Rebels, Rockstars, and Radicals: Charles Manson’s Influence on Music Culture

Charles Manson’s influence on music culture is both strange and unsettling, given his role in orchestrating the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.

Despite his infamy as a cult leader and mass murderer, Manson had long harbored aspirations to become a musician, rubbing elbows with significant figures in the 1960s rock scene. Though his musical career never took off in the traditional sense, his connection to the world of rock ’n’ roll and his presence in the cultural zeitgeist left an indelible mark on the music industry. From his relationships with prominent rock stars to the ways in which his violent legacy shaped music and subculture in the decades that followed, Manson’s disturbing influence reverberated across the musical landscape.

Manson’s Musical Ambitions

Long before his name became synonymous with terror, Charles Manson dreamed of being a musician. While serving time in federal prison in the early 1960s, Manson learned to play the guitar and wrote songs in the hope of becoming a rock star upon his release. Once out of prison in 1967, he moved to California during the height of the countercultural revolution, where music was one of the dominant expressions of the era.

Manson gravitated toward the burgeoning Los Angeles music scene, frequenting clubs like The Whiskey a Go Go on the Sunset Strip. He…