Spooky Kid
Article by Bindi Lavelle

Following last week's feature on Alice Cooper, we are now going to take a look at an act the clearly grew up on a healthy diet on 70s glam rock: Marilyn Manson.

The band was formed by frustrated writer, Brian Warner in the late 80s, essentially to expand his art from performance poetry into thought provoking heavy and theatrical rock and roll. He recruited: Perry Pandrea on keyboards,Brian Tutunick on bass, and guitarist Scott Putesky, and with very little practice the group began performing as Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids.

Each member took the first name of a starlet and the last name of a serial killer as a moniker: Pandrea became Zsa Zsa Speck, Tutunick took the name Olivia Newton Bundy, Putesky became Daisy Berkowitz and of course Warner became Marilyn Manson (the band has under gone many line up chances over the years, but the name pattern has pretty much been maintained). This combination set the tone of the band as well as the subject matter for much of their early work, the exploration of how the sinister meets the sweet.

The band were picked up by Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and Portrait of an American Family was released on his label nothing; this was thanks to Warner's day job as a music journalist, which enabled him to pass a demo on to Reznor following an interview.

What followed was a hectic tour schedule to promote the album as Nine Inch Nails' support act. It was during this period that the band built its reputation as rock monsters.

Marilyn Manson broke into its own following the release of the Smells Like Children EP, a collections on covers and remixes, featuring the hit rendition of the Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams.

The release opened the band's music to a wider demographic as well as the floodgates for controversy: the band and in particular were accused of every vile act under the sun. This however only served to make the band more popular.

Marilyn Manson continues to provide sharp theatrical shows while exploring the light/dark juxtaposition of the western world.