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Greetings all!
This month, I am reviewing the new album from Marilyn Manson - The man with a mission of taking the hatred, the confusion, and the violence, and using it to put forth his own message.
The message is, why explain yourself to a world that hates? Why try to change a world that wants to stay the same? If in this age people will only listen when we are vulgar or grotesque, or will only tune in when sex and violence is on, then we must use these tools as our form of expression and voice. Even though the movement is entirely misinterpreted, it's better than being silenced. And so, Mr. Warner and pals have decided to rely on what's available to get their message across to any who care to listen. Problem is, the only medium available is angst, hate, and violence. It is the only medium people tend to take notice of. Unfortunately, with this album, as opposed to previous ones, there is a lot to be desired. Still...I don't suppose each opus is going to be totally same-ish. But you expect with time, and with each new album, that it will somehow improve. Not so in this case, I'm sad to report. Sad, because I am a Marilyn Manson fan. Had he been doing this when I was still a teenager, gods how we'd have eaten him, alive! Now it's just a gimmick, but one in which he claims he uses in order to get a message across. What kind of message would that be? But the good thing is, the album isn't a total disaster - I'm just not convinced on the direction he took this time, is all.
Seeing as the first tune is an intro, we'll begin with "This Is The New
Shit".
"Everything's been said before
There's nothing left to say anymore
When it's all the same
You can ask for it by name
Babble, Babble, Bitch, Bitch
Rebel, Rebel, Party, Party
Sex, sex, sex, and don't forget the violence
Blah, blah, blah
Got your lovey-dovey sad and lonely
Stick your stupid slogan in
Everybody sing along
Babble, Babble, Bitch, Bitch
Rebel, Rebel, Party, Party
Sex, sex, sex, and don't forget the violence
Blah, blah, blah
Got your lovey-dovey sad and lonely
Stick your stupid slogan in
Everybody sing along
Are you motherf***ers ready for the new shit?
Stand up and admit it, tomorrow's never coming
This is the new shit
Stand up and admit it
Do we need it? NO!
Do we want it? YEAH!
This is the new shit
Stand up and admit it".
"SHIT" being the operative word. It's repetitive. All through the song, it's the same set of words, droning over and over, trying to make it sound more interesting with the rhythm changes. The words aren't convincing, and it sounds like an advertisement. You know the kind - they sing their cutesy little jingle on the TV and you are forced to memories it because it gets played every 15 minutes. The video has more appeal than the lyrics do. It's an energetic song, which I happen to like - Energetic, not in the usual sense of getting lost in it like death metal or something. But definitely a note of chaos in there. But still, the lyrics are BORING. Next!
I do think the vaudevillian approach was an interesting twist, made more so by the addition of macabre images, and dancing girls, the use of silk suits and top hats, giving Mr. Warner the appearance of a sinister Cat - In - The - Hat with the Cheshire Cat evil grin, and maniacal laughter tossed in for effect. The next couple songs definitely give rise to that fact. In the mOBSCENE video - I have to wonder if it was the will of Mr. Warner to paint up the faces of the dancing girls with one side sporting a skeletal smile. Reminds me of his artwork. Oddly enough, it puts me in mind of one piece in particular known as Crop
Failure
I do like mOBSCENE although it has gone mainstream. In other words, overplayed. The coolest part in the video was the girl dancing in the glass of absinthe, even sporting a giant sugar cube, which is totally necessary to make it more palatable. It has notes of mafia gangsters sprinkled here and there, dancing scenes straight out of the 1940s -1950's which is also great, since I am a fan of that particular era. Those who think that era is humdrum, obviously need to take a closer look inside. This song gives me the impression of "hey we're involved in something you might not like, but we're involved anyway because this is who we are and what we're about". That may sound vague, but it's actually not. It describes the current state of affairs in any American neighborhood. You will see things you might not want to see, things you might not want to be involved in, but irrespective of that, it's going on around you, like it or not.
"(Ladies and gentlemen)
We are the things the shakes to come
Your freedoms not free of dumb
This oppression is great.
The deformation age,
They know my name
All stick this gum and base
And mare it to the pain
Bang if we want it Bang if you want it
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
You came to see the mobscene,
And now it is the obscene
It's better than a sex scene
And it's so fucking obscene.
Obscene, yeah
You want commitment?
Put on your best suit
Get your arms around me,
Now we're going down, down, down
You want commitment?
Put on your best suit
Get your arms around me,
Now we're going down, down, down
Be obscene.
Be, be obscene
Be obscene baby,
In my heart".
Doll Dagga Buzz Buzz Ziggety Zag is one of the songs I like on this album. It’s got a very cool beat to it. Something you can sink your teeth into, and snap your fingers along to. The only downside to it is that it ends abruptly, but it has some very excellent upbeat energy. It makes you want to get off your ass and move around a good bit. However, like "This Is The New Shit" it too, is sadly overly repetitive. It starts out interesting, and then someone throws a wrench into the mix, and it goes totally a different direction.
"Doll-dagga buzz-buzz ziggety-zag
Got my grotesque burlesque drag
Doll-dagga buzz-buzz ziggety-zag
Got my grotesque burlesque drag
All the goose step girlies with the cursive faces
We know it's all Braille beneath their skirts
A bulletproof biz-op and swing heil
I don't really care what gentlemen prefer
Say all you pin down girls with bonafied ballers
So manically depressed and manically dressed
We got a Venus not in furs but in uniforms
If you're not dancing, then you're dead
Doll-dagga buzz-buzz ziggety-zag
Got my grotesque burlesque drag
Doll-dagga buzz-buzz ziggety-zag
Got my grotesque burlesque drag
All the thug rock kids are playing
All the punk got angels saying
Tell all the rest of them we don't even know
All the thug rock kids are playing
All the punk got angels saying
Tell all the rest of them we don't even know
GO! GO! GO! Doppelgangers!
You're one of us! You're one of us!
GO! GO! GO!
Throw your cheek, doppelgangers
You're one of us"!
The next tune is sort of the oddball on the album. Marilyn, buddy. Watch your step or you'll be on the same path Metallica went down. Can we say, "selling out"? And I don't mean as in mass album sales. I mean peddling any old crap just to make a fast buck. How many of us have "sold out"? Selling out to the media whores, believing every single word they shove at us? This one is definitely a strike out song. Use Your Fist And Not Your Mouth? Doesn't that sort of put you in the same boat as terrorists? If you won't listen to what we're saying, it's ok, because we'll use muscle instead! What is something like this telling EVERYONE who actually buys into it? Yeah man, very cool. Get the message across by using violence. Still, I like the beat, but the angst crap no longer suits me. Not all the time.
"I am over grounded, outselling it
Since God thinks I don't exist
The beatings happen permanent
This is not blue-collar white corrective politics
I'm on a hate, American style, kick
This is the black collar song
Put it in your middle finger and sing along
Use your fist and not your mouth
(Come on, come on! Come on, come on!)
This is the black collar song
Put it in your middle finger and sing along
Use your fist and not your mouth
(come on, come on! Come on, come on!)
I'm on a campaign for pain
And when I get elected
I'll wipe the white off your house
The smile off your face".
I thought the name of the song (s)AINT was interesting, and after listening to it, I can see why it has been portrayed the way it is. Sounds a lot like a co-dependence issue here. I could even relate to it in many ways. Full of anger this one, and no mistake. Still, this is one of the better tunes on the album, and the lyrics are what you come to expect from Mr. Warner - unlike the other songs which strike me as overdone and having just enough appeal to grab the attention of the kiddies out there. This one is different though. It's about an end to a relationship, and apparently, from what the lyrics suggest, not a happy ending. This is one way to REALLY get back at your other half - especially if you're famous. People will sing these words for a long time, and each time they do, it's more humiliation. Sometimes I wish I had been famous.
I don't care if your world is ending today
Because I wasn't invited to it anyway
You said I tasted famous so I drew you a heart
But now I'm not an artist, I'm a fucking work of art
I got an F and a C, and I got a K too
And the only thing that's missing is a bitch like u
You wanted perfect, you got your perfect
Now I'm too perfect for someone like you
I was a dandy in the ghetto with a snow-white smile
But you'll never be as perfect whatever you do
What's my name? What's my name?
Ah-ah, Ah-ah
Hold the S because I am an ain't
What's my name? What's my name?
Ah-ah, Ah-ah
Hold the S because I am an ain't
Ah-ah, Ah-ah
Ah-ah, Ah-ah
Ok, I'm going to add one or two more here. Can't review the lot, because there are a lot of tunes on this album - At least one thing remains constant here. This next song gave me really vivid visions while listening to it. See if it does the same to you. All I could see was Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, and even the lyrics seem to suggest, whether or not they were meant to. Ka-Boom Ka-Boom is not the sound of a gun. In fact, if you think of Jim Carrey in "The Mask" when he was wearing the mask, and you could see his heart beating, almost leaping out of his chest when he saw the blonde girl, you'll have a good idea of what I'm seeing here. No love in it, just attraction and the need to have that desire fulfilled temporarily.
"I'm the leader of the club, and I've shrugged off my mouse ears
We fly no-class Dumbo jets, and drive hardcore-o-vettes
We fight war with drugs, and our sex always formal
We wear lawsuits when we get high, high, high
I won't do it with you, I'll do it to you
I hope this hook gets caught in your mouth
I won't do it with you, I'll do it to you
Don't say no, just say now
I like a big car cause I'm a big star
I'll make a big rock and roll hit
I'd like to love you but my heart is a sore
I am, I am, I am so yours
Ka-Boom, Ka-Boom
Ka-Boom, Ka-Boom
Ka-Boom, Ka-Boom
I'd like to la-la-la-la love you
Last song on the list is Vodevil, and I specifically chose this one because the lyrics were in - your - face. And this is definitely true Manson style. A great big F**K YOU to the masses, to society in general. I guess in one sense, I can agree that we are all being lead like sheep. We are being catered to by the media, having their concocted cock and bull crap shoved down our throats as though it were gospel truth. Are we seeing a trend here, ladies and gentlemen? Those of us in this community end up blackballed due to the machinations of media, and religious fanaticism. Being labeled as something we aren't simply because it gets good press, and draws many viewers. Sensationalism sells, and it's no different in this case, Mr. Warner has made use of all the garbage, and acting rather like a mirror ball shield, (thank you, Zaar) deflects it back to the source. Only one problem is, that source doesn't want to see, which is why it was thrown hastily off to begin with.
"I wake up everyday, the wrong side of the bed
I won't lay down on the floor like I'm the whore in your head
Call me a failure, pretender, sex offender, infector
Say I killed all my friends, and I deserve to be dead
Kiss, baby, kiss
Bang, baby bang
Suck, baby, suck
It's Vodevil
Kiss, baby, kiss
Bang, baby bang
Suck, baby, suck
It's Vodevil
This isn't music, and we're not a band
We're five middle fingers on a motherfucking hand
This isn't music, and we're not a band
We're five middle fingers on a motherfucking hand
I won't pull out, I just came
I want all of the blame
Your love is too faithless
No concept of pain, no right to complain
All you fagazine scenes blackball me
DJ yourself away
Turn your back, it will be easier to stab".
I have to say, that while there are some tunes I don't really care for, my reasons for not really liking them were because the lyrics were, in my opinion, not up to par, but this doesn't discredit the album musically, because musically, it's pretty decent. The energy is what you come to expect from Marilyn Manson - sort of chaotic, yet upbeat. I think it's worth owning. Obviously not all songs can be hits, or be written the best, but it is surprising when you get a bit less than what you expected. It's the difference between new and improved and really you're getting old and same-ish.
On the website, you have a choice of several videos to have a look at, including 3 from the new album. There's quite a good selection there to choose from, but you will need Realplayer or Windows Media in order to view them. I suggest having a look because you get a different perspective on the song meaning, than if you were simply to listen to it, but hey, that's a given :o)
Check out the website - There is a lot there, including the opportunity to buy his art (if you can afford it, that is), videos, and other little interesting bits. The website can be accessed here . To watch the videos, go to the archives and click on the one you'd like to view. Also, there is a Q and A section under the oracle .
Well that's it from me for now. Next month, Barbie has decided to toss a special review your way for Halloween. I'll leave it, as a surprise as to which band it is, but let's just say it's in keeping with the theme here, muahahahahaha! :o)I'll be back in November with a new one of my own, that I hope you will enjoy :o) that's it for the now. Enjoy the remnants of your summer :o)
The Darkest
Silver
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