Revisiting Marilyn Manson's Autobiography "The Long Hard Road Out of Hell" (1994)

     I briefly attended a youth group at a Pentecostal church which once stood on 8th Street East of Saskatoon. During one of their youth events, the leadership team decided to make it all about Rock and Roll and how “the Devil” is controlling the music industry. They played some songs in reverse to scare some of the vulnerable teens who didn’t know any better.  They wanted the teens to buy into the so-called “Satanic messages” which the leadership team tried convincing were in some of the songs they may be listening to. Thus attempting to convince them that “back masking” was a tool of “the Devil”.

     They ended the night by choosing a "boogeyman" in the industry, Marilyn Manson. They came up with all of these stories which they told us had been documented and were indeed factual. Stories like molesting a cow on stage and telling his fans to stomp puppies to death or else his concert wouldn’t begin. I bought into what they were saying. However as I grew older, still a Christian at the time I wondered for myself what could possibly turn a man into such a “Satanic Idol”. Thus eventually purchasing a copy of his autobiography “The Long Hard Road out of Hell”.

     The book was quite appealing right from the start, as an odd soul like I have mentioned before found such subjects in his book intriguing and fascinating. I grew up with a sort of ghoulish interest and as I have said previously, my inner-child enjoyed the creativity from such subjects. Although at the moment I didn’t want to completely admit it as I was still under the Christian spell.

     Manson’s born name was Brian Warner and he simply was a child who grew up in the era when rock and roll was peaking, thus he really enjoyed listening to such music. However he attended a Christian school which expressed their concerns of any child listening to such music. But it didn’t sway little Brian Warner from listening to such music and he even met another child who liked Rock and Roll. He was exposed to very disturbing images as a child, especially that of his Grandfather masturbating to strange fetish pornography. Brian was hiding in a corner after finding his grandfather's private stash of pornography and crusty dildos. Manson expressed his concern of being raped if he got caught by his grandfather for looking through his stash of pornography.

     Later, there is also a part where teenage Brian and his friend spend the night together and his friend’s older brother was a "Devil worshiper". It was the first time he had tried drugs and he ended up passing out. Later, his friend awoke him and they went on a scary adventure together. Out in the woods there was an abandoned house where people did drugs and satanic rituals. No one was there on this night in which a thunderstorm was taking place. This was like a scene right out of a horror film. They went into a room with a pentagram on the floor, lit candles and his friend began reading out of his brother’s copy of the Necronomicon. They suddenly heard a loud crash like something large and metal flying against a wall and the two boys got startled and ran back out of the woods to Brian’s friend’s house.

     By this part of the book I was thinking to myself, no wonder Manson is so f***ed up… However as the book continues we see that Manson’s story isn’t much different from other rock stars, with the exception of being ordained into the "Church of Satan"... That’s right, Manson eventually befriended the infamous Anton LaVey, founder of "Laveyan Satanism" and “The Church of Satan”. LaVey was very fond on Manson’s music and the power it began having over the world.

     Although Manson didn’t exactly claim to be a Satanist, he valued the gesture and accepted it out of respect for his friend. Interestingly enough, most Satanists including this kind, do not actually worship “the Devil”. In a nut shell, they are just odd people who are very anti-Christian and have their own values and disciplines to follow. Most of those values which are not much different than other religions including Christianity, some values are better in fact. However even after finding Satanism interesting, I watched some interviews with Anton LaVey and his children. I personally found that I could never be like them for my own personal reasons, even today.

     Then of course the concert and band life had it’s series of twisted moments, such as one event being when they urinated all over a naked woman in the shower and when the tour manager came to see what was happening, they told him to have sex with her. He didn’t know she was urine-drenched and proceeded to having sex with her… pretty twisted but by that time the band was used to such twisted events considering Manson made his career from shocking people. Which we see he ended up doing because of things he was exposed to in his past, and in some way he overcame his childhood traumas by becoming his own "boogeyman". In a way, this was just the path he found for himself and he did what he needed to do to genuinely become who he is.

     I realized that things sometimes just fall into place in one’s life and that the leadership team at the youth group that evening were so far beyond “what 'Jesus' would do” that I today have feelings of disgust for people like that. I would much rather hear what the person has to say than hearing what a pastor has to say about them… Manson also reveals the death threats he received from Christian communities after the Columbine School Massacre shootings happened. All because they needed a scapegoat before someone “God forbid” pointed fingers at the parents or the community in which they lived and were bullied. Many people listened to Marilyn Manson at that time, not just them. To shift the blame on a singer who even promotes his music as fantasy, is pitiful and cowardice.

     What about what was said that evening about Marilyn Manson molesting a cow or asking his audience to stomp puppies to death? The end of the book reveals which rumours were true and which were untrue… The leadership team lied to us to fear an artist who in all reality is more human than the leadership team who scared us that evening. Manson tells all in his autobiography and anyone who reads the book, may just end up admiring him in some ways.  Even though there are things which happened in the book that are not for everyone including me, I have an admiration for him. I’m all about doing what you need as long as you do no harm.

     While there were some things Manson revealed in his book which I would never do such as rubbing a security guards face on his groin, it’s not my life. More importantly it’s not for anyone to judge or spread gossip. Last time I checked, it was a "sin" to gossip and all the leadership team of the church did that night was contribute to the sour aftertaste of Christianity which lingers in my life today. For all that Manson put up with and for how well his book was put together, I’m giving the book a 5 out of 5. It’s an intriguing piece and I suggest people of all walks read it, as he gave every Christian who hates him what they want. An explanation of his contribution to the world, even though I’m sure it’s a book they ironically would never want to touch.

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Source:
     "The Long Hard Road Out of Hell" by Marilyn Manson w/ Neil Strauss