Mechanical Animals (album)
Mechanical Animals is Marilyn Manson's third full-length album, released on September 15, 1998. Four singles were released off the album: The Dope Show, Rock Is Dead, I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me) and, only released promotionally and with a video, Coma White. It is Manson's worldwide best-seller and all-around most critically-acclaimed work. Despite its success, the album was marred by controversy and is notorious for its shocking imagery. Initial sales were extremely strong but it became virtually blacklisted when it became the scapegoat of the Columbine shootings of 1999, (Despite the dislike of Marilyn Manson by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold) with unit sales halting very close behind the figure for its predecessor, Antichrist Superstar.
Overview
Unlike Marilyn Manson's previous work, Antichrist Superstar, Mechanical Animals is, on an aesthetic level, far less dark. In both image and music, Mechanical Animals is inspired by 1970s style, Bowie-esque Glam Rock (It's worth noting that Manson has always cited Bowie as his biggest influence).
Musically, many songs are much lighter in melodies (though not generally lyric-wise) than those on Antichrist Superstar and they are far less sonically abrasive. The music is far more complicated than most of his work.
In the album, Manson takes on two roles, being a substance addicted Glam Rocker and a gender-bending Alien called Omega (pronounced specifically in this case, as intimated by phonetic accents in the liner notes, oh-mee-gah). Manson's other role is that of Alpha, or a facet of himself. Subsequently, seven of the fourteen songs are from the perspective, lyrical and musical, of a fictional band called Omega and the Mechanical Animals, while the other seven are by Marilyn Manson. The Omega songs are typically those most nihilistic and superficial lyrically, such as "New Model, No. 15", "User Friendly", and "The Dope Show". The album artwork features a dual liner note book, in which one half has lyrics for the Omega songs, and when flipped over, has those for the Alpha songs.
The lyrical themes in the album revolve around the evils of conformity. In a 1998 interview, Manson himself related the album to the band's previous work, saying, "On Antichrist Superstar I compared myself to Lucifer's fall from heaven. . . [T]he new album is more about what happens when I land on Earth and try to fit in as a human being."
Packaging
When released on vinyl, the record was split into two separately sleeved albums on opaque white and transparent blue colored vinyl; the first credited to Marilyn Manson, and the latter to Omega and the Mechanical Animals. The Manson album dealt with songs of love and alienation, while the Mechanical Animals disc contained anthems of sex and drug use.
When viewed through the original blue CD packaging or the transparent blue LP, one can read hidden messages in yellow text in the booklet, which becomes green (such as "www.comawhite.com," "I no longer knew if Coma White was real or just a side effect," and "now children it's time for recess, please roll up your sleeves"). Regarding the many other purported hidden meanings contained in this epic album (and there are many, many hidden things, supposedly), is the influence and presence of the number 15. One blatant example is the band's new logo on the controversial album cover, it reads "MAR1LYN MAN5ON" with a figure 1 for the 'i' in Marilyn and a figure 5 for the letter 's' in Manson, the Omega-head logo contains 15 squares on the forehead, another obvious instance being the track 'New Model No. 15', and 'User Friendly', in the pre-verse of which, Manson harmonizes with exactly fifteen "doo's" each time it is sung.
The controversial album cover has won critical acclaim and numerous awards. The (in)famous photo is the brainchild of long-time Manson photographer, Joseph Cultice, of New York City. Contrary to popular internet rumours, the band leader, Manson, did not undergo any plastic surgery for this androgynous, alien look. The breasts are prosthetic, manufactured specially by George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic. Interestingly, Manson has stated in interviews that Johnny Depp is the current owner of these prosthetic breasts, while Manson himself owns Johnny's strawberry-blonde wig worn in the film Blow. Manson is in reality, naked, and covered head to toe in latex paint, provided by the same movie make-up company. His genitalia are covered by a thin cup of plastic to create the androgynous appearance of the alien figure he calls Omega.
The album also features an alternate, less "obscene" cover which is contained on the reverse side of the album liner notes. It is coincidentally, the cover for an album of the same name by Omega and the Mechanical Animals, a fictitious band comprised of characters played by the members of Marilyn Manson. The photo featured on this alternate cover art is a prime example of dissimulation, or the psycho-artistic method of distributing knowledge or ideas in plain view, but in a way that only certain members of the mass public can comprehend, often with multiple meanings present; one meaning for the select few who understand, and another meaning for the masses. An example from this image is the haunting, still unsolved symbolism of the numeral 15; Manson quite cunningly hides the figure 5 in plain view, including the five syringes edited into the background behind him, the number of fingers her holds up, the number of visible buttons on his suit, et cetera.
A limited tour edition of Mechanical Animals was released in the UK (including other locations like Australia and even Mexico, where only 100 copies of this edition arrived) with an illustrated hardcover sleeve by Marcus Wild. Though limited edition, the album is easily attainable in certain regions. The packaging is identical to the original version except for the bonus eight page comic book by Wild, illustrating scenes from I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me) music video.
Musical statistics and controversy
Arguably, this album's most successful song is "The Dope Show", which fared extremely well on both video and single charts in the United States and abroad. "The Dope Show" was written by Manson (words) and Twiggy Ramirez (music). It continues to reign as the band's most commercially successful song. The Dope Show's music video debuted the band's controversial new, androgynous glam rock image to the world. It is inspired by Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain, a controversial art film, as well as the David Bowie film, The Man Who Fell to Earth. Again, Bowie's influence has been enormous on this album, though each influence has been noted publicly by Manson himself.
This album features a hidden, fifteenth track, playable only on a computer; it is untitled and experimental, further playing on the album's theme of the character Omega and conformity. Upon entering the album into a computer, an autorun file starts a program that displays two of Manson's paintings while the song plays in the background. It is thought to be an experiment in synesthesia.
When released on September 15 1998, the album was immediately boycotted by the Wal-Mart corporation, citing "obscenity" in the album's cover artwork. To combat this, Nothing Records issued another edition, featuring the album's title superimposed over Manson's "breasts". Wal-Mart still refused to sell the album, and consequently pulled all previous albums by Manson in light of the Columbine tragedy on April 20 1999 (after the release of Mechanical Animals, and after the cover controversy). To this day, Wal-Mart's corporate website states that Manson's work, among the work of other artists, will not be sold in their stores, but 2003 saw the mass sale of Manson's fifth LP, The Golden Age of Grotesque in nearly all Wal-Marts; representatives claim they chose to sell this latest album by the "shock-rocker" because it was to be "commercially viable" and was "on the Top Ten charts". Likewise, before the release of the album, a number of groups raised concerns about the track "Great Big White World" possibly being a racially-motivated reference until Manson himself cleared up the rumors by stating that it was about cocaine.
The third single, Rock is Dead, would be featured in The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture, soundtrack album for the film The Matrix—the song is the main theme and is played during the credits.
Track listing
- Great Big White World – 5:01
- The Dope Show – 3:46
- Mechanical Animals – 4:33
- Rock Is Dead – 3:09
- Disassociative – 4:50
- Speed Of Pain – 5:30
- Posthuman – 4:17
- I Want To Disappear – 2:56
- I Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me) – 5:03
- New Model No.15 – 3:40
- User Friendly – 4:17
- Fundamentally Loathsome – 4:49
- The Last Day On Earth – 5:01
- Coma White – 5:38
Credits
- Marilyn Manson — vocals, producer, Vocoder, photography
- Madonna Wayne Gacy — piano, drums, keyboards, synthesizer, drums (electric), sampling, Mellotron, shaker
- Twiggy Ramirez — guitar (acoustic), bass, guitar, bass (electric), guitar (rhythm), noise
- Zim Zum — guitar (acoustic), guitar, guitar (rhythm), keyboards, guitar synthesizer
- Ginger Fish — drums, vocals, Vocoder
- John 5 — live guitar
- Rose McGowan background vocals on "Posthuman"
- Michael Beinhorn — producer
- Billy Corgan — consultant
- Tom Lord-Alge — mixing
- Sean Beavan — programming, producer, engineer, editing
- Barry Goldberg — engineer
- Rob Brill — assistant engineer
- Ted Jensen — mastering
- Danny Saber — keyboards
- John West — vocals (bckgr)
- Alexandra Brown — vocals (bckgr)
- Lynn Davis — vocals (bckgr)
- Nikki Harris — vocals (bckgr)
- Kobe Tai — vocals (bckgr)
- Dyanna Lauren — background vocals (or, as the liner notes state, "pornography") on "User Friendly"
- Joseph Cultice — photography
- Devra Kinery — makeup
- Angela Garcia — makeup
- Alex Dizon — hair stylist
