Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson formed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1989, originally as Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, co-founded by frontman Brian Warner, who took the band's name as his own, and guitarist Daisy Berkowitz. Theatrical live shows built the group a local cult following in South Florida before any label came calling.

In 1993 the band became the first act signed to Trent Reznor's Nothing Records, a deal that gave the project its first wider push. The membership followed the same formula, pairing a female icon's first name with a serial killer's surname, and the lineup has turned over many times around Warner across the group's history.

The music moved from the glam-tinged industrial rock of Portrait of an American Family and Antichrist Superstar toward the more overtly glam and melodic Mechanical Animals, with a cover of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" becoming one of the band's most widely heard recordings.

Manson's stage presentation, artwork and interviews made the act a lightning rod for American culture-war arguments through the late 1990s, particularly after news media wrongly linked the band to the Columbine High School massacre. Protests and petitions repeatedly got shows blocked, and at least three US states passed legislation banning the group from state-owned venues.

The band has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, inducted into the Kerrang! Hall of Fame in 2000, and has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, notoriety that has stayed attached to the name even as mainstream chart success cooled through the 2000s.