Charles Manson: Murderer and Musician
May 5th 2007 16:39
I just became aware that Charles Manson was a promising musician before he and his followers committed those horrible murders. A demo tape was released in 1968 and has made its way to the internet via blogger Edvard. I gave them a listen and was surprised that they were far from angry or demonic music. In fact, they're quite pleasant and positive. Head over to this site and give the two tracks a go.
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Comment by Nickoftime's Sanity Corner
this is almost...too creepy! He actually sounds "normal" his voice is NOT what I expected it to be AT ALL!
Makes you wonder, would Rod Stewart, Elton John, Eric Claptin or John Mayer have been murderers themselves had fate not intervened?
Very stange indeed..
Great post!
Take care,
Nick
Comment by David
I'm a huge fan of true crime ... I've read Vincent Bugliosi's 'Helter Skelter' more than a few times ...
I've read Polanski's statements on Manson ... (and I can understand his anger ... I doubt I'd be too happy with a man if he slaughtered my girlfriend, went on to 'celebrity status' while I was forced to leave the country for having sex with an underage girl ...
But when you get the full picture on a creative soul? ...
It's just so sad ... to think anyone with talent has to resort to murder to get noticed, recognised or acknowledged ...
Thanks for putting the links to the Manson songs in ... it puts a whole different perspective on the man ... (Look at Your Game Girl ... has a bit of David Gates 'Bread' about it ... and a bit of George Benson ... and a bit of Boz Scaggs ...
All I can say is what a fucking waste of raw talent ... What a fucking waste of a promising life ...
David ...
Comment by Damo
This fall into the how did you find that basket.
I was surprized that Charles Manson actually made a demo tape but not shocked. Hitler was a skilled artist also. I call it the Phantom of the opera syndrome. Or as Get Smart says 'If only he had used his music for niceness instead of evil.'
Here is where I get serious about the music. If I had heard this demo and it wasn't by Manson would I care. The answer is a definite no. The mans names makes me look for the hidden meanings in the prose. Yet having kicked around with musicians enough I know this sort of demo tape all too well. The music is good, the singer is sort of alright, the songs make sense, there is every indication of musical training and skill. However that just puts him in the same basket as the millions of other folk song musicians whose demo tape ends up in the circular file.
Did he do the hard yard and build up a fan base for his music or does he show some kind of jaw dropping talent that has to be snapped up before another record company does.
The answer is no in both counts and so I would never expect him to have become a house hold name without his killing spree.
Sad but true I have heard better from bedroom bands.
Comment by dementia
Coffin Conversations
I don't think his music is too bad. I know that recording during the 60's wasn't very polished because of the technology. I know that the demo would sound like shit compared to the recordings of today, indie or major label at that.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
Comparing Paul McCartney's history to Charles Manson's is really instructive. Manson literally didn't know how narrowband he was despite all his grandiose claims to being highly creative, talented, Christ and the Devil. Psychologically he seems histrionic with a paranoid side-bar more than the psychotic many think him to be. He has been put in segregation(the hole) in prison so much it has taken its toll. But clearly I have never seen anyone so obssessively wrapped up in themselves like a repeating sound loop.
That may be why he fancies himself a "masculine" personality to deny his histrionic default mode. If not for the extreme violent sociopathy of his "family" members he would have never made the radar screen. I think although entertainer-in-chief of the runaways he collected, they really dominated him and his need for a family.
Consistent with the other members nobody had a "normal" family upbringing and were already neurologically unhinged before the freedoms of the sixties youth movement gave them a pass to live both criminally and free at the same time devoid of any concience of their actions on others. His be and act in the here and now unemcumbered by routine moral rules, and instead simply personal loyalty tests within the group as defining one's moral goodness created a real social monstrosity that projected their own self loathing on the victims they so brutally desecrated.
That is where all the unchanneled anger of a thousand family and societal slights manifested. I am not sure even Charlie signed on to be maitre de of the evolving mess. Its a mistake to simply blame him as running a tight ship for using tried and tested jail-house and pimp games on a bunch of runaway vagabonds who were cast out by their own families in such a free age. Its like asking if drugs help runaways function better, and I think a look at the underground they inhabit in Hollywood says it all.
Manson was the refrigerator and the girls and boys of the constantly changing "family" were the magnets that simply stuck on what was convienent. However what I don't understand is how sometime in 1969 a dark parnoia overtook Charlie and the group and its after that the funtimes turned into hard core willy nilly murder incorporated.
It may be that Charlie, who can be seen on tapes with pressured speech talking faster than a frieght train with instant recall of diverse information had a mood disorder that rose to psychotic proportions and all the acid, and apparently belladonna(especially witchy) the girls were taking created an especially toxic brew.
Clearly their constant moving around, getting kicked out repeatedly of wherever they stayed, and scrounging for food in the Los Angeles area may have just aggravated resentments and sanity. Contrary to popular belief, Los Angeles is not the kindest gentlest place for squatters of no means but petty, credit card, and jalopy theft to homestead in.
Why society even expected this group to subscribe to ordinary moral codes is interesting in itself and the universal lack of true remorse is because of this. They are not going to get better, but just adjust their chamelion abilities along with the mellowing of aging to try and re-enter free society. Its also a mistake to attribute all this amoralness to simply taking a lot of acid as these people didn't even start with normal moral character. More likely is a confluence of events and lifestyle and leadership that simply let them be who they really were without the self-monitoring and ego control even most criminals have.
The whole race war theory is just a brand of group/ paranoia with an aryan twist and it should be noted that the entire gang would nicely fit into the aryan brotherhood. They simply were not devout and miscastes even in that. They failed in making Charlie a musician, they failed as a gang, they failed in their murders, they failed at their parole hearings.
Thier notariety really stems in their fateful choice of the Hollywood elite as victims. Hollywood is all about aggressive success, and they tarnished that image. By attacking America's fantasy makers, one of the cores of its self-image, they directly threatened the social order and those in power. They were the gang who couldn't shoot straight that stumbled rignt into the ungaurded core of the machine.
Today, a walk through any residential street in Hollywood or Beverly hills will reveal ubiquitous security signs threatening "armed response". This is the Manson's family legacy to America, transferring their paranoid breakdown to greater America. They went from peace and love to a fear generating machine.
Manson would say he is only being what we want him to be, and surely the 24 7 fear mongering on television and well everywhere we go and everything we do speaks for itself. That may be what he means when he says he is a prophet, one who brought bad tidings. It turns out the Manson family was the ultimate party poopers.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Zee
Comment by Anonymous
Manson started out as a not cared about child in Indiana. A Mom who was a child herself pushed the boy away. Does this mean THAT can be an excuse for all he did? Not hardly. He is no more or no less than any other serial murderer/or leader of those who murder.
Far too many children who had rough beginnings have grown up into productive social Beings.
This man will be studied forever by many ages to come ~ most often becuz he was attributed to having a Cult following and more so the uncanny ability to brainwash/manipulate. It might be most prudent to study more so those who are ripe to be manipulated so that what is learned from them and their psyche and socialization can then be circumvented in future Beings.
Manson turns 75 this year (2009) and frankly the hope is that he will soon be gone from earth.