Manson is just good clean fun

What does the stereotypical Marilyn Manson fan look like? Even before I'd heard their music, I'd decided that their following consisted of skinny boys who listen to Metallica and smoke Marlboro Reds. I don't know where this stereotype came from, but there it was, lodged in my head. And when I bought their most recent album, Mechanical Animal, at the Co-op last week, I could tell that the sales clerk had his own idea of what a Manson fan looked like, and it certainly was not me.

But regardless of what their fan base might look like, something about Manson's most recent single drove me to purchase this album. Prior to owning this disc, my only exposure to Manson came from seeing the video for "Long Hard Road Out of Hell," which was aired heavily on MTV last winter. I loved the video, and would turn down the volume to see Manson (the man, not the band) cavorting with a scantily clad woman who is at the end of the video revealed to be a boy in lots of makeup. (Just to clarify, the band is vocalist Marilyn Manson, bassist Twiggy Ramirez, keyboardist Madonna Wayne Gacy, drummer Ginger Fish, and guitarist John 5.)

Beyond their persona, which a lot of people know about, courtesy of considerable anti-Manson sentiment, particularly among political and religious organizations, I knew nothing about Manson the musician.

As I said, I bought Mechanical Animal because I heard the first single, "The Dope Show," on MTV. The video is very visually effective, but I really like the song. It was strangely appealing in a sing-a-long kind of way. The tune has that glam rock edge, reminiscent of David Bowie or Queen. In fact, on this album, Manson sounds like a strange synthesis of Bowie and Trent Reznor, with a touch of Joy Division and Pulp. Sound weird? Certainly. Is Manson just ripping off a talented group of classic and influential artists? Of course. But he's also paying homage, and doing a damned good job of passing this stuff off as original, and should be given credit for it. I can almost imagine some teenage boy hearing Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" and saying, "Hey - this sounds just like Marilyn Manson!"

But I'll try to evaluate the album's merits independent of Manson's sources and musical inspirations. The opening track, "Great Big White World," is a strangely lyrical and very muted track with which to open the album. It's as though the band is announcing that their intentions with this record are different than their persona may suggest.

The aforementioned "The Dope Show" is certainly one of the stronger tracks on the album, a wise choice to release as the first single. The title track, "Mechanical Animals," has some of my favorite lyrical puns to be found on the record. Manson's lyrics are so angsty and teenaged that they are occasionally hilarious to anyone over fourteen. But then there are puns worthy of Shakespeare: "You were my mechanical bride / you were phenobarbidoll / a manniqueen of depression."

Manson may sing quite seriously "Rock is deader than dead / shock is all in your head / your sex and your dope is all that we're fed / so fuck all your protests / and put them to bed" but, like most of the band's act, it's paradoxical. They may proclaim that shock is in the perception, but who is giving us sex and dope? None other than Manson.

The drug stuff gets a little heavy handed on "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" but it's just so rocking that who really cares? And I know I said I wouldn't address this, but this song is so Bowie-esque without offending hardcore Bowie fans ( like myself ) one has to give Manson credit. Think that Manson could pull off a gospel-influenced choir? It worked for Madonna on "Like a Prayer," and it works here. I wonder what Manson's Christian critics will say to this.

Another great anthem from the album is "Disassociative," which sounds initially like a cool Cure cover, but veers off halfway through to the guitar rock .

That about does it for the memorable songs from the album. Maybe you need to be a huge fan to be able to distinguish between the tunes, but they have a tendency to all flow together. That's not such a bad thing. I'm a huge P.J. Harvey fan, but even I am willing to admit that a lot of her songs are really the same. At least these artists are consistent, huh?

And I think that listeners will be struck by how many of the lyrics they remember. Lines like "I'm as fake as a wedding cake," "They slit our throats like we were flowers," and "Cops and queers make good-looking models" are inspired. The whole shtick of this band may be a little immature for most college students, but sometimes it's fun to just have some background music. The pretension of other rock lyrics which are just as silly (Zepplin's "Stairway to Heaven" comes to mind) can sometimes remind us that music can be just plain fun. -Rumaan Alam