Why did Charles Manson want a career as a musician?

Charles Manson’s desire for a career as a musician was rooted in his personal aspirations as a singer-songwriter, a skill he developed while serving time in prison. After his release in 1967, he moved to the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, where he utilized his guitar playing to establish himself as both a musician and a spiritual guru within the local hippie culture.123

His pursuit of a musical career led him to Los Angeles in 1968, where he befriended Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. Manson collaborated with Wilson on music, and the band even recorded one of his songs, titled "Cease to Exist," though they later retitled and altered it as "Never Learn Not to Love". Manson also sought to advance his career by connecting with music producer Terry Melcher, who initially showed interest in his work but ultimately declined to offer him a recording contract. Some theories suggest that Manson’s subsequent anger over this rejection and his perceived exclusion from the musical establishment played a role in his later criminal actions.145