Who is/are Marilyn Manson?
Marilyn Manson is a five-piece hard rock band from the Fort Lauderdale area of southern Florida. Founded in 1989 as Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, they played their last show as Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids on August 1, 1992. The original line-up was: Marilyn Manson = Vocals; Olivia Newton-Bundy = Bass; Zsa Zsa Speck = Keyboards; and an unnamed drum machine. Zsa Zsa and Olivia were replaced by November of 1989 by Gidget Gein, bass, and Madonna Wayne Gacy, keyboards. The drum machine ( a Yamaha RX8) was replaced by Sara Lee Lucas, who played his first show with the band on July 19, 1990. Bassist Gein was replaced in December 1993 by Twiggy Ramirez, formerly with Florida metal band Amboog-A-Lard, and drummer Lucas left because Manson set both him and his drums on fire and was replaced in March 1995 by Ginger Fish. Daisy Berkowitz announced his resignation from the band in May of 1996. His replacement, renamed Zim Zum, was from Chicago; his previous credits include briefly playing guitar for Life Sex and Death. In late July of 1998 Zim Zum took his departure from the band--citing the desires to work on his own music, and not wanting to tour as the main reasons for his departure. His replacement (for the upcoming tour at least) was quickly announced to be Two's John Lowery, renamed John 5 for his stint with Marilyn Manson.

What's their basic history?
Thumbnail version: Founded by Manson and Berkowitz in 1989/90, they acquired a local following by combining original material and a highly visual, theatrical stage show with imaginative self-promotional work. Mr. Manson created flyers and brochures to be handed out at the band's shows, they played live on local radio, and issued a series of self-produced cassette releases of their material. (These were sold only at their shows and through a few local record stores, and are now quite collectable, especially as they contain songs not yet available elsewhere. ) Consistently garnering enough fan votes to compete in South Florida's SLAMMIE Awards, they were regularly nominated for Band of the Year - a title they won two years running, in 1993 and 1994 - and Best Hard Alternative Band.
They drew the attention of Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor quite early, in 1990, when they opened (with Meat Beat Manifesto) for NiN in Florida. Manson and Reznor became friends and kept in touch over the next few years, exchanging tapes of their music. When Reznor offered them a slot on NiN's "Self Destruct '94" spring tour and on his newly formed label, nothing, they accepted both. (They were the first band signed to nothing, which now also houses Prick, Coil, Trust Obey, and Pop Will Eat Itself.) Their first release was the single "Get Your Gunn," released 6/9/94 on nothing/Interscope, followed by the LP "Portrait of an American Family" on 7/12/94. After both the band and Reznor expressed dissatisfaction with the original recording of "Portrait," which apparently polished and smoothed much of the character out of the band's sound, Reznor took over as executive producer and moved the band into LA's Record Plant, where the final released version was createdList of official releases

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Here is a few more FAQ
Love interests?
Manson : Missi Romero(a friend of Twiggys),Rose McGowan(actress), has been spotted on a few occasions with Ditta Von Tess (a playboy and fetish model)

Ramirez : Courtney Love (from Hole)

Ginger Fish : Alyson Hannigan (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Don't know any of the other band members.


Who's Tony Wiggins (a/k/a Tony f. wiggins)?
The composer/performer of "White Trash" is a bus owner/driver who has ferried numerous rock bands. MM met him when he was Danzig's driver on their spring 1995 tour.

Who's Pogo?
John Wayne Gacy, convicted and executed killer of 33 boys - and source of Madonna Wayne's surname - spent the more innocent part of his spare time entertaining at kids' parties in a self-designed clown suit and make-up, under the name Pogo the Clown. MWG has adopted the nickname along with the name, and is frequently addressed as Pogo.

Who's The Great Hoodoo? ("Dope Hat")
The evil magician who tyrannizes the Hat People in Sid & Marty Krofft's 1970s TV series, _Lidsville_; played by Charles Nelson Reilly. The vividly colored, hallucinatory fantasy world of the Kroffts' shows ("H.R. Pufnstuf," "The Bugaloos," et al) seems to have been an early Manson influence second only to Willy Wonka.

What's the Abbey of Thelema? ("Misery Machine")
The Abbey of Thelema ("Thelema" is Greek for "Will") was famed sorceror Aleister Crowley's temple and proposed academy of the magickal arts in Cefalu, Italy. Crowley hoped to establish both a worldwide center of magickal studies and a steady source of income (via tuition fees) for himself with this project, but it failed to attract the attention he hoped, and Mussolini's government eventually ejected Crowley from the country. Crowley is perhaps most familiar to general audiences for his pronouncements "Love is the Law, Love Under Will" and "Do What Thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law." Both are widely misquoted and misunderstood.

Are there direct references to or quotes from Charles Manson in MM's work?
Yards of them. "I am the God of Fuck" was originally a line of Charlie's. The main verse of "My Monkey" is taken from Manson's song "Mechanical Man." The early song "Dune Buggy" opens with a quote from Manson (and seems to be about him and the Family). Samples of him speaking appear on the cassette releases, and some of the same passages used to be recited by Mr. Manson during shows ("I play music. People are affected by the music I play. That doesn't mean I direct traffic! That doesn't mean I put a knife in anyone's hand and tell 'em to go kill somebody!" seems to have been a favorite.) The titles "big black bus" and "The Family Jams" are both Manson-related: the Family drove a black bus, and The Family Jams was the name of the rock group made up of clan members which Charlie tried to organize and manage. (Side note: on their late 1995 headlining tour, Marilyn Manson also used a black bus.) And Manson's physical image (especially his eyes) has been used in the band's advertising and t-shirts, both by them directly and by others. Also, both MWG and Twiggy have been known to draw a small black X between their eyes, as Charlie and the female Family members did during their trial.
There's also a visible degree of Family influence in the Reverend's formal oratory. While only a close search of the volumes of written material on Charlie and the Family would locate every possible reference, here's a sample or two.
o Manson girl Nancy L. Pitman a/k/a/ Brenda McCann: "We are what you have made us. We were brought up on your TV."
o Charlie himself: "You made your children what they are...These children that come at you with knives, they are your children. You taught them. I didn't teach them. I just tried to help them stand up... You can project it back at me, but I am only what lives inside each and every one of you. My father is your system...I am only what you made me. I am only a reflection of you."

What happened to Gidget, Sara Lee, Daisy and Zim Zum ?
Besides losing their original bassist, MM have had at least two other personnel changes.
Second bassist Gidget Gein (known to have had a heroin habit) left the band in December 1993, during the last stages of the re-recording of POAAF. Mr. Manson stated that "he felt that his drug addiction was more important than playing bass for us." He has since emphasized that the problem was Gein's loss of control over his habit, not his heroin use as such. --Drummer Sara Lee Lucas left the band in March 1995 after an incident in which Manson set his drum kit afire onstage. Manson has since added that Lucas couldn't "keep up with the click in his headset" - i.e., couldn't keep time. Daisy left because him and Manson had creative differences and he thought he could do better on his own.Zim Zum left as he wanted to pursue his own music career and he didn’t want to tour.

What really happened with that chicken MM allegedly killed onstage/sacrificed to Satan/threw into the crowd to be ripped apart/ put in their bass drum/etc.?
Right what happened was Manson often carried unusual props onstage with him and on this occasion he had a chicken with him.He had brought this chicken onstage numerous times but at this concert the cage accidently got knocked open and the chicken got free.So after a while of flying around the crowd he ended up back on the stage and the band took the chicken away and gave it to a farm or something to that affect.This may not be exactly what happenedbut its close to it.

Were the members of MM involved in music before this band formed?
Twiggy was a member of south Florida metal band Amboog-A-Lard - playing originally rhythm, then bass guitar - before joining Marilyn Manson. (While with the Amboogies, he won the 1992 Slammie Award for Best Rhythm Guitarist; however, he's credited with bass on their 1993 CD "A New Hope.") And he had a busy week on the NiN/MM tour in December of 1994: in addition to his regular bass chores with MM, on 12/8 he did a one-night-stand with Nine Inch Nails, filling in for the injured Robin Finck; and on 12/10, on New York's Bleecker Street, he played his only gig as a member of Dee Snider's Sick Muthafuckers (this is why his bass picks say "SMF" on one side).
Ginger is said to have played in a number of Las Vegas bands, but we have no info on this. John 5 I think was in a band called two but I’m not certain.
Manson and Pogo had no bands prior to Marilyn Manson.

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