Man That You Fear: The Best Marilyn Manson Myths Ever
One of the last true rock stars roaming the land - in my stilted opinion - is Marilyn Manson, who happens to turn 43 years young today. With a new album coming this year, and another book, 2012 should shape up to be a great one for the man who was once the most hated and feared man in America. It's fitting that our last year on Earth will be jam-packed with Manson. Time to crank up "Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes", y'all. 
"Yo dog, you look like Alan Rickman and stuff."
Returning to my statement of him being one of the last true rock stars, let me try at least to explain. Manson is the last of the parent-scaring, Christian-baiting rockers that existed. Plus, his music was, and still is, capable of making any bad day I can have all the more better. To me, he wasn't goth as much he was a throwback to rockers like Iggy Pop or Alice Cooper that had already mellowed by the time I came of age.
In 2012, there is simply no one man who makes the genteel quiver with fear the way he could from 1995 until about 2002. Who is out there now to do the same? Odd Future? Lady Gaga? Interestingly enough, Gaga's stage show isn't too far off from his show, circa 1998 and Mechanical Animals sets. There is plenty of blood, fire, religious imagery to go around. Manson was very much proto-Gaga, though Manson preached common sense and self-reliance, and wasn't heavy into the social causes.
With the rise of Manson in the '90s came a number of myths, mostly grounded in fear and dread over his influence. Was this sick, godless bastard really that geek from The Wonder Years? Here are some of the best Manson myths to come to light, with his own explanation, where possible.
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