OT: A Study & Comparison of the Philosophies of those two...
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BILL HICKS AND MARILYN MANSON
By the Preacher
If you're reading this there's a pretty damn good chance that you'd be
familiar with Marilyn Manson, but there is a very much lesser chance that
you'd be familiar with a man by the name of Bill Hicks. The irony of this
will become apparent later on; because while America still loves its rock
stars, it absolutely loathes its social commentators. The truth is that
while Manson has utilized the medium of music to spread his philosophy of
individualism and hatred of hypocrisy and ignorance, so has Bill done with
the medium of comedy.
The current situation stands with Manson's popularity having bloomed whilst
Bill Hicks is not nearly so well known. This is the ultimate reason for this
essay; if you're intelligent, open-minded and cynical enough to enjoy
Marilyn Manson, you'll almost certainly fall in love with the work of Bill
Hicks. Here are the reasons why:
If you've ever been fortunate enough to witness Marilyn Manson live and have
taken the time to understand the meaning of the songs and their relevance to
the albums concept, you'll no doubt have realized that all the talk of
Marilyn Manson being "fake" is merely the product of ignorance and
superficiality. Anyone who puts that much thought and energy into their art
cannot be "phony". The same is true of Bill. How many comedians have there
been that have gone in front of a room of complete strangers and tried to
assure them that God exists in all of our hearts, and that life is just a
ride that we can change if we open our eyes to love and not fear? Not many
at all. The funny thing is that Bill always manages to be consistently
hysterical, interesting and entertaining while he puts forth his philosophy.
To get a real idea of how Bill performed though, you have to imagine a
30-year-old Texan guy with short brown hair dressed in black that didn't
care how many people would laugh at his jokes so long as he said what he
wanted to say. He wasn't called a preacher for nothing, ya know. His friend
Allan Harvey said, "Bill had a lack of concern. He wasn't concerned with
what the audience thought, who would "Boo" him. He wasn't concerned with how
it would affect his business; he just said what he wanted to say." Now with
your image of Bill in your head, imagine him going into a room full of
people who have paid to see some "comedy" and instead witness this: "Why
don't you and I check politics on your fuckin' porch while your wife wiggles
a fuckin' dong an' fucks her own pussy with it, you fuckin' redneck
hillbilly piece of shit you. Fuck America if that's America then fuck you
too�. (Some people start "Booing", Bill laughs) Moo! Moo! Couple a' cows are
getting arrogant out there�Go back to the herd moron okay?�I assume that
you're enjoying this or if not at least emotionally involved which is
important, even if it's anger. Really, its okay, that's what this is all
about, it's supposed to be a fuckin' catharsis man, ya know, it's supposed
to be a release from the daily fuckin' grind�. Wish it worked for me."
Indeed, like Manson, it was only indifference in an audience that would
annoy Bill. I feel strongly that there is a definite link between the style
of delivery that Manson and Hicks employ. Manson said in the very first UK
interview courtesy of our beloved rock bible "Kerrang!" that "If people come
to our shows with a bad attitude, all they will see is negativity. If people
come to us with curiosity and an open mind, they will find a lot of
different things." This philosophy matches exactly with Hicks'. For example,
in nearly all Hicks shows on tape, Bill will discuss various issues with
conviction and leave his audience with many new ideas and ways of looking at
things ("All my point is, is that there's a million different ways to look
at the world. So why pick the one shown by TV 'cause it's usually wrong.").
But when Bill got a less open-minded crowd, the show would run a little
differently ("[a drunk bitch in the crowd yells out "You suck!" very early
on during a set in Chicago, and the whole crowd goes "Ooooooooh!"] Thank you
that's my grandmother and uhhhh� "You suck", you fuckin' cunt, get the fuck
out of here right now. Get out. Fuck you. Fuck you, you idiot. You're
everything that America should be flushed down the toilet [sic], you fuckin'
turd. FUCK YOU. GET OUT. GET OUT YOU FUCKIN' DRUNK BITCH. TAKE HER OUT. TAKE
HER FUCKIN' OUT. TAKE HER TO SOMEWHERE THAT'S GOOD. GO SEE FUCKIN' MADONNA
YOU FUCKIN' IDIOT PIECE OF SHIT�") If you've ever witnessed Manson dealing
with hecklers, you will understand the comparison here.
However, the philosophies of Manson and Hicks are not just vaguely similar;
they actually overlap at times. Talking about Christian pro-lifers Bill
said, "I've always found religion fascinating, ideas such as how people act
on their beliefs. Pro-lifers murdering doctors, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA�Pro-lifers murdering people, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA �Ya know it's irony on
a base level, but I like it�We're pro-life and we're gonna kill your ass."
Manson said in Rolling Stone "I also wrote a song called "Get Your Gunn"�as
a reaction to the murder of Dr. David Gunn, who was killed in Florida by
pro-life activists while I was living there. That was the ultimate hypocrisy
I witnessed growing up; that these people killed someone in the name of
being 'pro-life.' "
The pair shared both the same respect for drug use and the view that rockers
against drugs suck. Manson said, "�if you look at other artists it's when
they stop taking drugs that they become�shit." While Bill said "These
musicians today who don't do drugs and in fact speak out against them�BOY
THEY SUCK! HA HA HA HA HA HA�Balless [sic], soulless, spiritless little
corporate fuckin' puppets, suckers of Satan's cock each and every one of
'em."
Both Manson and Hicks loved to highlight the ridiculousness of organized
religion, specifically Christianity. Bill said "A lot of Christians wear
crosses around their necks�you think when Jesus comes back he's gonna want
to see a fuckin' cross�that maybe why he hasn't shown up yet." Manson said,
"�Christianity has given us an image of death and sexuality that we have
based our culture around. A half-naked dead man hangs in most homes and
around our necks, and we have just taken that for granted all our lives. Is
it a symbol of hope or hopelessness?"
Every Manson fan knows that the band is in love with the showmanship and
potency of theatrics, but Bill also shared this taste. His friend and fellow
comedian Dwight Slade said, "He was fascinated by Alice Cooper, rock music,
the Hendrix story, Kiss� He was fascinated by those theatrics and that
power." Indeed, at the beginning of one of Bill's last taped shows called
"Revelations", Bill first appears cast in silhouette in front of a wall of
fire to the sound of one of his own rockin' tunes, just like a true rock
star.
Both Bill and Marilyn have also noticed the blandness and soullessness of
modern popular music. Marilyn actually attempted to counter this with the
last album release "Mechanical Animals". Talking about the album he said
"[Its the] mark of a new age I'm trying to make sure happens to bring some
life back into rock and roll� I think it's been the music industry as well
as conservative America that has followed the grunge era and made rock and
roll less and less relevant." Whilst Bill asked, "I remember when music had
a conscience and music had soul and music had balls. Does anyone remember
that at all?"
Both have drawn attention to the controlling nature of television.. Manson
said, "In a country like America, that is supposed to be free, you're told
what to eat, what to like, how to behave by the media and TV specifically."
Bill said, "I believe there's this agenda in the mainstream media, and I
think it's fairly easy to back this up, to keep people stupid, docile and
apathetic�If television considers itself as a moral arbiter of our society,
I think that goes a long way towards explaining the trouble and chaos in
existence."
Both Manson and Hicks have utilized drugs in order to bring about an
evolution to the next level of humanity. "Evolution didn't stop with us
growing thumbs, you do know that don't you? It's time to evolve ideas�" said
Bill, echoing Manson's "Man is still at the learning stage, and mankind is
so arrogant to think that he's the highest form of evolution on earth�There
is something to be said about drugs being able to open your mind up to the
possibilities of the next level." And both have come to a similar
conclusion: Bill - "Right now we're at the point where imagination and
reality are right there together. What we imagine we can create. And that
goes for heaven and that goes for hell." Manson - "�It's a matter of will
power and self-belief. It's not belief in God, or any supernatural power
other than your own�If you believe something enough, then it's real."
Interestingly, the pair have also dedicated a large amount of their time to
the subject of the Kennedy assassination. Manson in the lyrics to
"Posthuman" and in the "Coma White" video shows himself as the dead Kennedy
that the public has made into another model of crucified grace a la Princess
Diana. Bill on the other hand loved talking about Kennedy because he was
"fascinated that our government can lie to us so blatantly, so obviously,
for so long and we do absolutely nothing about it. I think that's
interesting in what is ostensibly a democracy�. Sarcasm - come on in".
Manson has also recently revealed that one of the many influences for the
new album "In the Shadow of the Valley of Death" is JFK.
But their individual opinions and views aside, I think that Manson and Hicks
both set out to achieve very similar goals by very similar means. As far as
Bill's career goes, his friend Brett Butler said "For all the talk about
Bill being like Hendrix or Dylan or Jim Morrison or Lenny Bruce, it was
Jesus that Bill wanted to be. He wanted to save us all. But Bill got
freeze-framed in the scene where Jesus went to the temple and said 'This is
my father's house and you've turned it into a den of thieves.' Because
that's what Bill always wanted to do. He wanted to be Christ at his
angriest." Manson drew parallels between himself and Jesus on "Mechanical
Animals" and said, "I'd assumed the role of destroyer on the last record
("Antichrist�") This role is more of a savior"
Manson continued: "I think, strangely enough, he's [Jesus] more like me than
Christians would like to believe�[Jesus] like myself [was] someone who came
from beyond everyone's understanding, and had ideas that people couldn't
grasp, and some people wanted to worship him, and some people wanted to
destroy him."
Of course, if Manson and Hicks were identical twins there would be no point
in checking Bill out. This is however, not the case.
The difference in their styles has a lot to do with the medium they operate
in. Both have used shock tactics in their work, but in a largely different
way. Manson has cleverly used the fact that to shock America is easy when
you're a rock star. By dressing up in his costumes, wearing make-up and
signing songs that cannot be understood by the average concerned Christian
parent/politician, he has become a contradiction of sensationalism and
nihilism. By daring to use theatrics and tailor his band's image, and
actually have something intelligent to say he becomes something completely
new, and it is this what has caused his chaos in America. This by the way,
is why Marilyn Manson cannot merely be an updated version of Alice Cooper,
because traditionally "shock-rockers" never bothered to create lyrics, a
message or a philosophy with any degree of intellectualism. Thus, Manson has
used America's easily offended nature to reinforce what he actually said in
the first place. For example, the fact that Christians protest at Manson's
shows with phony affidavits which describe much more disturbing things than
Manson has ever done suggests that these Christians are the ones who were
dreaming up lies involving rape, pedophilia, and mass violence, not Manson.
Bill on the other hand, used shock tactics mainly to make a point more
powerful, but also to grab an audience's attention. His forte was describing
depraved and gruesome sex acts in explicit detail, but more than that, his
opinions on touchy subjects such as drugs, abortion, politics and religion
especially, meant that people were often offended by his comedy to the point
of walking out. He was, in fact, taken off the air when he appeared for the
twelfth time on the Letterman show because his jokes, which were
pre-approved for the show, touched on too many "hot spots". One of the jokes
he did for that show was about pro-lifers and to really emphasize that
freedom of expression is for the highest bidder, during the commercial break
when the show was aired, a pro-life ad was shown. Conversely to Bill, I
don't believe that Manson's actual beliefs are what stirs up so much
controversy, I believe it is a combination of the image, the harsh nature of
the music, and the gossip, rumors and lies that follow him like his
groupies, that causes this; It is more the hype that surrounds Manson that
has shocked the moral majority. Funnily enough, the people who end up so
offended by Manson are actually the ones who create, exaggerate and spread
the hype in the first place. In interviews Manson claimed not to be against
religion, "but more against the guilt that Christianity imposes." Whereas
Bill remarked in an extraordinarily flippant fashion: "Anything negative
about Christianity is positive."
Both Hicks and Manson have assumed the role of social commentator/preacher,
but in different ways. I believe that Manson's work was closest in its views
to Hick's work with "Portrait of an American Family". Since then, with
"Antichrist Superstar", I think Manson has used his own personal experience
more as a way of looking at America and the world in general. However this
has changed with "Mechanical Animals" and especially with Manson's film. The
film being primarily a study of how human nature gravitates towards violence
and why we glorify it while we pretend to condemn it (the title being "Holy
Wood", a close reminder I think, of the cold and vicious essence of
"Hollywood.") The pair may also be similar in the way they come up with
their material, as Bill said in one of his very last taped interviews,
talking about where his ideas come from: "Anything that defies my sense of
reason. I don't look outside of myself for answers. I kind of feel like
everyone has a voice of reason inside 'em. I believe that it's been quelled
to a large extent by the multimedia society that we live in." Manson's
"voice of reason" is a much more complicated affair; His whole life before
he became Marilyn Manson was a struggle with his voice of reason and we can
now see the results, in "Antichrist Superstar" especially.
Tragically, Bill Hicks died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 aged 32. I have not
been able to find out if Manson is a fan or even aware of Hicks, and Bill
died before Marilyn Manson blew up in '96, although the bands Tool, Rage
against the Machine and Radiohead have all dedicated albums to Bill. But
amazingly, Manson and Hicks even saw each other's professions in the same
light. Marilyn - "Comedy is art as well", Bill - "I think there's no
difference between good music and good comedy. It's entertainment�And
entertainment is suspension of time and space, so that you realize your true
nature, which is spaceless and timeless."
Once again, I strongly recommend that you check Bill out, the more Hicks
fans are in this world, the better it is. You can download more than a
hundred sound clips for free at www.darktimes.com if you're poor, or you can
buy Hicks videos or CDs at the sacred cow productions site, both of which
you can access through the fantastic www.billhicks.com. If you live in
America, Hicks videos are near impossible to find so I'm told, but all four
of Bill's CDs are available in all decent record stores, these are
"Relentless", "Dangerous", "Arizona Bay" and "Rant in E-Minor". If you live
in England like me, you are blessed with the fact that you can also buy both
of Bill's videos: "Totally Bill Hicks" (which includes what many say is
Bill's finest performance "Revelations") and "Relentless" in your ordinary
entertainment store. If you live anywhere else I have no idea how you can
buy Hicks stuff other than from the aforementioned internet sites. Every
Bill Hicks video and CD is very much worth getting hold of, but my personal
recommendation to you is to start with either the hate-filled "Rant in
E-Minor" or the darker than dark "Revelations". A special mention must also
go to the ultimate in confrontational comedy: the "Hicks Loses It" show from
Chicago which you can download from www.darktimes.com.
To finish, one more of Bill's comedic chestnuts: "I believe drugs have done
good things for us, I really do, and if you don't believe drugs have done
good things for us, do me a favor�Take all of your albums, all your tapes,
and all your CDs�And burn 'em�. 'Cause you know what? The musicians that
created that music that has enhanced your lives throughout the years�.
RRRRRRRRRRRRReal fuckin' high on drugs." None more so than Marilyn Manson.
Questions, comments, suggestions, death threats etc. direct to either
Prea...@garsi.freeuk.com or ga...@greenwich.ac.uk.
-the Preacher.