sex symbol and the first icon."
--Values - Kerrang Magazine - September 20, 1997
MM:"You just have to have a personal code. A lot of people probably
assume that I have no values, but I do. If anything, I'm rather
conservative. I try not to judge people for what they look like.
I like to get to know somebody before I form an opinion on them.
I think that's almost liberal. I'm not a malicious person. But the
golden rule is, 'Do unto others as they do unto you.' You always
have to assume that people are generally bad by nature."
--Determination - Kerrang Magazine September 20, 1997
MM:"I don't think there's anything I want that I can't have, and
that's the bottom line. Whether it takes a day or a year, I get
what I want. It's up to you whether you want to call that magic
or determination, but it's a matter of will power and self-belief.
I think everybody has that ability, but mankind is too busy playing
with computers and watching TV to tap into their own power. Why
fuck with virtual reality when you can have super-reality in your
own life?"
--Do you think curses work? - Kerrang Magazine September 20, 1997
MM:"I think so. I think karma is a pussy way of looking at energy."
--Charles Manson - Kerrang Magazine September 20, 1997
MM:"I think Charles Manson had a lot of intelligent ways of looking
at things. Maybe he went wrong at some point and expressed himself
in the wrong way, but I think he started off on the right track.
Everybody becomes a product of their own personal likes and dislikes.
Someone like Hitler disliked his father, so he wanted to take it
out on an entire race of people. Once you start being controlled
by your own personal feelings, that's when you could become an evil
person. But I've tried my hardest to stay true to what I think.
I mean, when I was growing up I didn't like my dad and he was a
furniture salesman, but I don't want to go out and kill all furniture
salesmen. I just want to be a better person, and I want other people
to be better people. I want people to be strong. I'm sick of living
with weak people. But with great power comes responsibility. If
you're going to have the power to control other people, then you
have to be responsible and act accordingly. For instance, if you
had the power to read someone's mind, you'd have to deal with what
you see intelligently."
--Mankind - Kerrang Magazine - September 20, 1997
MM:"Besides, man by nature will always destroy himself."
MM:"I don't really have any place in my heart for stupid or weak
people. I try my hardest to be a strong person. I think with anyone,
the thing that they hate are their own fears, and I guess through
a little bit of self-analysis, I've realized that I have a fear
of being a weak person. So Marilyn Manson is a bit of a challenge
to people's intelligence. It's almost a little bit of a science
project to see how far I can push you, and see exactly what kind
of a reaction I can get. If you listen to Marilyn Manson and you
decide to go off and commit some act of violence, or you decide
to kill yourself, then that's a responsibility you need to take
for yourself, that's nothing you can put off on me or off on the
television or anything like that. If anyone, your parents should
be responsible for raising you to be an idiot, so that you will
be influenced so easily by someone in a band. I've never gone out
and told anyone to commit these acts, but if somebody kills themselves
because of our music, then that's one less stupid person in the
world. There are too many people in the world, and they need to
make way for the people who actually can contribute something to
society. If you've got that kind of mentality where you would so
easily be swayed, then you have no contribution, you have no place
to stand in my movement, if you want to call it that."
--Charles Manson - RIP Magazine February 1995
Q: Is there a hint of Charles Manson in any of your philosophy?
Is he influential on Marilyn Manson?
MM:"Absolutely. I think Charles Manson is the greatest rock star
of all time. He was all about music. He never even had to have a
hit and he's one of the biggest stars that you could ever find.
That's something that we can thank America for, whether you like
it or not, America put him there. Charles Manson was saying a lot
of things that are not unlike what I'm saying today. There's a lot
of irony in the way things have come into play, there's an irony
in the fact that 25 years ago there was the same kind of tensions
socially, racially. There was the same threat of war, there was
Woodstock, there was a lot of hypocrisy with the hippie culture
and their seed o' love bullshit. Hippie, short for hypocrite, of
course. A lot of people don't want to look into what he had to say,
because of what he did, but I think it's important to point out
that what he did is really no different than what my father did
in Vietnam - my father killed people, he didn't believe in it. Charles
Manson killed people, he at least believed in it - that he had a
reason for it. Neither one is right or wrong, it just is. Killing
is killing, there's no difference. Society makes one person a hero
and another person a criminal, it's just a popularity contest. Morality
is decided by the man with the most artillery. That's pretty much
my view on Charles Manson. Good and evil, God and Satan - these
words can all be used to replace Marilyn Manson. It's all about
that balance of give and take, and the push and pull. That's where
real power can be found."
--Meaning in the Music - RIP Magazine February 1995
MM:"I think that if our music didn't mean anything to anyone, we
wouldn't be having this conversation right now. I don't think that
people would want to hear what I had to say if they didn't like
our music. At the same time, I don't want people to just get away
with just liking our music. They need to accept the baggage that
comes along with it."
--Sexual Attraction - RIP Magazine February 1995
Q: I notice everywhere your tour bus goes, teams of girls are coming
up to the bus. Just what is the sexual attraction of your band?
MM:"That's a good question. I try to present myself in a very unattractive
manner, so that surprises me whenever that happens. Maybe our fans
are starting to fall into the ideal of Marilyn Manson and finding
beauty in things that the rest of America or society decides is
ugly. I don't think that I'm a very attractive person, but if someone
were to say that I was, initially I almost take that to offense,
but then I realise that maybe they're much like me and they find
beauty in awkward places."
--Present Status - RIP Magazine February 1995
Q: If you could be or do anything, have anything you want, what
would you do?
MM:"I think I'm living that right now. I'm not unsatisfied in any
way with my present status. However, I know that when I retire I'll
either become a third-grade teacher or a TV evangelist so that I
could further the scam that tends to keep perpetuating itself in
America. I think what would be really enjoyable when I retire. I
would feign being a born again Christian and I would get people's
money to help me stop other bands like Marilyn Manson, but secretly
I would be funding other bands like Marilyn Manson. And that would
be the ultimate thing to pull across in America."
--Is Marilyn Manson a cartoon? - RIP Magazine February 1995
MM: I think the entire world is a badly drawn cartoon and we happen
to be the only real characters walking around in it."
--Victims - Penthouse Magazine May 1997
MM:"We live in a society of victimization, where people are much
more comfortable being victimised than actually standing up for
themselves."
--Do you vote? - Penthouse Magazine May 1997
MM:"No, I didn't vote. The only way I'd vote was if I was running.
People could spend more valuable time buying rock albums, because
it's obvious that music is more powerful than politics, or else
the President wouldn't have to go on MTV to address anyone."
--Would you be surprised to discover that the F.B.I. has a file
on Marilyn Manson? - Penthouse Magazine May 1997
MM:"I'm almost positive that they do, not only because of the subversiveness
of a lot of things that I do, but I know that anybody who has any
affiliation of any sort with Charles Manson has a file."
--Are you as effective as the original Manson? - Penthouse Magazine
May 1997
MM:"That whole incident in 1969 kind of brought an end to the Summer
of Love. Today, with a similar political climate with this pseudo-revival
of family values, and everybody pretending to love everybody, and
we all want to hold hands and get along. I'm think I'm awakening
in impressionable people the reality that this is just a bunch of
bullshit, that it's just another reason to sell a T-shirt."
--Do you ever watch wrestling? - Penthouse Magazine May 1997
MM:"No, I do like the aspect that there's some fake violence and
the guys are wearing makeup and they all walk around in underwear.
It's very homoerotic, but I don't watch it because it's a sport.
That, for me, would be a sin, to watch sports."
--Why do you put backward messages in your songs? - Penthouse Magazine
May 1997
MM:"Mostly because I like to see how far people really want to look
into it, but I feel like the messages that are forward are blatant
enough and important enough that I wouldn't have to hide anything.
Whenever I put anything backwards it's just for the novelty of it.
It's very rock-and-roll."
--Prayers - Penthouse Magazine May 1997
Q: Did you say your prayers when you were a little kid?
MM:"Up to a certain point, but I always felt embarrased, like someone
else was listening besides God. I was even told to not let the devil
know you're afraid, because he can hear your prayers also. That
scared and excited me at the same time."
--Rock N' Roll Image - Penthouse Magazine May 1997
MM:"I think that that's starting to change, now that image is coming
back to music. I even see a lot of bands now that are influenced
by what we do. I think that in the next few year a new life will
be given to rock-and-roll and it'll be like the seventies."
--Rock Stardom - Penthouse Magazine May 1997
Q: You say that you like being a rock star, like the money, the
chicks, the drugs?
MM:"It's everything you've worked for. This album deals with that
whole idea. The last line is, "When all of your wishes are granted,
many of your dreams will be destroyed." So there's a double-edged
sword. That's what makes it exciting. If it was easy, why would
I want it? What's fun about something that's easy?"
--Were you popular with girls as a teenager? - Kerrang Magazine
May 24, 1997
MM:"No, I liked them but I didn't have much luck with them. I went
through a bit of a misogynist period, because I was resentful that
I didn't have any luck and I had a big heartbreak, but then I turned
to writing and started the band, and that became my escape from
worrying about girls. When you listen to our early songs, there
are a lot of spiteful lyrics about relationships which comes from
that period."
--Rock N Roll - Kerrang Magazine May 24, 1997
Q: The Manic Street Preachers once had a T-shirt bearing the slogan
"all Rock N Roll is Homosexual." Do you agree?
MM:"It's part of finding yourself, when you can identify with an
idol and find someone you can believe in. It goes beyond sexuality,
it's something you feel in your heart rather than your crotch. When
I was a kid, I didn't have sexual attractions to bands but I wanted
to be with them all the time."
--Trusting Others - Kerrang Magazine May 24, 1997
Q: Do you like the idea of finding a significant other?
MM:"Yeah, there's a lot of worth to that idea. It's great if you
can find someone to share your problems and the things you care
about. It's good to find someone you can trust, but that's hard.
I don't trust myself, so I find it hard to trust others."
--Being Shy - Kerrang Magazine May 24, 1997
Q: Are you still shy around girls?
MM:"I'm a shy person generally, but then a lot of artists and musicians
are. I'm comfortable around girls, but it takes a lot for me to
open up to anyone. I've found that a lot of people are afraid of
me, so I have to try harder to overcome the stigma that's attached
to my image."
--Being a Sex Symbol - Kerrang Magazine May 24, 1997
Q: How do you feel about being a sex symbol?
MM:"I consider myself to be a death sex symbol."
--On America - Alternative Press April 1996
MM:"I think our band is simply America at its truest. Caffeine,
sugar, violence, drugs
--these are all the things we were raised on. And as things start
to get more and more out of hand in America, everyone's trying to
take it all back and give you Nutrasweet and PG-13 and safe sex,
but how can they take it away and try to start over? It's like we're
listening to a cassette tape of the end of the world. I just want
to fast forward it and turn it up louder."
--Powerful - Alternative Press April 1996
MM:"I mean, if our music didn't matter, we wouldn't be sitting here
having this conversation. I think anybody can say what I want to
say. Anybody can look like I look. But if the music isn't something
that people can identify with, it's not going to matter. I think
in the end Marilyn Manson is definitely a band, and we like to write
songs. But at the same time I think things need to be powerful,
need to hit you in the face these days, because there are so many
things in your face, and everyone's so desensitized. You really
need to pummel them to get your point across."
--Getting Into Peoples Minds - Alternative Press April 1996
MM:"I just like to see what happens, I'm interested. It's always
been a bit of a science project for me: I like to find out what
scares people, what excites them, what makes them angry."
--Scapegoat - Alternative Press April 1996
MM:"People love to scapegoat and shove the responsibility off on
somebody else. Parents are always blaming heavy metal and horror
movies for teen suicide, but it's the deprivation of things that
the kids love that drives them to these desperate means, I think.
It's not in the music, it always starts in the family. And anyway,
I've always said if more people killed themselves over heavy metal
that's fine, too. It's just less stupid people in the world."
--Florida - Alternative Press April 1996
MM:"I think that's one of the reasons Marilyn Manson came from Florida.
It's almost to create a balance between the conservatism and the
tourism and the whole phony Mickey Mouse, sunshine bullshit associated
with the state. The dark underside had to surface at some point.
That's what happened."
--Confusing America - Alternative Press April 1996
MM:"Don't get me wrong, because I love paradoxes, but America's
so confusing. Capitalism tells you if you work hard enough you'll
be better than the next guy, but everyone's created equal. So what's
it gonna be? And everyone's so down on child pornography, but then
the big thing, just a year ago, was the waif model, who looked like
a 14-year-old, flat-chested and skinny, dressed like a schoolgirl.
I mean, they send out so many mixed messages it's no wonder there's
Ted Bundys and Jeffrey Dahmers - they don't know what else to do.
It's no wonder everyone wants to kill themselves and kill everyone
else."
--A sensitive person in a shitty world - Alternative Press April
1996
MM:"I think a lot of people may misunderstand what type of person
I might be, I consider myself actually, and this sounds almost funny,
a sensitive person. I think that's why I've constructed such a hard
shell around myself, because things do affect me a lot and I am
pretty fragile on the inside. People think maybe that I hate everything,
that there's nothing in the world that I love. But there are things
that I care about enough that I would give anything for. I think
it's just the fact that I'm hurt by my dissatisfaction with so many
things around me. It's like, I guess, just being offended by how
much everything sucks, that I can't help but to be in a bad mood
all the time."
--Internet - Metal Edge Magazine August Issue
Q: Do you feel that the internet is a useful tool as a way to speak
to the world?
MM:"Absolutley, I think It's achieved further world Domination for
Marilyn Manson!"
--Raising questions not answers - Melody Maker September 20, 1997
MM:"It's the questions that matter, not the answers. It's the experiences
you gain, the people you piss off, the people you entertain, the
arguments you start. The energy of the contradictions, the debate,
not any conclusions you might draw. The truth is only relative to
how many people believe it. If I want to discover the truth, I have
to become more and more famous. I have to be the biggest star. Because
the more people believe in what I have to say, the truer it is."
--Accepting yourself - Melody Maker September 20, 1997
MM:"Look, why do people want to be beautiful? To be loved, accepted,
conquer their fear of exclusion. I finally realized after years
of not being accepted - why not create your own standard and let
other people be accepted or rejected by you? We've reversed the
whole idea of the fascism of beauty and replaced it with our own
standard. We destroyed it to create a new way."
--Definition of fascism - Websters Dictionary
"A Centralized system of Government which exercises absolute control
over industry, and which advocates strong national policies, regulates
all news and suppresses opposition."
--Fascism - Melody Maker September 20, 1997
MM:"No, all there is, is making people think for themselves. That's
it. No answers. You make your choice. Fascism is precisely what
I'm out to destroy but if people see our show and see fascism, it's
in them already, it's a self discovery. And that's what we're here
for, to make people think, enable self-discovery. I ain't here to
condemn or condone. I'm here to go against the grain. I've transformed
my world so that I am my own work of fiction, with no boundaries
to what I can do, no limits. I'm saying anyone can do that. Anyone."
--Many Perspectives - Melody Maker September 20, 1997
Q: Similarly, Marilyn Manson aren't concerned with the truth. You're
here to present a whole mess of alternative perspectives, on morality,
sexuality, stardom and society, that are so contradictory to the
"official", you bring all those concepts crashing down around you?
MM:"That's the most insightful thing anyone has ever spent the time
figuring out about us."
--The Fans - Melody Maker September 20, 1997
Q: But there's nowhere for it to go in your hands other than further
transgressions of convention. More filth, more obscenity.
MM:"Well, that's a really simplistic view of what we're about, and
so long as I stay alive, there's always somewhere for it to go.
Antichrist Superstar was like falling from heaven. Mechanical Animals
is about what happens when you hit the earth, where you go from
there, how much more there is to be discovered. The underlying theme
of all our music is ending judgement, speaking your mind, not caring
about what the next guy thinks. It's about going beyond race, sex,
sexuality. I want as many people, especially the kind of people
who probably won't hear us, to experience our music. Quote-unquote
'normal' people can be treated like shit at our concerts and that
sickens me. That's just creating an opposite version of what we're
trying to destroy. We're not about monoliths and edifices, we're
about exploring the ruins."
--How would you place yourself politically? - Melody Maker September
20, 1997
MM:"I just think I'm open-minded to all perspectives. I've got principles
but I'm still able to listen and argue."
--Making up Minds- Hit Parader October 1997
MM:"People will have to make up their minds. We don't tell them
how to think. People have to find what is going to work for them.
You have to inspire people who want to do something different with
their lives. There's so many people out there who don't realize
that they can have the chance to be something different. If there's
some people out there looking for that chance, then I hope I can
point them in the right direction."
--Kindred spirits in revolution - Hit Parader October 1997
MM:"I believe nothing happens by accident. My fame has happened
for a reason. My fans are my kindred spirits in revolution. If anyone
chooses to ignore the message or the messenger, they do so at their
own risk. Believe it or not, there are many more people out there
that understand what I am trying to do than society wants to admit.
The way I live my life represents a much bigger part of America
than anyone would care to imagine."
--Ride at your Own Risk - The Hard Report
MM:"Marilyn Manson shows are like that sign that you see outside
of an amusement park 'Ride at your own Risk.' That makes you want
to go in, just hearing the name Marilyn Manson is like saying 'Ride
at your own Risk'."
--Parents Should teach their Kids - Politically Incorrect August
13, 1997
MM:"I think if parents spent more time trying to censor rock music
and art and movies and things like that, and they spent the time
teaching their kids to appreciate and understand those things, and
to know what's right and what's wrong, then that's more valuable
time spent."
--Basic Good Person - Politically Incorrect August 13, 1997
MM:"I have basic principles that kind of exist in all religions,
even Christianity. The fundamentals. You know, you don't kill people.
A basic good person. I'm not a Minister of anything. I read both
Bibles. I read the Christian Bible too."
--Burden of Originality - Metal Edge Magazine
MM:"The burden of Originality is one that most people don't want
to accept. They'd rather sit in front of the TV and let that tell
them what they're suppose to like, what they're suppose to buy,
and what they're suppose to laugh at. You have Beavis and Butthead
telling you what music you're allowed to like and not like, and
you've got sitcoms that have canned laughter that lets you know
when to laugh if you're too stupid to know when the joke is. People
are too lazy and too stupid to think for themselves because America
has raised them like that."
--Thinking People - Metal Edge Magazine
MM:"There are so many different levels of things that you can say
to people, and everyone's going to get something really different
out of what I say, but the most I can hope for is for people to
want to find some sort of truth, to be themselves, and to encourage
them to think."
--Being Afraid - Metal Edge Magazine
MM:"So many people are afraid to enjoy life, they're too worried
about thriving off their own suffering. They love to live in fear,
whether it's going to hell, the end of the world, aids, crime, whatever
it's got to be, people love to be afraid. That's why they love to
be afraid. That's why they love to watch the News, they love to
look at car crashes, or they love to listen to Marilyn Manson. People
want their fear, so in return. I give it to them."
--Learn from Everybody - Metal Edge Magazine
MM:"You have something to learn from everybody. It's not to say
that you have to like what those people have done, but at least
respect them in a strange way because they had the motivation and
power to attempt the things they did."
--Important piece of press - Rolling Stone Magazine Front Cover
January 23 1997
MM:"This is going to be an important piece of press. It's going
to be a piece of history that I want people to look at when I'm
gone, and maybe it will help them understand, what I was thinking
at the time when I did this record. There's been so much press and
so many people feeding this sensationalism. But at the same time,
I want people to know that I tried to explain it to them when they
had the chance to listen. It's not going to be an easy task. I pity
anybody who has to spend a day with me."
--The end of Marilyn Manson - Circus Magazine February 18 1997
MM:"There is an end to what I'm doing. I see the end, and I even
talk about it on Antichrist Superstar. I have certain goals and
certain expectations to achieve before I plan on setting down my
Mic-stand."
--Shocking - Metal Edge Magazine
MM:"We've always found that with people being so desensitized, things
have to be really shocking and have to punch you in the face to
get your attention. Then once you've got their attention. You can
say something they might remember."
--Failure - Metal Edge Magazine
MM:"I fear being like everybody I hate, I fear failure, I fear losing
control. I love balancing between chaos and control with everything
I do. I always have a fear of going one way or another, getting
lost in something, or losing everything to get lost in. And I fear
being a completely acceptable sheep in society."
--Hiding things - Metal Edge Magazine
MM:"I speak in reality. I don't try and hide anything from anybody,
and that's the most dangerous thing about our music that parents
are so afraid of. It has nothing to do with any violent implications,
or the sexual implications, it's just the overall picture that I'm
speaking of the world I see, and not hiding anything from anybody."
--Love and Hate - Metal Edge Magazine
MM:"The opposite of love is apathy, and hate is really the same
as love. If you're so consumed by hatred for someone, you might
as well be loving them, because you're thinking about them for the
same amount of time."
--Part of my shock - Spin Magazine March 1997
MM:"People are very surprised to hear me say that a lot of my values
are Christian values. I think that's part of my shock. I just don't
like the way that Christianity combined with the influence of Television
has bred a nation of weakness."
--Starting over - CMJ January 1996
MM:"In explaining things to people, I've come to terms with the
fact that a lot of my goals are very Christian in the end. Because
people no longer appreciate the taboos of sex, drugs, and rock &
roll. I have to take them as far as they've ever been taken before,
on a grand scale, in order for the world to realize we have to start
over. It's very much like the mythology of the bible, the end of
the world, and the antichrist and people are made to make a choice
about their faith. I think certain elements of that are correct."
--Flat World - Raygun Magazine Dec/January 1998
MM:"Reality is just what's popular. At one point, the world was
flat, and we were all convinced of that, because that was what was
popular. Right now, in America, everyone is convinced that this
is One Nation Under God. Its on the Dollar Bill. And there's been
so many people that tried to crack that open. An Antichrist is someone
who is just fighting for man. Even in the Bible, the word Antichrist
never really defined some villain who was going to come at the end
of the world and destroy everyone. The word was used to describe
someone who was opposed to Jesus in his day. It was a collective
Disbelief in God."
--Stages of Progress - Houston Chronicle April 4, 1998
MM:"I started from an innocent point of view, went into hating everything.
I left the regular world. I became desensitized, uncaring, thinking
that nothing mattered. That was the final goal: I had to do that
to become sane or whole. Which is where I am now, kinda at the beginning
again."
--Raising Conversations - Houston Chronicle April 4, 1998
MM:"Once I assumed the role as a villain, the whole thing stopped
being about music. I had started out just exploring something, and
pretty soon it was having this effect in politics and culture. It
raised conversations in families and churches."
--Example - Houston Chronicle April 4, 1998
MM:"If I can be an example at all, it's in the direction of raising
kids with intelligence."
--Final Thrill - Rolling Stone Magazine January 23 1997
MM:"Every once in a while, I'll step out onto the balcony and think
about jumping. I'll think, is this the final thrill, because I'm
numb to everything else. But I feel I have more to accomplish. I
think I have a lot more in store that people won't really expect."
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