Marilyn Manson Merch Archive

An unofficial catalog of Marilyn Manson shirts, their origin, how to gauge authenticity, and (eventually) the average price for each

[marilynmansonmerch]

2000 Emperor Tarot short sleeve

This is another shirt in the tarot series in promo of Holy Wood. The front card depicts a man (Manson?) with prosthetic limbs in a wheelchair holding a gun in front of the American flag. Definitely a commentary on war/colonialism in America. On the back are the standard series of cards, from left to right: Justice, the Fool, the High Priestess, and the Hermit. Like all tarot series shirts, the originals are printed on Giant brand shirts and the reprints on AAA brand shirts (the on pictured is AAA). 

Credit to @/CheUsing on Etsy for the pictures, and you can buy this shirt from them!

[marilynmansonmerch]

2000 Holy Wood Promo short sleeve

This is the version of the shirt prior to modifying it with tour dates on the back later in the year. I personally like this design better, but people do love getting tour shirts with their city on it. The art, which is also the cover art for Holy Wood, is a cropped version of the Hanged Man tarot card made for the album. The small bits of document in the bottom left are supposedly JFK’s autopsy reports (although I’m not sure how that falls under public domain) and the now-iconic font for the name was meant to be a play on the Disney font used in the 60′s. I bet people just thought it was a nod to Gothic depictions of Jesus, but it’s cool nonetheless. 

 This is also a shirt licensed to Giant, and the copyright line can be found vertically on the right side of the front image. 

Credit to @/crybaby639 on Depop for the pictures, and you can buy this!

[marilynmansonmerch]

2000 Death Tarot short sleeve

Another shirt from the tarot collection a part of the Holy Wood album promo. All of the tarot card designs were made by P. R. Brown (who also worked on Antichrist Superstar) and Manson. This card features Manson with half a torso (pretty cool), and the standard four cards on the back. I previously thought that with each design the cards on the back would cycle through, but I guess this isn’t the case. To tell if these shirts are legit, check for the copyright under the Hermit card on the back. I’ve seen a little variation in the shirt brands (this one is AAA so it’s probably a reprint), but the copyright lines I’ve seen say “Marilyn Manson under license to Giant.” If someone doesn’t take a picture of that, it might be sus. 

Credit to @/katyconway on Poshmark for the pictures

[marilynmansonmerch]

1994 Kill God short sleeve

This shirt caused a big stir when it was released. Obviously, it looks like this shirt is threatening you, but the full text is: “Warning:The music of Marilyn Manson may contain messages that will KILL GOD in your impressionable teenage minds. As a result, you could be convinced to KILL YOUR MOM & DAD and eventually in a hopeless act of suicidal 'rock and roll' behavior you will KILL YOURSELF Please burn your records while there’s still hope” So there’s that. However, the fine print didn’t stop anyone’s mom from barring their child from wearing this shirt, including mine. This came out at peak controversiality of Manson, when Portrait of an American Family was on the up. 

This shirt pictured isn’t actually the original, but is probably a reprint. When the shirt was first printed, it was licensed to Satan’s Bake Sale. This one, although I can’t clearly read it, looks like the Marilyn Manson copyright. There are pictures of an original SBS shirt here, but you can probably guess why I didn’t use them.

Credit to @/aaronacho on Depop for the pictures, and regardless of age and license, if you like this, you can buy it!

[marilynmansonmerch]

1998/1999 Mechanical Animals/Antichrist Superstar Italian Bootleg

I’m kind of guessing at the year of this shirt as there is Mechanical Animals imagery on the front, but Antichrist Superstar on the back. I’ll assume someone tried to sell this to people walking out of the Palavobis in 1998 for Mechanical Animals. I really like the collage-style front and the encircled logo on the back. Good job Italian Bootlegger!

Credit to @/pezzevintage on Depop for the pictures, and you can buy it from them!

[marilynmansonmerch]

2004 Trismegistus Against All Gods Tour long sleeve

This is from the Against All Gods tour in support of Lest We Forget: The Best Of. It features on of Manson’s own paintings, titled Trismegistus, which to a degree is a reference to Hermeticism and some form of God. Philosophy aside, I love shirts that feature Manson’s work and love some good sleeve script. I do find the whole believer/lie thing to be pretentious, but who could have seen that growing old in 2004? Also anything with the name in this font is automatically pretty good.

Credit to @/dripforsalefla on Depop for the pics, and this shirt (for the time being) is for sale! 

[marilynmansonmerch]

1998 The Long Hard Road Out of Hell Promo short sleeve

This was released for Manson’s autobiography whose cover features the same image, plus a few embellishments. The book (and maybe the shirt) came out Valentine’s Day 1998 and I bought it a timely 20 years later. Personally, I enjoyed the content and the design, which parallels some of what you see on the back of the shirt. Most of the /stuff/ from around 1998 had this rune-like, cool-toned design that I am very fond of. 

From what I’ve seen, this shirt is relatively rare (which means I don’t have the $$$ to buy it), but that might just be because everyone who got it first knows it’s too pretty to let go of.

Credit to @/hellfirevintage on Depop for the pictures, and you can buy it from them!

[marilynmansonmerch]

Thought I’d kick off this blog with my personal favorite, the 2000 Hierophant Tarot short sleeve. This came out sometime around the promotion and release of Holy Wood, and even though it isn’t my favorite album the merch that it produced is by far my favorite. Here you’ll see a lot of the tarot imagery (and actual tarot cards) and more of the subdued colors and gore-y yet artistic imagery (love it). I’m not sure if this shirt was part of a members only/fan club type deal but I’d love to know. There are other iterations of the same tarot style shirt (on the back), like the Emperor, but I’ve yet to find the rest that are pictured here or in the actual deck. I’d love to know if they were all printed and to collect them.

Luckily, I will have this shirt soon (it’s in the mail), but not this particular one pictured. This one sold for $50 (!!!) a year ago. Mine was........more.  

Credit to @/lizzraff on Depop for the pictures