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Marilyn Manson

American musician (born 1969)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ186327
Source-derived summary

Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the same-titled band he founded in 1989. The band members initially created their stage names by combining the first name of an American female sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe, and the last name of a male criminal and cult leader, Charles Manson.

In the 1990s, the band released the albums Portrait of an American Family (1994), Antichrist Superstar (1996) and Mechanical Animals (1998), which included hit singles such as "The Beautiful People," "Tourniquet," "The Dope Show" and "Rock Is Dead." The band's 2000 album Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) is a direct response to mainstream media, who blamed Manson for supposedly influencing the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre. Three of the band's albums have been awarded platinum status and three more went gold, and they have had eight top-ten albums and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200. He has been ranked at No. 44 on the list of the "Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists" by Hit Parader and, along with his band, has been nominated for five Grammy Awards.

Manson is widely considered one of the most controversial figures in heavy metal. In addition to the Columbine tragedy, his lyrics have been criticized by American politicians and examined in congressional hearings, with several U.S. states creating legislation specifically banning the group from performing in state-operated venues. His paintings and films appeared as evidence in a murder trial, and he has been accused of inspiring several other murders and school shootings.

Editorial summary

“Marilyn Manson” enters the record as american musician (born 1969). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Marilyn, Manson and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1969, 1989, 1994, 1996—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1969-01-05. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Marilyn, Manson and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Marilyn Manson” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Marilyn, Manson and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q186327. VIAF identifies the subject as 29749590. The Library of Congress control number is n97119848. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1969, 1989, 1994 and 1996.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Marilyn Manson”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Marilyn Manson primary sources, Marilyn Manson archive and Marilyn research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Marilyn Manson”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Marilyn Manson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.