Marilyn Manson, "Great Big White World", Big Day Out 1999:
Marilyn Manson, "Great Big White World", Rock AM Ring 2003:
This guy used to be dangerous. He was the king at causing controversy during his day (though he owes his career to Bowie and Alice Cooper). Somewhere along the way he got soft, and for the most part, it really wasn't his fault. The Columbine thing had to do a major number on the guy... as much as he tried to parlay the whole debacle into devilish credibility, there were just too many people in positions of power that made a point of painting Marilyn Manson (the band, and the character) as an actual danger to society... One can only keep up the shock-rock thing for so long before the artist devolves into pure self parody. I desperately fucking hope this guy doesn't become a bible-thumping-Jesus-loving-joke. (not that there's anything wrong with loving Jesus, I'm all for freedom of choice... but come on, if you make your whole career being anti-Jesus...)
As evidenced in the latter video, he has completely lost his zeal for performance. His latest band incarnation has more in common with the poseur-mock-glam/post-punk of My Chemical Romance than anything resembling the group's former evilness. I've already put my two cents in on the subject of Mr. Warner's retirement. Say... speaking of Warner, remember when Manson and WB joined forces to sell The Matrix? An extremely rare instance of corporate artistry that doesn't go down like an ounce of ipecac.
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