Marilyn Manson

As if sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll weren't enough to terrorise conservative parents, along came a Satan-worshipping, gothic nightmare in the 1990s to take shock rock to a new level. Taunting, corrupting, blaspheming and doing everything he could to offend, Marilyn and his mates became the most notorious rockers of their generation. Starting out as Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, their early demos attracted Nine Inch Nails' front man Trent Reznor, who signed them to his label and took them on tour. Debut album Portrait of an American Family (1994) was followed by a debased, gothic, glam-metal cover of Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams, played heavily by MTV. Second album Antichrist Superstar (1996) confirmed them as icons for angst-ridden, disaffected teens, before Mechanical Animals (1998) and The Golden Age of Grotesque (2003) both topped the US album charts. Through personnel changes, sensationalist headlines and huge commercial success, the vampiric front man has continued to court controversy, much to the ire of religious groups.