The Love Song (2000) mp3
Do you love your guns? (Yeah!)
God? (Yeah!)
Government? (Fuck yeah!)
Rock ‘n’ Roll Nigger (Patti Smith cover) (1995) mp3
Baby was a black sheep,
Baby was a whore
Baby got a gun,
Got her finger on the trigger
Baby, baby, baby
Was a rock ‘n’ roll nigger!Outside of society,
Waiting for me
Outside of society,
Where I wanna be!
I Don’t Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me) (1998) mp3 [youtube]
God is white and unforgiving,
We’re piss-tested and we’re praying!
We’re rehabbed and we’re ready
For our 15 minutes of shame…You and I are underdosed
And we’re ready to fall,
Raised to be stupid,
Taught to be nothing at all!
Marilyn Manson is a hypocrite. He condemns celebrities, yet he has become totally celebrity and is totally NOT an artist anymore. He’s the celebrity rip-off of Nine Inch Nails.
I consider the ‘commercial’ vs. ‘authentic’ artist debate a bit of a red herring in almost all cases.
There’s no denying that Marilyn Manson’s career owes a lot to Trent Reznor’s direct involvement. But they have their differences (in multiple senses of that phrase
)
MM’s artistry focuses on persona, aesthetics etc. in a way that NIN wouldn’t ever attempt.
As for the music, Marilyn Manson is more in touch with classic rock and hard rock roots than NIN. Especially these days: MM’s “Eat Me, Drink Me” sounds completely different from NIN’s “Year Zero”.
Both currently rank among my favourites, but I like Marilyn Manson way more than Nine Inch Nails.
My big issue with him is how he’s become what he used to hate. You know. The guy fucking his real-life girlfriend in his music videos, the guy who makes music designed to get attention rather than to make art designed to change the way we think. He used to be an artist. Now he’s a capitalist God.
He is now everything he wasn’t before.
Do you really think “The Golden Age of Grotesque” (2003) and this year’s “Eat Me, Drink Me” are more attention-grabbing than his Antichrist Superstar schtick from the 90s? He used to be one crazy son of a bitch circa 1994… now he just makes creepy love songs with complex guitar solos
(I jotted some thoughts about that in a mefi thread earlier this year.)
I understand what you’re saying about him acting like a cliché rock star, but everything the guy does is a bit tongue-in-cheek. So if he’s being over-the-top in his personal life, he’s aware of the irony, but made a choice to go with it anyway. I personally don’t mind… but to each his own.
To each his own, then.
Super Tuesday here in the south and I just voted Marilyn Manson for president. Fuck all the rest of the evil, power hungery bastards!