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| Ines Zgonc, CC BY 3.0 <https://creative commons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
It’s amazing that so much of the music I love was
being produced when I was born, but it took me the better part of 15 years to
discover it – or, in the case of today, closer to 25 years, as Manson’s debut came
in 1994 with the unsettling Portrait of an American Family. This album features
two tracks – ‘Lunchbox’ and ‘Get Your Gunn’ – which were included on Lest We Forget, a later
compilation I own, and helped to inject a little familiarity, but for the rest, I
felt like the school bus had dropped me in the wrong neighbourhood (a feeling fuelled
by the many notorious murderer references).
It opens with a rendition of the classic ‘Rowing Song’
from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which, if you’ve seen the original Gene
Wilder movie, is frightening enough as it is, but only Manson could make it that
much more terrifying. And the album unwinds as the rest of that movie does: chaotically!
Chunky guitar riffs, creepy little voices, Manson’s caustically bleak lyrics,
and an endless catalogue of electronic effects to disturb and unseat the mind. But
one song toys with the boundary between creepy and cosy better than all others
and that is ‘Wrapped in Plastic’, an admittedly cleaner sounding track (instrumentation
is slower and less complexly layered) which switches pace and tone beautifully
and ties it all up with some frightening synth screams (at least I hope it’s a
synth).
Skip forward 2 years, and the next instalment was 1996’s
Antichrist Superstar, a much more electronic heavy slice of sinister.
This one featured 4 songs from Lest We Forget – ‘Irresponsible Hate
Anthem’, ‘The Beautiful People’, ‘Tourniquet’ and ‘The Reflecting God’ – only the
2nd of which I can fully appreciate for not being a wall of noise
half the time like the others. Of the remaining 12, however, I found myself
pleasantly surprised by the variety of elements which seemed to shine: the slow
burn of ‘Mister Superstar’ with its eerie background vocals, the deep
discordant guitar licks of ‘Minute of Decay’ which throw an insane drum set in
half way through, and the uncharacteristically atmospheric ‘Man That You Fear’.
But it was the spooky cocktail of synths and vocals in ‘Cryptorchid’ and ‘Kinderfeld’,
coupled with the painfully slow guitar riff of the latter which stood out a
mile for me.
Patrick Whitaker, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons (right)
Another 2 years on and I was introduced to 1998’s
glam rock drenched melancholy of
Mechanical Animals. For me, this is
where Manson’s appeal begins to wane – my limited knowledge of most albums
after the year 2000 notwithstanding – primarily due to the tone shift and the alteration
from Daisy Berkowitz to Zim Zum on lead guitar. (I would like to note that I still
appreciate the guitars in this album, despite the noticeable difference.) The slickly
electronic single ‘The Dope Show’ and the schoolboy proclamation of ‘Rock is
Dead’ echoing ‘Lunchbox’ are two songs I am familiar with, though by no means in
love with. That honour goes to the clutch-heavy, joy ride that is ‘Posthuman’
and the chunky swagger of ‘I Don’t Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me) – two
songs which remind me of road trips with my previously mentioned friend. They
nestle among the forlorn acoustics and Bowie-esque showmanship like the two
doves of Noah’s ark, unable to find dry land amid the changing ocean of Manson’s
musical guises. I will, however, give an honourable mention to ‘Last Day on
Earth’, an apocalyptically beautiful 5 minutes laced with alien synths that
tugs at my heart.
And so to the final 2 years [that I was able to
listen to] with 2000’s Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). This
album was surprisingly Manson’s bleakest and most confusing one yet. Another
four songs – ‘The Love Song’, ‘The Fight Song’, ‘Disposable Teens’, and ‘The
Nobodies’ – were featured on Lest We Forget, but in all 19 songs of this
album, the familiar ‘The Nobodies’ never gets old with its harpsichord-like
intro and Manson’s signature spit-and-bile chorus. ‘Target Audience (Narcissus
Narcosis)’ hints at the smoky guitars to come from Eat Me Drink Me, ‘A
Place in the Dirt’ masters its way from eerie intro to slowly burning dramatic chorus,
and ‘Coma Black’ acts as a terminally bleak twin to Mechanical Animals’ ‘Coma
White’, but otherwise, I couldn’t focus on much discernible variety between any
of the other tracks.
So there you have it: the first 6 years of Marilyn
Manson’s musical career. I can’t say for sure if any of the 21st
century albums (Eat Me Drink Me aside) will be able to hold my attention
the way the first two did, but there’s no doubting something in this music has
got its hooks in me good. It’s like watching a horror movie blindfolded with
its unsettling creep and the way Manson’s vocals seem to get under your skin. If
you want to check out any of the albums I’ve discussed, the link to the full YouTube
playlists are below.
Portrait of an American Family:
Antichrist Superstar:
Mechanical Animals:
Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death):
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