Marilyn Manson - Make Up Your Own Mind. (Marilyn Manson)

Member Name: exraven

Product:	Marilyn Manson
Date:	05/03/04 (766 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be a positive influence.

Disadvantages: People don't listen before judging.

Instead of ranting on about how great Marilyn Manson is and how much i love his music and how ignorant people can be (and they can. I can't even begin to describe how ignorant. Particularly years ago while still at school rock music and Marilyn Manson were 'weird' and those who did not conform to the normal 'nice happy pop music and wearing Adidas or whatever' were 'freaks' and put up with much hassle over nothing....yes I'm still a little bitter and twisted about that one..sorry)
I'm going to try and explain a few things. For starters just who is Marilyn Manson?
Well with the new-found 'popularity of rock music these days ( seems to have suddenly become 'cool' ) everyone seems to have an opinion about Marilyn Manson except for -of course- some of the older generation. Wether you like him or hate him, you must admit he's something different.
The name 'Marilyn Manson' is the name of the band and of course the man behind it, who's real name is / was Mr. Brian Warner. Why then the name 'Marilyn Manson' ?
Dichotomy. Opposites. The extremes of good and evil, love and hate, represtented using the combination of the names of two public icons... Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson.
made you think yet?

Originally named 'Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids' the band emerged from the underground scene in America around the early 1990's thanks to help from Trent Reznor of 'Nine Inch Nails' (another good band if you get chance to listen ) with the album 'Portrait of an American Family'.
The style of M.Manson's music began with a harsh more 'industrial' rock sound -'Portrait of an American Family' and ' Smells Like Children ' but developed to find its way to having a more 'conventional' rock sound about it, with more emphasis being placed on the lyrics of the songs.
However I've just got my hands on the ori
ganal spooky kids tapes.. ' After School Special ', ' Lunchbox ', and ' Family Jams '
Which while completely different to the modern Manson music are very very good. particularly the song 'Negative' from 'After School Special'.
There are numerous musicians who have influenced the band.
Mr. Manson's image evolves with each album, from 'Anti-christ Superstar' to the more experimental sounds of 'Mechanical Animal' which has lots of good guitar plus weird and wonderful electrical sounds and we reach today - ' The Golden Age of Grotesque' and isn't it just.

Controversy surrounds Marilyn Manson wherever he goes, they are banned from numerous venues, particularly across America due to mainly upsetting the religious groups and churches with his lyrics and opinions. 'God is just a statistic' (Mechanical Animals.) God is as many people as believe in him / her / it and many of the Americans are so 'upset' by Marilyn Manson they feel it neccessary to protest outside of venues when he is performing.

'Anti people now you've gone to far..heres your anti-christ super star..'

I deem this all to be *very* unfair. Surely he should be allowed to express his veiws just as the churches and religious people express thier own..and hey... you aren't forced to listen to him..
...at least you don't get Marilyn Manson fans knocking on your door trying to bring you the joys of his music, like you get Jehovo' witnesses or whatever they are knocking at your door trying to spread the wonderful joys of jesus..and when was the last time you heard of Marilyn Manson fans and supporters protesting outside of churches when they hold their worship and sing their hymns? people ever consider that?
It's all very stupid and ridiculous.

Mariln Manson's work is far too often misinterpreted giving rise to strange storys of satanic ritual
s and other bizzare tales. These stories grow and multiply as Manson declines to defend himself againts wild accusations and reports in the media or to justify his actions; prefering to let people draw their own conclusions and form their own opinions.

His lyrics actually condemn violence and ignorance. They are just the words of a man questioning societys 'morals and values' while expressing his opinions of the world we live in.
For example the song 'Get your Gunn' was written as a reaction to the murder of Dr. David Gunn a man killed by pro-life activists in florida while Manson was living there.
It's all in the interpretaion, and all the distorted news in the media led to Marilyn Manson taking alot of blame for the Columbine incident in 1999. Manson chose even then not to jump into the media frenzy to try and defend himself, though he could have appeared on every single news and tv show in existance. Instead he wrote about his view of the incident.."Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?" I found and read this May 28 1999, and found it to be an open and honest opinion on the whole matter, very worth reading.

Let's get back to the music....
The first MManson music I ever listened to was Antichrist Superstar which i borrowed from my brothers friend. I loved it but only borrowed it because of 'The Beutiful People' track which was, and still is a few years on a strong song. Once i had started getting hold of all his albums (because I really love the music) I started to listen more to the lyrics and look into who this guy was and what he was singing great songs about. I found it re-assuring that someone had some of the same ideas and opinions about things I guess. I found this particularly true with the 'Mechanical Animals' album which was of a different style to the albums before and after it..the albums all pretty good..with 'Rock Is Dead' A rocking heavy headbanger track best served wit
h full volume and bass turned right up.

?Rock is deader than dead - Shock is all in your head - Your sex and your dope is all that we?re fed - So f**k all your protests and put ?em to bed - God is in the TV??

Same goes for 'posthuman which is loud fast and 'o so good.
'Coma White' This is an excellent ending to the album the slow guitar work makes for a hauntingly good song. it is lso a song that made me stop to take a long look at my life at that time, and to make changes.

?A pill to make you numb - A pill to make you dumb - A pill to make you anybody else - But all the drugs in this world can?t save her from herself??

His version of 'Sweet Dreams' from the 'Smells Like Children' album is one of my old favorites, I liked the origanal but Manson with Manson singing it it's even better and same goes for Manson's version of 'Tainted Love'. 'Sweet Dreams' was also part of the soundtrack for 'House on Haunted Hill' A few other songs have also found thier way into horror film soundtracks, 'Disposable Teens' in Blair Witch 2, 'Rock Is Dead' for 'The Matrix' , you'll find Manson also in soundtracks of 'Spawn' and 'Dracula 2000'

The 'Holywood' album moves away from 'Mechanical Animals' and more back toward the earlier work with great rocking loud some fast some slow but all *gooood* songs not just 'Disposable Teens' ..like 2 of my fave's
'Burning Flag'
"They want to sell it up - buy it up - dumb it down - a good god is hard to find - I'll join the crowd that wants to see me dead - right now I feel I'm alive for the first time..."

"you can point your gun at me - and hope it will go away - if god was alive - he would hate you anyway..."

and 'King Kill 33' which is to me with all my little hang-ups and anger left over from
growing up..is a great song. :o)

"Is this what you wanted? / this is what you get / turned all your lives into this s**t / you never accepted or treated me fair / blame me for what I belive / and I wear /you f****d yourselves and you / raised these sheep..."
"you never gave me a chance to be me / or even a f*****g chance just to be / but I have to show you that / you played a role / and I will destroy you with one simple hole / the world that hates me has taken its toll / but now i have finally taken control...."
Its a loud strong an noisy song but I do luv it so.
And now? The Golden Age of Grotesque, rock is cool and popular and parents are worrying. But I'd say this type of music is less harmful and more honest than some stuff out there, if the child or person is smart and have a mind of their own, if they have been taught to have their own opinions and think about their actions then there is nothing to fear from Artists such as Mariln Manson it's just that some seem to have forgotten how to enjoy music..how to think about music.
I'll finish for now by saying..you shouldn't let people make your mind up for you so take a moment to listen to the lyrics in the songs and look at what this guy is saying, ignore the publicity and all the media hype. Look at the person behind the image of this 'evil shock rock man corrupting young people' make up your OWN mind...and no just because I like him and can relate to his songs I don't expect everyone to think the same as me. I just think people should not judge anyone too quickly.

You'll find Mr.Manson at
www.Marilyn Manson.com
Thanks for reading.

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