Mechanical Animals (album)

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This article is about the album. For the song, see Mechanical Animals (song).
File:MechanicalAnimals.jpg
Mechanical Animals

Mechanical Animals is the third full-length album by Marilyn Manson, released on September 15, 1998 by Interscope Records. It is somewhat of a concept album, and the second of a trilogy along with Antichrist Superstar and Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). It spawned four singles ("The Dope Show", "Rock Is Dead", "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" and "Coma White").

Themes

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 "The Dope Show", "User Friendly" and "New Model No. 15". 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. Worth noting also is Manson's birthday, January 5, 1969 or 1/5/1969.

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.

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.

Hidden Messages decoded

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. The following is a list of all instances of hidden text in the booklet.

  • On the same page of the color equation the yellow text embedded between the big "a pill to make you numb" (above the lyrics to "Coma White") says upside-down in yellow: www.comawhite.com, which is an early promotional site for the album.
  • On the same page as the lyrics to "User Friendly", right under them is a diagram of washing your face in airplane facilities. Behind it, in yellow and again reversed, says "I NO LONGER KNEW IF COMAWHITE WAS REAL OR JUST A SIDE EFFECT".
  • On the page with the lyrics to "Fundamentally Loathsome" and "I Want to Disappear", at the top, in yellow is the Omega logo, the words "A SUN WITH NO PLANETS burning in circles". Also on the same page is "NOW CHILDREN IT'S TIME FOR RECESS, ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES".
  • On the following page to the previous one above, the page with the album credits, is found the lyrics to the hidden track "Untitled" that plays when the CD is inserted in a computer and the autorun program loads: IN THE END I BECAME AND I LED THEM / AFTER ALL NONE OF US REALLY QUALIFIED AS HUMANS / WE WERE HARDWORN AUTOMATIC AND AS HOLLOW AS THE "O" IN GOD / I REATTACHED MY EMOTIONS CELLULAR AND NARCOTIC / FROM THE TOP OF HOLLYWOOD IT LOOKED LIKE SPACE / MILLIONS OF CAPSULES AND MECHANICAL ANIMALS / A CITY FILLED WITH DEAD STARS AND A GIRL I CALLED COMAWHITE / THIS IS MY OMĒGA.
  • And finally, on the page with the lyrics to "The Dope Show", in yellow text says, EVEN MACHINES CAN SEE THAT WE ARE DEAD.

Reception

Mechanical Animals is Manson's best selling and 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 was virtually blacklisted when Manson became the main scapegoat for the Columbine high school shootings of 1999, (despite the fact that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were not fans of the band) with unit sales halting very close behind the figure for its predecessor, Antichrist Superstar.

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. 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.

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 album, 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.

Track listing

1. "Great Big White World" – 5:01
2. "The Dope Show" – 3:46
3. "Mechanical Animals" – 4:33
4. "Rock Is Dead" – 3:09
5. "Disassociative" – 4:50
6. "The Speed of Pain" – 5:30
7. "Posthuman" – 4:17
8. "I Want to Disappear" – 2:56
9. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" – 5:03
10. "New Model No. 15" – 3:40
11. "User Friendly" – 4:17
12 "Fundamentally Loathsome" – 4:49
13. "The Last Day on Earth – 5:01
14. "Coma White" – 5:38
  • "Untitled" (Multimedia track) – 1:21

B-sides

Personnel

  • Marilyn Manson — vocals, producer, vocoder, photography
  • M.W. 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
  • 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 — background vocals
  • Alexandra Brown — background vocals
  • Dyanna Lauren — background vocals (or, as the liner notes state, "pornography") on "User Friendly"
  • Kobe Tai — background vocals
  • Lynn Davis — background vocals
  • Nikki Harris — background vocals
  • Rose McGowan — background vocals on "Posthuman"
  • Dave Navarro — outro guitar solo on "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)"
  • Joseph Cultice — photography
  • Devra Kinery — makeup
  • Angela Garcia — makeup
  • Alex Dizon — hair stylist
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