Mr. Marilyn Manson is one in a million. And that's a good thing for uptight public policymakers who try, can't even begin to succeed, to quell the controversial, charismatic, ever-evolving Manson machine. In 1994, with the band's full-length debut, Portrait of an American Family, Manson elevated to fame and has since become an industry in and of himself. On and off-stage, Manson and band of merry madmen are like a fantasy come to life-albeit with an immense intellectual proclivity.
Concept album? How about a concept trilogy? The 2000 release of Holy Wood (In The Shadow of the Valley of Death) completes the three-part effort begun with 1996's Mechanical Animals. Stage show? How about blood, butts, and religious and Nazi imagery? (Hello, Nuremburg!) As a one-time teenaged rock journalist and rabid fan, Manson gives his own faithful followers what he wanted to see growing up: a no-holds-barred show that's at once release, titillation and both incite- and insightful. Songs like "The Beautiful People," "Disposable Teens" and the band's breakthrough cover of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" got radio on the Manson bandwagon, though it's in a live setting where Manson and his band-John 5, Twiggy Ramirez, Madonna Wayne Gacy and Ginger Fish-shineand outrage.

If he's always pushing the envelope, Manson and company are part of a long and decadent tradition of furor. "I liked early Sabbath, of course... I liked being scared listening to a rock album," Manson smiles. The frontman's own albums scare some as well. Marilyn Manson's six CDs/EPs, including Holy Wood, are full of as many pieces and aspects as a puzzle, which pleases Manson. "I like detail," the surprisingly softspoken singer begins. "And I like people to see as much of what is going on in my head. Some people might take it on face value as music and enjoy it, and that's no insult to me. If someone gives you the answer or truth, you're not going to like it as much as if you find it," believes Manson. "So I try to put out as many details as possible so people find out what I'm really trying to say, or their interpretation of it."