The Long Hard Road Out of Hell

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The Long Hard Road Out of Hell
The Long Hard Road Out of Hell cover
Written by Marilyn Manson
Released: February 14, 1998
Illustrator: P. R. Brown
Publisher: ReganBooks
Narrator:
Media type: Print (Paperback)
Length: 288 pages
ISBN: 0060392584

The Long Hard Road Out of Hell is the first autobiography by Marilyn Manson (with assistance by Neil Strauss of Rolling Stone), released on February 14, 1998 by ReganBooks. It follows Manson's life from a child who discovers his grandfather's sexual fetishism, to the forming of Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids, to the recording of Antichrist Superstar. Its last pages contain the journal of the band's touring, documenting backstage events and people's reactions. The book itself includes many references to his life of drugs, sex and twisted relationships that led him to where he was in 1998, and even where he is now (to some extent).

The autobiography also goes in-depth into the break-ups amongst the band's history. It follows several members through becoming friends and musicians with the band to angry and sometimes bitter leavings, some bands members detest being fired so badly that lawsuits have been filed against Manson by his own crew members.

Along with the book are numerous pictures, some of which are familiar to long-time Manson fans, with the center pages including everything from the The Slashers to Manson performing "Antichrist Superstar" with a Bible in his hand. More exciting, perhaps, are the numerous pictures scattered throughout the pages, documenting such things as girlfriends and band landmarks, to the rarer, such as Manson with Anton Szandor LaVey. The book is dedicated to Manson's parents.

Chapter listing[edit]

Part one: when i was a worm

  1. "The Man That You Fear"
  2. "For Those About to Rock, We Suspend You"
  3. "Teen Dabbler"
  4. "The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Rejection Letters"
  5. "I Wasn't Born with Enough Middle Fingers"

Part two: deformography

  1. "The Spooky Kids"
  2. "Dirty Rock Star"
  3. "To All the People Who Didn't Die"
  4. "The Rules"
  5. "All for Nothing"
  6. "We're Off to See the Wizard"
  7. "Abuse, Parts One and Two"
  8. "Meating the Fans / Meat and Greet"

Part three: how i got my wings

  1. "The Reflecting God [dreams]"
  2. "Antichrist Superstar"
  3. "Fifty Million Screaming Christians Can't Be Wrong"
  4. "Acknowledgments"
  5. "Photo Credits"

Autobiography credits[edit]

To protect the innocent, many of the names
and identifying features of individuals in
this book have been changed and several
characters are composites.

A hardcover of this book was published in 1998 by ReganBooks,
an imprint of HarperCollensPublishers.

the long hard road out of hell.
Copyright © 1998 by Marilyn Manson and Neil Strauss. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information
address HarperCollensPublishers, Inc., to East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022

HarperCollens books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales
promotional use. For information please write: Special Markets Department,
HarperCollensPublishers, Inc., to East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022

First ReganBooks/HarperPerennial edition published 1999.

Designed by P. R. Brown @ Bau-Da Design Lab, Inc.

ISBN 0-06-039258-4
ISBN 0-06-098746-4 (pbk.)

05 06 RRDH 30 29 28 27 26 25 24

Acknowledgments[edit]

Thanks to Aleusha, Alyssa, Andrew and Suzie, Reverend Ernest Angley, Fiona Apple, Tom Arnold, Daniel Ash, Asia, Big Darla, Blanche Barton, Sean Beavan, Mrs. Burdick, Paul Cambria, Carl, Casey, Chad, Carolyn Cole, Corey, Billy Corgan, Keith Cost, John Crowell and his brother, Dave, Freddy DeMann, Aaron Dilks, Dimebag Darrell, Eden, Corey Feldman, Robin Finck, Flavor Flav, Frankie, Frog, Michelle Gill, John Glazer, Sherman Helmsley, Jimmy Iovine, Jay and Tim, John Jacobs, Jenna Jameson, Jeanine, Jebediah, Jennifer, Jessicka, Jonathan, Jack Kearnie, Kelly's Cornhole, Bill Kennedy, Richard Kent, Mary Beth Kroger, Xerxes Satan LaVey, Lenny, Mr. Lifto, Lisa, Traci Lords, Louise, Courtney Love, David Lynch, Lynn, John A. Malm Jr., Marie, Dave Navarro, Conan O'Brien, Dave Ogilvie, Guy Oseary, Paul and Richard, Saucy Peterson, Robert Pierce, Tina Potts, Ms. Price, Rachelle, Trent Reznor, Joan Rivers, Jim Rose, Rick Rubin's Beard, Neil Ruble, Shana, Sioux Z., Bob Slade, The Slashers, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Howard Stern, Teresa, Terri, DJ Tim, John Tovar, Jill Tucker, Julia Valet, Barb and Hugh Warner, Beatrice and Jack Warner, Brian Warner, Tony Wiggins, The Wyer Family, and Zepp.

Photo credits[edit]

  • Sigismondi Floria - p. ii, p. 43, p. 212
  • Dean Karr - p. xiii, p. 3, p. 6, p. 9, p. 12, p. 14, p. 15, p. 74-75, p. 77, p. 204-205, p. 207, p. * 214, p. 222, p. 229, p. 268, p. 270,
  • Joseph Cultice - p. 1, p. 2, p. 4, p. 8, p. 103, p. 112, p. 128-129, p. p. 157, p. 184, p. 239, p. * 271
  • Jeffery Weiss - p. 127
  • Jim Lanza - p. 5, p. 13, p. 151, p. 264 (Dad and Zepp; Cambria et al.; Ozzy), p. 268
  • Gene Shaw - p. 156
  • Blanche Barton - p. 166-167
  • Myk Mishoe - p. 208
  • Monét Mazur - p. 264 (Navarro)
  • Melissa Auf Der Maur - p. 264 (Corgan)
  • Bob Mussell - p. p. 7, p. 16

All other photos courtesy of the author's collection

Illustrations on p. iv from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno
by Allen Mandelbaum, translation copyright © 1980 by Allen Mandelbaum.
Used by permission of Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

fan club:
Marilyn Manson Family
25935 Detroit Rd., Suite #329
Westlake, Ohio 44145

Promotion[edit]

On February 21, 1998, Manson held an two-hour in-store book signing at the San Francisco Virgin Megastore. The event was attended by an estimated 700 fans.[1]

Response[edit]

The Long Hard Road Out of Hell was a New York Times bestseller. Rolling Stone explained the book is "By turns moving, funny, appalling, and disturbing. [...] There has never been anything like it." Christian Science Monitor reported that "If Marquis de Sade had a son in a hard-rock band who wrote a book, this would be the book," while Newsweek deemed it "Unimaginably perverse and demented." Paper mused that the book contains "Clipped, colorful prose that fits the author's larger-than-life personality like a pair of rubber shorts." Elle also stressed that The Long Hard Road Out of Hell "Makes Madonna's infamous Sex seem downright wholesome by comparison."

Criticism[edit]

Following the release of The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, various people described in the book came forth explaining that Manson had fabricated certain passages detailing his encounters with them. A month after the release of the book, on May 11, 1999 Rock N Roll Experience Magazine held an interview with Gidget Gein, where he explained about the sections describing him that, "pretty much none of it [was true], I mean it's all either exaggerated, or, like a lot of the stuff that he wrote, it sorta happened, but he wasn't there." Gein uses as an example when Manson talks about how he discovered Gein was addicted to heroin. In the book Manson states that one afternoon he visited Gein at the home he was sharing with his lawyer girlfriend, where he spent fifteen minutes watching Gein act unusual until two girls emerged from a smoky closet carrying crack pipes.[2] Gein gave Rock N Roll Experience Magazine a different account, saying that after a Marilyn Manson performance, Gein, then-keyboardist Stephen Bier and their girlfriends returned to the apartment Gein and his girlfriend were sharing, to find two friends of the latter doing drugs in the closet. Gein goes on to clarify again that Manson was not there to see this, and that at this time he wasn't dating the lawyer that Manson claims he was thus far in the book.[3] Gein goes on to contend that he did not give fellatio to his hairdresser,[3] as Manson claims he did in The Long Hard Road Out of Hell.[4]

Adina Slotsky, an artist and photographer Manson talks about in the "Meating the Fans / Meat and Greet" chapter, made appearances on Howard Stern and in the unauthorized documentary Demystifying the Devil denouncing that she had sex with any member of the band or that she allowed Manson and Twiggy to urinate on her after the band covered her in uncooked meat at South Beach Studios.[5][6] Another former bassist of the band, Brian Tutunick, acknowledged during his interview segments in Demystifying the Devil that Manson changed many names for the book but that many people still retain their real names, leading Tutunick to speculate that "I guess he just wants to get sued by certain people."[6]

Trivia[edit]

  • In a 1994 interview on Midnight Blue, Manson mentions a girl named Elizabeth Kethlinger, whom he had sex with as a teenager. Kethlinger is referred to in The Long Hard Road Out of Hell as "Mary Beth Kroger." A number of other names of individuals have also been changed to protect their identities, as reflected by a disclaimer at the beginning of the book. Manson's childhood neighbor, referred to as "Mark," was referred to in the same interview as "Matt," though Manson implied that he wasn't certain, and as both names are very similar, whichever is correct is not clear.
  • In the unauthorized documentary Demystifying the Devil, the girl referred to as Alyssa in the The Long Hard Road Out of Hell makes an appearance under her real name, Adina Slotsky.
  • Several poems and a short story Manson sent to Night Terrors magazine were published in the book; featuring the poems "Piece De Resistance", "Stained Glass" and "Hotel Hallucinogen" along with the short story "All in the Family". Most of these were rejected however John Glazer showed interest in his work. The poems are mentioned in Chapter 4.
  • Some of the chapter titles were taken from lyrics of the band's songs (eg. Chapter 5 is named "I Wasn't Born With Enough Middle Fingers" which is taken from the song "Irresponsible Hate Anthem"). Each chapter is inaugurated with a quotation from someone famous or infamous.

Personnel[edit]

  • Marilyn Manson – author
  • Neil Strauss – ghost writer
  • P. R. Brown – digital illustration, design
  • David Lynch – introduction
  • Friedrich Nietzsche – excerpt on the Genealogy of Morals
  • Blanche Barton – photography
  • Bob Mussell – photography
  • Dean Karr – photography
  • Gene Shaw – photography
  • Jeffery Weiss – photography
  • Jim Lanza – photography
  • Joseph Cultice – photography
  • Melissa Auf Der Maur – photography
  • Monét Mazur – photography
  • Myk Mishoe – photography
  • Floria Sigismondi – photography

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Reiss, Randy (1998-02-23). "Marilyn Manson Presses Flesh At Book Signing". VH1. http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/3355/19980223/index.jhtml. Retrieved 2011-05-31. 
  2. The Long Hard Road Out of Hell. ReganBooks. Marilyn Manson. April 1, 1999. pp. 124
  3. 3.0 3.1 Rock N Roll Experience Magazine. Gidget Gein. May 11, 1999.
  4. The Long Hard Road Out of Hell. ReganBooks. Marilyn Manson. April 1, 1999. pp. 125
  5. Howard Stern. E!. Adina Slotsky. August 21, 1999.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Demystifying the Devil. Ventura Distribution. Adina Slotsky. October 17, 2000.