Revision as of 04:52, 30 October 2010

This article is about the song. For the live bootleg, see Dope Show (bootleg).

"The Dope Show"
Song by Marilyn Manson
Album	Mechanical Animals
Released	September 14, 1998
Recorded	1997–1998 at the White Room, Westlake Recording Studios in West Hollywood, California and Conway Studios
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	3:46
Label	Nothing, Interscope
Writer	Marilyn Manson
Composer	Twiggy Ramirez
Producer	Michael Beinhorn, Marilyn Manson

"The Dope Show" is the first single and the second track of the third album Mechanical Animals.

Appearances

An excerpt from the song was included in "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Polka Power" medley in 1999.

Albums

• Mechanical Animals
• Lest We Forget (The Best of)

Singles

• "The Dope Show"
• "Personal Jesus"

Versions

• "The Dope Show" — Appears on Mechanical Animals.
• "The Dope Show" (Live) — Appears on The Last Tour on Earth.
• "The Dope Show" (Live) — Appears on the Guns, God and Government World Tour DVD.
• "The Dope Show" (Acoustic Live) — Recorded live during on 2003/04/11. An official video recording of the performance appears on "A Grotesque Evening with Marilyn Manson" and "Sonic Seducer Cold Hands Seduction Vol. 29". .

Music video

Manson as the extraterrestrial in the video

The music video, directed by Paul Hunter and co-directed by Manson, was filmed during the week of August 8, 1998, and premiered on August 20, 1998. In scenes reminiscent of The Man Who Fell to Earth, Manson appears — red-haired, with his entire body, including prosthetic rubber breasts, covered in white grease paint — as an androgynous extraterrestrial wandering around the Hollywood Hills. He is captured, studied in a laboratory, and eventually transported by limousine to a stage where he and the other members of the band — the fictional band Omēga and the Mechanical Animals — perform the song in concert before hysterical fans who end up rioting and crossing the security barriers. The music video also features a direct homage to a sequence in the Alejandro Jodorowsky film The Holy Mountain, involving the destruction of plaster casts of the main character's body in a crucifixion pose. Actor Billy Zane makes a cameo appearance in the limo sequence, as a recording industry executive. This same sequence features parodies of SPIN magazine and The National Enquirer.

An alternate video for "The Dope Show" found its way to the internet that consists mainly of varying angles of Manson singing along to the song in a white room. This is in fact, B-reel footage shot for the main Dope Show video. Parts of this "alternate video" can be seen in the main video on various TVs and monitors starting around the 2:00 minute mark.

Further additional footage for "The Dope Show" can be found on the VHS compilation God Is in the T.V., which includes unused footage of Twiggy Ramirez, Madonna Wayne Gacy and the Goddess Bunny drunk and undressing in the back of a limousine while being observed and mocked by the same people who mocked Manson during his limo scene. There is also an extended cut of the Goddess Bunny's dance scene from the end of the video.

The Band on a film set.

"The Dope Show"'s performance sequence was filmed in front of the Los Angeles Municipal Courthouse on North Hill Street. The Brutalist architecture of the Courthouse did not permit a reasonable angle or height from which to film; instead, the band was placed on top of the trailer of an 18-wheeler transport truck. Cameras situated on mechanical arms, and at a distance across the street, were used to film the dramatic concert shots. These scenes are interspersed with cuts of underground drag performer Johnnie Baima, the Goddess Bunny, dancing in a yellow, sequined dress, similar to that worn by Twiggy Ramirez in the same video. The costumes for the video, including the dresses and Marilyn Manson's red, diamond-patterned boots (which featured a 6-inch sole and heel) were designed jointly by Manson and Terri King. The Goddess Bunny's custom couture sequin gown (worn for the live MTV awards performance), was designed and hand sewn by Kris Hendrickson, aka littlemskris of San Francisco.

The video won a 1999 MTV Video Music Award for "Best Cinematography", as well as the "Maximum Vision" award. It was filmed on standard cinema-grade Kodak 35 mm film stock; the contrast, saturation, and color tinting were all altered dramatically to obtain its vintage look. The video was filmed over two weeks — extreme in comparison to the industry standard of two days. Interscope Records funded the video, while HSI Productions produced and filmed it.

The video is available on the Lest We Forget (The Best of) bonus DVD.

Track listing

Australia

1. "The Dope Show" – 3:47
2. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (Live) – 4:33
3. "Apple of Sodom" (Live) – 4:36

• "The Dope Show" (Multimedia track)

UK, Pt. 1

1. "The Dope Show" – 3:47
2. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (Live) – 4:33
3. "Apple of Sodom" (Live) – 4:36

UK, Pt. 2

1. "The Dope Show" – 3:47
2. "The Beautiful People" (Live) – 4:33

• "The Dope Show" (Multimedia track)

Germany

1. "The Dope Show" – 3:53

Japan

1. "The Dope Show" – 3:47
2. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (Live) – 4:33
3. "Apple of Sodom" (Live) – 4:36
4. "The Beautiful People" (Live) – 4:33

Picture Disc

1. "The Dope Show" – 3:47

Promotional

1. "The Dope Show" – 3:53

Lyrics

    The drugs they say
    Make us feel so hollow
    We love in vain
    Narcissistic and so shallow
    The cops and queers
    To swim you have to swallow
    Hate today
    There's no love for tomorrow
    
    We're all stars now in the dope show
    
    There's lots of pretty, pretty ones
    That want to get you high
    But all the pretty, pretty ones
    Will leave you low
    And blow your mind
    
    We're all stars now in the dope show
    
    They love you when you're on all the covers
    When you're not then they love another
    
    The drugs they say
    Are made in California
    We love your face
    We'd really like to sell you
    The cops and queers 
    Make good-looking models
    I hate today
    Who will I wake up with tomorrow?
    
    There's lots of pretty, pretty ones
    That want to get you high
    But all the pretty, pretty ones
    Will leave you low
    And blow your mind
    
    They love you when you're on all the covers
    When you're not then they love another
    
    We're all stars now in the dope show

Trivia

• When asked how this song was written, Jeordie White called it a "ripoff" of "Nightclubbing" by Iggy Pop.[1]
• The song was nominated for the Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy in 1999, but lost to "Most High" by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.
• The song is available to download as a playable track for the Rock Band video game series and Guitar Hero 5. While each franchise's developer often takes the liberty of censoring excessive profanity from soundtrack inclusions, this song's instance of "queers" is intact in both games.
• When performing the song live, Manson often changes the lyrics "We love your face we'd really like to sell you" and "The cops and queers" to "We love your face we'd really like to cum on it" and "the pigs and fags", respectively.
• The line "drugs, they say are made in California" is often sung differently live, changed to "drugs, they say are made right here in ________" with Manson adding the name of the city the band is performing in.
• The song's lyrical content and imagery is very similar to that of David Bowie's "Fame" from his 1975 album Young Americans.