Marilyn Manson is an alternative metal / alternative rock band based in Hollywood, California. Frequently termed "shock rock", the group's sound contains influences from heavy metal, industrial rock, and glam. Formed in 1989 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the band's uniquely theatrical performances gathered a local cult following that has, over fifteen years, developed into a worldwide fanbase. Marilyn Manson's reputation has likewise grown, with the band now considered one of modern music's most widely-known and most controversial; this has been due, in large part, to eponymous lead singer Marilyn Manson and his frequent clashes with religious and political figures. Until 1996, the name of each band member was created by combining the first name of a female pop culture icon and the last name of a mass murderer or a serial killer; the members of the band dress in outlandish makeup and costumes, and, like their major influences KISS and Alice Cooper, have engaged in sometimes shocking behavior both onstage and off; the group's lyrics are rife with anti-religious sentiment and with references to sex, drugs, and violence.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1527: Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Dubček, was executed by drowning. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Manz)

1895: Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French military wrongly accused of treason, was stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dreyfus)

1933: Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge across San Francisco Bay. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge)

1968: Alexander Dubček came to power in Czechoslovakia, beginning a political reform known as "Socialism with a human face". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Dub%C4%3Fek)

1970: The first episode of All My Children was broadcast on the ABC television network. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_My_Children)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Evil spreads with the wind; truth is capable of speading even against it." -- Paramahansa Yogananda (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paramahansa_Yogananda)