Actors - Marilyn Manson

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	Actors - Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson (born Brian Hugh Warner on January 5, 1969) is an American musician and the leader of the band Marilyn Manson. Known for profane, provocative lyrics and behaviour, he has been the subject of much controversy, particularly during the late 1990s.

Early life

Brian Warner is a Canton, Ohio native and the son of Hugh and Barbara Warner. Hugh, a former carpet salesman, had fought in the Vietnam War and while there was exposed to so much Agent Orange that military doctors and psychologists were amazed that young Brian turned out "normal". Brian Warner attended Heritage Christian School, but was alienated by what he saw as hypocrisy, and a religion that seemed to teach fear more than it taught virtues—sermons prophesying the Apocalypse had a lasting effect upon his outlook. Brian graduated from GlenOak High School, where he joined a band, in which he started out playing percussion instruments like bass drum and snare drum, but ended up playing triangle. After his graduation, the Warner family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

An untrue rumor circulated in the 1990s that the actor Josh Saviano who played a nerdy sidekick in the 1960s themed TV show The Wonder Years grew up to be Marilyn Manson. A similar story about Rob Stone, who played Kevin Owens in the ABC sit-com Mr. Belvedere, was also spread.

Music career

Early years

While in Broward Community College (BCC), Warner became Assistant Entertainment Editor of the college newspaper The Observer as well as working for local magazines such as 25th Parallel and Tonight, Today. During his time as an interviewer he decided he wanted to be on the other side of the microphone, and subsequently resolved to form a rock band. Warner originally formed the band Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids with college friend Brian Tutunick (bass guitar), Scott Putesky (guitar), and Perry Pandrea (keyboard). The original band had no live drummer, and used a drum machine instead. Warner took light and dark aspects of American pop culture, a culture in which movie stars and serial killers (Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson) have equal notoriety, and merged them with his own personality, creating the persona of Marilyn Manson. He drew all the band's concert flyers himself, and oversaw every aspect of the band.

To gain more notoriety Manson single-handedly orchestrated an open mic poetry night at a South Florida club called Squeeze, which ended up being in his words, "The Goth Gong Show". Squeeze would later become his headquarters and home away from home, and where he would meet long time friend and confidant Jessicka (Jack Off Jill, Scarling.); he convinced her to start a riot grrl band, which he later dubbed Jack Off Jill. The two at the time were said to be inseparable, though Manson would later label her a groupie in his autobiography. Jack Off Jill went to open most of his shows, along with producing many of the band's early recordings. This was mirrored when Trent Reznor did the same for Marilyn Manson on a much larger scale years later.

Rise to national fame

After months of gigging, Manson decided to drop "and the Spooky Kids" from the band's title. The band was signed to Nothing Records in 1992, shortly after the label had been launched by John Malm, Jr. and Trent Reznor. Their debut album, Portrait of an American Family was released in 1994, and Marilyn Manson toured with Nine Inch Nails, Pantera, and others to promote it. Although they received large amounts of press and interest in the underground scene, it was not until 1995 and the release of the EP Smells Like Children, which included a cover of the Eurythmics hit "Sweet Dreams", that the band became nationally famous.

After the 1996 release of Antichrist Superstar (#3 Billboard Charts), the band's second LP, Manson severed ties with Reznor and looked to make his own decisions upon the band's change of style and sound. In 1998, Manson released his autobiography, The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell (with help from Neil Strauss of Rolling Stone). It had sold 1.4 million copies by mid-year. In that same year, Manson released the album Mechanical Animals (#1 Billboard Charts), which included the songs "Dope Show", "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" and "Rock is Dead", the latter of which was featured in the soundtrack for The Matrix.

Columbine and Holy Wood

The fallout of the Columbine High School shootings of April 1999 would lead to accusations, death threats, and finger-pointing from lawmakers, including Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman. Manson, in turn, cancelled the remainder of his "Rock Is Dead" tour and underwent a media blackout, communicating almost solely through his website, MarilynManson.com.

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