The Long Hard Road Out of Hell

By: Marilyn Manson, Neil Strauss

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's Summary

When this best-selling autobiography was originally released, everyone was shocked: The Long Hard Road Out of Hell was the darkest, funniest, most controversial and best-selling rock book of its time - and it became the template, both visually and narratively, for almost every rock book since. Marilyn Manson is not just a music icon, it turned out, but one of the best storytellers of his generation. Written with best-selling author Neil Strauss and modeled on Dante's Inferno, this edition of The Long Hard Road out of Hell features a bonus chapter not in the original book. In the shocking and candid memoir, Manson takes listeners from backstage to emergency rooms to jail cells, from the pit of despair to the top of the charts, and recounts his metamorphosis from a frightened Christian schoolboy into the most feared and revered music superstar in the country. Along the way you'll hear what happens to fans - and celebrities - who dare to venture backstage with the one of the world's most dangerous rock stars. In the words of Elle magazine, the book "makes Madonna's infamous Sex seem downright wholesome in comparison".

©1998 Marilyn Manson and Neil Strauss (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

would have been 10xs better if Manson had narrated

not the hugest fan of his music but when i read this book i loved it. wanted to re read it without reading it again so I picked up the audio book. i wish manson had narrated. this guy did fine but i kept wanting to hear manson tell the tale

Interesting read (at times) but not well written

I should start off by saying that I have always been a strong Marilyn Manson fan. Definitely not someone you would see at his concert, but someone who appreciated his music, uniqueness and artistic style. In interviews he always struck me as intelligent and eloquent. Regrettably, I was very disappointed in this book. Besides the occasional gratuitous and salacious storytelling (which I’ll admit was entertaining, although severely limited!) I found it both pretentious and self indulgent.

Sometimes people moan on and on about how different they are from the norm. Which I can respect to a degree. But towards the end, his point was lost because he dug himself Into a hypocritical hole where he (at least in my opinion) transformed into a narcissistic bully, desperately trying to showcase the superiority in his beliefs and lifestyle not because his way of living brought him any sense of fulfillment. But for the juvenile reasoning that he seems to passionately hate normalcy in any sense of the word.

I don’t have to agree with what someone preaches, but at least make a decent case for yourself. Or at the VERY least, write it well.

Left this book less of a fan than i was coming into it, unfortunately.

not it chief

the tale of a megalomaniacal douche fresh out of a creative writing class trying to convince the world that he is as deep as he thinks he is

long Hard Read

disappointing... how can this be a best seller? Was hoping for more insight on how MM was signed....with self proclaimed minimal musical talent I would have preferred to learn more about Brian (Mailyn Manson). certainly some of the stories and escapades were entertaining but they seem a bit far fetched and perhaps the strategy of the book for the shock rocker to try to shock the reader.. and for all the bragging of drugs, ducking, girls, guys, satan, murder (yeah right) I would have been more shocked with hearing how he outworked every other band or perhaps his work ethic. lots of details step by step- of his hallucination actions and bad trips -too much detail - not in content but you find your self saying 'C'mon Man'...your tripping your ass off on Acid yet you want us to believe you remember the shirt you were wearing and this detail and that detail....a bit of a reach in my opinion. overall, read a bit like fiction and therefore I was disappointed.

I am a huge MM fan, but....

This was freaking terrible. It's hard to believe this was written by such a creative and vivid person. I struggled to finish it, but forced myself. It failed to keep my attention, and it had so many desperate grotesque descriptions in place of actual content. There wasn't much content there at all, I don't even know what I just listened to. The narrator also lacked...something. He sounded like a cliché imitation of MM. If I had the chance, I would not have bought this book. Very disappointing.

Terrible, pretentious writing but interesting life

He had a privileged childhood but still stressed how difficult his childhood was. If you think about it, being sick of school and having a few painful breakups is pretty much a standard part of growing up. He'd have you believe he barely made it out alive though. Pretty silly.

I want to stress how pretentious and over written this is. You sort of tune it out after awhile but it's bad. He's a failed writer and it's clear why. He's not a good writer. He's a terrible writer.

He had an interesting life, though. I think I'm so addicted to autobiographies that I've found myself listening to an autobiography of a musician I'm not even a fan of. Interesting listen, though.

Vile and disgusting.

The first few chapters about his up bring and childhood were interesting. However this book being written by Manson I shouldn't be surprised how NASTY it got the further in to his career. WARNING This is a dark book.

Written by the worst person.

This book is a bunch of lies to glorify a serial abuser. He sucks.

An annoying and sad read

Don't let the beginning fool you. This book starts with substantial content about a traumatic childhood and the impacts on Manson's upbringing, but quickly degrades into what feels like a teenage smartas* bragging for hours about the things teenage boys would brag about. What I took from the novel is that Manson claimed to have achieved an elevated sense of purpose in modern day society, achieving an objective view of the faults of "flock mentality." Which it sounds like he did. What did he do with his enlightenment? Not a lot, it seems. He shock valued his way to gaining attention, and I don't know if he did anything worthwhile on his journey. Or if he did, it was wildly outweighed by damaging experiences for all those that surrounded him. If you're looking for something completely lacking any substance, and instead wish to listen to someone talk about cocaine and urine for hours, this is the read for you. Condescending for no reason, yet having nothing admirable to prop himself up on (even through his own lens), Manson thrives on being an as*hole so he can push everyone away before they truly see what he is - a broken, insecure person. Based on what he chose to include in this novel (literally only macho puff-up anecdotes), Manson strikes me as someone who never actually figured himself out, and created an alter-ego because he didn't know what else to do with himself. Some nuggets of wisdom and interest, mostly just bs.

Shockingly Good

I know of Marilyn Manson, know nothing about him or his music only what I have heard. I find the book very well read and very interesting. He is a talented artist with some pretty amazing ideas with shock value. A very good read.

Suitable For White Trash (And You)!

Had lost my hard copy of the book so I'm glad that I was able to get a free audio book!

Other than the insightfully dark experiences, told within the story, James Patrick Cronin almost sounds like Marilyn Manson, which made it that bit better.

Also, the reading was delivered in an enticing and believable manner.

Overall, I'm happy that I put aside my unreasonable, unjustified, assumed dislike for audio books and moved with the times!

Interesting and intelligent, but uncomfortable

At times this is not easy listening because Warner/Manson doesn't seem to be a nice person - but I guess any book entitled 'The Long Hard Road out of Hell' is not going to be about a good samaritan! This autobiography is also now 20 years out of date (it was published in 1998). I wondered if it was deliberately written in such a way as to prevent anyone from knowing or understanding who Brian Warner really is; and, if it is wholly accurate from Warner/Manson's point of view whether, during the last 20 years, he has had any revelations in terms of emphathy and self-awareness, as both seem disturbingly lacking in him in this book.

Interesting that Neil Strauss was involved in the writing of both this book and Mötley Crüe's "The Dirt" as they are written in the same style and, as with "The Dirt", there are tour stories in here that are uncomfortable to hear: abuse of seemingly willing but intensely vulnerable people - women in particular - does not sit well with me. The members of Mötley seemed more self-aware than Warner/Manson of the effect that their destructiveness had on other people, and they certainly seemed to pay for their sins and find redemption in the end. Manson, apparently, has not.

Those criticisms aside, this is an interesting and intelligent read, and it is well-narrated. When Warner/Manson simply allows his reflections about life, religion, and the world to come through without applying the 'shock and disgust' filter he is insightful and thought-provoking, revealing a clever mind that is never idle and highly creative. Definitely worth a credit.

Kinda sounds like butthead is the narrator though.

Kinda sounds like butthead is the narrator though. good book i thought all in all

Manson has things to say. And they really are worth listening to. And at times blisteringly funny.

I listened to this as a companion to my teenage kid listening to it. It genuinely is laugh out loud sometimes with anecdote after anecdote that reveals the story of a bunch of kids that follows their turbulent successes and car crashes anecdote after hilarious and at times painful anecdote in both their music but their personal lives. From trying to kill a stalker to meeting the head of the Satanist Church before he died, The establishment and church that Manson rails against is deservedly lambasted for its stupidity and illiteracy in seeing what he is doing. He is on stage quite literally screaming for everybody to wake up from our zombie lives and understand the failings of our consumer driven society and recognize the dogma in our hypocrisy. Smart, at times even shocking - even to him I think - this book is a great listen offering up an at times hilarious, vulnerable but ultimately very serious portrait of Manson and why he does what he absolutely should keep on doing.

loved it

some mad stories and an interesting insight into the life and mind of Brian Warner aka Marilyn manson

Fascinating stuff. It really made me think and look at the man behind the image. He has more heart than some of these people parading around as the people's mouthpiece.

Totally messed up

What a messed up dark intriguing piece of work by Marilyn Manson always true to form. Fantastic

It isn't well written down

Interesting but poorly written. A lot of metaphors ends randomly. Unsure whether to recommend this book

some annoying bits

there's parts that are annoying and not needed like reading out the total address everytime

horrible and boring

i would have preferred to spend these hours being tortured... such an uninspiring boring and negative book