YMMV / Marilyn Manson

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• Audience-Alienating Era: While the post-Columbine backlash and resulting sales disappointments of Holy Wood and The Golden Age of Grotesque knocked Manson out of the rock music mainstream, fans believe he only really fell into this with the lovelorn Eat Me, Drink Me, which came off as wangst to many. Following it up with the average-sounding The High End of Low and Born Villain didn't help matters. However, the positive reception to The Pale Emperor and his collaboration with Tyler Bates shows that Manson may be coming out of this, with it continuing after positive reception for Heaven Upside Down and We Are Chaos.
• Broken Base:
  • The later albums, such as Born Villain and The High End Of Low, have incredibly mixed reactions among the fanbase.
  • Eat Me, Drink Me. Manson's post-divorce album, recorded solely with Tim Skold and filled with a plethora of confessional lyrics, was either an interesting new frontier, or a messy mid-life crisis on record, depending on who you talk to.
  • Even Mechanical Animals was a bit controversial when it was released in 1998. On one hand, some critics loved the new direction and Manson got a few of his most famous songs out of it ("The Dope Show," "Rock Is Dead"), but a significant portion of his audience who were riveted by Antichrist Superstar couldn't quite get into his new Glam Rock leanings. Notably, 2000's Holy Wood sounds like a combination between the two albums, sonically.
• Covered Up: The Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams", Patti Smith's "Rock & Roll Nigger" and "Tainted Love" (originally by Gloria Jones but popularised by the UK Synth-Pop band Soft Cell).
• Creepy Awesome: And he only got creepier!
• Ending Fatigue: With the exception of Heaven Upside Down, which clocks in at 47 minutes, all of his albums run at over an hour and can have a pretty big number of tracks, with Holy Wood having a whopping 19. Even Smells Like Children, which is an EP, runs at 55 minutes with 16 tracks, longer than most artists' full-length albums, to the point that Spotify calls it an album and not an EP.
• Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: "Lunchbox", a song about a bullied kid using his metal lunchbox as a weapon, has commonly been misinterpreted as a song about a kid using another type of metal weapon. Manson has stated that the use of the word "lunchbox" is meant to be literal, and comes directly from his own childhood.
• Friendly Fandoms: With Rammstein, thanks to Marilyn's friendship with the band members as well as performing alongside them once.
• Growing the Beard: Not that they didn't shake up some parents and right-wing zealots before, but Antichrist Superstar, aside from being a stylistic breakthrough, was the point where they became the most controversial band in America.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Has its own page.
• Heartwarming Moment:
  • This scene from Bowling for Columbine.
  • Him reaching out to Paris Jackson was also a pretty heartwarming moment.
  • The fact that the members of Rammstein respect him enough to perform together with him filling in for Till at an event. Even when Richard and Till did a cover song together, they didn't use the name Rammstein because all six weren't involved, and almost broke up over the "Mutter" music video. For them to all to be cool with Manson filling in for Till is basically the biggest compliment they could give him. Well, besides for having him be the sole non-Rammstein celebrity in the "Haifisch" music video, even though he couldn't make it (stand-in/cardboard cut out was used in his place, because they wanted him in it that badly).
  • Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger performed with him, with him singing multiple of their songs. Yes, they respect him enough to have him fill Jim Morrison's shoes.
  • When his cover of "In The Ghetto" surfaced, it was thought to be from the new album. It turned out that it was actually from the Holy Wood era, and was personally recorded as a gift for his mother, a huge Elvis fan.
  • The photoshoot with his father, Hugh Warner. This was soon after his mother died, and there was also this interview, where they bonded over Apocalypse Now. His father is a Vietnam vet, and one of the people who dropped Agent Orange on Vietnam.
  • He's described Johnny Depp as "like a brother to [him]".
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The song "Wrapped In Plastic" features a sample from the David Lynch series Twin Peaks. The band would later make an appearance on the soundtrack for Lost Highway, another Lynch project, and Manson himself and Twiggy also made cameos in the film itself.
• Ho Yay: Manson tends to have a lot with his bassists, Gidget Gein, Twiggy Ramirez and Tim Skold, respectively.
• It's Popular, Now It Sucks!: They're a metal band that got well known in the mainstream. Of course there will be a section of fans who will immediately brand them as sell-outs!
• Misaimed Fandom: "This is the New Shit" was written as a satire on artists who make shallow Darker and Edgier work because they think it's automatically more "grown-up" or "deeper", and fans who unthinkingly embrace that perspective. Inevitably, it got many fans who didn't see the sarcasm.
• Mis-blamed: Manson was blamed for the school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999. As it happened, the killers only bought one of Marilyn Manson's albums, and they thought he was a sellout and a poseur. Even if they had listened to Manson's music, it would have been a significant stretch to put that as the reason for the two killers picking up guns and going on a rampage killing spree. However, in cases like this, someone has to be the bad guy, and when it came out that the culprits were metal fans, right-wing America jumped on the most notorious current band they could think of — Marilyn Manson. Ironically, this accusation largely ignored such bands as KMFDM and Rammstein, which the killers did listen to. In the end, it got so bad that Marilyn had to come out and attempt to bat back the rumors, which he did well considering the overwhelming tide of outrage he was up against. Didn't stop some Moral Guardians from continuing to blame him anyways, though. Manson himself said as much in Bowling for Columbine, where director Michael Moore showed off a rather poignant side to Manson.
  • On a more Heartwarming in Hindsight note, this did lead to Manson's friendship with Rammstein, which has lead to some awesome moments. Richard Kruspe, guitarist of Rammstein, literally forced Manson to record the vocals for a song with his other band, Emigrate. Manson kept claiming that Richard's were better, but Richard dragged him into the recording studio and made him record it. Till Lindemann, Rammstein's singer, also has just as much love for him, seeing as the "Haifisch" video, which takes place at his fake funeral has no celebrities besides for the rest of Rammstein and Marilyn Manson, which pretty much is the highest compliment Till could pay him, since Rammstein see each other as True Companions, and for Manson to be a part of that is huge. Manson and Rammstein, minus Till, also did "The Beautiful People" live together once.
• Narm: The cover of "Rock 'N' Roll Nigger" gets a little hard to take seriously towards the end of the song where Manson can be heard screaming "nigger" in rapid succession. It comes off as trying too hard to be offensive and makes it seem like Manson just wanted to see how many times he could get away with saying it.
• Narm Charm: Manson once did a cover of the The Nightmare Before Christmas theme song. Now picture Manson poncing about in Halloween Town.
• Nightmare Retardant: Manson's Nightmare Before Christmas cover. We see through your act now, Manson! You're not evil, you just want to be the prettiest ghoul at the whole Pumpkin Ball!
  • His whole Clone High cameo, where amongst other things, he sings a happy musical number about the food pyramid.
• Older Than They Think: There is popular urban legend that Manson had his lower ribs surgically removed so he could perform fellatio on himself, but the whole idea of such a surgery is a concept that pre-dates him. In fact, everything seems to indicate that this kind of urban legend started with rumors that the Italian poet and proto-Fascist Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863-1938) should have had this procedure done, and some sources outright suggest that it was D'Annunzio himself who started these rumors as a publicity stunt.
• Overshadowed by Controversy:
  • Manson's band was one of the most controversial musical acts in the 1990s, and their music and stage act resulted in everything from protests at concerts to being blamed for the Columbine massacre. Even rock stations were hesitant to play their music at the height of their popularity.
  • Nowadays, outside of their fanbase, more people know the group for their reputation than for any of their actual music.
    • Manson himself tends to have a revolving door of musicians due to being very publicly difficult to work with (ranging from Twiggy’s first time leaving the band due to refusing to change his hair to pulling a knife on Tyler Bates while on tour), although he has acknowledged his own faults and admitted to his generally poor mental health. Despite this, some of his more public fights, like Rob Zombie and Tyler Bates, have maintained relationships with him despite their conflicts, Zombie touring with him for several more years after their first co-headlining tour led to them fighting both backstage and Zombie raging against him on stage.
    • After several years of quiet, the band once again made headlines in the late 2010s when bassist Twiggy Ramirez was implicated in a scandal as part of the #MeToo movement (with Ramirez leaving the band), which was made worse when Manson himself was the center of abuse allegations from ex-fiancée Evan Rachel Wood and several other women, resulting in a public backlash towards him that resulted in him being dropped from his record label and agency.
• Signature Song: By album:
  • Portrait of an American Family: Cake And Sodomy, Lunchbox, or Dope Hat.
  • Smells Like Children: "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)," "I Put A Spell On You," or "Rock N Roll Nigger."
  • Antichrist Superstar: "Irresponsible Hate Anthem," "The Beautiful People," "Tourniquet," or the Title Track.
  • Remix & Repent: "The Horrible People" or "The Tourniquet Prosthetic."
  • Mechanical Animals: "The Dope Show," "Rock Is Dead," or "I Don’t Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)."
  • Holy Wood: "The Love Song," "The Fight Song," "Disposable Teens," or "The Nobodies."
  • The Golden Age Of Grotesque: "This Is The New Shit," "mOBSCENE," or "(s)AINT."
  • Eat Me, Drink Me: The Title Track, "Heart Shaped Glasses," or "If I Was Your Vampire."
  • The High End Of Low: "Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin-Geddon," "Running To The Edge Of The World," or "WOW."
  • Born Villain: "No Reflection" or "Slo-Mo-Tion."
  • The Pale Emperor: "Killing Strangers," "Deep Six," or "The Mephistopheles Of Los Angeles."
  • Heaven Upside Down: "WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE" or "KILL4ME."
  • WE ARE CHAOS: "RED BLACK AND BLUE," the Title Track, or "DON’T CHASE THE DEAD."
    • Overall: Five-way tie between "The Beautiful People," the band's cover of "Sweet Dreams," "The Dope Show," "Disposable Teens," and "Long Hard Road Out Of Hell" from the Spawn soundtrack. A sixth contender could be "Rock Is Dead," due to being a concert staple and appearing in The Matrix.
• Song Association: Among others, "The Beautiful People" was used as the theme music for WWE SmackDown from 2001 to 2003, and "Killing Strangers" was used prominently in John Wick. In addition, "Rock Is Dead" and "This Is The New Shit" appeared on the soundtracks for the first and second The Matrix movies, respectively. "Rock Is Dead" also appeared in the credits for the first movie, and the single was made to promote the film.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: There's a bit of a Fandom Rivalry between him and Alice Cooper due to being perceived as an extreme ripoff of the latter.
• Unintentional Period Piece: "Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes" was recorded for the soundtrack of the then-popular MTV series Celebrity Deathmatch, and as such features a music video done in the style of the show which features the show's hosts hosts Johnny Gomez and Nick Diamond. To younger viewers, it's a given that they might not initially know what it was made to tie in to.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Many Moral Guardians were surprised that he was not a very deep-voiced woman. This did give them more reasons to hate him, though.
• Vindicated by History:
  • Wikipedia says it best:
  [Holy Wood] was initially a commercial disappointment, garnering first week sales of 117,000 units and a peak charting position at No.13 on the Billboard 200. However, with worldwide sales of over 9 million copies, as of 2011, the album has become one of the most successful of Marilyn Manson's career.
  • When Smells Like Children was first released, it received average reviews at best and negative reviews at worst (aside from the band’s iconic "Sweet Dreams" cover, of course.) However, after the release of Antichrist Superstar, people started understanding that the EP was just supposed to be a bridge between the two albums, and some of the other tracks (particularly the covers of "I Put A Spell On You" and "Rock N Roll Nigger") started getting more appreciation from fans.

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