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Early demo tapes by Marilyn Manson

Prior to having a recording contract - during their Spooky Kids era - the band made demo cassette tapes. Initially for themselves, for friends, local radio, and to get bookings, they began selling them at shows too. Not many were made, about 100 at most at a time, making them all the more valuable to collectors.

The demo tapes I know of are:

  1. The Raw Boned Psalms [? 1990] tracks
  2. The Beaver Meat Cleaver Beat [March 1990] tracks
  3. Big Black Bus [summer 1990] tracks
  4. Grist-O-Line [late 1990] tracks
  5. Lunchbox [June? 1991] tracks
  6. After School Special [December 1991] tracks
  7. Live As Hell [1992] tracks
  8. The Family Jams [1992] tracks
  9. Refrigerator [early 1993] tracks

I've heard of other demos called: #2, and Satan On Fire. The last one is songs performed by Marilyn and Twiggy as part of their short-lived side project band, Satan On Fire. So these have become confused with Spooky Kids recordings.

Additional releases can be seen here: Spooky Kids extras

It's said that Manson and Scott first recorded a track in late January 1990 and their first booked show was in April 1990.

tracks on demo tapes

A definitive listing? It would be too risky to say so. I think some of the bootlegs in circulation, and the tracks on the internet, just add to the uncertainty about how many real and original demo-tapes there are.

The Raw Boned Psalms

[January? 1990]

Side A
  • Red Head
  • IV-TV
Side B
  • Son of Man
  • Junk the Magic Dragon

Only three people credited for this one: Marilyn, Daisy and Olivia Newton Bundy. No Zsa Zsa Speck/Perry Pandrea on keyboards yet? This tape wasn't sold to fans but was given away for promotional purposes.

The inlay cover and art may have been a later addition since originals didn't seem to have one.

The Beaver Meat Cleaver Beat

[March 1990]

Side A
  1. White Knuckles
  2. Red (in my) Head
  3. My Monkey
  4. Strange Same Dogma
  5. Son of Man
  6. Junk the Magic Dragon
  7. Jesus is My Boyfriend
  8. IV-TV
Side B
  • Marilyn and Daisy radio interview by Scott David, March 1990
  • played Strange Same Dogma on radio
  • played White Knuckles on radio
Side A has 8 tracks and side B has their first interview with radio DJ Scott David of WKPX 88.5. This tape wasn't sold to fans but used for promotion. It builds on the tracks used for The Raw Boned Psalms tape.

Performing credits: Vocals by Marilyn Manson, guitar by Daisy Berkowitz, bass by Olivia Newton Bundy, keyboard by Zsa Zsa Speck.

Manson - as Brian Warner the music journalist - wrote an article about DJ Scott David for the October 1989 issue of 25th Parallel Magazine. See a scan here:
Scott David Article by Brian Warner.

Big Black Bus

[summer 1990]

  • White Knuckles
  • My Monkey
  • Strange Same Dogma
  • Red (In My) Head
Named after the bus used by the original 1960s Manson Family.

Lyrics by Manson, music by Berkowitz. Performing credits: Vocals by Marilyn Manson, guitars and percussion by Daisy Berkowitz, bass by Gidget Gein, samples and percussion by Madonna Wayne Gacy (Pogo).

Grist-O-Line

[mid or late? 1990]

  • Dune Buggy
  • Cake And Sodomy
  • Meat For A Queen
  • She's Not My Girlfriend
Performing credits are: Voices by Marilyn Manson, guitars and programming by Daisy Berkowitz, bass by Gidget Gein, keyboards by Madonna Wayne Gacy (Pogo). The drum machine didn't get a name check again.

I'm not sure if Grist-o-line came before or after Big Black Bus.

Lunchbox

[June? 1991]

Side 1
  • Dune Buggy
  • Learning To Swim
Side 2
  • My Monkey
  • Cake and Sodomy

After School Special

[Recorded December 1991]

  • Negative 3
  • Lunchbox
  • Choklit Factory
  • Cyclops

Live As Hell

[Radio show recorded 26 April 1992, released 1993?]

Side 666
  • Cake And Sodomy
  • Suicide Snowman
  • Lunchbox
  • Learning To Swim
Side 999
  • (brief MM interview)
  • My Monkey (intro excerpt from 'Come Together' by The Beatles)
  • Misery Machine
  • Thrift (bonus track, recorded 1991)
The interview isn't mentioned on the insert notes, strangely. The tape is of the band's appearance on Tampa's 95 WYNF's 'Radio Clash' radio show. I think Side One has the live tracks recorded on 'Radio Clash'.

The Family Jams

[recorded 1991, 1992]

Side Ma
  • Dope Hat
  • Strange Same Dogma
  • Let Your Ego Die
Side Pa
  • Thingmaker
  • White Knuckles
  • Luci In The Sky With Demons
Named after the rock group Charles Manson tried to organize from amongst his 'Family' members.

Refrigerator

[1992, early 1993 release?]

Side One - live tracks recorded on WYNF's 'Radio Clash'.
  • Cake And Sodomy
  • Suicide Snowman
  • My Monkey
  • Lunchbox
Side Two
  • Thrift
  • Filth
  • Wrapped In Plastic
  • Dope Hat
Refrigerator was released under 'Marilyn Manson', without the, 'and the Spooky Kids' part. It was untitled but nicknamed 'Refrigerator' because the cassette inlay cover art depicts a fridge door.

This was the last self-produced release. Only 100 copies were made and each copy is numbered and features original artwork by a band member (reproduced for twenty tape covers).

The Refrigerator liner notes give an early indication of themes to be explored by MM:

Spread me open, stuck to my ribs,
are all your infants in abortion cribs.
Disease, disease is draining me;
anymore it's not so "pretty please."
Satan is a glass of milk and a bedtime
story that mommy and daddy jesus
scare babies into submission with.
Fascism spreads its cancerous tendrils
into the soft guts of bible-belt-wearing
white trash, organizing their lives around
old testament cartoon characters.
We fuck each other with hatred
and kill the things we love.
We scapegoat the things we don't understand.
13-year-olds, dirty and swollen, are sold
into a porno-nation, sedated and
devoured by their fathers.
With its rabbit-ears smugly erect, the t.v. talks
in hard-ons and acne medicine, while a boy dreams
of stardom and lives in fear of failure.
Denial leads to addiction that leads to denial.
Sadistic and constantly inflicting a slow demise.
Who ever said tricks were for kids?
Do you wanna see me pull a rabbit (monkey)
out of my hat (back)?
I have never pretended to be anything but an asshole.
I am what you make me.
I'm everything you hate and all you think of being.
I am nothing but your fear.
And a fear of something will only call it near;
in the end only fear is here.
Our substance-abusing, sexually-deviant,
devil-worshipping children are not the "problem."
They (we) are merely a symptom of Christian America,
the biggest Satan of all.

Save yourself (me),
M. Manson