Marilyn Manson: Best We Forget(about his career), the worst of.

A lot of you may not know the picture to the left. It is a mug shot of Brian Warner (no, not one of the Animaniacs) also known by his stage name Marilyn Manson. Manson; named after model Marilyn Monroe and serial killer Charles Mason is a 'rock star' hailing from Florida. His music and image were once attacked by pundits on both the Left Wing and Right Wing due to the shooting in Littleton, CO in 1999. Manson-- as a persona and a musician has changed over the 15 years he's been on the musical radar (I count only the time from Nothing Records/Interscope onwards). He's gone from being the most 'feared' man in music, one of the most controversial to one who does nothing but parody his former 'talent'.

We Should Have Stayed in Florida(Portrait of an American Family)

Their first full length album produced by Trent Reznor is very much a continuation of the band's origional sound when they were known as Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids. Mostly a drum machine, keyboards and thrash-y guitars. Oh, and what sounds like a cat in a blender (manson's vocals). Manson started to get some attention during this period outside of Florida, mostly due to their tour with Nine Inch Nails and Danzig. The album is not as layered as the next few efforts, but it did spawn 3 music videos.
Get your Gunn
LunchBox
Dope Hat

Between the first two albums, a remix EP Smells Like Children was created; more sonic experiment with then band and Reznor and some other collaborators. This included a cover (I'll dedicate a whole section on Manson's covers) of the Eurythmics song Sweet Dreams (are Made of This). The popularity of this song catapulted Manson into the mainstream spotlight with a more 'dark' image than previous works, which was more a parody/twisted outlook on children's entertainment (the willy wonka parody in dope hat and the childchatcher image from chitty-chitty bang-bang used on the cover of the EP).

Lookatme! I'm EEEEEvil.(Antichrist Superstar)

The band's second full length album released in 1996 was produced by Reznor, and the sound of this album is arguably their most 'industrial' sounding due to collaborations on the album with (at then) Nine Inch Nail members Robin Finck, Danny Lohner, Chris Vrenna and Charlie Clouser, and Reznor contributing piano, keys, guitar and the kitchen sink. The album artwork and music is filled with jarring images and religious references some of them taking a misanthropic viewpoint.

The band's dark image progressed and religious groups protested Manson's performances; around this time rumors also started to fly about Manson, ranging from having his bottom ribs removed so he could preform self-feliatio; that he was Paul Pfeiffer from the wonder years (Joshua Saviano, the actor who played Paul is a lawyer); he mutilated small animals on stage etc. none of which, to my knowledge and research are true.

Three videos spawned during this time frame
The Beautiful People
Tourniquet
Man that You Fear

ZOMG I do DRUGS & I have BOOBS!! (Mechanical Animals)

In 1998 Manson recruited guitarist John Lowery and decided to break with Reznor and decided to rip off David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and The Man Who Fell to Earth and add prothestic boobs, more glitter, and lots and lots of drugs. The result is a surprisingly good album with very idiotic lyrics. Mechanical Animals spawned a few Music Videos
The Dope Show
Rock Is Dead
I Don't Like the Drugs (but the Drugs Like Me)
Coma White

The Columbine Massacre in 1999 stopped his tour after media focused on him for supplying 'hate filled music'. He canceled 5 of his dates at the end of his 1999 tour due to the incident in Littleton, CO. Senator Joseph Leiberman among others in public outlets focused blame onto music, movies and games, including Manson's band. Manson was quiet about his views on the subject mostly until his next album Holy Wood.

Celebrity and Violence: Now I'm Exploiting America! (Holy Wood)

Holy Wood, released in 2000 is Manson's reaction to American's obsession with violence and celebrity. It draws paralles between our culture and a love of violence as entertainment; giving murderers the attention (some) they crave. Manson paints a poitrait of american media as vultures and how as americans we consume every last dribble of violence on TV. From Kennedy to Christ to Columbine. His views are expressed in the excellent documentry produced during this time by Michael Moore Bowling for Columbine; as well as his appearances on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. Back to the music. Manson as usual does the lyrics and vocals, but almost all the acutal music on this album is by Twiggy (Jeordie White) with some exceptions by John Lowery. Musically this has a throwback to AntiChristSuperStar. Some glam elements remain, but it's mostly just hard rock with some industrial-esque elements.
Singles were
Disposable Teens
The Fight Song
The Nobodies
After this point, I really disliked the musical direction of Manson; so from here on out, I may be a bit.... critical compared to earlier.
Mickey Mouse, Nazis and Imitation Swing Jazz (The Golden Age of Grotesque)

So for his 2003 musical endevor, Manson gave us a lot of puns in lyrics (although he CAN be skillful at wordplay... these just fell very flat), some vaguely 20's-30's swing-esque/metal sounding noises (Thanks Tim Skold! [and I like Skold's work in KMFDM, but this album was just... awful]). Manson's art direction done by photographer Gottfried Helnwein is atually kinda fun... sorta. Some of the 'we're in old vintage suits, with makeup' is kinda cool. very zoot-suity, very 30's... but then we also forget what else happened in the 30's... nazism. Yes, folks. Nazi's, and not the silly Indiana Jones Nazi's. Nazi's. In the video for This is the New Shit, manson rides into the video in one of Hitler's old limos. A lot of the promo pictures had Manson in an SS uniform, or sporting the Totenkoph (death head) on a hat. I'm not offended by any of this, it doesn't effect me, but... it's fucking silly.
Songs such as Doll-Dagga-Buzz-Buzz-Ziggity-Zag, Golden Age of Grotesque, and The Bright Young Things all have a very very vague 30's sound, and the rest is just kinda... blah. It's missing the *something* from early Manson albums; and it's not less-shocking, I mean, NAZI's! and look at manson as Mickey Mouse! What the Hell?!

Singles (thank god there were only 2! ["(s)AINT" the third music video has been banned by Universal Music Group]):
mOBSCENE
This is the New Shit

I'm DONE with music... Oh, Wait! (Lest We Forget)

So, Mr. Manson decied to call it quits in 2003/4 after Golden age of a Giant Turd of an Album. So his record lable Interscope (Nothing Records folded in 2004 due to John Malm being a giant dick) decides to cash in on Manson's popularity and releases a 'Best of' CD. Personally, i kind of hate best of CDs, unless I really just like the singles from the artist. It takes the songs out of any context... and that, to me, is boring.

Anyway, Mr. Manson is going to make a movie based on alice in wonderland, then work on his Art, then... ruin his marraige to burlesque dancer Dita Von Tesse by FUCKING EVAN RACHEL WOOD who, i think was like 17 or 18? maybe 19.. and you're closing in on 40? what the hell man, what the hell?

So during this wonderful phase of Manson's career... he does two fatal mistakes. First he coveres what seems to be the hight of self parody he could ever do, by covering Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus and THEN, he goes out and ACTUALLY DOES cover the ONLY song that could at ALL be considered the HIGHEST form of self parody in the history of EVER! He covered This Is Halloween from Tim Burton's Nighmare before Chirstmas.
Seriously, can you be done making music now? Can anyone take this live performance seriously?

Aren't You Done Yet?(Eat Me, Drink Me)

Ahh... let's look at the picture on the left-- see what it looks like he's doing? That's how I feel abut this album. Although it's not as bad as the cover of This Is Halloween... it's bad. Very, very bad. Once again, it's Manson and Tim Skold. The crux of this album seems to be two things. 1. Manson is happy to be fucking Evan Rachel Wood. 2. Manson is pissed off at Dita Von Tesse.
Self parody still abounds here (If I Were Your Vampire, They Said Hell's Not Hot), and Manson is as emo as Chris Carrabba. "Wahh, I'm sad Dita left be because I am fucking a 18 year old no-talent-wanna-be-actress/songwriter, but I'm happy because I'm-fucking-said-18-year-old-and-I-don't-have-boobs-any-more."
Music Videos that are not as bad as Personal Jesus:
Heart Shaped Glasses (When the Hand Guides the Heart)
Putting Holes in Happiness

I'm a leach who brought back the only person who made my records a sucess! (The High End of Low)
So it's been announced a while ago that Jeordie White is back in Manson. White/Twiggy has had a sucessful time from Manson, auditioning for Metallica's vacant bassist position; recording and touring with A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails, Goon Moon and Josh Homme's Desert Sessions, Manson pooped out his Nazi album, his 'best of' cover album, played with his paints, and his emo album.
What have we heard that Manson and White are working together again? A lot of hype 'that [the record] will blow Antichrist Superstar out of the water' and that 'it's harder than Twiggy's dick.'

Yeah... so far, i've heard two songs from it. the track "Arma-God-Damn-Mother-Fucking-Geddon" and "We're From America" (which is avalable as a free download from Manson's website). Not impressed at all.

I wish White all the best, but I do hope that Manson can either regain his creative edge and make something worth listening to, or just fade into obscurity.