Revision as of 11:31, 26 April 2012

Independent touring
Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids perform live for the first time. Left to right: Olivia Newton Bundy, Zsa Zsa Speck, Marilyn Manson and Daisy Berkowitz took the stage at Churchill's Hideaway in Fort Lauderdale.
Tour by Marilyn Manson
Start date	April 28, 1990
End date	June 4, 1994
Shows	98 verified
Marilyn Manson tour chronology
	Independent touring (1990–1994)	Support for Nine Inch Nails' Self Destruct Tour (1994)

Before embarking on tours under the wing of a major label, Marilyn Manson spent several years performing independently in various Florida locations including Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Miami Beach, Hallandale and Davie; only three shows are known to have been played outside Florida between April 28, 1990 and June 4, 1994. The band was allegedly payed over $300 more than the normal rate for gigs to perform at the Reunion Room. This was due to Manson's "lesson number one in music-industry manipulation: If you act like a rock star, you will be treated like one."^[1] The group billed themselves until August 1992 as Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids, after which the "Spooky Kids" moniker was dropped.

Lineup

• Marilyn Manson – vocals
• Daisy Berkowitz – guitar
• Olivia Newton Bundy – bass (April 28, 1990–June 1, 1990)
• Gidget Gein – bass (June 14, 1990–December 31, 1993)
• Twiggy Ramirez – bass (December 31, 1993–conclusion)
• Zsa Zsa Speck – keyboard (April 28, 1990–June 1, 1990)
• Madonna Wayne Gacy – keyboard (June 14, 1990–conclusion)
• Yamaha RX-8 drum machine – drums (April 28, 1990–August 5, 1991)
• Sara Lee Lucas – drums (August 11, 1991–conclusion)

After the band's fourth show,^[2] which Manson has described as the band's "first real performance," keyboardist Perry Pandrea (Speck) and bassist Brian Tutunick (Bundy) were fired from Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids. For the next performance they were replaced by Stephen Bier (Gacy), who hadn't yet attained a keyboard so instead played with toy soldiers on stage,^[1] and Gein. Interpol's Sam Fogarino was once offered a position in the band, however he declined, much to his father's disappointment.^[3] Fogarino later arranged a remix of "If I Was Your Vampire" in 2007.

Songs

During the first two years of activity, Marilyn Manson primarily recorded the songs they were known to perform at Florida venues, some which would never be performed live again once the band found mainstream success. Popular performances included "Cake and Sodomy", "Learning to Swim", "White Knuckles", "Suicide Snowman", "Lunchbox", "Dope Hat", "My Monkey" and "Misery Machine". During production of the band's major label debut, Portrait of an American Family, Marilyn Manson's live setlist began to incorporate songs from their later demo cassettes and what would become their 1994 studio album, occasionally sampling Spooky Kids hotline voicemails at the beginning and conclusion of shows. Later setlists added "Get Your Gunn", "Filth", "Sweet Tooth", "Wrapped in Plastic", "Choklit Factory", "Thrift" and "Dune Buggy".

Stage antics

During the Spooky Kids era, girls covered in fake blood and animal masks were known to share stages with the band. Manson describes in The Long Hard Road Out of Hell a night where one woman ironed a Nazi flag onstage.^[1] Cages and heads of dolls were also strewn across stages. At the band's July 11, 1990 performance, the first 10 people who attended the show with an X across their forehead received a limited Marilyn Manson milk chocolate bar.

Tour dates

There are a series of discrepancies with some tour dates listed online. Gein explains in the unauthorized documentary Demystifying the Devil that when he joined the band, he was with them for a few weeks before their performance on July 4, 1990.^[4] Some sources state that Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids' first live performance was an unlisted date in 1989, and that their second show took place in November of the same year. These sources also include nine dates between their purported second show in 1989 and the July 4, 1990 show which Gein claimed to be one of his first live shows with the band. As the band did not play shows without a bassist, these mysterious nine dates following bassist Tutunick's termination and the live induction of Gein cannot exist. Other sources state that Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids' first live performance was on April 28, 1990, which supports Gein's account, because the second show and last with Pandrea and Tutunick took place only weeks before the show on July 4, 1990.

The exact location of the band's July 4, 1990 performance is uncertain, although Gein mentioned that it took place at the back of a trailer in a local trailer park.^[4] Alternatively, former guitarist Scott Putesky (Berkowitz) claimed the performance took place at Club Nu in Miami Beach, Florida, and was the first for both Gein and Bier,^[5] however each of these suggestions are disputable.

References

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