Marilyn Manson opens up on how Columbine affected his career nearly twenty years later

September 21, 2017

[Photo by: Perou]

With Marilyn Manson's tenth studio album coming out on October 6, it'd be hard to not reflect over the performer's illustrious career that's spanned over two decades of making music, which is what Manson did in his latest interview with the Guardian.

Check out what he said below!

Manson opened up on the “Say10” video that was released earlier this year. In the video, the Pale Emperor dissonantly rips away at a bible, before ominously gripping a knife as the song builds up to its chorus. The next visual shows a man in a suit and red tie lying in a pool of blood, uncannily resembling the likes of Donald Trump, yet Manson alludes to the fact that it might not have been Trump at all.

“Well, there was no actual decapitation shown. It was implied. And no Trump. There was just a guy in a red tie. Could have been a preacher. It’s funny that people see what they want to see.”

“Say10” is one of ten songs that will be featured on Manson's upcoming album, Heaven Upside Down.

He's also experienced loss this year, following the death of his father Hugh Warner who was seventy years old. On Instagram, Manson wrote, “he taught me how to be a man, a fighter and a survivor. He taught me how to shoot a gun. How to drive. How to lead. He will always be the best dad in the world. Somehow and somewhere, I know he is with my mom now. I will keep my promise and never let you down. I miss and love you dad.”

Despite his father's death on July 7, Manson continued to perform as little as just a couple of weeks later and has not taken any time off from his touring schedule. It appears that this is something that he believes his father would have wanted.

“He would want me to be the best I could be right now. That’s what he raised me to be. Dad was a fucking fighter, a killer in Vietnam, but he was not a quitter; he just didn’t want to be here any more. He didn’t give up, he just wanted to be with my mom, and I respected him for that. So I wouldn’t miss a gig. It was not easy – I had to go see him a week before we went on tour. It was tough, but it made me stronger.”

Yet if there was one event in American history that's synonymous with Marilyn Manson, it would be the Columbine Massacre in 1999. It's hard to forget the moving piece Manson wrote for Rolling Stone a few months after the shooting.

“A lot of people forget or never realize that I started my band as a criticism of these very issues of despair and hypocrisy. The name Marilyn Manson has never celebrated the sad fact that America puts killers on the cover of Time magazine, giving them as much notoriety as our favorite movie stars … They just created two new ones when they plastered those dip-shits Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris' pictures on the front of every newspaper. Don't be surprised if every kid who gets pushed around has two new idols.”

And now here we are eighteen years later and seven albums later and Manson is still able to realize the impact that the event had on his career.

“If [the Columbine killers] had just bought my records, they would be better off. Certain people blame me for the shootings at schools – I think my numbers are low, and hopefully they go up on this record … That’s going to be a great pull-quote for you. But, honestly, the Columbine era destroyed my entire career at the time.”

Heaven Upside Down will be hitting stores on October 6. Check out his upcoming tour dates below!

How did you feel about his opinions? Let us know in the comments!

Dates:
SEPT 27 – SILVER SPRING, MD @ THE FILLMORE SILVER SPRING
SEPT 29 – PITTSBURGH, PA @ STAGE AE
SEPT 30 – NEW YORK, NY @ HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM
OCT 02 – BOSTON, MA @ HOUSE OF BLUES
OCT 03 – HUNTINGTON, NY @ THE PARAMOUNT
OCT 05 – TORONTO, ON @ REBEL
OCT 07 – CAMDEN, NJ @ ROCK ALLEGIANCE
OCT 08 – COLUMBUS, OH @ EXPRESS LIVE!
OCT 10 – CHICAGO, IL @ RIVIERA THEATRE
OCT 11 – MILWAUKEE, WI @ EAGLES BALLROOM
OCT 12 – KANSAS CITY, MO @ FREAKER’S BALL
OCT 14 – THE WOODLANDS, TX @ HOUSTON OPEN AIR
OCT 15 – GRAND PRAIRIE, TX @ FREAKER'S BALL
OCT 17 – TULSA, OK @ BRADY THEATER
OCT 19 – DENVER, CO @ FILLMORE AUDITORIUM
OCT 20 – SALT LAKE CITY, UT @ THE COMPLEX
OCT 22 – SACRAMENTO, CA @ AFTERSHOCK FESTIVAL
OCT 23 – OAKLAND, CA @ FOX THEATER
OCT 26 – PHOENIX, AZ @ ARIZONA STATE FAIRGROUNDS
OCT 27 – LAS VEGAS, NV @ HOUSE OF BLUES
OCT 28 – LAS VEGAS, NV @ HOUSE OF BLUES
NOV 05 – DEVORE, CA @ OZZFEST MEETS KNOTFEST
NOV 12 – HELSINKI, FI @ ICE HALL
NOV 14 – STOCKHOLM, SE @ ANNEXET
NOV 15 – ELSINORE, DK @ HAL 14
NOV 16 – HAMBURG, DE @ SPORTHALLE
NOV 18 – MUNICH, DE @ ZENITH
NOV 19 – PRAGUE, CZ @ TIP SPORT ARENA
NOV 20 – VIENNA, AT @ GASOMETER
NOV 22 – TURIN, IT @ PALA ALPITOUR
NOV 23 – ZURICH, CH @ SAMSUNG HALL
NOV 25 – BERLIN, DE @ VELODROM – UFO
NOV 27 – PARIS, FR @ ACCOR HOTELS ARENA
NOV 28 – EINDHOVEN, NL @ KLOKGEBOUW
NOV 29 – DUSSELDORF, DE @ MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC HALLE
DEC 01 – NANCY, FR @ ZENITH
DEC 02 – BRUSSELS, BE @ FOREST NATIONAL
DEC 04 – MANCHESTER, UK @ 02 APOLLO
DEC 05 – GLASGOW, UK @ 02 ACADEMY
DEC 06 – WOLVERHAMPTON, UK @ CIVIC HALL
DEC 08 – NEWPORT, UK @ NEWPORT CENTRE
DEC 09 – LONDON, UK @ SSE WEMBLEY ARENA