MARILYN MANSON: CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH'S "MOST EVIL MAN IN AMERICA"
- 13 hours ago
- 5 min read
In the late 1990s, to me, nothing was more awesome than tuning into Celebrity Deathmatch on MTV.
The Claymation series, which was a mixture of alternative rock, professional wrestling, horror movies, and pop culture, was initially a skit on a short-lived series called Cartoon Sushi on November 7, 1997, broke free onto MTV during halftime of the Super Bowl in 1998 called Death Bowl ‘98, and didn’t look back.
Created by Eric Fogel and produced by MTV Animation, the show was a satirical look at how people saw violence on television. Fogel, using the brilliance of satire, made his own universe and created an incredibly successful program for six seasons. The program truly had the finger on the pulse of society at the time.
The creativity and ability to keep coming with innovative content, combined with trying to keep viewers entertained through the ever-changing MTV Network, had to be difficult. However, Fogel and his staff did a great job keeping up the quality. The storytelling was outside-the-box.
The show had everything, from Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mills Lane, and Debbie Matenopoulos to Marv F’n Albert. The Dome of Devastation was another classic innovation, as well as the infamous episode where the program had to go to Congress to save the show. There were even SuperFreaks made out of pieces of victims of previous fights and battled each other.
However, especially in the first two seasons, there was nobody more revered and dominant in Celebrity Deathmatch history than the extremely controversial industrial goth rock star MARILYN MANSON.
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During the end of the 90s, there was no one more controversial than Marilyn Manson. With his unique look and vocal stylings, Manson’s music brought out a tremendous amount of diehard fans and detractors, seemingly in equal amounts. He offended religious groups and the government. And yet, it made him a crapload of cash.
The media even tried to blame his music for the terrible actions of what happened in Columbine High School in 1999, which, to this writer, is such crap. He wouldn’t be the first, and certainly not the last, but the eyes of hatred were on him, especially at this time.
He was PERFECT for Celebrity Deathmatch.
On the skit created for Cartoon Sushi on 11/7/97, Manson faced off with Charles Manson for the title of “the Most Evil Man in America”.
After taking a bite out of Marilyn’s shoulder, in which the chunk weirdly turned into an arachnid (and getting two points deducted for biting by referee Mills Lane), the psychopathic cult leader went in for the kill. In one fell swoop, Marilyn reached into Charles’ body via his mouth and yanked out his entire skeleton, tossing it into the crowd.
The Tahitian Skeleton Pull of Death got Marilyn Manson the victory and the title of the “Most Evil Man in America”.
Celebrity Deathmatch would seemingly make that moniker the unofficial championship.
Manson continued a few weeks later to the inaugural Death Bowl ‘98 during Super Bowl XXXII on January 25, 1998. During an interview with Marv Albert, Manson discussed his thoughts on the main event between “annoying” boy band Hanson and “annoying” girl group the Spice Girls.
His thoughts were…intriguing.
“I think they’re a bunch of posers and I hope they burn the fiery furnaces of blackest Hell.”
Well…he might have definitely gotten his wish. During the said main event, both teams beat the Hell out of each other. Baby Spice was even split apart in half. However, it didn’t matter, as the lighting rig fell from the rafters, crushing everyone inside, as well as slightly injuring a dodging Mills Lane.
After an instant replay, DeathMatch commentator got a camera to point to the rafters, which saw Marilyn Manson up there with a chainsaw.
Pure evil from “the Most Evil Man in America”.
When Nick Diamond asked him why he did it, Manson didn’t mince words.
“Because I’m Marilyn Manson and I’m “the Most Evil Man in America”. And they asked for it because they absolutely suck. Their music sucks and I couldn’t take it anymore.”
He said a lot more, but the camera faded out to close the show.
Manson didn’t make another appearance until Episode 6 on July 30, 1998. This time, Marilyn would face off with country music legend Garth Brooks. A year before Chris Gaines entered the scene, Garth was upset at Marilyn’s treatment of Hanson back at Death Bowl ‘98. Marilyn’s response to Stacy Cornbred was interesting to say the very least.
“You see, Garth Brooks is beloved by America’s Heartland. He supports many local charities and lives a good, clean life. And that, my friends, is why I’m going to have to crush his egg shaped skull.”
The fight began with Garth doing his hypnotic Texas Two-Step to psychologically get into Marilyn’s head. After doing so, Brooks started punching Marilyn for each State of the Union. By the time he got midway through Mississippi, his guitar strap, holding “Garth, Jr” came undone. Manson broke the trance and began his attack.
Just as both combatants were fighting over the guitar, Garth, who was holding the strings, begged Marilyn to let go. He obliged, taking Garth’s cowboy hat and scalp clear off!
Manson defended his title successfully. Of course, Isaac, Taylor, and Zachary Hanson tried to do the same thing Marilyn did with a chainsaw and take him out with the lighting rig, but Zachary lost all control with the chainsaw, carving up their body parts and littering the Deathmatch ring below. After watching it rain from above, Manson picked up the fallen chainsaw and “autographed” the canvas.
Marilyn would not be seen again until the Season 2 finale of Deathmatch on November 11, 1999 - Fandemonium II. Manson and his band, in a live concert, began singing the song “Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes”, which was an exclusive song to the show.
After the awesome performance, Ricky Martin, disgusted with Marilyn and the song, challenged him to a fight. Using his swiveling hips, the Latin heartthrob had the early advantage, but lost it quickly when Manson hopped into his metal crutches and took Martin into the drums.
Martin, not to be deterred, took a cymbal from the rhythm decision and whipped it like a frisbee at Marilyn. Although it was blocked, one of his fingers fell off, which inexplicitly turned into a dragonfly. Martin went “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and threw another cymbal at Manson’s groin. After wrapping up Manson with a microphone wire and taking him off the stilts, Martin ran in for the kill, but instead fell into the trap of the Tahitian Skeleton Pull of Death!
Or did he?
Martin countered and bit off Manson’s hand and swallowed it whole. Bad mistake.
The hand, from inside Martin’s stomach, ate him from the inside out and busted through his cranium. Yet again, Marilyn Manson won, retaining his crown yet again!
However, it was the official last appearance of Marilyn Manson on Celebrity Deathmatch.
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As I alluded to earlier, the reputation of Marilyn Manson began to wane in 1999, due to the media’s attacks on him due to Columbine, which was, and still is, ridiculous. However, with MTV moving away from rock music and leaning heavily into hip-hop and pop music, giving Billy Corgan some credence to his theory about MTV, as well as the show being produced by MTV Animation, Marilyn Manson was officially gone from the Celebrity Deathmatch universe.
I do think that Marilyn Manson was a perfect fit for the show, especially with that title “the Most Evil Man in America” being pushed. Contrary to popular belief, Celebrity Deathmatch did have some great angles and storylines throughout the multiple eras of the show. I just think that he should have been the “face” of the show and brought out once a year to make a title defense.
Of course, times change, and we all get older. But the influence of Celebrity Deathmatch will live on. And forever in a day, innovation like this show is needed in modern times, especially in terms of satire and creativity.
At the least, maybe “the Most Evil Man in America” could return and get rid of all this music and television that suck.
Bankie Bruce
