Episode #114 | 11.15.22
Charles Manson the Music Man (Charles Manson Chapter 3): Lost Records and a Prosecutorial Song too Crazy to Sing
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In this episode
In and out of juvie and jail since childhood, Charles Manson learned guitar in prison from the last of the great Depression-era gangsters. He made music industry connections in jail, too, like the Rolling Stones’ road manager. During the Summer of Love, Manson bounced from prison and took his act to San Francisco, formed a drug-soaked sex cult, moved the whole Family to L.A., and before you could say “celebrity orgy,” he was hanging with Neil Young, the Mamas and the Papas, and the Beach Boys. Charles Manson was about to be the breakout star of 1969…at least in his own mind.
Sources
Charles Manson's Musical Ambitions (The New Yorker)
Charles Manson's life as a failed musician, Beach Boys hanger-on and mediocre songwriter (LA Times)
A guide to Charles Manson-related music ahead of 'Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood' opening (LA Times)
Charles Manson's Musical Legacy: A Murderer's Words in 9 Tracks (Rolling Stone)
Charles Manson: The Incredible Story of the Most Dangerous Man Alive (Rolling Stone)
6 Songs Written by Charles Manson That Super Famous Bands Covered (Ranker)
The song Neil Young wrote about the infamous murderer Charles Manson (Far Out)
Best Books on Manson Family Murders (Rolling Stone)
Road Mangler Deluxe, by Phil Kaufman with Colin White
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, by Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry
Charlie Says (dir Mary Harron, 2018)
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Music
Hosted, written, and scored by Jake Brennan.
Copy editing by Pat Healy.
Mixed and Engineered by Sean Cahalin.
Disgraceland theme song, "Crenshaw Space Boogie" written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak