The Long Hard Road Out of Hell

night talking to the skag, who tried to masturbate me while a video of Doom Generation was playing in the background. I wished for a moment the girl in the movie, Rose McGowan, was here, and maybe I would let her masturbate me. I remember reading an interview with Rose about her fucked-up childhood and her father, who was the leader of some religious cult. For some reason, I feel like she would be able to relate to what I’m going through—not at the moment but in general. To nobody’s surprise, Twiggy ended up fucking braceface in his bunk. I’m so ashamed to be a part of this band.
    Â Â Â Â Â  APRIL 6, 1997, NORMAL, ILLINOIS
    I’ll kill anyone who thinks this town is anyone’s idea of normal. It lets me know that there’s a lot of work still for me to do. But I’m kind of proud of what we’ve accomplished so far on this tour. I really wanted to do that totalitarian shock-symbol thing, to create a part of the show that resembled a fascist rally, to make a statement about things I’m against like religion and, in some ways, rock and roll, because rock and roll can be just as blind as Christianity. At the same time I wanted to create a giant piece of performance art that said that, despite everything that’s happened with the media ana people trying to ban our shows, “I did this, and I got away with it.” How did Bowie get away with lyrics about “the spies, the blacks … and the faggy bars”? It’s because he’s in character and he’s criticizing a certain type of person. Antichrist Superstar isn’t that at all: It’s what everybody feels in their hearts but is too afraid to say. It’s honest. It’s not picking on any one person, it’s picking on everybody including myself. We’re all hypocrites, but by admitting it, you transcend it and it no longer becomes a personality defect as it is in the people who blindly cling to their own self-righteousness. By knowing all this, you grow from it. I’ve grown from it.
    I will never admit this to anyone, but I’ll write it here: The reason I haven’t copped out in an interview and said, “Yeah it’s just a character, this is just a concept album,” is because to me it is so much more. But in a sense it is. That’s why when people ask, “Well is it an act or isn’t it?” it’s both. I mean my whole life is an act, but that’s my art.

    â€œT HIS IS PERHAPS THE SICKEST GROUP EVER PROMOTED
BY A MAINSTREAM RECORD COMPANY .”
—S ENATOR J OSEPH L IEBERMAN OF C ONNECTICUT
    â€œF ROM WHAT I HAVE LEARNED OF THE CONTENT OF THEIR LYRICS AND MESSAGE AS WELL AS THEIR CONDUCT ON STAGE , [M ARILYN M ANSON ] ARE CLEARLY BENT ON DEGRADING WOMEN, RELIGION AND DECENCY, WHILE PROMOTING SATANIC WORSHIP , CHILD ABUSE AND DRUG USE . T HESE PEOPLE ARE PEDDLING GARBAGE . I T’S FURTHER PROOF THAT SOCIETY’S MORAL VALUES CONTINUE TO CRUMBLE .”
    â€”G OVERNOR F RANK K EATING OF O KLAHOMA ON CONCERT
AT THE S TATE F AIRGROUNDS
    â€œI THINK IT’S TIME THAT PEOPLE PROTEST [M ARILYN M ANSON] ALL OVER THE NATION, THIS THING IS THE MOST DEGRADING, IT INCITES PEOPLE TO MURDER, TO RAPE . S AYING THAT DATE RAPE IS NO BIG DEAL IN AN ERA WHERE WE’RE SO CONCERNED ABOUT SEXUAL HARASSMENT … I T’S UNBELIEVABLE ! Y ET THIS IS GOING TO THE TOP OF THE HEAP AND Rolling Stone SAYS HOW CREATIVE THEY ARE . W HAT KIND OF CREATIVITY IS THIS ?”
    â€”P AT R OBERTSON , T HE 700 C LUB .
    â€œM ANY PEOPLE KNOW THE DEBAUCHERY M ARILYN M ANSON REPRESENTS : SODOMY, SADOMASOCHISM, YOUTH PORNOGRAPHY , S ATANISM AND THE LIKE . I T IS CLEARLY DISTURBING, THREATENING AND SICKENING TO MANY M LNNESOTANS . W E DESERVE BETTER AS A COMMUNITY . “W E HOPE YOU WILL ADOPT SOME MORE REASONABLE STANDARDS FOR THE CULTURAL EVENTS YOU SPONSOR IN THE FUTURE . I N ADDITION, WE BELIEVE A PUBLIC APOLOGY FOR SUBJECTING THE T WIN CITIES TO M ARILYN M ANSON WOULD BE IN ORDER .”
    â€”L ETTER FROM THE M INNESOTA F AMILY C OUNCIL
TO THE B EST B UY C ORPORATION
    â€œW E’RE FIGHTING FOR G OD AGAINST S ATAN .”
    â€”F LORENCE H ENSELL, LETTER TO U TICA C ITY C OUNCIL, ON CONCERT AT
U TICA A UDITORIUM
    â€œI DON’T NORMALLY INTERFERE WITH THE FREE-ENTERPRISE STYLE , BUT IN THIS CASE I CAN’T FATHOM ANYBODY BEING ASKED TO PAY FOR TICKETS TO SEE THIS FILTH .”
    â€”A LDERMAN R AY C LARK OF C ALGARY ON CONCERT AT