Marilyn Manson - The Golden Age Of Grotesque
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CD Details
Artist: Marilyn MansonEdition: Music CD
Format: Explicit Lyrics
CD Release Date: 2003-05-13
Music Label: Nothing
Soundtracks:
- Theater
- This Is The New Sh*t
- mOBSCENE
- Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag
- Use Your Fist And Not Your Mouth
- The Golden Age Of Grotesque
- (s)AINT
- Ka-Boom Ka-Boom
- Slutgarden
- Spade
- Para-noir
- The Bright Young Things
- Better Of Two Evils
- Vodevil
- Obsequy (The Death Of Art)
Music reviews of The Golden Age Of Grotesque
Music Review: Definitely NOT the Death of Art
Rating: 4 Stars
Marilyn Manson's music has always been the some of the most esoteric, thought-provoking music out there. His albums are his social commentaries on everything from drugs, to celebrity worship, to religious hypocrisy, and none of it was ever meant to be easy to understand. Manson has always been about finding deeper understanding by thinking for yourself and making your own journeys of discovery, which is EXACTLY what his songs are. Those who found AntiChrist Superstar superficially Satanic and a strong advocator of drug-use and violence, or those who found Mechanical Animals to be a homosexual ripoff of David Bowie obviously never took the time to actually LISTEN to the album. No, Manson isn't a Satanist, no he isn't gay, no he's not telling you to kill yourself. Songs like "Get Your Gunn" off of his first LP ('Portrait')made millions of parents along with anti-violence groups criticize his deadly lyrics (I eat innocent meat/The housewife I will beat/The pro-life I will kill/What you won't do, I will), while the song is really a sarcastic critique on anti-abortion fanaticism. And that's just what his music is: sarcastic. It pokes fun at people too uptight to take a joke, and he does it in a way that feeds off of their own close-mindedness. After all, none of us would have been interested in Manson if he hadn't had caused so much of an uproar so many times. If you take any of his music at face value, then you are TRAGICALLY making a waste of great art. I find it amusing every time I read reviews from some of his more negative "critics". It always seems like they feel frustrated at their very lack of understanding, and it bleeds out of the type in the form of some verbally-abusive desperation. It's very sad when the "angst-filled, suicidal punk teens" who are his fans can write better, more thought-provoking reviews than those who claim to be the "morally-attuned".
Manson's music is an absolutely perfect example of true, pure art. His entire discography offers a very exclusive (since only a few step up to the challenge of trying to understand them) and personal look into the mind of the artist. Through songs of uncontrollable vicious hatred to those of desperate, irrational love, we find a way to wash away the makeup and find just another man in this world wanting to express himself. We feel his emotions through the music, even if they are portrayed in the form of the fictitious characters Adam, Omega, Wormboy and, yes, Marilyn Manson. They are tragic individuals trying to make sense out of a world of pain, rejection, and hypocrisy...sound familiar? We also see him pay tribute to those who have influenced him, for good or ill, and he makes no effort to hide it at all, making less-than-subtle references in his lyrics as well as his image. He's one of the only artists out there COMPLETELY unafraid to tell us all how he feels about someone or something, and he does it in a way that forces you to think about it before you speak. If there's anything Satanic about Manson, it's his independent, un-flinching search for understanding, and his music tries to bring that out in us, the listeners. Unfortunately, some of us are just too stupid, really, to accomplish that. In the end, though it's not always pretty, Marilyn Manson's music is undoubtedly brutally honest both to the listener and the artist himself, and that's more than one can say about a lot of societies preferred "role-models".
The Golden Age of Grotesque is an equal to all of Marilyn Manson's previous albums in terms of hard-hitting sonic brilliance, its dark, yet strangely-illuminating imagery, as well as its cleverly inventive style. Once again, Manson is covering new territory through what seems like almost flawless sonic experimentation. The only difference is, he has chosen not to hide (NOT a criticism) behind the persona of some centralized character in a strange world (in fact, his three previous albums actually all took place more or less in Hollywood, which is strange enough of a place as it is). In a way, this is the first time we have seen Marilyn Manson since the Spooky Kids era, coming out the other end of the cold vaccuum of Hollywood stardom, and he's more than willing to tell us how he feels about a couple things. He's sick of putting up with the bullsh*t of the media and having to constantly explain things that are so clear that even teenager could figure it out (NOT a criticism either), and bashes the mindlessness of the entertainment industry, which tells us all how to live so we don't have to figure it out on our own. Wanna be spoonfed like a child? Let me shove this f*cking spoon down your throat!
This is summed up by the first track of the album, 'This Is The New Sh*t' (I consider Thaeter more of an intro), both through its memorable opening lines as well as the lines "Everything's been said before/Nothing left to say anymore/When it's all the same you can ask for it by name..." He's given up on all these idealistic one-sided mechanical animals and tells it like it is. This is his most straightforward album ever, which is probably why it wasn't received so well by his closest fans. "Be obscene!" goes the cheerleader-like chant in 'mOBSCENE'. And he doesn't fail to do so. Songs like 'Slutgarden' and 'Para-noir' are fueled by dark, depraved sexual feelings. 'Ka-boom Ka-boom' and 'Use Your Fist And Not Your Mouth' show how callous and truly selfish Manson can be, while 'Spade' makes up for it by speaking of abused love and trust. 'Vodevil' is a testament to the artist's highly publicized morally-degrading lifestyle: "This isn't a show, this is my f*cking life/I'm not ashamed, you're entertained". '(s)AINT' expresses feelings of no longer yearning to be accepted, merely wanting to exist without having to please anyone. Nevertheless, despite its foward attitude, the album still retains Manson's signature esoteric style and wordplay, especially in the title track, even more so than his previous albums it seems (for those of you who think his lyrics make no sense at all) and in a much more personal way. This is art at its very best, and Manson makes his epic search for innocence clearer and clearer as his work evolves.
Manson is still at the top of his game here, and no one can attest to that without being as closeminded as his opponents. The only reason I gave this album a 4/5 star rating was because it has one or two weak songs ('The Bright Young Things' and 'Better Of Two Evils') that really aren't that bad, but whose absence would have made the album perfect. Nevertheless, get it. My rating is pointless. It's a true work of hedonistic, depraved art. Needless to say, it's great music to have sex to, which is what good rock 'n roll is all about, isn't it?
Description of The Golden Age Of Grotesque
UK special edition of the shock rocker's eagerly anticipated 2003 album includes two bonus tracks, 'Tainted Love' & 'Baboon Rape Party'. 17 tracks. Nothing/Interscope.The Golden Age of Grotesque was inspired by the seamy underside of Weimar Berlin, circa 1930. The album is constructed along the lines of Alice Cooper's 1975 gem, Welcome to My Nightmare, dipping in to the same cabaret of Cooper's "Some Folks." Unlike Cooper, however, this is no comic nightmare. "This isn't a show / This is my f*cking life / I'm not ashamed / You're entertained," Manson snarls in "Vodevil," making it abundantly clear that the singer was born in the wrong time and place and is more at home among the absinthe-drinking revelers in pre-Nazi Germany. The album possesses a dark, accessible beauty rather than the twisted industrial dissonance that pervades much of his earlier stuff. "mOBSCENE" is a thumping rocker that features a deranged cheerleading squad. "Ka-Boom Ka-Boom" is a rousing stomper that Manson penned in response to an exec's complaint that the new songs didn't rock. Its simple yet seditious chorus decries, "I like a big car, 'cause I'm a big star / I'll make a big rock & roll hit." Since 1998's Mechanical Animals, Manson's albums have become progressively more tuneful, and Grotesque continues the trend. --Jaan Uhelszki
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