My review of new Marilyn Manson "WE ARE CHAOS"

I liked the new song. Sounded better than anything in the last 10 or so years

Iā€™m conflicted on this one.

Like, itā€™s pretty good for a country pop song. But thatā€™s also the reason I kind of want to hate it.

Hmmmm maybe i heard a different song. It didnt sound like country to me. My wife just played it from her computerā€¦ im assuming its the same song. she said it was new manson

Itā€™s not country pop like Taylor Swift or something, but for Manson, it definitely has strong country and pop influences.

I canā€™t imagine hating something based on genre. Thatā€™s just silly. If you like it, you like it. Genre is a made up word. Music is a universal language.

2 Likes

hey void, what do you think about this current manson shit thatā€™s going on?

Manson is toastā€¦

I can tell you that I am shocked, JUST SHOCKED, that a dude that includes so much sexual deviant imagery in his art work and who wrote about a ton of sexual deviant behavior in his biography, turned out to be such a sexual deviant. and if heā€™s not that he sure made himself an easy target to be accused of it. He had a good 25 year runā€¦ which was about 15 years too long. whatever.

i havenā€™t read his book so I wasnā€™t aware he wrote about this stuff.

I read it years ago, probably '98 or '99. and I donā€™t really remember all of the details, but his whole upbringing was just deviant sex.

When he was pre jr high (IIRC) he had a grandfather or an uncle? (lets just say a family member.) that had a shoe box of porno poloroids in the basement that was either beastiality or pedo shit (I donā€™t remember which) that he found and became fascinated with. Thereā€™s also a an excerpt about how he finally lost his virginity to the school slut and she gave him crabsā€¦ And then when he got the band going he and his bandmates were sexually abusing a deaf girl in an orgy in the studio (pissing all over her and cumming in her ā€œuseless ear canalsā€ not sure why I remembered that quote- probably cause itā€™s so fucked up). Thatā€™s just the sort of outlandish shit i kinda remember but i do remember there was a lot of other escapades too just not the specifics. The girls that carved his name into their forearms get a mention and a back story.

Iā€™m sure my tastes have changed but 20 years ago I thought it was a fascinating and easy read. Iā€™m sure itā€™s still an easy read, but even back then it seemed like many of the stories were embellished. It has a weird style to it, cause some excerpts seem to be just informative with dry commentary and other excerpts seem to be a blatant attempt at titillation. Although now that Iā€™m thinking about it the book may have just had more than one editorā€¦ Anyway, Iā€™m sure you can find it pretty cheap, if your truly interested.

I will say this about his current situation, comments like this really piss me off:

Phoebe Bridgers:

In a follow-up tweet, Bridgers called Mansonā€™s label, management, and band all ā€˜f**ing patheticā€™ and claimed everyone ā€˜knewā€™ about his behavior.

If everyone knew that means she knew and itā€™s fucking pathetic she didnā€™t say anything either. As an informed party itā€™s her job to do something about it too not just Management. Why is it everyone elseā€™s job to say something but not hers?
Not that itā€™s right, but itā€™s understandable why the band, management and label didnā€™t say anything. Heā€™s paying those people. They arenā€™t interrupting their own cash flow. They have a vested interest in looking the way. SHE, on the other hand, does not. So, Why didnā€™t she say anything?
Thatā€™s some Rose McGowan bullshit. Where she screamed at damon and affleck for not saying anything about Weinstein cause they never said anything. Well, nobody knew better than Rose and she didnā€™t say anything, either. She chose the money instead. Fuck that. Either be the white knight to begin with but donā€™t come along after the fact and scold everyone when they made the same inaction choice as you!

This is similar to how I feel. Manson talked openly about sexually humiliating female fans in his autobiography over 20 years ago. Manson aficionados will have the original promo version of Smells Like Children, which contains the tracks Abuse Part 1 (There is Pain Involved) and Abuse Part 2 (Confessions), which are recordings from these incidents. These tracks were censored from the commercial version. Manson was arrested a few times for lewd conduct onstage. So why is everyone suddenly upset now.

If we break down these accusations, it seems like some are actual domestic violence, which is indefensible, but some of the accusations are just what I would call ā€œbeing Marilyn Mansonā€. For example, his main accuser made a big statement that he once bit her during sex without asking her consent. Heā€™s Marilyn Manson for Godā€™s sake. Did you think he just did missionary through a sheet.

I also donā€™t like how Treznor is sticking his oar in and kicking Manson while heā€™s down. To me heā€™s coming across like a vulture. If you severed contact with Marilyn Manson 20 years ago then keep out of it. Donā€™t pipe up asking for a pat on the head.

I only learned this galā€™s name this last weekend (she did some SNL appearance that a lot of people are talking about). This shit always cracks me up. I figured she was some dopey new kid on the block and, yeah, Iā€™m basically right. Sheā€™s 26 years old, so Iā€™m not sure how seriously I can take any shouts of hers regarding knowing so dogmatically about who knew what at the time. She would have just been a dopey teenager when Evan Rachel Wood and Manson were dating. And sheā€™d have been exactly ZERO when Mansonā€™s breakthrough ā€œPortrait of an American Familyā€ came out.

Iā€™m not following the case closely at all, so this is solely comments of a geriatric peanut gallery heckler, but I have no dog in this fight. I never cared for Marilyn Manson and I wouldnā€™t even know these other ladiesā€™ names if it wasnā€™t for him.

For me, one thing that is really making this shit seem hollow is that Iā€™m now seeing headlines about how ā€œMarilyn Manson used racist and anti-Semitic slurs!!!ā€ Okay? And? What the fuck does that have to do with whether the guy actually abused some innocent women or committed crimes? Theyā€™re working hard, it seems, on turning the public on this guy using all the lazy tactics in the book.

I donā€™t think Manson was or ever has been a proper gentleman with respect to his lady companions. Does anyone? But itā€™s funny to me that after decades of painting him as the boogeyman, and only AFTER heā€™s become tired and commonplace, do the floodgates open with this shit.

Anyway, whatever. If he raped some chicks or did some nasty unconsensual abusive bullshit, sure, get to the truth and hold him accountable if thereā€™s something worth holding him accountable for. I think what makes me most annoyed at this recent case in general is that everyone is talking about Marilyn Manson . . . . . in 2021.

3 Likes

Youā€™ve hit the nail on the head, Gunnar: His accuser is muddying the waters by piling in a kaleidoscope of different accusations ranging from actual crimes like ā€œhe hit meā€ to general character assassination like ā€œheā€™s anti-Semiticā€.

I donā€™t understand the mentality of someone who dates Marilyn Manson and then complains about all this stuff that anyone who ever paid attention to him couldā€™ve told them. It wouldnā€™t surprise me if he used anti-Jewish slurs or had Nazi tattoos. The Anti-Christ Superstar album and Dead to the World tour depicted him as a kind of fascist demagogue with the British Union of Fascists logo. When he fell out with Madonna Wayne Gacey, Gacey complained about him collecting Nazi artifacts. Itā€™s all there.

She also accused him of ā€œgrooming me when I was a teenagerā€. Is she saying he had sex with her when she was underage? Weā€™ve all seen photos of Manson dating younger and younger women. Isnā€™t that just what being a hedonistic materialistic shock-rocker is all about? Itā€™s clear Manson has a problem maintaining relationships and flits from girl to girl, whether by his choice or theirs. She might as well tell us he snorted cocaine with a hundred dollar bill.

There was an accusation somewhere about threatening her with a baseball bat, which sounds like actual domestic violence one might expect from the trailer-parks he criticised. Itā€™s a shame that perhaps some genuine abuse is being lost in a whirlwind of less serious accusations that feel like theyā€™re more motivated by hashtag fads.

My take is that he fucked up his career by being an abusive piece of shit and dating stupid teenagers and falling in love with them, when they obviously were from a different generation and had zero appreciation of what he was about beyond wanting to rebel from their parents. And no. that doesnā€™t mean they deserved to be abused in that manner. It means he should have gotten help a long time ago and stayed far away from these girls.

Itā€™s called Sex & Love Addiction and it actually took him even lower than his alcoholism and drug addiction did. Definitely a lesson to learn from.

As for the accusations I agree they range from legitimate crimes to ridiculous like ā€œomg he used swastikas!ā€ basically highlighting how shock rock doesn;t work in 2021 where we censor and cancel everyone who upsets us.

Itā€™s ultimately a case of something the atheistic, liberal, misogynistic music industry allowed back then because they thought it was great how he pissed off Christians and now that the times have changed they leave him out to rot.

As others have said, he said all of this in his autobiography in '97. itā€™s nothing new. Heā€™s lucky the Me Too-ers donā€™t actually read or itā€™d have happened sooner.

Iā€™m just surprised he wasnā€™t more prepared for this eventuality. Itā€™s like his whole team was in denial that this canary would eventually singā€¦What the fuck were his handlers thinking allowing this shit? Too many yes men. That manager Tony Ciulla is going to try and distance himself now.

Iā€™ll continue to enjoy his music (listening to ā€œMan That You Fearā€ right now) but Iā€™m kind of just awaiting the news of him overdosing or something. Shitty ending to a great career.

Beyond that Iā€™m curious if heā€™ll ever release new music or just disappear. Itā€™s hard to imagine him doing an indie release or something, being that he was always so conscious of his stature in the industry and trying to be an a celebrity. if he did release new music now and just say fuck it iā€™m Marilyn Manson itā€™d be the coolest thing he could possibly do probably, with all the eyes on him right now.

The way Manson tells it in his autobiography, it was the tour manager Tony Wiggins who spearheaded the backstage exploitation, with Manson kind of hanging around recording and facilitating. Manson described Tony as a ā€œvacuum cleaner for sinā€. Tony comes across as the one wanting to do it for sexual gratification, whereas Mansonā€™s involvement was more a kind of nihilistic awe. Manson girls presumably didnā€™t give a shit about some no-name Pantera tour manager, so it was as if Manson drew them in and then watched Tony go. I wonder where Tony is now, he seems like one of these guys who looks normal but is a super-creep behind the scenes. Like Mansonā€™s grandfather.

Itā€™s clear Manson has been struggling with alcoholism for years. Maybe ā€œstrugglingā€ is the wrong word, because that implies heā€™s tried to stop, which Iā€™m not sure he has. Thereā€™s modern footage of him onstage visibly and audibly drunk, and in one video his trousers fall down and a stagehand pulls them back up. Which seems weird, itā€™s Marilyn Manson. He used to begin with his trousers off!

I agree heā€™s been making bad relationship decisions. I canā€™t help but wonder what his original girlfriend from the '90s, Missi Romero, makes of all of this. Iā€™ve seen him in videos drunk and/or aggressive. And I can see him thinking heā€™s Marilyn Manson so heā€™s invincible. So allegations of domestic violence arenā€™t outside the realms of possibility. Iā€™d just prefer a trial by jury over a trial by Instagram. Trial by media was bad in the '90s, trial by social media is even worse.

Dude. This times a million.
And Iā€™m really sick of all this ā€œyou have to believe the victimā€ shit.
No, I donā€™t. I donā€™t have to ā€œbelieveā€ anything.
And why am I even supposed to ever just assume thereā€™s even a ā€œvictimā€ every time?
Present information/ evidence that makes sense and itā€™ll be assessed and judged accordingly.

Iā€™m not blindly defending Manson. Iā€™m not defending him at all. But all I can go on (and my opinion doesnā€™t mean shit anyway, nor should anyone elseā€™s outside a courtroom at this point) is what I see and everyone else sees and so far it looks way too much like the same creepy takedown/cancelation shit Iā€™ve seen happen to too many others.

Sorry, I thought I was done, but I guess Iā€™m not. The accusers and people trying to turn this into a lynching in the court of public opinion are really crafty in their use of words/language. This Evan Rachel Wood gal apparently keeps saying ā€œhe was grooming me when I was a teenagerā€ . . . . that SOUNDS initially to me (and is intended to sound the same to everyone) like it was a greasy pedophile preying on an innocent 13 year old girl. When I did a quick Google search today on some basics it notes that she met Marilyn Manson when she was 19, I believe. So, yeah, a teenager, but a teenager who can legally vote, join the Army, make porno movies and is considered by all definitions A LEGAL ADULT. Just sayinā€™.

Yeah, something else is going on here. She sounds like a spurned lover. And all of this is just to make him pay for breaking up with her or whatever the fuck she feels like he did wrong to her. Sheā€™s totally using buzz words like ā€œGrooming.ā€ Fucking stupid as Gunar points out. Grooming is what a criminal does to underage people. Charm/flirting is what interested parties do to legal consenting adults. It seems she has conveniently mixed the two up.

Oh, you and me both buddy! Fuck that!! You donā€™t have to believe the ā€œvictimā€ at all. You can give the accuser a platform, you can give them serious thought and consideration and allow them to present their evidence and THEN decide if theyā€™re a victimā€¦ but starting off calling them a victim means the conclusion has already been made, which is bullshit. Sometimes theyā€™re not victims, sometimes theyā€™re just liars or frauds. Changing your mind in the morning is not rapeā€¦

Well Deeta Von Tess said she never saw any of this shit that this pheobe chick is alleging.

I definitely agree with this. Reznorā€™s just tryin to save his own ass though. Cause if he stays silent on this then eventually someoneā€™s gonna say ā€œWell reznor foisted manson on us 25 years ago Itā€™s all his fault he knew!!!ā€ by reznor releasing a statement heā€™s basically saying ā€œI didnā€™t know so donā€™t come to me about it,ā€ but he couldā€™ve crafted a better statement than what he released. It was overtly self serving and rather embarrassing, really

Thatā€™s definitely a problem for me too. The guy is a ā€œshock rockerā€ he does shit for attention. Does Alice Cooper really chop heads off? no, but it got attention during the time. Does Manson really endorse not sees? probably not, but does manson use fascism for shock? certainly. He has for a while now. Maybe he has more than a slight interested in fascism, but thereā€™s a difference between supporting/spreading and interest. A guy with the last name of ā€œWarnerā€ probably isnā€™t too far removed from Jewish ancestry himself.
Form what I take away from all of this is this: Bottom line is this Phoebe chick (Whoever the fuck she is- Iā€™d also never heard of her until she popped up in the news regarding this) is angry at manson is trying to punish him. Thatā€™s it.

I donā€™t think anybody would disagree with this.

Iā€™m actually quite alright with so-called ā€œcancel culture,ā€ but letā€™s call it what it is ā€œa boycott.ā€ Boycotts are as american as Apple Pie and Baseball. If you can rally all of your friends to not buy gas on a wednesday or not go see a palasnky film, or not shop at walmart, or get everyone to burn their disco records or make everyone dislike the freak than Marilyn manson is then what the fuck ever. Boycotts are American. Have at it people. But because common people have leveraged fantastic ability to raise awareness through social media, now corporations are scared as shit about boycotts and have rebranded them ā€œCancel cultureā€ so now that itā€™s not cool. but common folk now have the power to whip up a boycott frenzy and actually effect profit margins so now Boycotts have got to go! Fuck all that nonsense! boycott away!!

I think thereā€™s a difference between consumer boycotts and cancel culture from corporations/media. If the record-buying fan thinks itā€™s all getting a bit iffy and stops buying his records, thatā€™s one thing. I think itā€™s another thing that his label dropped him within days of the accusation.

19 = of age = still teenager though

Just saying.