In a recent interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music, Marilyn Manson spoke about the importance of art as the alternative to “propaganda and bullshit” in today’s highly charged political climate.
He said (see video below): “If all artists decided to stop making art, the entire world [would] fall apart. Well, not just musical artists, when you think about it, [but also] architects, painters, clothing designers. Everybody who does something that adds to the world is the opposite of most politics and religion, which was my initial, I guess, hard-on or anger against the world. Because I was unsatisfied with seeing politicians who are older people that… It’s not about because they’re older — it’s just people that are not of the culture they’re representing.
“I feel that sticking to art is being on the right path, because all we have right now, we have art, music, movies and books and paintings and whatever it is that inspires you,” he continued. “But without that, all we have is just propaganda and bullshit. And it doesn’t really matter who’s right or who’s wrong. It’s not even worth having a conversation about. But the conversation should be about, everyone should figure out who they wanna be, who they were, and forget about your childhood scars — mentally, physically, whatever they are — and rise above. Because now is the time for people to come together, and not in a hippie way, as much as in a united way with art. Because if you didn’t have art, you wouldn’t have anything. We wouldn’t have this camera that’s filming us. We wouldn’t have the couch you’re sitting on.”
Manson released his eleventh studio album, “We Are Chaos”, on September 11 via Loma Vista Recordings. Produced by Grammy Award winner Shooter Jennings (Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker) and Manson, the ten-track opus was written, recorded, and finished before the coronavirus pandemic hit the entire world.
