THE WORDS >> INTERVIEWS

Transcripts Press Audio Video

WYNX-FM (1990)

How would you describe your music?

[...] I think it's pretty much like, "60s meets 90s-psychedelic-industrial-brain tumor disorder-thrash" sort of thing. It's kind of groovy, you know, groovy. I guess the word "groovy" will work.

So what does the future hold for Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids?

Well man, we want to be brand new at what we are trying to do, and want to affect as many people as we can with our music. We want to make changes in this town. We want to develop our cult and make it stronger. We have the Spooky Kids Hotline, we got people calling in all the time. Mass amount of people, wackos, crazies, I love 'em all, and I want to thank them all. And we're just going to move something, that's what we are going to do.

THRUST Magazine (11/1991)

We don't condone violence, racism, drug abuse... If you don't like what you see — take some action.

I show people their own fear. If people are afraid of being gay then they're going to think we're a bunch of fags. If people are real religious they're going to think we're satanic. Everything people say about us is more a reflection of what they think rather than what we think.

Seconds Magazine (1994)

Do you see a race war coming?

We see the irony between the political climate now and when the whole Manson thing went down. The only thing missing is the Vietnam War. I think the problem right now is people have the whole "Free Your Mind" campaign shoved so far down their throats that it's caused a violent reaction and more racial tension. At a certain point, the campaign stopped being a positive political message and became a commercialization and it became a campaign to make money. People are always going to react against what they're told to do. "Just Say No" didn't help the drug problem.

It's really weak in America that you can't get in a verbal fight with a woman without being called a sexist. You can't get in a fight with someone who's a different color than you without being called a racist. Even if the person's just an asshole regardless of what color they are, you're a racist. I think it's weak that America has become so politically correct that everything's an ism. It's gotten to the point where you have to curb your emotions. People should be allowed to hate other people if they deserve it. There's plenty of reasons to hate people other than the color of their skin or their sex. We run into assholes constantly.

It's going to come crashing down and we'll be the house band in Hell. I'm not ever gonna try and compare myself to the bullshit women have gone through and people of color have gone through to get to where they are. At the same time, we get discriminated against on a daily basis because of the way we look. People won't even get in an elevator with us. I'm worrying about myself, we're worried about the kids that are like us who are freaks. They're fuckin' throwaway kids. That's who we're standing up for. We're standing up for the people no-one else is standing up for. [...] Political correctness has really fucked things up. You get assumed something that you're not just for being yourself.

What would you like people to get from your music?

I'd like them to have some sort of reaction to it whether they hate us or love us. I'd rather they had an extreme reaction rather than a lukewarm one. I'd like people to start questioning their upbringing more after hearing us. I'd like them to not feel so guilty about what they have been taught to be wrong. It seems like that we're taught that all our natural human emotions - hate, lust, greed - are all wrong. Those are the natural feelings that you're going to have and for you to feel that they're wrong is guilt that people use to control you. I think people should explore their own morality and be more individualistic and take control of their own lives.

RAG (08/1994)

The death of Dr. Gunn was barely publicized, yet it proved an unnerving point, your new single, Get Your Gunn was prompted by this event, what's your take on activist groups?

It's hard to even tackle that subject. I think a lot of those people are just weak people that don't really have anything to live for. So they attach themselves to some group, some way of thinking to make themselves feel like they have some value in their lives. And they put on some good guy badge that says, 'I'm pro-life' to make them feel good about themselves. If someone were to come up to you and say they were abducted by a UFO, you're gonna think they're nuts. But if they told you they talked to Jesus, most people are going to accept that because America has embraced this mental handicap of Christianity and its way of being so acceptable that the whole Dr. Gunn incident was just brushed under the rug anyway. If it would've been Nazi Skinheads killing a Jewish doctor it would have been on Geraldo every day of the week.

Marilyn Manson for me is like a slideshow, I'm like the barker, I'm getting people's attention and I'm saying 'Come see this freakshow!' I pull back the curtain and it's just a mirror, and that terrifies people more than anything. I don't worry about sexism, racism or any other kind of 'ism, because I hate people on an individual basis. I don't generalize any kind of group because that's just unintelligent. I don't have a problem with hating a girl, or someone who is a different race than me just because they're an asshole. It has nothing to do with their gender or their skin color. I'm more worried about the discrimination that I receive on a regular basis. People make up their minds about me before ever talking to me, just by the way I look.

I think everything is just becoming more commercialized. And things do become more acceptable when they can make money for the people who are deciding what's acceptable and what's not.

Kids can see through things more honestly than adults do. They see the scariness in places where adults don't. They also see the beauty in ugly things. When you're a kid you have a dream and that means something because you really believe it can come true. That's what Marilyn Manson is all about; finding something positive out of darkness and pointing out the ugliness in things that are supposed to be beautiful. I think kids do that, kids are pretty honest - I'm trying to hold on to that. I'm trying to be Peter Pan!

Ideally I would like to make a difference and make people listen to what I'm saying, and maybe change their thinking a little bit. Even the smallest degree would make a difference to me. And then I want to make music. I want kids to realize that they don't have to fall into the program that your parents have set up for you from birth. You can think for yourself. You don't have to go to college to live your life happy. The topic of artist or listener responsibility is something that I always talk about. If kids want to have the freedom to listen to whatever they want to, they should take on the responsibility and the parents should take on the responsibility of teaching their kids to think intelligently. A kid should be able to listen to a song and not want to kill somebody or kill himself. That shouldn't have to be the artist's responsibility. What I'm singing about is my sarcastic, sardonic, even bitter look at what's going on. It's just my point of view. If people want to share my point of view and they can understand where I'm coming from, fine. If not, they don't have to.

Black Market Magazine (09/1994)

Well you know if someone says that they don't like something, I wanna find out why. Generally I found that the things I don't like are the things I'm afraid of, I don't like weak people because I'm afraid of being weak. I want to think for myself, I don't want people to tell me what to think or what I'm supposed to believe in, and I think that goes for everybody.

People often gravitate towards things like Marilyn Manson because of their fears and they like their fears. People are like an amusement park ride and it's ride at your own risk. People see that sign and it makes them want to go in more because they know of that danger.

I wonder why society needs something like Marilyn Manson, that's one of the questions that I'm asking. I've been raised on American culture, I'm a true product of America. So it's completely unjustified for society to consider what I'm doing wrong. I'm a symptom of a problem that they created. I came from them and they can't blame anybody but themselves.

I'm really into nostalgia and it plays a big part in what we do. Just because things are new doesn't mean that they're necessarily better and there's a lot of times in your life that, you know, certain things like Lidsville, that takes you back to that time in your life.

Like with our song Lunchbox, it's kind of an autobiographical account of my childhood growing up. About five years ago I found my KISS lunchbox and I remember the time when I was in Christian school and I wasn't allowed to take it to school. They thought it was satanic, and around that same time I'd always get my ass kicked by the kids in public school because I was a sissy in private school. And then I finally got kicked out of Christian school for stealing money out of the girls purses during prayer. I thought it was kind of poetic, but they didn't agree with that. It just kinda reminded me of that, and it just reminded me of all the people who fucked with me. And I always knew someday I would have my revenge and this is my way of getting back. Because now they're probably middle-aged and have families and live in a trailer and I'm doing this. Fuck them.

Marilyn Manson is just two words, if you want to make it into something that its not - you can. It's whatever you want to make it. It's America that makes Marilyn Manson a dirty word, because they're the ones that put Charles Manson into it. Whatever they want to do, you have to take the responsibilities for your actions. I don't want to hear any cop outs from anybody and try to blame it on an album, just because you're oppressed doesn't give you the right to oppress others. Just because you're victimized doesn't give you the right to victimize others, or if you do that, just take the rap for it.

I think what would be cool too, and I'm a capitalist - don't get me wrong, but if they outlawed money and people were measured by the value of what they can really do. I mean there's plenty of people that don't make any money and they really work their ass off and there's also people who are totally rich, that don't know anything. And then there's people that drain you of all your money by being on welfare and things like that. It's not my responsibility to fucking take care of people who can't.

So your view on suicide is that if somebody's going to do something, they'll do it no matter what?

It's their responsibility, it's not mine. I'm responsible for my actions so they should be for theirs, that's my attitude. It's their parents fault.

JAM Magazine (02/1995)

It happened. I didn't plan it out. It just happened. We ended up laughing about it later. Everybody seems so taken back by it. My parents were there. They weren't even shocked about it, so I don't know why anyone else is. Ever since then, people have been questioning my sexuality. Am I gay, straight, bi-sexual? To ask me that is to be ignorant to what Marilyn Manson stands for. Marilyn Manson transcends morality, and sexuality. He's a gray area. I don't like putting a label on anything. Yes, I see where they would be taken back, people's real fears start to come out when you do something like that. A lot of macho guys started calling me 'faggot,' wanted to start a fight with me. Why would they want to fight me 'cause I did that? Obviously, it scared them. I'm confident enough with my sexuality where I can do something like that. Anyone who knows me knows I like girls.

Rock Out Censorship Magazine #019 (08/1995)

Are your performances more spontaneous than planned?

Yeah, it's all depending on what kind of mood I'm in. I'm a very moody person, so instead of making that a fault, I try to capitalize on it, and I express whatever I have to at any given moment and that's why sometime things come out offensive to some, it's because I'm just expressing myself how I feel, a lot of people are afraid to say what's on their mind, but I think if more people did, then things would be understood better.

If I can at least make people want to ask questions, at least make them want an answer, want the answer, I don't really have the answer necessarily, but if I make them want something more than what they're given on MTV, in commercial radio, then I think I've accomplished something. Because now, the idea of individuality, is just completely misinterpreted by kids growing up. They are sold individuality from MTV, they're told how to be cool, they're told what they're supposed to like and they think they're being rebellious because their parents don't agree with it, they're just being part of an anti-trend.

Well, obviously these people needed something outside of themselves to blame for their problems. That is the function of the Devil in traditional Southern Christian religions, and it seems to be the function of Marilyn Manson for these same groups, or it can be an exhilarating experience for those so inclined to a more diversified view.

Sure, Marilyn Manson is the same thing for me. I'm into that balance of positive and negative in the extremist forms, and that's why people don't really understand a lot of things I'm saying. They can't understand how I can open up the show with something from Willy Wonka and close the show with Rock'n'Roll Nigger by Patti Smith. It doesn't make sense to them. But that's what I'm about. Extremes. Extreme positive, extreme negative. I find that gray area that you find in the middle, that is what I find works for me. It's just, I'm extreme in anything I do. In America, and mostly due to part of Christianity, we're taught to have such watered down feelings, y'know, 'love thy neighbor', 'love thy enemy'. Y'know, if you love everyone around you, if you love everyone, then what does love mean? That's the kind of mentality we have. That's not the case for me, if I hate something, I despise it with all my heart, and if I love something, I would never ruin it for anything.

What's the extreme positive for Marilyn Manson?

I think by being ourselves, and saying really what's on my mind, it lets a lot of people feel like it's okay for them to do the same, and I think it gets a lot of people to let out things that they've got pent up inside of them, whether that be positive or negative, they have a chance to get it out when they listen to our CD or see us perform.

How do you interpret this mass voyeurism that is American Culture?

I think America is all a talk show, I think, right now, we're on a talk show, and the people who read the article that you write will be a part of the same talk show. It's just people find their own lives so boring that they have to live vicariously through other people's misfortunes and daytime dramas and all that, it's what America has become. People are too lazy to live their own lives, so they'd rather watch other people's lives and try to stand in judgement from their couch and judge other people for what they're doing.

The talk show hosts don't even realize they're a part of it, I see shows about, like for example if they were to have me on there, they would probably have someone who's family was murdered by one of the serial killer's names who's part of Marilyn Manson, and the talk show host would probably ask me how I can capitalize off of other people's pains and make money off it, when that's what the whole talk show is about, and that's exactly what he's doing, and he's playing this part, wearing this good guy badge.

What I'm saying is, they miss the point about what I'm saying just by them having a show like that is proving my point. They're not exposing me, my whole point is everyone's a hypocrite, you just decide which lie works for you best. It's just like the amusement park mentality. People see a sign that says ride at your own risk, that's what they want right away, that sense of danger.

That's the thing, if you want to be an individual, then you have to accept the responsibility of that. That goes for everyone, people in America, they all want to have the freedom to do and say and read and listen, watch whatever they want, but people don't want to accept the responsibility if they get themselves into trouble, they want to cop out and say, well, I did it because of that, I did it because of this. If our music made more stupid people kill themselves, I'd be the happiest person.

Tulsa World (09/1995)

Anyone who misunderstands Marilyn Manson right off the bat and takes it for the shock value only — thinks we're glorifying anything — is just feeding into the very trap that we're all about, if you're disgusted by us, then you should be asking yourselves why you're disgusted and why you created this possibility in the first place.

I get a lot of flak from people who think that what I do isn't me, that it's just an image we put forth to get attention. I'm sorry if I'm a little more creative than Hootie and the Blowfish, but I'm not doing this for anyone else. I want to be the things that made me happy when I was a kid. Everyone has an image, even if it's a bland, regular-guy image. I make myself happy being this way. I do this for me.

RIP Magazine (10/1995)

After spending a brief amount of time with Mr. Manson, one thing becomes more and more apparent: He radiates sincerity. He's not ashamed to embrace darkness as well as light. Ask the soft-spoken, intelligent singer any question; he won't flinch.

I'm a pretty moody person. I spend a lot of time holding back a lot of things, so performing live is really the only way to get those things out. I know a lot of what I do on stage is over the top, but that's the only time certain things can come out and if that means I go to jail for it or I hurt myself, that's the way it's gotta be. Both onstage and off-stage, I represent everything people could be afraid of because it's everything that's taboo, whether that's sexually, religiously, morally, musically. We try to deal and create areas most people are too afraid to tread for fear of offending other people. Right now, it's real easy to be politically correct and easy to be accepted as long as you play within the MTV idea of what's acceptable. We're everything people are afraid to think about.

As far as me personally, anything that I'm afraid of I just go out and do it. That way I'm not afraid of it anymore. I go right to the heart of the issue. I'm into playing by my own rules. I'll do shit all the time knowing that it's not going to be accepted, but I'm doing it for my own enjoyment. That's the bottom line. If at the end of the day you didn't do it for your own enjoyment, then what's the point in doing something? I am my own biggest hypocrite, because the things that I say and do are very irreconcilable.

Like the Dope Hat video?

Exactly. I think it's very irreconcilable to combine the elements of a childhood story like Willy Wonka with some of the other sexual, more disturbing violent images that we used. So what? I don't measure success in terms of money. Sure, I'd like to have money, but it's not a big deal to me. Making a difference in one way or another usually gives me some sort of satisfaction. I like making a dent, making a point. That's what satisfies me most about what I do.

Underscope (11/1995)

I think the people who follow Marilyn Manson are strong minded people who have decided to be individuals. They're strong enough to break away from a lot of the mentality of their classmates, fellow workers or whoever that may be. Of course it's a catch 22, someone would assert the question 'Well, yeah they not be listening to Christianity or their parents, but they're still listening to you,' meaning me, but I think that's at least a little more in the direction of individuality than the other choice. I'm not telling them to be like me, I'm telling them to be themselves. It's a group on non-joiners and I'm just trying to assert myself as some sort of leader because that's what our generation needs right now. As far as being an Antichrist, there's been many in the past. What people don't understand about the idea of an Antichrist is that it's not necessarily one person that embodies that title, I believe the Antichrist is the embodiment of disbelievers in Christianity and that's the entire secular world. Just as everyone who doesn't agree with that particular organized religion is the Antichrist as much as I am, I think the people who agree with what I'm saying are just as Marilyn Manson as I am.

I go on stage to get hurt. I often, as part of the catharsis that every show is for me, end up hurting myself. Whether that's intentional or not I don't know. It happens the way it happens. And if that translates into if I like people to hurt me, the answer is no. That's not something I'm into, but a lot of people think that.

Alternative Press (1996)

I think our band is simply America at its truest. Caffeine, sugar, violence, drugs - these are all the things we were raised on. And as things start to get more and more out of hand in America, everyone's trying to take it all back and give you Nutrasweet and PG-13 and safe sex, but how can they take it away and try to start over? It's like we're listening to a cassette tape of the end of the world. I just want to fast forward it and turn it up louder.

I mean, if our music didn't matter, we wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation. I think anybody can say what I want to say. Anybody can look like I look. But if the music isn't something that people can identify with, it's not going to matter. I think in the end Marilyn Manson is definitely a band, and we like to write songs. But at the same time I think things need to be powerful, need to hit you in the face these days, because there are so many things in your face, and everyone's so desensitized. You really need to pummel them to get your point across.

Don't get me wrong, because I love paradoxes, but America's so confusing. Capitalism tells you if you work hard enough you'll be better than the next guy, but everyone's created equal. So what's it gonna be? And everyone's so down on child pornography, but then the big thing, just a year ago, was the waif model, who looked like a 14-year-old, flat-chested and skinny, dressed like a schoolgirl. I mean, they send out so many mixed messages, it's no wonder there's Ted Bundys and Jeffrey Dahmers — they don't know what else to do. It's no wonder everyone wants to kill themselves and kill everyone else.

I think a lot of people may misunderstand what type of person I might be, I consider myself actually, and this sounds almost funny, a sensitive person. I think that's why I've constructed such a hard shell around myself, because things do affect me a lot and I am pretty fragile on the inside. People think maybe that I hate everything, that there's nothing in the world that I love. But there are things that I care about enough that I would give anything for. I think it's just the fact that I'm hurt by my dissatisfaction with so many things around me. It's like, I guess, just being offended by how much everything sucks, that I can't help but to be in a bad mood all the time.

Penthouse Magazine (05/1997)

If I believed in an outside force that we wanted to call God — and I believe that there is one, maybe it’s not necessarily supposed to be worshiped — I think it would appreciate what I say, because I can’t see God wanting to create a world full of idiots and followers.

The word “Satanist” might be too limited for me. Satanism is one of the things that I agree with, along with many other philosophies. Like I said before, I am a lot bigger than Satan. More people believe in me than believe in him.

You know, self-preservation and doing things to make yourself happy, not feeling guilty for wanting to be yourself or wanting to do things for yourself. We live in a society of victimization, where people are much more comfortable being victimized than actually standing up for themselves.

Today, with a similar political climate — with this pseudo-revival of family values, and everybody pretending to love everybody, and we all want to hold hands and get along — I think I’m awakening in impressionable people the reality that this is just a bunch of bullshit, that it’s just another reason to sell a T-shirt, just as much as I have another reason to sell a T-shirt.

”There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, and yet is not washed from its filthiness.” What do you think of that?

It’s a good description of America. People are so desensitized that they don’t realize or appreciate taboos anymore. I am always in constant search of my own innocence, because when you see so much it doesn’t mean much anymore. Americans are not so dumb that they think they can live in a taboo-less society. People try to make themselves feel better by taking on this false ideal of conservatism.

That’s anti-Christian in that it assumes a degree of sins.

Right. It’s the idea of forgiveness and the whole mentality that your sins can be washed away if you ask for forgiveness. That’s about control. It’s about making people feel guilty for being human beings. It’s about making people feel like they’re constantly needing to answer to somebody, some higher power. It’s a matter of believing in yourself and you don’t feel obligated to live that way anymore. What Antichrist Superstar will do in the next five years, you know, to my generation, is that it will make people realize the old ways are dead and there’s time to be strong and stop living under a weak God.

Kerrang! Magazine (05/1997)

It's part of finding yourself, when you can identify with an idol and find someone you can believe in. It goes beyond sexuality, it's something you feel in your heart rather than your crotch. When I was a kid, I didn't have sexual attractions to bands but I wanted to be with them all the time.

Were you popular with girls as a teenager?

No, I liked them but I didn't have much luck with them. I went through a bit of a misogynist period, because I was resentful that I didn't have any luck and I had a big heartbreak, but then I turned to writing and started the band, and that became my escape from worrying about girls. When you listen to our early songs, there are a lot of spiteful lyrics about relationships which comes from that period.

I wouldn't support having sex with a child and I can't imagine having sex with an animal. [...] Other than those things, I think most things are acceptable. There are things that I don't want to do sexually, but I don't actually morally disagree with them.

Do you like the idea of finding a significant other?

Yeah, there's a lot of worth to that idea. It's great if you can find someone to share your problems and the things you care about. It's good to find someone you can trust, but that's hard. I don't trust myself, so I find it hard to trust others.

I'm a shy person generally, but then a lot of artists and musicians are. I'm comfortable around girls, but it takes a lot for me to open up to anyone. I've found that a lot of people are afraid of me, so I have to try harder to overcome the stigma that's attached to my image.

NME Magazine (08/1997)

Well, look, if my ideology is a hand then that's just two fingers. I incorporate a lot of Christian morality into what I do and in fact a lot of my beliefs are very conservative — like my desire for the world to be a better place where people use more intelligence. If you had to condense all that I believe in, it's that responsible, intelligent people should be allowed to do what they want. That artists and performers and architects, people who contribute something to the world, that actually have something to say as opposed to a business man or a politician, say, people who actually contribute to society, the power should be traded. The creators are always suppressed — other than the placebo 'fame' that they're always given. I don't really suggest any solution — that we could all kick them out of their positions of power and take over. It's just the idea that if you enjoy what you do, that's why you should do it.

It's also about everybody's need to be accepted. The idea of beauty in America is so fascist because you've got commercials constantly telling you that if you don't look this way or drive this car then you're not going to be accepted by your peers. If you grow up with that constantly it starts to affect you.

Kerrang! Magazine (09/1997)

There's definitely ritual in music, it just depends if artists are smart enough to use it or not. Anything from a sporting event to a totalitarian rally to a rock concert has a lot of energy, which can be either chaotic or focused. When you focus it, it has a lot of power. A lot of people have learned to do that over the years for evil purposes, whether it be Julius Caesar, Stalin or Hitler. Others, whether it be me, Madonna or Elvis Presley have used it for positive things.

I grew up feeling like I could never fit in no matter how hard I tried. One day, I realised that I didn't want to fit in. I could make my own standards and I'd live by them. That's what I try to tell people. Don't be afraid to say what's on your mind, and if it pisses someone off that's too bad. If you make everybody happy, you're an idiot.

Because the darker element is in everything, and some people are more willing to acknowledge it than others. It's strange for me, because I live in a different world to most people. They come up to me and say, 'Why is your performance so violent, dark and hateful?', and to me it's not. To me, it's very normal. At times, I feel like I'm beyond other people's experience. Like I've been through things they'll never go through.

I think anyone who has any sense of open-mindedness can relate to a lot of what I say, because it boils down to isolation and the feeling of not being able to fit in. Some people don't ever deserve to understand, but those people are necessary. Because what Christianity started out as wasn't anything more than what we saw at the show today. It was one person getting up and saying what he felt, and a lot of people going, 'Yeah, I feel that too.' Jesus was the first rock star, the first sex symbol and the first icon.

You just have to have a personal code. A lot of people probably assume that I have no values, but I do. If anything, I'm rather conservative. I try not to judge people for what they look like. I like to get to know somebody before I form an opinion on them. I think that's almost liberal. I'm not a malicious person. But the golden rule is, 'Do unto others as they do unto you.' You always have to assume that people are generally bad by nature.

I don't think there's anything I want that I can't have, and that's the bottom line. Whether it takes a day or a year, I get what I want. It's up to you whether you want to call that magic or determination, but it's a matter of will power and self-belief. I think everybody has that ability, but mankind is too busy playing with computers and watching T.V. to tap into their own power. Why fuck with virtual reality when you can have super-reality in your own life?

I just want to be a better person, and I want other people to be better people. I want people to be strong. I'm sick of living with weak people. But with great power comes responsibility. If you're going to have the power to control other people, then you have to be responsible and act accordingly. For instance, if you had the power to read someone's mind, you'd have to deal with what you see intelligently.

I don't really have any place in my heart for stupid or weak people. I try my hardest to be a strong person. I think with anyone, the thing that they hate are their own fears, and I guess through a little bit of self-analysis, I've realized that I have a fear of being a weak person. So Marilyn Manson is a bit of a challenge to people's intelligence. It's almost a little bit of a science project to see how far I can push you, and see exactly what kind of a reaction I can get.

If you listen to Marilyn Manson and you decide to go off and commit some act of violence, or you decide to kill yourself, then that's a responsibility you need to take for yourself, that's nothing you can put off on me or off on the television or anything like that. If anyone, your parents should be responsible for raising you to be an idiot, so that you will be influenced so easily by someone in a band.

I've never gone out and told anyone to commit these acts, but if somebody kills themselves because of our music, then that's one less stupid person in the world. There are too many people in the world, and they need to make way for the people who actually can contribute something to society. If you've got that kind of mentality where you would so easily be swayed, then you have no contribution, you have no place to stand in my movement, if you want to call it that.

Melody Maker (09/1997)

Look, why do people want to be beautiful? To be loved, accepted, conquer their fear of exclusion. I finally realized after years of not being accepted — why not create your own standard and let other people be accepted or rejected by you? We've reversed the whole idea of the fascism of beauty and replaced it with our own standard. We destroyed it to create a new way.

No, all there is, is making people think for themselves. That's it. No answers. You make your choice. Fascism is precisely what I'm out to destroy but if people see our show and see fascism, it's in them already, it's a self discovery. And that's what we're here for, to make people think, enable self-discovery. I ain't here to condemn or condone. I'm here to go against the grain. I've transformed my world so that I am my own work of fiction, with no boundaries to what I can do, no limits. I'm saying anyone can do that. Anyone.

The underlying theme of all our music is ending judgement, speaking your mind, not caring about what the next guy thinks. It's about going beyond race, sex, sexuality. I want as many people, especially the kind of people who probably won't hear us, to experience our music. Quote-unquote 'normal' people can be treated like shit at our concerts and that sickens me. That's just creating an opposite version of what we're trying to destroy. We're not about monoliths and edifices, we're about exploring the ruins.

Hit Parader (10/1997)

People will have to make up their minds. We don't tell them how to think. People have to find what is going to work for them. You have to inspire people who want to do something different with their lives. There's so many people out there who don't realize that they can have the chance to be something different. If there's some people out there looking for that chance, then I hope I can point them in the right direction.

I believe nothing happens by accident. My fame has happened for a reason. My fans are my kindred spirits in revolution. If anyone chooses to ignore the message or the messenger, they do so at their own risk. Believe it or not, there are many more people out there that understand what I am trying to do than society wants to admit. The way I live my life represents a much bigger part of America than anyone would care to imagine.

Metal Edge (1997)

The burden of originality is one that most people don't want to accept. They'd rather sit in front of the T.V. and let that tell them what they're suppose to like, what they're suppose to buy, and what they're suppose to laugh at. You have Beavis and Butthead telling you what music you're allowed to like and not like, and you've got sitcoms that have canned laughter that lets you know when to laugh if you're too stupid to know when the joke is. People are too lazy and too stupid to think for themselves because America has raised them like that.

There are so many different levels of things that you can say to people, and everyone's going to get something really different out of what I say, but the most I can hope for is for people to want to find some sort of truth, to be themselves, and to encourage them to think.

You have something to learn from everybody. It's not to say that you have to like what those people have done, but at least respect them in a strange way because they had the motivation and power to attempt the things they did.

Orkus Magazine (10/1998)

Marilyn Manson is pure sarcasm. Our fans know this, but the rest of the world is pissed and frightened. But it is okay. This way I entertain the people. It is not important what people think of me, because I still entertain them. It is just art. I never wanted people to realize who I was. As a child, for example, I often wore masks to fright the people at the Burger King drive through.

In my opinion, art doesn't need a description. People can make anything they want to make of it. I write songs because I like it. What the rest of the people do with it is not my job. Don't get me wrong! I like it if people understand my work and why I do it, and sometimes I like it when people don't understand it. That makes me laugh. Confusion is the greatest form of communication. Salvador Dalí said that and I think he is right.

Does Brian Warner still exist today?

Definitely! I personified Marilyn Manson, but I never lost my real person. Today Brian Warner is a name which people use when they don't know me. The name is something like a safing-net. I often meet people who I don't know and they call me Brian, but my friends and people who go to bed with me never have the idea to call me Brian. It's ironic.

Propaganda Magazine #024 (12/1998)

The lyrics and ideals expresed on this album are those of a character called Antichrist Superstar, who is portrayed by me. In that sense, this is an auto-biographical collection of songs. In another sense, this character is portrayed by every other person in America as well. And those who fail to realize and admit this are the ones who will be afraid of and offended by this album. THIS is what you should fear. YOU are what you should fear.

Onstage Magazine (10/2001)

It's about those three words: Guns, God, and Government, I really wanted to set them up against each other. I wanted the stage, at one moment, presenting an idea of God and what people worship, and then switching that with people's thirst for violence and how they are one and the same. So we made the crucifix into guns, we were trying to throw these ideas back and forth in front of people so it would make them think and come up with their own conclusions. I don't think you can really spell something out completely. It's like preaching, so I prefer to create a bunch of strong images and let people be inspired by them or think about things differently from the way they did before the show.

I think a combination of political pressure — which inspires censorship, for example — and the never-ending idiocy of religion. And trying to blame entertainment for the way people behave. Like of course, the beating I took on Columbine. All of that combined together was kind of the boiling point. So I could either stop doing this entirely, or do it even more extreme than it was before, and with more conviction.

I think it really draws the whole crowd into what's happening to me, because if they see the protesters when they arrive, they instantly become part of what I'm a part of. And it makes the band and the crowd one big “us against them” unit — the ultimate galvanizing force that creates teen angst. The protesters are defeating their purpose every time. They would be much better off sitting at home, being perfectly still.

You've inflicted a lot of mutilation on yourself onstage over the years.

People ask me about that period of my performance, a couple years ago, when I was really kind of destroying myself. And I was getting maybe a hundred death threats a day, so it was kind of my way, looking back, of saying that I was invincible to them. I was saying it by just destroying myself. It was ironic; I was doing that to myself [as a way of saying] something to the people who would complain about what I was doing to myself. It became a vicious circle.

Miami Herald (01/2008)

All the sunshine and tourism and being the happiest place on Earth could do nothing but create Marilyn Manson. "Let's see if we can make the most evil person possible. Sprinkle in some drugs and some anger, knives, naked women and fire and tell him everybody wants to kill him and see what he does, and you make the 'Antichrist Superstar'."

You've turned ugliness and horror into an art form that some say is actually beautiful. Is this some sort of comment on mainstream values?

It is, and it's also probably the way someone who isn't accepted conventionally deals with it. I didn't feel like I could fit in as the "handsome guy" or the "cool guy" or the status quo. And instead of putting those feelings of isolation into something violent, I put it into music.

I think people have always misinterpreted my self-destructive nature as nihilistic, because if you don't care about the world, you can't create art. I am misanthropic and self-loathing, but never nihilistic.

I am a character, so that's the problem. There are many, many levels to how I behave. Some people might associate being Marilyn Manson as having lipstick on, but I don't really have some sort of other lifestyle. Sometimes I don't have the energy to put on clothes or even change my underwear. But there's a difference between being on- or offstage that's not the same thing as being Marilyn Manson. I can't turn off the way I think, and that's essentially who I am, who anybody is.

Marilyn Manson has always been intended to confuse some, anger some and make some people feel at home. There's no way to misunderstand what I do — but everyone can understand it differently. That's the only way I've learned to embrace art — it has to be a question mark, not an answer.