Editing Interview:2003/05 Revolver
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'''Survival of the Filthiest''' | '''Survival of the Filthiest''' | ||
| − | + | Revived by his appearance in “Bowling For Columbine” and a triumphant showing at the 2001 Ozzfest, Marilyn Manson makes his return from The Valley of Death with “The Golden Age of Grotesque”. | |
Story by Dan Epstein | Story by Dan Epstein | ||
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“If I had a dime for every person who´s come up to me in the past couple months and said, ‘I really liked you in that movie,´ I could pay for all my lawsuits right now.” Manson says, laughing. “I have to thank it, because it´s been very responsible for changing the climate of everything, particularly the music industry, towards Marilyn Manson as a musical entity. People are not looking at me in the same way they did before, and it´s not from some cheap, sellout bullshit of me saying, ‘Hey, guys! It´s all just an act! I don´t really mean it…´ It´s not that at all. It´s them realizing, ‘This guy is an artist. He´s saying and doing what he wants, and he´s saying the same things we want to say.´” | “If I had a dime for every person who´s come up to me in the past couple months and said, ‘I really liked you in that movie,´ I could pay for all my lawsuits right now.” Manson says, laughing. “I have to thank it, because it´s been very responsible for changing the climate of everything, particularly the music industry, towards Marilyn Manson as a musical entity. People are not looking at me in the same way they did before, and it´s not from some cheap, sellout bullshit of me saying, ‘Hey, guys! It´s all just an act! I don´t really mean it…´ It´s not that at all. It´s them realizing, ‘This guy is an artist. He´s saying and doing what he wants, and he´s saying the same things we want to say.´” | ||
| − | If anything, | + | If anything, The Golden Age of Grotesque – Manson´s latest album, which hits stores on April Fool´s Day – should further capitalize on this new level of appreciation for all things Manson. Not only is Golden Age Manson´s best record to date, it´s also his most accessible. Sure, tracks like “Slut Garden,” “(S)Ain´t,” and “ParaNoir” positively drop with the pungent aroma of sex and decadence so familiar to Manson fans, but they´re also front-loaded with the sort of visceral, impossible-to-miss hooks that should make everyone from your grandma to your mullet-headed cousin want to punch the air in pure rock ecstasy. |
| − | Listening to | + | Listening to “mOb Scene”´s naked cheer-leader chant of “Be obscene! Be-be obscene, baby!,” the head-on glam rock-jump blues collision of “Dolldagga Buzz Buzz Ziggety-Zag,” or the woozy cabaret dementia of the title cut, you just have to laugh: It´s all so absurd, so gloriously over the top, so totally fucking entertaining. Which, according to Manson, is exactly the point. |
“I´m not afraid to say I´m an entertainer,” he says, speaking in a relaxed and thoughtful manner. “I think I´ve struggled with that over the years, because in some ways I thought that that meant I wasn´t an artist. But making people entertained is the greatest art that there is, and I wanted to create a record that is the most accessible, commercial, easy-to-like album, with out doing anything that I found compromising to my tastes, I have no doubt that this will reach a lot of people that my other records haven´t. And that doesn´t means it´s being better or worse than any of those records, it just means that I was lucky enough to benefit from a lot of possibly terrible experiences and use them to make something I think the world need.” | “I´m not afraid to say I´m an entertainer,” he says, speaking in a relaxed and thoughtful manner. “I think I´ve struggled with that over the years, because in some ways I thought that that meant I wasn´t an artist. But making people entertained is the greatest art that there is, and I wanted to create a record that is the most accessible, commercial, easy-to-like album, with out doing anything that I found compromising to my tastes, I have no doubt that this will reach a lot of people that my other records haven´t. And that doesn´t means it´s being better or worse than any of those records, it just means that I was lucky enough to benefit from a lot of possibly terrible experiences and use them to make something I think the world need.” | ||
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Then came Ozzfest 2001. Performing alongside such radio-friendly acts as Linkin Park, Crazy Town, and Papa Roach, Marilyn Manson stuck out like an erection in a convent. This wasn´t a band that had come to play its TRL-approved hits and maybe move a few more units; this was a band that was channeling years of built-up stress, frustration, and anger into one of the most incendiary live spectacles in recent memory. “People recognized the fact that Marilyn Manson as a band – and me as someone who was making a comeback from an almost career-destroying witch hunt of Columbine – did not take any shit from anybody, and kicked the living Christ out of everyone on that tour,” Manson proudly recalls. | Then came Ozzfest 2001. Performing alongside such radio-friendly acts as Linkin Park, Crazy Town, and Papa Roach, Marilyn Manson stuck out like an erection in a convent. This wasn´t a band that had come to play its TRL-approved hits and maybe move a few more units; this was a band that was channeling years of built-up stress, frustration, and anger into one of the most incendiary live spectacles in recent memory. “People recognized the fact that Marilyn Manson as a band – and me as someone who was making a comeback from an almost career-destroying witch hunt of Columbine – did not take any shit from anybody, and kicked the living Christ out of everyone on that tour,” Manson proudly recalls. | ||
| − | “We showed everybody what it was about, and I felt great about that – that made me feel like, ‘You know what? If people didn´t understand what I did on | + | “We showed everybody what it was about, and I felt great about that – that made me feel like, ‘You know what? If people didn´t understand what I did on Holy Wood, it´s okay, because I tried to make something that was dark and complicated, and it´s not really important to me if everyone understood it.´ That record was about exorcising demons for me. It was about survival, it was about not blowing my brains out, and it was about not quitting and hiding in a closet. It was about being a survivor. It was something I had to do. |
| − | “Ozzfest gave me the courage and the confidence to go forward with something new. I knew that I had closed thee door and finished what I was trying to say with [1996´s] | + | “Ozzfest gave me the courage and the confidence to go forward with something new. I knew that I had closed thee door and finished what I was trying to say with [1996´s] Antichrist Superstar, [1998´s] Mechanical Animals, and Holy Wood. So there was a bit of freedom there, a clean slate. But there was a catch: I had a best friend and longtime collaborator who wasn´t feeling the same way.” |
The friend and collaborator he refers to is Twiggy Ramirez, Manson´s bassist and running buddy since the band´s early days. Ramirez left the Manson family in early 2002; Manson remains publicly vague about the specifics of Twiggy´s departure, but it seems pretty clear that it amounted to the usual “artistic differences.” | The friend and collaborator he refers to is Twiggy Ramirez, Manson´s bassist and running buddy since the band´s early days. Ramirez left the Manson family in early 2002; Manson remains publicly vague about the specifics of Twiggy´s departure, but it seems pretty clear that it amounted to the usual “artistic differences.” | ||
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“It´s very unfortunate that I couldn´t keep my original band together the way it was,” says the singer. “But at the same time, it´s never been a band in that sense. It´s always been about keeping people together with me that believe in what I want to do. And I didn´t want anything that was going to be created to suffer from any sort of doubt, fear, lack of inspiration, or lack of courage. So I moved forward, made a big change. It was like getting a blood transfusion for the band, and I think people will hear that on the record.” | “It´s very unfortunate that I couldn´t keep my original band together the way it was,” says the singer. “But at the same time, it´s never been a band in that sense. It´s always been about keeping people together with me that believe in what I want to do. And I didn´t want anything that was going to be created to suffer from any sort of doubt, fear, lack of inspiration, or lack of courage. So I moved forward, made a big change. It was like getting a blood transfusion for the band, and I think people will hear that on the record.” | ||
| − | The band (which includes drummer | + | The band (which includes drummer Ginger Fish, keyboardist M.W. Gacy, and guitarist John 5) didn´t need to look far for Twiggy´s replacement. Tim Skold, formerly of industrial rockers KMFDM, was already slated to produce The Golden Age of Grotesque, and he slipped into the bass slot easily. (Skold had also previously collaborated with Manson on a cover of Soft Cell´s “Tainted Love” for the Not Another Teen Movie soundtrack). With Skold installed in the band, material for The Golden Age of Grotesque came together quickly and plentifully, beginning with the thunderous and self-explanatory “This Is the New Shit.” The album´s sound is totally contemporary, but its essence is rooted in a variety of radical artistic movements from the late 19th and early 20th centuries: The crowd-pleasing grotesqueries of Weimar-era cabaret, Parisian burlesque, and American vaudeville; the flamboyant wit of Dandyism; the provocative imagery of Surrealism; and, most of all, the childlike absurdity of Dada. |
“A lot of the album was inspired by the idea of Dada, which was the complete anti-art aesthetic of not conforming to what people expected,” Manson explains. “It´s very juvenile – sometimes that´s what´s bad about it, and sometimes that´s what´s good about it. But during the process of the record, we did things purely for our own amusement, and purely to fuck with people.” For The Golden Age of Grotesque, Manson´s Dadaist approach included arming a blindfolded John 5 with unfamiliar, out-of-tune guitars to create the unhinged solo on “Para-Noir,” and presenting a record company A&R man with the record´s “new single,” which turned out to be a 30-minutes, digitally jumbled monologue. | “A lot of the album was inspired by the idea of Dada, which was the complete anti-art aesthetic of not conforming to what people expected,” Manson explains. “It´s very juvenile – sometimes that´s what´s bad about it, and sometimes that´s what´s good about it. But during the process of the record, we did things purely for our own amusement, and purely to fuck with people.” For The Golden Age of Grotesque, Manson´s Dadaist approach included arming a blindfolded John 5 with unfamiliar, out-of-tune guitars to create the unhinged solo on “Para-Noir,” and presenting a record company A&R man with the record´s “new single,” which turned out to be a 30-minutes, digitally jumbled monologue. | ||
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“I don´t ever want people to think that I rely on drugs or alcohol, or any sort of depressant or stimulant to be inspired as an artist. I just find that sometimes it´s a lubricant, to make the coitus not be interruptus,” He laughs. “And just as much as I was in 10th grade, I´m the kid that likes to do the thing that they´re not allowed to do. And so of course absinthe is going to appeal to me. It´s not to be cool or be shocking – it´s just a thrill. And that kind of ties in with the record; This record, to me, is kind of like shoplifting, or like fucking some dirty whore that you just met without a rubber. It´s the exhilaration and fear of, ‘Shit, I might have just ruined my whole life!´ or “I´m gonna be in jail!´ or whatever it is, put into an artistic context.” | “I don´t ever want people to think that I rely on drugs or alcohol, or any sort of depressant or stimulant to be inspired as an artist. I just find that sometimes it´s a lubricant, to make the coitus not be interruptus,” He laughs. “And just as much as I was in 10th grade, I´m the kid that likes to do the thing that they´re not allowed to do. And so of course absinthe is going to appeal to me. It´s not to be cool or be shocking – it´s just a thrill. And that kind of ties in with the record; This record, to me, is kind of like shoplifting, or like fucking some dirty whore that you just met without a rubber. It´s the exhilaration and fear of, ‘Shit, I might have just ruined my whole life!´ or “I´m gonna be in jail!´ or whatever it is, put into an artistic context.” | ||
| − | But thought the “Green Faerie” of absinthe perches gaily upon Manson´s shoulder, she´s not the main woman in his life. That distinction belongs to the gorgeous fetish model and burlesque performer | + | But thought the “Green Faerie” of absinthe perches gaily upon Manson´s shoulder, she´s not the main woman in his life. That distinction belongs to the gorgeous fetish model and burlesque performer Dita Von Teese, who Manson describes as ”a really positive influence on me.” The first time he saw Dita, he says; he was awestruck by her appearance. “I thought, She looks like she stepped out of a cartoon, or a pinup, or the Playboy that I snuck out of my grandpa´s house when I was a child. Ironically enough, she was recently was in Playboy, and it was like everything had come full circle,” He laughs. “You know, I can´t go into the bathroom and masturbate to the Playboy when my girlfriend´s on the cover and she´s waiting in the bedroom. So that´s very odd… |
“We´re so alike in the way that we believe in what we do. I mean, she is so independent and so dedicated to what she does; she makes all her own things and is so particular about her performance. She was that same sense of humor as me. And then, at the same time, we´re completely different. It´s a once-in-a-lifetime-type relationship. I guess, for once, I´m happy I that part of my life. There´s always going to be something that tortures you, no matter what kind of success you obtain, but I feel like I have someone there that I can count on to stick by me, and that´s important for anybody.” | “We´re so alike in the way that we believe in what we do. I mean, she is so independent and so dedicated to what she does; she makes all her own things and is so particular about her performance. She was that same sense of humor as me. And then, at the same time, we´re completely different. It´s a once-in-a-lifetime-type relationship. I guess, for once, I´m happy I that part of my life. There´s always going to be something that tortures you, no matter what kind of success you obtain, but I feel like I have someone there that I can count on to stick by me, and that´s important for anybody.” | ||
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“This is where I begin. It´s my prime; I haven´t started yet. I just figured out how to unzip my zipper,” He smiles. “So get ready to suck my dick. It´s on!” | “This is where I begin. It´s my prime; I haven´t started yet. I just figured out how to unzip my zipper,” He smiles. “So get ready to suck my dick. It´s on!” | ||
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