Interview:2003/04/22 Rock Show

Marilyn Manson Radio 1 BBC Interview
Interview with Marilyn Manson
Date	April 22, 2003
Source	The Radio 1 Rock Show BBC UK
Interviewer	Mary Anne Hobbs

Mary Anne Hobbs: Hi, I'm Mary Anne Hobbs, Marilyn Manson's in the studio here so we apologise for any and every offense we cause in the next 2 hours.

"The Horrible People" by Marilyn Manson is played

Official track listing here.

Male narrator: "The Radio 1 Rock Show, brought to you by Marilyn Manson and Mary Anne Hobbs."

"Minerva" by The Deftones is played

Mary Anne Hobbs: It's The Deftones with new single "Minerva" which is due out May 12th and you can see the band playing just before Marilyn Manson at the Download Festival on the 31st of May at Donington Park. And ahead of that, of course, Marilyn Manson in 1997 (with) Danny Saber's remix of "The Beautiful People," retitled of course "The Horrible People." Anyway it's Mary Anne Hobbs, this is the Radio 1 Rock Show and tonight I have a one night stand with the God of Grotesque, the Arch Dandy himself, he's here with us for the entire 2 hour duration of the programme and I'm absolutely delighted to have him here with us - Marilyn Manson.
Marilyn Manson: Hello, it's good to be back here. That was quite a build up you gave.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha. Do you think you deserve it?
Marilyn Manson: Should I have a litany of profanity now? (Manson mumbles vague, muffled profanities)
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha.
Marilyn Manson: After your disclaimer I want to curse like the father in "(A) Christmas Story."
Mary Anne Hobbs: You're an absolute disgrace, you know that? The last time we saw you was at the Kerrang! Awards in 2001. You'd just won Best Album for "Holy Wood" and you referred to us as 'The Cock Show' if memory serves me correctly.
Marilyn Manson: I was possessed. Couldn't help myself.
Mary Anne Hobbs: That was also actually the first time we met Dita, as I recall.
Marilyn Manson: That's right, that's right.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, beautiful girl.
Marilyn Manson: She's not bad. She's not - she's a little easy on the eye, as they say.
Mary Anne Hobbs: I see you're pimping her out to the music industry at large and media scum like us these days as well.
Marilyn Manson: Uh, I'm not pimping her. She's very much in charge of her own career. We don't mix the two together.
Mary Anne Hobbs: If you were listening to the programme last week you'll have heard me mention the extraordinary old-style striptease she did at Marilyn Manson's album launch party last week and we'll go on to talk about that a little bit later on, and Dita at large I think would be nice. But tonight what we're going to do - well, any number of things really. We have the new single "mOBSCENE" to play. Also several album tracks I believe.
Marilyn Manson: Yes. Well we might as well let people hear it so they know what they're in store for.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah.
Marilyn Manson: Nothing but trouble.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha. Also we got truckloads of e-mails from you mob last week and we'll do our level best to put the most interesting one, as many as we can, to Marilyn as the programme unfolds. You're also going to be choosing some music for us tonight, aren't you?
Marilyn Manson: Yes. I see you've got a strange selection here.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha. You wanted to begin with a Bowie track.
Marilyn Manson: Yeah, "Quicksand." I think it's one that I've noticed my fans have also seen the similarity in the era of his interest in music. The lyrics reflect a mixture of theories - Hollywood, late 20's Berlin. So this track we actually did an acoustic cover of when we were just rehearsing for the album. We tended to do little things like that, maybe it'll end up - being to hear that on some b-side or something in the near future. I like this song though - "Quicksand."
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok, let's hear it.

"Quicksand" by David Bowie is played

Marilyn Manson: Quick put your pants back on - oh, we're on air. You're always being dirty when I'm around.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Easy tiger. Crikey, this is only the second link.
Marilyn Manson: I've got my glove off, I'll smack your ass with it.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha.
Marilyn Manson: That was - I sound like a DJ now - that was "Quicksand," one of my favourite songs. Actually we were talking about the demo version that appears on the acoustic guitar version of it, which I kind of like. I like a little bit of both of them, the one that had all the orchestration in it. But the lyrics are (Bowie's) very best one's I think.
Mary Anne Hobbs: I always love to hear you talking about records which is why it's so interesting that we have you here to do that very thing for the next couple of hours because you're so black and white about what you like. I read this fantastic quote recently in an issue of The Face magazine I think that said you'd rather put a sparkler in your urethra than listen to a Limp Bizkit record.
Marilyn Manson: Well, you should probably start by saying that people asked me if I had a tiff with Fred Durst, which I never have. I met him and he was actually a nice guy and he was very pleasant with me, so it's hard to dislike something. But obviously that was a sarcastic statement because I have listened to a Limp Bizkit record and I have put a sparkler in my urethra and if I had to pick between the two I'd stay with the sparkler.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Haha. Obviously at this juncture we should point out that you shouldn't probably try this at home.
Marilyn Manson: Listening to Limp Bizkit or the sparkler?
Mary Anne Hobbs: Haha. Just the sparkler bit. With Limp Bizkit, I guess you're free to make your own judgment.
Marilyn Manson: Maybe this new record of theirs will be the proper one to change my opinion. That's the challenge to them, not that (??) about it.
Mary Anne Hobbs: They're on the bill at Download Festival so maybe you could stick around and go and have a look at what they're up to.
Marilyn Manson: I just checked my schedule and it's full.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ah, ok. Haha. Well obviously as well as other people's music we're going to talk to you tonight about the new album "The Golden Age Of Grotesque." We'll do that very shortly but first another track from you. You want to play Queens Of The Stone Age.
Marilyn Manson: Yes. You know, guys that I often run into in Los Angeles. When my former bandmate Twiggy - who now just goes by the name Jeordie - left the band when we split up I thought there was a good chance he'd join Queens Of The Stone Age which I thought would have been a really good gig for him because he was more interested in going in that type of direction and we were clearly going in the direction of "The Golden Age Of Grotesque," so we didn't want to ruin our friendship. We're all friends with those guys but it didn't work out unfortunately.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hmmm, ok.
Marilyn Manson: But Queens Of The Stone Age still - I can still listen to them.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Let's hear them. Well a quick sort of BBC interlude in-between now.

An advert for a Manchester music festival is played

Announcer guy: "For one night only the Radio 1 Rock Show is brought to you by Marilyn Manson and Mary Anne Hobbs."

"The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret" by Queens Of The Stone Age is played

Marilyn Manson: Oh, it's me. Ok. I didn't know, you know, every time this song goes off (??) goes have your tops off.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahahaha.
Marilyn Manson: I'm a gentleman here. Stop doing it (??) people listening here knew.
Mary Anne Hobbs: You know, it's such a shame sometimes -
Marilyn Manson: It's "The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret" and I can't keep one.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah -
Marilyn Manson: I've given you up.
Mary Anne Hobbs: I just think sometimes, much as I'm completely in love with radio, there are moments when you feel this should be on television, you know, and then people could see for themselves. Anyway, the new album "The Golden Age Of Grotesque."
Marilyn Manson: Even more so than an album. "The Golden Age Of Grotesque" was - the title was really meant to reflect the period, for me, that it is an age, it's an era of expressionism. I've created all this artwork with Gottfried Helnwein and we've created all these performance ideas and - like the thing I did at the Grotesk Burlesk when I played with the piano accompaniment with the two girls. Not being - not being limited to containing my entire vision into just a CD. The CD is definitely there but I want it to be more than that. I want people to come along for the whole ride.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Let's kind of go back a little bit. Let's kind of spool back to the start of the process because, I mean, you began with almost a completely clean slate didn't you after the, you know, after the finish of the trilogy?
Marilyn Manson: Yes, and it was for me like conquering something. Finishing that period of my life and proving to people I was a survivor, that I wasn't going to be silenced or destroyed for things like Columbine and even my statement in "Bowling For Columbine" (the) Michael Moore film I think marked symbolically the end of that era and "The Golden Age Of Grotesque" was what you build when something's been destroyed or conquered. It's an amusement park for me. It's like when Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse. There's a time now to challenge all new things, including myself. We started making the album, just like when you make any record, you disregard the rules that music has for you because you want to make something that's your own but when you have a certain style that you develop then you have you own rules and I wanted break those. I wanted to sing in a different cadence, pitch, tempo just take things from my imagination like making a song that sounds like a burning piano or saying to the band I want a song that sounds like a stampeding elephant. These are the directives that I gave and collaborating with Tim Skold - he brought a new attitude to the band that really brought everyone together - the bands a really powerful unit right now
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, I mean, you've spoken about the record to us on the telephone just a couple of months ago and also to the British press and there seems to be kind of like a key influence that keeps cropping up, a key reference and that's 'burlesque.' But - I'm wondering if you can tell us exactly what that means in - on Marilyn Manson's own terms if you like.
Marilyn Manson: Well there's cabaret, there's burlesque, there's vaudeville, there's all sorts of versions from American/French/German/British - I think the first burlesque came from London in fact - but it's just taking the spirit of those things, you know, if you take something literally then you'd be going backwards. So I wanted to take the attitude that I saw or felt from music, cinema and writing and Berlin in the late 20's when expressionism was created and artists were been called 'degenerate' and been ostracised, been punished, some of them, you know, their lives been threatened. I can see a strong parallel for me with that.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Absolutely.
Marilyn Manson: And now that we're at war, that's when people found the best thing in cabarets and vaudeville houses. It was an escape, you know, to take your mind off a world you can't control instead creating a world you can't control.
Mary Anne Hobbs: It's an incredibly sort of, well, strange move for any artist to make though isn't it at this juncture of your career to kind of put - put an enforced separation between yourself and almost your entire previous cache of work, if you like.
Marilyn Manson: Sort of. I think I tried to do that with every record but with this one it was - it wasn't musically necessarily forsaking everything I've done in the past - I think we build of it. I think if you listen to the record then (think) it doesn't sound like Marilyn Manson - it clearly sounds like me more than ever I think. I tapped into parts of my personality that I was unable to really harness before and I want people to feel like they know me after they listen to this record much more than I've done in the past. It's been a challenge to me to really put my personality - the broader spectrum of my sarcasm to the bitterness and everything in between
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok, great stuff. Ok, I'm going to play you a record now. This is one of our favourite young bands - British bands - on the Radio 1 Rock Show, they're also going to be performing at Download. This band is called Sikth and the track is "Hold My Finger," see what you make of this.

"Hold My Finger" by Sikth is played

Mary Anne Hobbs: That's Sikth, the track is titled "Hold My Finger" and that's most definitely one of the bands that you should see at the Download Festival Marilyn.
Marilyn Manson: Ok.
Mary Anne Hobbs: One of our favourites.
Marilyn Manson: I'll listen to you this time.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. I have to say I once described their records as sounding like an episode of "The League Of Gentlemen" squashed into 3 minutes. That brings me quite neatly around to, well, the subject of a gentleman called Papa Lazarou. Have you heard of Papa Lazarou? He's written about a great deal in Kerrang! magazine.
Marilyn Manson: I saw him on - in some magazine recently.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, ok. I think you really need to see this. (Rustling can be heard) This is a DVD of "The League Of Gentlemen."
Marilyn Manson: It's a good show?
Mary Anne Hobbs: Oh yeah.
Marilyn Manson: Ok.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Inside that you will find a character named Papa Lazarou.
Marilyn Manson: He's got the vaudeville.
Mary Anne Hobbs: He's sort of the most twisted and perverted ringmaster, circus ringmaster, of all time. He enjoys the same style of makeup as you. You really need to see that.
Marilyn Manson: Wonderful. All right then.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Don't you think so Phil (Alexander, editor-in-chief of Kerrang! magazine)?
Phil Alexander: Absolutely, yeah. He did remind me - it was very strange when I saw those new photos of you and stuff with the black face paint. I thought, my god he's been watching "The League Of Gentlemen." Little did we know that you had no idea what that all about.
Marilyn Manson: Well, that was also Gottfried Helnwein's. He's quite well known for, I think in the early 70's he did a lot of portraits with that type of makeup on and when we were talking about collaborating and what sort of American icons we wanted to touch on, you know, it was his suggestion. So he deserves half the credit formally (for my) bad behaviour.
Phil Alexander: Your transformation, in a number of ways.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. Ok Phil, I doubt you've got any news -
Phil Alexander: No!
Mary Anne Hobbs: - (??) at all.
Phil Alexander: No, there's never any news, just loads of spurious gossip and some ridiculousness.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, but let me just, you know, for the sake of tradition I'll play your jingle, shall I?
Phil Alexander: Ah, come on.
Mary Anne Hobbs: All right then, hang on.

Announcer guy: "Editor on the Edge."

Mary Anne Hobbs: Phil Alexander, hahaha.
Phil Alexander: Haha, it's that time again.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Haha, it certainly is. But we begin on rather a depressing note, don't we?
Phil Alexander: Well, I mean, last week we talked about Glassjaw having to blow out the whole of their UK tour due to Daryl, their singer, suffering a relapse from Crohn's disease. Obviously what we didn't know at the time when we were broadcasting on Tuesday, we didn't know what was actually going on in terms of that band. But Daryl, at that moment in time, was actually busy writing us a letter just saying how apologetic he was about the whole situation and he does say in his note that he's absolutely devastated on so many levels. But it does also say, "Please expect Glassjaw to return as soon as my health and the touring schedule allow" which actually suggests that the band, you know, will continue despite his ongoing illness and, you know, as everybody who listens to this knows he's suffering from Crohn's disease, which is not fatal but is obviously -
Marilyn Manson: I have a friend who has that.
Phil Alexander: Oh, really?
Marilyn Manson: It's very unpleasant.
Phil Alexander: It is unpleasant and obviously from the Glassjaw perspective you know it's the third time they've had to cancel shows in the UK because he's had a relapse and everything. I think a lot of people don't really know -
Marilyn Manson: It's not something really to be made fun of, but it is a disease that makes you shit yourself.
Phil Alexander: Quite literally, yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah.
Marilyn Manson: My friend has a hard time with it.
Phil Alexander: Yeah, it's a terrible thing and obviously in terms of Daryl's condition it just seems to - we're not really sure. I mean, we haven't spoken to him personally to discuss whether the traveling kind of exacerbates the whole thing. But it seems to be something that every time he gets here - apparently he's fine in the States and everything - but as soon as he gets here all of a sudden, you know. I mean, this time they played four shows and obviously he did a session with you guys.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, which was wonderful, yeah.
Phil Alexander: Yeah, and Daryl mentions that as well in his note, you know, he says, "Despite the fact that it's being a hard time, the session was one of the high points."
Mary Anne Hobbs: We have plans to call him as well, I think we're going to that possibly on next week's programme. We'll speak to him and just, you know, get it from the man himself. But you have to agonize for the poor dude really, because you'd think here is a band that's gaining so much momentum, particularly in the UK, at this time and every single time, you know, he sets foot on British soil, you know, he has another relapse. It's terrible really.
Phil Alexander: Apparently, I mean, the band are back in New York now so I guess maybe you could give them a call next week and find out exactly how he's doing and where they're at and that kind of stuff, you know.
Mary Anne Hobbs: We were talking earlier to Marilyn about our mutual adoration of Josh Homme and I believe you've got a little bit of information about him.
Phil Alexander: He's a busy man isn't he? He's always got his fingers in a number of different pies, to be fair. He's always doing something, you know. He's -
Marilyn Manson: I have my fingers in some pies sometimes too, but not as many as him.
Phil Alexander: Hahaha. He's kind of turned into a side-project king to be honest with you. That's something, I have to say, you've never really done too much of that. You've never being involved in loads of side-projects.
Marilyn Manson: No. I've now involved myself in a bunch of other things but they're all extension of what I do. I think, for me, a side project would indicate that I'm not satisfied in my current confines or what I do so I don't have any reason for that. I would be into maybe doing one of his "Desert Sessions" at some point -
Phil Alexander: Yeah, I mean -
Marilyn Manson: - because he mentioned it.
Phil Alexander: I asked him why, you know, he spent so much time doing different things and obviously him and Nick sort of run around, you know, being in a million bands at different times and he just said two things. He said first of all you get to make some money, haha, and secondly you also get to actually find out how good other people are and just steal their ideas, which I thought was very honest of Josh, to be honest with you really. But the Josh news that we have to impart is just the fact that he's actually been recording with a band that - the fantastically named Eagles Of Death Metal and he's just finished recording their album. He describes it as, "An album full of stripper drum beats, blue-grass slide guitar and vocals that sound like the singer from Canned Heat."
Mary Anne Hobbs: Good lord.
Phil Alexander: Which is either a work of genius or absolute rubbish, I'm not quite sure having not heard it, you know. Josh is actually putting that out on his own label Rekords Rekords we believe sometime in the not too distant future. But to be really honest with you when he says he's finished making the album I'm not entirely sure that this isn't him making a kind of - a record of his own in a way. I think - I remember vaguely him mentioning that he was - he was kind of involved in this project more than people thought.
Marilyn Manson: I have no inside information on that.
Phil Alexander: Well that's not much use is it? Hahaha. Let's move on. I was hoping -
Marilyn Manson: Probably drugs were involved, I can assure you of that.
Phil Alexander: Hahaha. Well, some sort of aspirin maybe. Maybe he had a headache during the recording.
Marilyn Manson: Of course.
Phil Alexander: We can't discuss things like that on a family show like this one.
Marilyn Manson: Yeah, I know, well, you know. That's what doctors are for and I am a doctor.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok Phil. Let's play this track. I'm really glad that you brought this in actually. We did play it on the programme last week. There was some debate about the name of this group -
Mary Anne Hobbs: umodo -
Phil Alexander: Mary Anne Hobbs: umodo, yeah -
Mary Anne Hobbs: - in the end.
Phil Alexander: Mary Anne Hobbs: umodo's the name of the band.
Mary Anne Hobbs: A very heavy 'huh' in the middle.
Phil Alexander: Well, you can say the heavy 'huh' if you want, I prefer just
Mary Anne Hobbs: umodo, yeah.
Mary Anne Hobbs: All right.
Phil Alexander: It's quite straightforward, haha. They're a good little band. They've sent us demos over the past couple of years really. This is from a brand new sort of mini-album and as you said you played it last week. I think it's pretty good, it's pretty different and it has quite a bit going for it so good luck to them and I thought we'd just play it again. It's a track called "Angels."

"Angels" by Mahumodo is played

Mary Anne Hobbs: Phil Alexander's choice on the Radio 1 Rock Show this evening. The band Mahumodo and that track is "Angels" and we believe it could possibly be featured on an EP called "Waves" which is available on Shells Music. Anyway, it's Mary Anne Hobbs, you're listening to the Radio 1 Rock Show. Phil Alexander is with me, as is traditional, my 'Editor on the Edge' but we also have our very special guest presenter this evening on the show - Marilyn Manson - just across the desk as well.
Marilyn Manson: Yes.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Nice stuff.
Phil Alexander: He's perusing a tawdry collection of CD's we have in front of us.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha.
Phil Alexander: Including a couple of -
Marilyn Manson: But I figured out, though Phil, why you picked the Rush for me to select because I'm wearing the Rush shirt in my book. Tried to - tried to get me with that.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ah-ha, haha.
Phil Alexander: Yeah, and I've noticed you've also turned your back on the quite frankly high-pitched comedian superstars.
Marilyn Manson: I have. I have and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
Phil Alexander: Ah, come on. You want to rediscover your prog roots.
Marilyn Manson: I know. If I want to do that I'll listen to (A) Perfect Circle or something.
Phil Alexander: Ah, yeah, but come on. (A) Perfect Circle versus Rush - it's not even a contest. We'll move on shall we?
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah -
Marilyn Manson: Pentagrams and stuff though. It's very important to a young boy -
Phil Alexander: Haha, exactly.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Let's - let's -
Marilyn Manson: - who can't find women.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Haha. Let's talk about a particularly silly record you brought in Phil.
Phil Alexander: Yeah. This is masquerading as another story on my behalf I suppose, but really, I just have to draw people's attention to this. This is the new Agoraphobic Nosebleed album is out and I know you've all been waiting for it, it's called "Altered States Of America." It's no ordinary record actually, it packs a meaty 100 tracks on to a 3 inch CD which I think is a feat. But not only that, it clock in at a quite frankly remarkable 19 minutes. You know, I was - when this arrived I read that sort of bit of blurb and was like 'yeah, right, ok - this is going to be absolute rubbish isn't it?' So I put it on expecting just a laugh and forget about it after the first sort of track, you know, and to be completely honest with you, you know, there's some tracks on here that are, you know, 12 seconds long, but they're actually good tracks. I'll have to play a track next week, you know, cause they're - you know, they're good.
Mary Anne Hobbs: I'd like to hear it.
Phil Alexander: They're not malformed, you know, seconds of noise.
Mary Anne Hobbs: I would imagine -
Marilyn Manson: I can't even catch my breath in 12 seconds.
Phil Alexander: Well, you know, to be honest with you neither can we cause they're just playing too fast, haha.
Marilyn Manson: Ok.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha. I would imagine that's the type of thing that you'll hear in it's entirety on John Peel's programme tomorrow night though, isn't it?
Phil Alexander: I would hope so.
Mary Anne Hobbs: He'd play the whole thing back to back.
Phil Alexander: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I would hope he would actually. Maybe he could just play it twice on, you know.
Marilyn Manson: The whole album's shorter than a Rush song.
Phil Alexander: Absolutely, the whole album's shorter, yeah, totally. I mean - I'm just wondering whether this isn't the shortest album of all time as well. But 100 tracks, I mean, we've contacted the 'Guinness Book Of Records' actually and asked them whether they will include this in there and they're 'looking into it' which means ' no, go away you long haired donut,' doesn't it?
Mary Anne Hobbs: They'll probably say 'only if you sit on a pole,' you know, for about 7 weeks simultaneously or something ludicrous like that.
Phil Alexander: Well we might try that actually.
Phil Alexander: Anyway -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Okey-doke. Well it's lovely to see you Phil.
Phil Alexander: Pleasures all mine of course.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, anything you wanted to ask Marilyn while you've got an opportunity on national radio?
Phil Alexander: Well what's the most ridiculous you own then? I mean, surely there must be a few lurking in the darker recesses of your record collection.
Marilyn Manson: I have this one that I think it's one of my favourites, but it is ridiculous. I got it in Russia at a Russian disco when I was in Moscow. I believe the guy's name is Max Raabi.
Phil Alexander: Max Raabi.
Marilyn Manson: With two a's, And he does these strange sort of cabaret versions of Britney Spears and of that song, I think it's called "All Around The World." (Manson does the tune in 'la-la-la's')
Mary Anne Hobbs: Lisa Stansfield.
Marilyn Manson: He does this very strange -
Phil Alexander: Lisa Stansfield?
Marilyn Manson: (singing) "Oops I did it again."
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha.
Marilyn Manson: It's very bizarre. I like it. I play it and it will clear the room immediately, which is good, so I put it on when too many people are at my house.
Phil Alexander: Fair enough, I mean, I have to ask you about the Russian disco as well. What was that like then? That wasn't the night you went put with Harrison Ford is it?
Marilyn Manson: Yeah -
Phil Alexander: It was?
Marilyn Manson: - it was and it was a giant penis-person dancing around - it's in my DVD. No, it's a person in a costume shaped like a giant member.
Phil Alexander: Right, right. What a great night in Moscow then really, you know.
Marilyn Manson: Not unusual -
Phil Alexander: Harrison Ford, a giant penis, you and some bizarre sort of cabaret covers of Britney Spears.
Marilyn Manson: Exactly.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Oh dear -
Phil Alexander: Your life is very strange.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Let's go onto kind of a more traditional kind of record I suppose in many respects, but a beautiful one none the less. Marilyn, you've chosen this, it's The Doors. Why do you want to play this?
Marilyn Manson: Well at the event the Grotesk Burlesk, which Phil did not attend.
Mary Anne Hobbs: I know.
Marilyn Manson: I'm going to keep bothering him about it. I was joined by these two lovely girls that I've found. They were abandoned in an orphanage all their lives but I've learned them how to play the piano and we did the Kurt Weill "Alabama Song," which The Doors also covered, which I loved very much when I was a child and still (do) to this day. We also had a Grotesk Burlesk event in Berlin at the Volksbuhne theatre that is run by the government and they actually had the Three Penny Opera there back in the day so it was nice to hear it both in the Berlin and in London.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok, bring it on.

"Alabama Song" by The Doors is played

Marilyn Manson: "Oh we know why." What -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Go on, it's your bit.
Marilyn Manson: I always wanted to know why they wanted whiskey but now I know why. You have to be there to know, you can't really explain it to anybody.
Mary Anne Hobbs: It's true. It's The Doors on the Radio 1 Rock Show, selected by my very special guest presenter tonight, Marilyn Manson. That was the "Alabama Song" and -yeah,
Marilyn Manson: Yes, so - I had a very lovely evening in London at the Grotesk Burlesk event. A lot of interesting people - Keith Flint came. He's done a remix for me of "mOBSCENE" which he sings on and I think people are really going to like that and it does sound, in a good way, a lot like his new record which I got to hear which is really great.
Mary Anne Hobbs: I can't wait to hear that. I think it will be absolutely incendiary.
Marilyn Manson: It's quite different than Prodigy.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Really?
Marilyn Manson: In a good sense.
Mary Anne Hobbs: In what way?
Marilyn Manson: It's almost non-electronic in any way -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Really?
Marilyn Manson: - it's very tribal and punk rock and it has the Killing Joke influence (which) is definitely noticeable, in a good way.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Great stuff. Any -
Marilyn Manson: People with shaved heads and combat boots will once again have a place to find their enjoy(ment) with this record I think.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Let's talk your band. Twiggy, obviously you mentioned earlier, has gone. That's kind of a pretty big deal to a lot of the fans wasn't it, you know?
Marilyn Manson: Yeah, and it was a big deal to him and - and the rest of us too, but that's why it happened because the integrity of Marilyn Manson and what the music stands for and what we wanted to be in our lives was definitely in jeopardy if he were to stay. And he knew that because he wasn't happy. He wanted to explore different types of music, do different types of things and we were looking to really take things to another level. So, you know, like I said, we tried to remain friends and - he strangely doesn't go by the name Twiggy anymore, which I found odd. But that kind of lets me understand that that's where his heart is - he didn't really want to be a part of Marilyn Manson anymore. But that doesn't change what he did when he was in the band I think, you know, we can still enjoy that and move - move forward and hopefully he's happier now what he's doing.
Mary Anne Hobbs: So Tim Skold is your new man. I mean, he has a wonderful surname, but any other kind of outstanding qualities that you could tell us about?
Marilyn Manson: Well he is European so I've discovered that he's uncircumcised.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahahaha.
Marilyn Manson: I just get you in trouble all the time don't I?
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, you do.
Marilyn Manson: Tim Skold is - he's taken one on the chin like myself with KMFDM. He got caught in the shit-storm of Columbine and we - that's how we originally met and we started collaborating on "Tainted Love" and we started scoring "Resident Evil" together. It became clear that the combination was really strong and we fed off each other really well. When we were producing the record together we did the opposite of what most conventional producers would do. Instead of saying 'you can do it better, do it again,' you know, we would say 'don't touch it, let's leave it, it's perfect.' That rawness is all over the record and the vocal performances - a lot of them are the first takes. The title track was written and recorded all in one day and the first time I performed is the - what you hear on the album.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah.
Marilyn Manson: So I'm kind of discovering this strange language of it. We can play that if you like.
Mary Anne Hobbs: I think we should shortly, but first of all I just want to ask you this one question about a quote that I read quite recently. I mean, the record - I've only heard it once from top-to-bottom, I've heard the single a couple of times but, I mean, on first listen, as a totally first impression it really is a full-frontal assault in every respect. And I read this amazing quote that you'd said about your guitarist John who's allegedly a sex addict and you'd said that apparently he needs to have sex with four different women a day. And you wanted to hear him play guitar in exactly the same way he approaches sex and so you blindfolded him and just fed him porno movie soundtracks and made him just play.
Marilyn Manson: And I gave him guitars he was unfamiliar with - just like all the women he has sex with, they're strangers - so I gave him guitars that he didn't know and they weren't tuned properly to a song. The guitar solo - which is a rare thing on a Marilyn Manson record - appears in this song called "Para-noir," which is a word that I created to describe the song. It contains this excessive darkness and also the paranoia of trust and things like that. So I auditioned in the way you would movie, maybe a several dozen women that none of us knew and we got them to recite reasons why they would have sex. I won't say the words on the radio, but they say, "I (Manson whistles) you because" and then they would let them fill in the blank. And they weren't played the music, they were just told to do this into a microphone and sometimes lights one, sometimes lights off, some girls were nude, some were not and the strangest and most interesting ones are the ones that appear on the record. So it was a very interesting experiment - the whole song. It's one of my favourite tracks on the record and I - I don't hardly even sing on it.
Mary Anne Hobbs: There's also another piece of information just - I'm trying to just kind of grab fragments from everywhere that I've picked up about the actual coming together of the record. I read somewhere that - that you had four drummers playing simultaneously on occasion on the record. Is that true?
Marilyn Manson: Well, there's a song called "Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag" and just about everybody in the band played drum on it at one time because it's very much a big band beat. And I wanted to combine a little bit of marching band feel - sort of The Mickey Mouse Club mixed with Nuremberg rallies and just like the whole spirit of political upheaval and, you know, (it) contrasts now because it's so similar to how art exists in America. How there's so much censorship and so much expression usually comes when there's that tightening. I went and saw people swing-dancing because swing-dancing was like slam-dancing when it first came out, it was like a punk rock sort of thing and it's very violent. That's why I included it in the video too - these people kicking each other in the behinds and what have you. So all of that, you know, became a way of getting inspiration for the record, you know, we would go and do things and that would make us write songs.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Great. Do you know, I think it's high time we played the single, don't you?
Marilyn Manson: Ok.
Mary Anne Hobbs: All this teasing and no action.
Marilyn Manson: It's a bit of a tribute to Oscar Wilde.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok, do you want to introduce it?
Marilyn Manson: This is the "mOBSCENE" by Marilyn Manson, me.

An advert for Radio 1 is played

Announcer guy: "The Radio 1 Rock Show with Mary Anne Hobbs and special guest presenter Marilyn Manson."

"mOBSCENE" by Marilyn Manson is played

Marilyn Manson: I'm Marilyn Manson here with this lady who's behaving now - Mary Anne Hobbs.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha.
Marilyn Manson: So -
Mary Anne Hobbs: So that's the new single "mOBSCENE."
Marilyn Manson: So, "mOBSCENE" In Europe where we wrote the song, it was strangely pulled from the weirdest parts of my imagination. I suppose it had been what I was watching and reading - a lot of Busby Berkeley chorus lines of girls. I wanted a stampeding elephant sort of (Manson does the song's riff) thing and - so when I described the song when I wanted to write with the band I told them, "We need an elephant, we need Busby Berkeley and we need Oscar Wilde" and then we went at it. So when I directed the video it was easy to create the images because they were there before the song.
Mary Anne Hobbs: If you want to have a look at the video it's up on your website isn't it. www.marilynmanson.com, Marilyn Manson one word and, yeah, that's a piece of work.
Marilyn Manson: Thanks.
Mary Anne Hobbs: It is.
Marilyn Manson: The next - next video we're going to shoot in Vienna, but I'm not quite sure which song it's going to be yet so hopefully people will give me an indication of what they think it should be.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah.
Marilyn Manson: It's either "This Is The New Shit" or "(s)AINT" - it's hard to say, I don't know.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Well in this next hour of the programme we're going to play several tracks form the album, so perhaps you'd care to e-mail us and let us know and we'll pass them on. mary.anne.hobbs@bbc.co.uk or of course you may text us - 81199 - that's the number you need - 81199. But - it's - it's quite interesting really, I just want to come back to the burlesque theme because it seems to me that there are lyrics right at the top of the album. Lyrics in a track called "This Is The New Shit," which comes up directly after the intro, which would seem to suggest that you believe that the human race is culturally bankrupt in the 21st century. Is that why you're kind of looking so far back, all the way to the 20's and 30's, maybe for new inspiration?
Marilyn Manson: That's one of the reasons definitely, because people had already reached that point in the 20's and 30's. I - when you're shocked by war and things like that after the first war, where do you go from there, you know? So it's a matter of discovering what it's really supposed to be about and sometimes it's like using crayons again or just doing the simplest things - that's where the real genius is - it's thinking like a kid. So for me, instead of felling like I could be out of ideas, you know, I - I start the album by asking the question, you know, that everything's been said and done, where - where do I go from here and I answer the question with the song itself. And it's me behaving like I'm 10 years old because that's how old Marilyn Manson is so that's how I'll behave.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha. Ok - I'd - I'd really like to play this track at this point because I think, for me, this is so powerful lyrically and I'd just like an opportunity for people to hear it. This is called "The New Shit" and - no it's not, it's called "This Is The New Shit" - and it's the track you'll find directly after the intro on the album and here it is. ("This Is The New Shit" by Marilyn Manson is played)
Mary Anne Hobbs: It's Marilyn Manson, the track is titled "This Is The New Shit" and you'll be able to find that on the album "The Golden Age Of Grotesque."
Marilyn Manson: Yes, indeed, so -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Very powerful.
Marilyn Manson: - the next song that we should play is "Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag" -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah.
Marilyn Manson: - which is my - the one that we were talking about when I went (and) enjoyed some swing-dancing inspiration t it and we played a lot of drums on this. And on stage this tour I have a lot of other people that are added to the show to enhance it and like you saw the other night with the two sisters playing piano. But I also will find them playing drums as well too, so we'll have - . There's nothing better than seeing girls playing any instrument -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Really?
Marilyn Manson: - but girls playing drums, I think, can be very exciting.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Do you like Meg White?
Marilyn Manson: I don't know Meg White. Oh -
Mary Anne Hobbs: From The White Stripes.
Marilyn Manson: White Stripes, ok. I think so. I haven't had enough of it to tell, but, yeah.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Let me just explain at the moment Marilyn's actually doodling for us and what we've asked all out guests to do in recent weeks is just kind of create a little piece of original art. We have one from Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, one from Corey Taylor and one from Jim Root from Stone Sour and Slipknot and also one from J. S. Clayden from Pitchshifter - or formally of Pitchshifter, I should say, they've split up now - and Manson's doing one right now. We're going to run a very, very special competition at the end of summer, I think, when we have a whole wedge of these to give away. So, yeah, in the mean time though I think - are we going to put it on the website Anne? Yeah, I think we should. www.bbc.co.uk/radio1 - that's the address you need and we'll hike it up there tomorrow so you can see it in all of its glory. Just before we - we play the next tune I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about your art, and the art that's involved with this entire project because it is really spectacular. Tell us a bit about how you came to work with Gottfried Helnwein. You've collaborated on the artwork and the photographs for this particular project with him haven't you?
Marilyn Manson: Well, what we did was after we met about a year ago - and it was through strange circumstance because Tim Skold and I attended the "Resident Evil" move premiere. And when we were thinking about going to it we were very much inspired at the time and looking into a lot of the stuff that the Viennese Aktion movement - a lot of these artists had took place there. So we did it - a sort of a tribute. One part Viennese Aktion and another part just to take the piss out of these Hollywood people that go there - the paparazzi and all of the TV interviewers just to confuse them and make them angry. So I painted myself entirely black and I put Tim in this white suit and painted a big stripe down the centre of him, a big cut like he was severed and it was an image that was - that was inspired - a tribute to this artist Gunther Brus who was arrested for doing a demonstration in the very same outfit. So we went in line - a young guy named Cyril was holding up a book here saying, "My father wants to meet you" and it was Gottfried Helnwien's son. And I opened up the book and the first thing I saw was an image of Gottfried Helnwein wearing this black makeup on his face and this officer's cap and then a picture of Gunther Brus with this cut down his self. So I knew that it was perfect, it was fate that we met. We started working together and we didn't set out to make album artwork, we set out to create artwork that was a part of "The Golden Age of Grotesque" and what was allowed to be contained within the album is put in there. But it's very strange you can open up Time magazine and see pictures of dead people, you know, all these violent things and then I have something that's pulled completely from my imagination - it's not something that exists in real life - then it can be censored. So instead of been defeated by censorship I refuse to censor any of the artwork. If it couldn't be contained in it's proper way then I find different ways to share it with people - with the tour, with the Grotesk Burlesk, with the website. Just creating instant theatre, creating instant art - showing people that art and entertainment can be one and the same if done by someone like me - that art doesn't have to be something for museums and books and something that's pretentious and entertainment doesn't have to be boring and shallow. That they can both be great forms of expression put together.
Mary Anne Hobbs: It's possible to have a look at Marilyn's own paintings on your website isn't it? They're all up there almost.
Marilyn Manson: Yes.
Mary Anne Hobbs: www.marilynmanson.com - and I have to say, Emma wanted Mickey with his head sliced off but you sold it to somebody for, I don't know, what was it, 10 grand I think, haha.
Marilyn Manson: Rob Zombie's manager.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Oh, was it really?
Marilyn Manson: Yes.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, because we were just wondering who's buying - who's buying the pictures. Is it fans, is it Saatchi?
Marilyn Manson: A lot of -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Who's picking them up?
Marilyn Manson: A lot of interesting people. I mean, Nicholas Cage brought one, Lisa Marie Presley, Jack Osbourne bought the "Harlequin Jack And The Absinthe Bunny," which is one of my favourites and, you know, just different people that collect art. It was hard of me to even show them or - let alone part with them but I eventually had to realise if I'm going to be a painter as well then I have to paint and I have to let people, you know, enjoy them that way.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Probably the favourite one that you bought to London recently was what I assume is a self-portrait of yourself as an old man.
Marilyn Manson: Yes.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Like it's kind of - tiny little green hunched little dude and you can only tell it's you because the nose is there.
Marilyn Manson: Yeah.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha.
Marilyn Manson: And that one's actually painted worth absinthe too because when I paint I, you know, I have a glass of water and I have a glass of absinthe and I put my brush in the wrong one so I kind of discovered that absinthe makes a nice stain, very nice pigment.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha. It's quite an interesting image because it shows you almost entirely deteriorated except for that wonderful nose.
Marilyn Manson: Hahaha.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Is it something you think about, old age or, you know, the march of time?
Marilyn Manson: If anything, (I'm) just inspired to live every day to the fullest and create like there's no tomorrow so the things that I'm doing now - the things that I've always done - but now more than ever. Making dangerous art that has no fear of repercussions, you know. If you're confident in what you do then you put it out there and you won't censor yourself or worry should I release this to the public, it could ruin my career. Or the case might be, you know, there's a lot of people doing that right now - Madonna, you know, didn't release her video. I think that that's the worst kind of censorship, when you censor yourself.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, it's a funny old thing though isn't it age, you know? I remember reading this quote recently from Michael Caine who's 70 said that he thought possibly the ideal age was 38, you know, because you've pretty much got it sussed by then even though no longer poverty-stricken, you no longer cared about proving yourself in any way to people and you just kind of got onto the job of being you. I guess its perspective in many ways isn't it? It depends where you're standing in life when you look and see in the -
Marilyn Manson: I'm into being 10, 10's good.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha, yeah.
Marilyn Manson: because I've been Marilyn Manson for 10 years now and it's - I'm just about to enter my puberty.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Oh no, haha.
Marilyn Manson: So it's just going to get worse.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Look out, yeah, hahaha. Ok, next track. Do you want to introduce this?
Marilyn Manson: After I spit something into a cup.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah.
Marilyn Manson: Yes. This is "Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag."

"Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag" by Marilyn Manson is played

Announcer guy: "The Radio 1 Rock Show presented by Marilyn Manson and Mary Anne Hobbs."

"Use Your Fist And Not Your Mouth" by Marilyn Manson is played

Mary Anne Hobbs: Its Marilyn Manson on the Radio 1 Rock Show, another track from the new album "The Golden Age Of Grotesque," that's "Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag."
Marilyn Manson: No, that was "Use Your Fist And Not Your Mouth."
Mary Anne Hobbs: Oh, haha.
Marilyn Manson: That was before that.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha, no you're right. See your just exhausting all this kind of stuff that goes on in between when we're playing the records, you know.
Marilyn Manson: A lot of people, you know, obviously asked me what I've been here in Europe and there's a lot of mixed feelings about America and their political movements and so when people hear "Use Your Fist And Not Your Mouth" - I wasn't making any comments about the current situation, I was making comments on what - how I'd already seen America. So it's strange that when the song now takes on a different context so it's - it's quite nice. It was a song that was meant to be a bit of inspiration taken from the Communist manifesto - to try and make a song that would fit me and the people that like what I do. So I have a hard time being in a left or right wing because it's my job to criticise both sides and white or blue collar or - so that's the black collar.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Haha.
Marilyn Manson: (??) coloured black.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok, I tell you what we must do now without further ado I think really is move on to some of the e-mails that were sent in. We had so many questions for you when it was announced just a couple of weeks ago that you were gong to be co-hosting the programme and - like, I barely know where to start. No actually, that's a lie, I do know where to start. I'm going to start with this one from Gruff, which is my favourite question that was submitted actually and it's simply, "Is Dita the one, if you know what I mean?"
Marilyn Manson: I think it's clear that her presence in my life has helped usher in a very creative period and it's the same with everybody in my life right now. My band members, my collaborators, but as far as she goes I would say that that's for sure.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ah, that's really nice isn't it?
Marilyn Manson: She likes the way I spank her ass.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha. And on the topic of Dita I've - I've got an e-mail here from Samantha in Birmingham who said, " Obviously you did the pictures of Dita for Playboy. Is there ever any chance of things getting even more revealing - you and Dita perhaps starring in an Osbourne's-style sitcom?"
Marilyn Manson: No, no, I don't really like voyeuristic television because I think it makes Americans lazy, you know. People shouldn't live vicariously through others lives, they should be out living their own, so no.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok -
Marilyn Manson: But I may take more photos.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Haha. Jay Alice says, this is a great one actually, "Like you I have no eyebrows. How on earth do you stop the sweat running into your eyes and stinging, especially when you're on stage?"
Marilyn Manson: I have a very bony forehead so it creates a bit of a shelf.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Really?
Marilyn Manson: Yes.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Haha. So it just kind of gets siphoned off to the edges?
Marilyn Manson: And down my fantastically large nose.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. Tim Smith wants to know, "What will make you a happy man when you die?"
Marilyn Manson: Not - you know, as long as I know that I did everything that I had to and that's what I try and live my life everyday. Doing things like it would be the last, so I know that if I do die then I did what I had to do.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Cool. Fiend Queen says, "Do you love your mum?"
Marilyn Manson: Of course, how could I not? She brought me into this world. My parents are stranger than I am easily, so, it's not hard to love them.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Cool. This is quite an interesting one actually, this is from Dave Monk in Devon. He says, "I'm a techno DJ and I hate all things rock but I find that the music that you make really hits the spot. I just wanted to ask if you were ever thinking about releasing something with a techno vibe to it?"
Marilyn Manson: The Rammstein remix of "mOBSCENE" is very techno - it's very German techno. It could be strangely funny in some ways if it weren't from them because they have just a strangely funny stance about the way they do things. If it's taken too seriously - sometimes it makes you crack a smile, anything that's got a techno beat to it. It's hard not to laugh at.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. Carol Barton says, "I read recently about your friendship with Eminem and a particular night you took him out. You said he's very shy with girls. Is that because he's so short do you think?" Haha.
Marilyn Manson: I don't know. I think he just hasn't had a chance to let all his fame catch up with him. He's still down to earth in that way.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Cool, okey-doke. One from Kev here in West Sussex who says, "I know that you and Joey from Murderdolls and Slipknot have a close friendship. Rumour has it that he became a member of the Church Of Satan due to your friendship. How did you both meet and is it true he plays guitar on your new album?" That's quite a few questions in one go Kev, actually.
Marilyn Manson: I don't know about any of his personal life and anything like that. I met him on Ozzfest when Slipknot was playing before us and he, you know, expressed a desire to do other things other than what he was doing in Slipknot. And ,you know, at the time he had played me Murderdolls and his guitar work and stuff like that. We did work on some music together but it's not on the album. It just didn't ever end up getting finished but maybe someday we'll do something again.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. This is Alan Robb, which is something I'm sure will appeal to you enormously. Alan Robb wants to know, "How big is too big when it comes to boobs?" Hahaha.
Marilyn Manson: As long as the person who has them can carry them around I think that that's the proper size.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Really?
Marilyn Manson: If you need assistance with carrying them around then that's going to be too big.
Mary Anne Hobbs: What if you had your own wheelbarrow and you could push it yourself?
Marilyn Manson: I've had a very lovely set of breasts at one point, you know, of course with "Mechanical Animals." I think that that's kind of the ideal size.
Mary Anne Hobbs: So relatively modest then to be honest, yeah? This is quite an interesting one and it's a topic that we need to -
Marilyn Manson: I guess it really depends on how big your ass is.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha. Well I guess you might fall over.
Marilyn Manson: Well it needs to balance out, yeah.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah.
Marilyn Manson: (??) with that hourglass.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. "Can you ask Marilyn if the rumours are true that he may be taking part in a monster film - 'Frankenstein' - with director Lin Hershman and Christopher Walken taking the part of Victor Frankenstein, Manson as the monster himself."
Marilyn Manson: No one's told me about that but it sounds like an interesting project.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, it does to me actually, I like Christopher Walken.
Marilyn Manson: That's what I get called around the house - Frankenstein.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Haha, why's that?
Marilyn Manson: I don't know, but I have big shoes and I'm green sometimes and I drink too much absinthe.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. Ok, let's crack on and play another album track because this - it's so good of you to let us have all these. I had only expected you to have, you know, maybe a 30 second snippet of one chorus - that's normally all that we're allowed.
Marilyn Manson: Well I think everybody should be able to hear it. Only if I wasn't proud of it would I not, you know, be able to hold back. So, we should play "The Golden Age Of Grotesque." This is the song that was written and recorded all in one day and I think it became the centrepiece for the album because of what you're about to hear.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok, let's do it.

"The Golden Age of Grotesque" by Marilyn Manson is played

Marilyn Manson: That's me (??) with Mary Anne Hobbs. You can hear me playing the saxophone there at the end. I also played the drum roles.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Do you know what's really interesting though? The saxophone is such a tricky instrument to play, isn't it? It's a reed instrument, which means it has kind of a little tiny sliver of bamboo on the top of the mouthpiece and you really need some puff to get any noise out of those instruments at all don't you?
Marilyn Manson: Yeah, that was the first time I ever played one.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Really?
Marilyn Manson: And, you know, I'm obviously playing it in my own special way but it's a saxophone that I managed to obtain that's actually from Berlin, from the late 20's. And it was - it came with a lot of photographs of the owner and it was played in cabarets back then. So it was haunted in some ways and that belonged on the album.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Amazing. So did you find that quite difficult to pick up a saxophone and actually and get any kind of sound other than a horrendous screeching out of it?
Marilyn Manson: It scared my cat.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha.
Marilyn Manson: I figured out how - how to make it work.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. We need to talk about the stage-show, which I assume will be extravagant in every sense of the word. Obviously you're bringing it to Download and there's - there's also a festival tour of Europe the summer. And the UK - there are dates in Glasgow at June 2nd on Braehead Arena and also at the Brixton Academy so a kind of real mix of different venues, some very small ones for you and also kind of gigantic fields I suppose really. Will you adapt the show as necessary or will it be, you know, just kind of one?
Marilyn Manson: The show's going to be very improvisational but it's going to contain extreme, extreme juxtaposing of political, bombastic, gigantic, even bigger and more iconic than (the) "Antichrist Superstar" tour was. In contrasting that with a lot of the things you saw at the Grotesk Burlesk - that element of sex that hasn't been as much a part of my show in that way in the past. So there's going to be also the installation - Viennese Aktion movement quality to the performances as well that will require the audience to become a part of the show in ways that they haven't before. I think that we will be seeing people making their own show happening and it'll be a matter of seeing it - you'll understand how it's all going to work.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Do you any kind of acoustic interludes planned for the show? Myself and Emma were fortunate enough to go the album launch party where you played, as we discussed earlier, a couple of acoustic tracks - just yourself and the conjoined girls playing piano. And we were talking about the fact that it's quite extraordinary to hear a voice stripped down, absolutely completely naked and raw and probably would be pretty interesting. I don't know why not -
Marilyn Manson: You want me - you want to beat me raw and then get me completely naked? I'm like - I'm really (??) here, you know, with this (??)
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha. You know what I'm talking about.
Marilyn Manson: Well I think that that's -
Mary Anne Hobbs: I doubt it will work in a field. Maybe in Brixton it would be nice.
Marilyn Manson: I think that the fact it wouldn't work in a field would be the reason why I would do it probably. So I would say you can expect something like that.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ah, great, that's fantastic.
Marilyn Manson: I will hint - vaguely.
Mary Anne Hobbs: The British fans, and I have to say particularly as well the Irish fans, have been hounding us to know is there going to be a kind of full-blown UK tour and will you visit Ireland as part of that tour later in the summer?
Marilyn Manson: I might do one better than visit Ireland, I might take up citizenship there at some point. Gottfried Helnwien lives in Ireland and he's invited me to come stay with him in his castle - he has a giant castle in Ireland - so I might spend some time in Ireland generally. Buy yes, we will be doing - I mean, that was the reason for doing Brixton so that we could have something more intimate for the fans that can't go to the festivals and things like that. But we will come back for a massive European tour.
Mary Anne Hobbs: That's wonderful news. I have to say that the Irish fans are my favourite fans on the face of this planet. They're just - they part like it's their last night on earth and the only people standing, the only bodies that aren't kind of heaped in corners at the end of the night, the only people standing are snogging without a shadow of a doubt -every single time when you look around the room at the end of the night.
Marilyn Manson: The last time I was in Dublin, sort of the European awards when we played there for "Mechanical Animals," the entire audience turned their backs to the stage when I set the gigantic TV set-up on fire, It was a cross of burning television sets on fire. There was - they were really angry. I don't think they were Marilyn Manson fans but I think they were probably, like, Ricky Martin fans or something.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, yeah, that would explain it, haha.
Marilyn Manson: I've never seen an audience turn their back to the stage. I was quite impressed.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. Have you ever played a gig with your back to the audience?
Marilyn Manson: I've played gigs with my ass to audience.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, yeah. I remember seeing Kurt Cobain do that one time at the Astoria actually. He - it was probably one of the last shows that he ever did in London and he played the entire show with his back to the audience which, you know, I thought was quite a statement at the time to be honest, but, anyway -
Marilyn Manson: For me, it wouldn't suit me too well because I have too many expressions that I have to share.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Haha. Let's play another track, this is going to be Black Sabbath. Obviously, you know, Ozzy's a wonderful man as we well know, but is there any particular - . I know that you went to the New Years Eve party didn't you (with) Sharon and Ozzy?
Marilyn Manson: I ended up getting kissed by every person in the Osbourne family.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Did you? Who's the best kisser?
Marilyn Manson: Well, not every person. Sharon was - was really gentle, Ozzy tried to stick his tongue in my mouth, Jack also, like his father, tried to stick his tongue (?) Kelly was kind of shy, but then she liked it.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha.
Marilyn Manson: They all attacked me though, it wasn't my approach.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok, Sabbath - let's hear it.

"Supernaut" by Black Sabbath is played

Marilyn Manson: It's Marilyn Manson back here in the radio 1 Rock Show with Mary Anne Hobbs, we're just listening to Black Sabbath here. It's kind of - makes you want to smoke pot sometimes.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, we just ascertained that -
Marilyn Manson: I know that I say that I'm a -
Mary Anne Hobbs: - Ozzy is the best kisser in the Osbourne family as well, haha.
Marilyn Manson: You just ignore everything I say about that.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Do you know what? We're really swiftly running out of time now and I feel like I've only scratched with you really but there's one burning question that certainly I want to know. I was very much looking forward to the publication of a new book this year and it just hasn't materialised at all. Now what's happening with this book?
Marilyn Manson: Well I wrote the book and there's a couple of legal problems because the book was inspired by some strange things that I discovered and the people who created these things don't want them to be shared with the world. So there's a bit of a struggle to have it come out in the proper way that it's supposed to be. So I think in (?) I'm going to put together another book of all my essays that I've written in the past and a bunch of new ones. Social commentaries, aphorisms, that sort of thing in the tradition of Oscar Wilde and such bad boys, villain's and spokesmen of the degenerate.
Mary Anne Hobbs: You love to write though, don't you? I was also kind of really impressed that you took the time and trouble to answer the questions that some of the fans post up on your website - www.marilynmanson.com. There's a little kind of icon that says 'Oracle' and if you go to that you can submit a question and I guess if it's entertaining or obscene enough Marilyn will answer it.
Marilyn Manson: There's about 60,000 in waiting right now -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Really?
Marilyn Manson: - to be answered. That's how many there is so it's very difficult to -
Mary Anne Hobbs: So you're not that conscientious at all then really are you? Haha.
Marilyn Manson: Well I just try and -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah.
Marilyn Manson: - let the oracle do what it does.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, but if you're interested, yeah, toss one over there. Crikey, I need to reiterate a lot of details before you go. Marilyn Manson's playing at Download on May 31st at Donington Park. You can also see the band at Braehead Arena in Glasgow on the 2nd June, London' Brixton Academy on June 4th. The new album "The Golden Age Of Grotesque" is due out on May 5th. Do e-mail us and let us know what you think about the tracks. Emma's shouting at me - oh, it's gone to May 12th now apparently - the album's out May 12th. Yeah, let us know what you think about the tracks that you heard on the programme tonight - mary.anne.hobbs@bbc.co.uk. These release dates tend to shift about a lot actually but they're looking at June 2nd for the release date of the single.
Marilyn Manson: Which will have some of these remixes I was talking about - Rammstein, Keith Flint and also a remix of the song where my sex-addict guitar player was blindfolded. "Para-noir" is the "Paranoiac" remix.
Mary Anne Hobbs: it's been an absolute pleasure to have you co-hosting the programme. Thank you very much indeed.
Marilyn Manson: Thank you.
Mary Anne Hobbs: One final question that we've saved till the very end, which came from Susan Hitchings in Yorkshire. She wants to know, "What's your favourite sexual position?"
Marilyn Manson: Why all these questions that -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Hahaha.
Marilyn Manson: - are so personal? It's hard to not have a favourite, you know, I don't really like to pick one but - I don't think I should say.
Mary Anne Hobbs: You think not?
Marilyn Manson: I think I should just avoid that question.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Maybe just draw us a diagram and I'll reveal it on the programme next week, hahaha.
Marilyn Manson: Yeah, I think all of them are very swell.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok.
Marilyn Manson: I don't have any complaints with any of them.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Well next week on the Radio 1 Rock Show you can hear a repeat session from Murderdolls and I'll be back on Monday night with a Breezeblock. The magnificent Aquagen are remixing, or mixing I should say, for us - they're DJ-ing on the programme. Remember, if you want to replay this programme at any point in the next seven days you can hear everything that Marilyn Manson had to say all over again, head for the Radio 1 website - www.bbc.co.uk/radio1. What you need to do is just have a look in the 'Alternative' section, inside there you'll find an icon that says 'Rock Show,' you click on that and there's another icon saying 'Listen Again' and for the next seven days, 24/7, this programme is available for you to listen to, so, yeah. Thank you so much once again.
Marilyn Manson: So you've changed it back to 'Rock Show' from 'Cock Show' now?
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ah, you gutted about that?
Marilyn Manson: Yeah, I'm real sad.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. It's - I don't know, it's sort of like, it has -
Marilyn Manson: It's more lady-like.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah, maybe, you know. I think if it was your show it would definitely have to be 'The Cock Show.'
Marilyn Manson: No -
Mary Anne Hobbs: Without a shadow of a doubt.
Marilyn Manson: It was designed just for you, it's my gift.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Thank you. We'll see you at Download, I'm really looking forward to it.
Marilyn Manson: Everyone's going to see a little bit more than they're expecting, I'll be back.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Ok, I think we've got time for about 30 seconds or there abouts of Murderdolls. Stay tuned.
Marilyn Manson: That's a good enough (?)
Mary Anne Hobbs: Yeah. There's more music coming up on Radio 1 but for now this is "Dead In Hollywood".

"Dead In Hollywood (Edit)" by Murderdolls is played