Marylin Manson vs. Nine Inch Nails
When I was in high school, my favorite "group" was Nine Inch Nails (actually just one guy, Trent Reznor).
Sometime around my sophomore year, Reznor started producing a new artist by the name of Marilyn Manson, who as a fan of Reznor's, I was expected to like.
I didn't. At the time I hated Marilyn Manson. It struck me as angry for the sake of fashion, rage as a clothing accessory. Marilyn Manson was for people who thought Rage Against the Machine was mainstream. Perhaps this was true, I can't go back in a time machine and determine how authentic the rage of the mid 90s truly was.
Now that I'm 26, I find that the music that I don't really like that much anymore is Trent Reznor's. Sure his industrial sounds are legendary and still hold up, but his lyrics are a joke. His songs inevitably pine over some unrequited love or some obsession with a potential sexual partner. I want to slap him in the head and say "get over yourself, you're too old to be acting like an angsty teenager." (As a side note, "Closer" still rocks.)
On top of that, I now think Marilyn Manson is great. I mean, talk about prescient. His lyrics address the commodification of war and religion in a way that is wholly appropriate today. I guess he was a little ahead of his time. I completely sympathize with his seething anger at this nation of zombies.
Its funny how things change.
Sometime around my sophomore year, Reznor started producing a new artist by the name of Marilyn Manson, who as a fan of Reznor's, I was expected to like.
I didn't. At the time I hated Marilyn Manson. It struck me as angry for the sake of fashion, rage as a clothing accessory. Marilyn Manson was for people who thought Rage Against the Machine was mainstream. Perhaps this was true, I can't go back in a time machine and determine how authentic the rage of the mid 90s truly was.
Now that I'm 26, I find that the music that I don't really like that much anymore is Trent Reznor's. Sure his industrial sounds are legendary and still hold up, but his lyrics are a joke. His songs inevitably pine over some unrequited love or some obsession with a potential sexual partner. I want to slap him in the head and say "get over yourself, you're too old to be acting like an angsty teenager." (As a side note, "Closer" still rocks.)
On top of that, I now think Marilyn Manson is great. I mean, talk about prescient. His lyrics address the commodification of war and religion in a way that is wholly appropriate today. I guess he was a little ahead of his time. I completely sympathize with his seething anger at this nation of zombies.
Its funny how things change.
posted by Zac | 9:32 AM
1 Comments:
It first seemed like Marilyn Manson was playing a character rather than really putting himself out there as an artist. But he's been pretty consistent over the years and may indeed be genuine. Still, I would not discount the clever wordplay inherent in Reznor's "I want to fuck you like an animal; I want to feel you from the inside."
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