Marilyn Manson

Antichrist Superstar

Chapter 1

Review Score:

(10/10)
"it's a story..." Yes, most people know that Antichrist Superstar is a story in itself. What most people don't know is that the whole series of three albums starting with Antichrist Superstar is a story. I won't put this in quotes cause i don't know if these are manson's exact words, but he said something along these lines (i'll only put the parts i clearly remember in quotes):

Antichrist Superstar is the first part of the story, it's about a boy who is disgusted with society and mainstream. Mechanical Animals is the boy's rebellion as he becomes a man, he tried to rebel against society but in the end it ended up being sell-out and became part of the mainstream he hated. "I made fun of myself with that album, it wasn't to be taken too seriously." Holy Wood is the story of the man who is now so utterly disgusted with what he's become by trying to rebel and turning into one of the sellouts he hates, that he resorts to suicide.

That's the basic story in a nutshell... and everything goes along with it... even the album covers. Look at the cover for antichrist... it's obviously something of torture and animosity. The character feels tortured by society and wants to break away from it and do his own thing. The cover of mechanical.. It's just plain and simple, the character, as he rebels, suddenly becomes popular for it. ("famous for not wanting to be famous") he is stripped naked, and so deprived of his identity by the media etc. that he/she becomes an it, with no clear sexual definition. The cover of Holy Wood... it's the character crucified. He's stripped bare on the cross, but this time it's because he's dying, society has nailed his hands and feet to the wood and now he becomes a martyr.

Personally...i think this story sounds rather suspiciously like Kurt Cobain...

But any way you look at it i think it's pure genius on manson's part, to create a trilogy of albums that not only tell stories by themselves, but can be put together to create one master story. When in the character of Marylin Manson, he's playing out a story, and has been for a while.. through music, image, and pyschology. The people who love him are part of the story, the people who hate him are part of the story. The ones who ignore him or don't know about him are the only ones who escape being involuntarily part of this master role-playing story.

The music is not only excellent, but it follows this pattern... MTV was manson's tool for mechanical animals. all the fans who abandoned him because they thought he sold out did exactly what they were supposed to do.. those who stuck with him did too.. and those who became new fans purely because they saw it on mtv are part of it too. Whether it was actually manson or reznor (who very much made manson what he is today) who came up with this plot i don't know.. probably it grew out of the music and the working together and the concerts and the image... i don't know if he originally had this whole plan in mind or just came up with it as the stuff took off.. but whatever it is it's amazing.

Yes and as for the music... the music is amazing, as i believe i said. It's diverse, moves along in a good pattern, and has got some great headbanging riffs. He's amazing with vocals, and it's the vocals i think that first drew me to the music, the uniqueness of it is unparalleled. Rock on... and keep the stories rolling...

Yeah.. the ability to create albums that stand alone as masterpeices of music and art that at the same time are incorporated in an overall plan is really something... at least i'm very impressed with it. Any way you look at manson's stuff it's genius.. from the overall planning to the flow of the songs right down to the riffs and drums and way the vocals are laid on.

Amazing

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