Marilyn Manson declined to sing one of Eminem’s hit songs with him, deeming it ‘too misogynistic.’
There was a line Manson would not cross, not even for Eminem.
Imagine being ‘too hardcore’ for Marilyn Manson.
Before Eminem became Eminem, Manson and his band were already making a name for themselves in congressional hearings for their controversial music.
Despite seemingly crossing every single musical line imaginable, it seems that Slim Shady offered Manson a feature on a song in 1997 that even he could not accept.
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Eminem’s track ’97 Bonnie & Clyde’ sees the Detroit rapper – whose real name is Marshall Mathers – rap about disposing the body of his child’s mother after killing her.
Eminem talks about taking his daughter Hailie Jade to the beach and dumping his ex-wife Kim’s body out to sea.
The lyrics read: “Here, you wanna help Dada tie a rope around this rock? / We’ll tie it to her footsie then we’ll roll her off the dock / Ready now, here we go, on the count of free / One, two, free — whee! / There goes / Mama, spashin’ in the water / No more fightin’ with Dad, no more restrainin’ order / No more stepdada, no more new brother.”
Lovely stuff (not).
The song featured on the Slim Shady EP in 1997, a couple years prior to the debut of his hit mainstream album The Slim Shady LP in 1999, which also featured the song.
Anyway, it seems that the track was not one Manson was willing to feature on.
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In a 2007 SPIN cover story, Manson explained: “Anyone who’s close to me calls me Manson.
“Strangely, I’ve never felt comfortable introducing myself with a woman’s name. “For me, the name works only in its entirety. For brevity’s sake, it became easier to call me Manson.
“Early on, they called me M, but then Eminem sort of stigmatized that.
“He actually said – and we know each other and get along famously-when he was first starting out that he wanted to be the rap Marilyn Manson.”
The controversial rockstar then went on to explain why he refused to jump on one of Eminem’s tracks – despite the pair getting along well.
Manson added: “He asked me to sing on his first record, and I would have, except that the song he asked me to sing was – and this might sound strange – too misogynistic.
“It was the one about killing his girlfriend and putting her in a trunk. It was on a record I could listen to, but it was too over-the-top for me to associate with. “It didn’t represent where I was at.
First of all, I don’t drive. “And I wouldn’t put a girl in a trunk; that’s where I keep other stuff. That’s my dry, deadpan humor kicking in.”