Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson is an incredible, incredible musician.
I warn you in advance, I may be gushing a lot in this post. But, goddamn, Marylin Manson is an icon. A kind of disgusting, inhuman mockery of everything we hold dear. To him, our society is disgusting, filth-ridden, corrupt and rife with despair. He despises it, despises every single thing. His songs are rife with perverted imagery, foul dark things that no civilized person would want to imagine. The polar opposite of our ordered world is painted on a canvas of dark, grunge guitar, a mirror stained in shit, and the paints flow from Marylin Manson’s twisted soul.
Do yourself a favor. Have a moment to yourself, and just WATCH Marylin Manson perform. It helps to be in a dark mood. In fact, wait. Wait until you just have an absolutely SHITTY day. Then Youtube or Video Marylin Manson–his AntiChrist Superstar Stuff is a must-see. It’ll blow your mind.
There’s something powerful about the Antichrist stuff. His whole stage show is an absolute dissection of society’s very core tenets. Power, lust, greed, ambition, even self-righteous zealotry are all examined and torn asunder by the sheer force of Manson’s hate. Hate pervades every lyric, like a sickness, and it sweeps you up in a cloud of blind, frustrated fury. You have no choice but to scream along, scream at the world with him, his skeletal body painted white, dressed in outfits that defy description. Like a pied piper from Tartarus, he leads you along with his twisted tune, and you have no choice.
No choice but to follow.
Saying “incredible musician” implies he’s musically talented. In terms of actually playing music, he’s not that great. As a songwriter or as a performer, however, I can see how you’d like him. But playing repetitive power-chords for an entire song while sing/screaming things with no melodies does not make somebody a good musician.
In terms of power and lust and all of that, he doesn’t even really compare to most of the metal acts out there. When he toured with Slayer, audiences would boo him offstage because he was such a pussy.
Musically, it’s equivalent to the majority of pop music, except with guitars.