Original Marilyn Manson Guitarist Scott “Daisy Berkowitz” Putesky Dead At 49
Original Marilyn Manson guitarist Scott Putesky — better known to fans as “Daisy Berkowitz” — has passed away from colon cancer, with which he was diagnosed in 2013. He was just forty-nine-years-old.
Putesky appeared on Manson’s first three releases: the full-lengths Portrait of an American Family (1994) and Antichrist Superstar (1996), and the EP Smells Like Children (1994). In addition to supplying guitars on the cover of the Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” which first made Manson a household name, Putesky has songwriting credits on many of Manson’s best early material, including “Lunchbox,” “Cake & Sodomy,” “Irresponsible Hate Anthem,” and “Tourniquet.”
Said Manson of Putesky’s passing:
“Scott Putesky and I made great music together. We had our differences over the years, but I will always remember the good times more. Everyone should listen to ‘Man That You Fear’ in his honor. That was our favorite.”
Putesky may have left the band too soon to become Manson’s most famous guitarist (he split partway through the recording of Antichrist Superstar, if memory serves), for those of us who got into Manson early on, he was a key member of the band nonetheless. His style of guitar playing, which is considerably looser and grungier than those of his successors, was a hallmark of those first few albums — especially Portrait of an American Family, on which he has songwriting credits for eleven of the thirteen songs.
On a personal note, I’d just like to share this memory: Portrait came out when I was twelve. I was at sleepaway camp when it came out. The kids in the bunk I was in were a little older than the ones in the bunk next to ours, and we didn’t really get along with them. Every morning, they would put a boombox on their porch and blast TLC’s “Waterfalls” at full volume, which drove us fucking crazy. One day, my father, of all people, sent me a copy of Portrait, which somehow or other he knew I’d want. My bunkmates and I, mature young men that we were, thought “Cake & Sodomy” was the funniest goddamn song ever written, and although it seems pretty tame now, at that point, it seemed, y’know, really rebellious. And so we started a ritual of our own: every morning, as soon as the bunk next to ours would begin to blast “Waterfalls,” I would put my boombox on our porch and blast “Cake & Sodomy” (which was inevitably much, much louder than the TLC song). It took about a week for the kids in the next bunk to admit defeat and stop playing “Waterfalls” every single morning.
Thank you, Scott Putesky, for playing such an odd, but memorable, part in my life. You will be missed.
