Mechanical Animals
By Marilyn Manson
Nothing/Interscope Records (1998)

Marilyn Manson may be strange on stage, he may show himself in individual and weird clothing but the man behind the persona is a quite civilized and intellectual human being.

This 32 year old, Brian Warner from Alabama, has five other albums but my particular favorite is "Mechanical Animals". Full of rich meaningful lyrics, this album has spoken to me and many other teens. Many people think he is strange and that only Goths are into him but they are wrong. To be brutally honest, people hate him because of incidents at his concerts concerning the brutal killing of small animals. I will say here and now Manson did NOT provoke this at all! The animals were dear pets of the members of the band. For instance, at one of his concerts, one of the band members' dog was off stage and was suppose to stay there but it walked out on stage and fell into the crowd. The crowd, thinking this was suppose to happen, tore the dog literally into pieces. This was not to happen and the member had lost a great companion.

Being an abused child, doing what he does (aka writing his own lyrics and performing them) is great relief for him, I think. Venting his anger and hatred through explicit lyrics make people think he is just swearing off the handle. Screaming "F**k the world and everybody in it" makes people blind to the real reason why he does it. Just because rappers do this all the time doesn't mean Manson is doing it too. What he is actually saying is "F**k certain people" and when he says it, he means exactly that. Manson is being abused by people who don't know him every day and I believe he means F**K certain people because of all the contradiction he gets day-by-day. Maybe that is why his lyrics have spoken to young people so much.

He has very intelligent opinions and is willing to share then when asked. Some people classify his music as "Alternative Rock" but he calls it "Industrial Punk". I guess it just depends on your definition of what his music is.

The quality of this CD is very well done. Recorded in a studio, or so it sounds, it has good acoustics to it. The guitar is apparent through all of the track and you can feel the beat easily. His lyrics pour out from the headphones and flow through the ears and brain and sometimes can make you think.

When he says "I'm not in love/But I'm gonna f**k you/Till someone better comes along" he is talking about a former girlfriend who used him. When he says "Hey, and our mommies are lost now/ Hey, daddy's someone else now/Hey, we love the abuse/because it makes us feel we are important now/but I know/I wanna disappear" -- I believe he is talking about how his mother and father ran out on him or how they got divorced, about how he was abused, how people hurt themselves for attention and how people can't handle the world and life so they kill themselves.

Manson's music ability is very, very good. He writes with the artistic ability of Shakespeare in a modern way and tends to create some unforgettable phrases.

I think you should listen to this album because it may make you think about what some "good" things in life really turn out to be. It will make you think about life in a different perspective and look through someone else s eyes to the world. Maybe you could see why he likes to show off and see how smart and creative he really is.