Marilyn Manson June 2018 Kerrang! Cover Analysis Part 1: 15, The Fight Song, and Columbine.
Manson’s June 2018 cover of Kerrang! is loaded with layers of symbolism relating to Columbine, the Vietnam War, Holy Wood, and more.
Manson on the June 2018 cover of Kerrang!, photo by Perou.
To start, Manson’s shirt (pictured above) reads “Property of Columbine Football” in Columbine High School’s official school colors with the number 15 prominently displayed. 15 is referenced extensively throughout Manson’s work, relating heavily to his sun sign as a Capricorn with the tarot and his ruling planet Saturn, and with his date of birth, January 5th 1969. 15 is also the number of people that were killed in the Columbine shooting, as 12 students, a teacher, and the two shooters themselves all died.
Manson also wore a blue football jersey with the number 15 on the back in Columbine High School’s school colors for the interior of Kerrang!. In his interview with the magazine, Manson stated that the jersey was made and given to him by a student who went to Columbine. The student was at Columbine during the shooting and gave Manson the jersey as a gesture to say that they felt that Manson dud not deserve to be blamed for the shooting because it was not his (Manson’s) fault.
“Property of Columbine Football” is in part a reference to the “jock culture” of Columbine High School that reportedly spurred Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris to embark on their killing rampage. Klebold and Harris were targets of bullying by the jocks at Columbine, and were allegedly confronted weeks before the shooting by a group of football players who had sprayed them with ketchup and mustard while referring to the pair as “faggots” and “queers.” When the Columbine shooting occured, the boys were reported to have targeted jocks as payback for the bullying they had dealt with, and were later determined to be suffering from mental illness. The role that both Klebold and Harris’ mental illnesses, and the bullying they faced, had in the Columbine shooting was widely ignored by the media. Instead, the blame was wrongly placed upon Manson and his music, despite the fact that he had no role in the shooting, and the boys were not even fans of him or his music.
Official music video for The Fight Song.
This use of football iconography by Manson as a post-Columbine statement can also be seen in The Fight Song and its’ music video. A play on high school and college sports team anthems, (known as fight songs), the song is a statement on the glorification of youth violence in American society. This glorification can easily be seen through America’s obsession with football, arguably one of the most violent sports in existence. The music video for the song features Manson and the rest of the band onstage at an abandoned high school football field. A team of the typical football jocks, (Team Holy Wood), face off against a team of goths, (Team Death Valley), in a traditional game of football. The game becomes progressively violent, and erupts when a Death Valley player throws a ball at the scoreboard, causing it to catch on fire. The field then descends into total chaos as a Death Valley player continues to hack away at the goal post, eventually setting it ablaze as the music video ends. Manson stated at the American Music Awards in January 2001, (a few weeks prior to The Fight Song video release), that through the video, he was trying to show that, “sports, as well as music can be violent.” Manson’s use of the football jersey on Kerrang!’s June 2018 cover is a nod and further representation of this message, and is a reminder of how society has not really changed.
A member of team “Death Valley” in the music video for The Fight Song. Note the similarity to Manson’s Columbine jersey. Photo credit to The Nachtkabarett,
Manson’s makeup in The Fight Song music video is arguably one of his most well known looks. The horizontal line going across his face right under his eyes across the bridge of his nose emulates the classic “war paint” commonly worn among sports fans, and was seen throughout the entire Holy Wood era, including on the Guns God and Government Tour, on the red carpet and during Manson’s performance at the American Music Awards in 2001, and in Manson’s interview for Michael Moore’s 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine.
Manson in the music video for The Fight Song
Manson wearing The Fight Song war paint on the red carpet of the 2001 American Music Awards.
Manson wearing The Fight Song war paint performing at the 2001 American Music Awards
Manson wearing The Fight Song war paint during the Guns God and Government World Tour.
Manson wearing The Fight Song war paint in Michael Moore’s 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine.
The Fight Song war paint recently made an appearance during the Heaven Upside Down tour on February 15, 2018, the day after the Parkland School Shooting in Broward County Florida. The Parkland, (or Majory Stoneman Douglas High School), shooting occurred February 14, 2018, when Nikolas Cruz, a former student who had been expelled from the school entered Building 12 of the campus with an AR-15 semi automatic rifle and went on a rampage. He proceeded to pull a fire alarm and opened fire, killing 14 students and 3 staff members. Majory Stoneman Douglas High School is located in Broward County, Florida, the same county that Manson lived in, and where he attended Broward Community College. Broward County is where the idea of Marilyn Manson was born. The county served as the formative stomping grounds for Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids with venues like the Squeeze, the Edge, and Button South all falling within its’ jurisdiction. These venues were among the first to book Marilyn Manson in the early 90’s, and played a pivotal role in the band’s growth and development. Consequently, Manson is incredibly familiar with Broward County, which in tandem with Columbine and the other school shootings he has wrongfully been blamed for, likely made the Parkland shooting hit close to home.
The re-emergence of The Fight Song war paint on February 15, 2018 on the Heaven Upside Down tour.
Prior to his February 15th show in Long Island, Manson had worn a completely different style of makeup on the entirety of the Heaven Upside Down Tour. His decision to wear The Fight Song style makeup at his show the day after the Parkland shooting, can be seen as a nod to the victims of Parkland, and as a reminder that America’s obsession with guns, violence, and school shootings has not changed since Columbine.
The re-emergence of The Fight Song war paint on February 15, 2018 on the Heaven Upside Down tour.
It is also worth noting that the The Fight Song was recently added to the Heaven Upside Down Tour set list. The song was played for the first time in over 10 years on May 5, 2018 at the Hell and Heaven Metal Festival in Mexico City. Prior to this show, the last time Manson performed The Fight Song was on February 22, 2008 at The Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. The song was also played on the first date of the Summer 2018 European leg of the Heaven Upside Down tour in Haarlem, Netherlands on May 30th, 2018.
The Fight Song at Hell and Heaven Festival, May 5, 2018.
On a side note, it’s also interesting to point out that the mascot of Columbine High School is the “Rebels.” The idea of the rebel, and the spirit of rebellion is evident throughout Manson’s career, and connects directly to Heaven Upside Down with the prominent Luciferian influence on both the album and its’ iconography. Manson has said that for him, Lucifer is “the first ultimate rebel.,”He also has a modified version of the Sigil of Lucifer, (a main symbol of modern Luciferianism), tattooed on his left hand. Luciferianism is greatly concerned with following the left hand path, and rebelling from the “normal” conventions and rules of society to forge your own path and be an individual, all of which embodies the essence of Manson and his work. The idea of the rebel is yet another idea that is captured in the Kerrang! cover, and is a further reflection of the interconnectedness found throughout all of Manson’s art.
Thank you for reading part 1 of my analysis of Manson’s June 2018 Kerrang! cover! Check back for part 2 coming this week!
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