Marilyn Manson

The Golden Age Of Grotesque

marilyn manson is laughable and he knows it

Review Score:

(6/10)
I don't own this album. This is odd, considering there was a point in time i was even buying old singles and looking at imports. Oh well, chalk it up to lack of cash flow until recently, right? That's kind of what I thought, but I realized today I don't even have any _mp3s_ from it. I know the songs, to an extent. I know the words to a few of them. At face value I really like a few of them, Doll Dagga.. and Para-Noir especially. So why don't I have them? I just don't get that craving to listen to them. Not even once, all it would've taken for me to have downloaded and let it rot with the Neurosis I downloaded that one time and Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever. I would think maybe i'm just growing out of Marilyn Manson, but considering I think my maturity has kind of plateaued, and I really only got into it when I was 17 or so, I doubt it. I mean, I get the album. What most reviewers never got was that "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" is the formula for every Marilyn Manson song since almost the beginning. It's an album about laughing at yourself. The American Heritage dictionary defines "burlesque" as

1. A literary or dramatic work that ridicules a subject either by presenting a solemn subject in an undignified style or an inconsequential subject in a dignified style. See Synonyms at caricature.
2. A ludicrous or mocking imitation; a travesty
3. A variety show characterized by broad ribald comedy, dancing, and striptease.

"Ridicules a subject by presenting an inconsequential subject in a dignified style." (Seen an interview with him lately? Doesn't he seem more pretentious than usual?), "A ludicrous or mocking imitation" Webster's dictionary definiton even includes the word "grotesque", which is quite possibly a hint to where the album title came from. The whole album is based on that play on words, and that's really cool. It's an album about realizing you're just a predictable formulaic cheesy shock rocker. I ought to love it. However, in mocking himself, and stripping down everything to that caricature-esque formula and giving you just exactly what you'd expect from a Marilyn Manson album, it loses something. It's a lot like Spinal Tap at this point, and while Tap's "Heavy Duty" made me laugh the first few times, being a parody and not "real" music, it's missing something, and whatever that something is, it's what keeps you coming back.

More Reviews: