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Has the bad boy of rock gone soft? Has his new girlfriend turned him into a lovesick lap dog? Or is his latest work his most subtly subversive to date? We go in search of the real message hidden under all that over the top makeup.
M-WEB: With Grotesque you seem to move away from shock tactics into a more playful arena?
MARILYN: Vaudeville and burlesque and cabaret and the whole "theatre of grotesque" was meant to take people's minds away from bad things that were happening in the world, and, you know, distract them with bad things that are happening in the theatre, but different bad things. I've made an album from images in my mind you know? I'd wake up and want a song that sounded like a burning piano, or I'd want a song that had an elephant painted black.
M-WEB: How do you define "the Grotesque?"
MARILYN: People have taken the word and given it a negative connotation sometimes, but, you know, I've always been attracted to the grotesque, and that's really just the part of your imagination that does things that aren't in nature. That's really what it really means, you know? Something that's abnormal, and so... this album is meant to leave that with you, you know. The "Grotesque Burlesque" will be something that people may hate, people may love, it will cause a lot of controversy, but people won't forget it. It'll be interesting.
M-WEB: Do you think that audiences will relate? It sounds a bit like a freak show?
MARILYN: I think that these images are quite pleasant. I think that you can't censor the imagination, and that's a war that I'm willing to fight. It's only a "freak show" if people on the outside world, don't live their lives the way I do. To me, these things are normal and fun and entertaining, because they come from my mind.
M-WEB: You appear in the documentary "Bowling for Columbine". After being accused of prompting the Columbine murders, were you concerned about being misunderstood with the new album?
MARILYN: The day that I did the interview for "Bowling for Columbine" was the first day we had returned to play in Denver since I had been wrongfully blamed and accused of being associated with or being an inspiration to the people involved with it. So, that day, I think everyone's concern, including mine, was for the safety of myself and the audience. You never know what sort of fanatical, religious or other-other type of person is going to do to stop you from performing. But I am an artist, and an entertainer and people have to take responsibility for their actions and they can't try and blame it on others.
M-WEB: There's a strange romantic twist to the album. Does that have anything to do with your new girlfriend?
MARILYN: She's very independent, strong-willed... she looks and represents everything that I've always thought a woman should be when I was growing up as a kid. She almost looks like she stepped out of a photograph. And that's what she is - she's a pin-up girl, and that's all she wants to be. And I enjoy how she does it. So she's been an inspiration to me in that she also loves the grotesque. And she has been a positive influence because she likes me for who I am and is not trying to change me.
