Antichrist Superstar

the album is good but fuck marilyn manson

I like some of Marilyn Manson. This album tho... eh... could be better.

This is certainly an album. I could tolerate it but i didnt hear anything special. I’d take nine inch nails over this any day.

Putting Manson's questionable character aside, this is a great, diverse, controversial and interesting album.

We have NIN at home

I think this is the first metal one…my eardrums aren’t ready. Ok so um first song in he says the N word and he’s not black so this automatically gets 0/5. But I can’t give it that so it gets a 1. I actually can’t believe this album is on the list I didn’t mind the music that I heard but still.

No idea what I think about this. Listen again.

Brian got bullied at school and became an angry Nazi upskirting nonce rapist. How very sad.

I just get bored listening to this. Not one song stood out really. Stand-outs - Tourniquet

Dont like the guy, kinda like the music.

absolutely not. did not listen, don’t need to listen to abuser tunes.

I used to think Marilyn Manson (the band) sucked because I thought they were a bunch of poseurs, equating shock value with actual talent. After listening to this, I can at least give credit to their musicianship as industrial music artists. I still think they suffer from RHCP Syndrome, where it's probably a better band as long as you ignore the lead singer/lead lyricist, because I still think Marilyn Manson (the lead singer) gets by on shock value along. Creating this as a concept album is commendable at least, which explains my rating. And "I wasn't born with enough middle fingers" is a great line.

This is the second album from this heavy metal band, and it was quite successful (and somewhat controversial). ‘The Beautiful People” is a decent track, while the rest don’t interest me. Too much screaming on a lot of tracks, and too long.

Ha! A good Limp Bizkit followup, I guess. Talk about taunting me with the idea I could be listening to Nine Inch Nails instead, though!!! What's next, the social network soundtrack?! I am now learning for either the first or 500th time that Marilyn Manson is a band and not (just) a dude. I'm pretty sure the dude is problematic though ((checks wiki)....yep). Too bad because this is an extremely nostalgic sound. I know it's loud, and there's even yelling and guitar, but it's generally a low enough pitch(?) that I find it all comforting rather than annoying. Like brown noise, or something. This is probably like a 3.5 for me, but since it is strictly worse than every NIN album, I'll give it a 3. Slur count = 4. Highlights: the music :'), 'The Beautiful People', 'Minute of Decay', 'The Reflecting God', the Apple PlainTalk voice (I miss her) :'') Lowlights: the lyrics (lol edgy to the max... lotta rape talk..)

Laughable

Rate: 7.5/ 10.

Yawn.

No person this awful gets more than 1

I thought this would be heavier

Better than I remembered, but not by much. The serial killer aesthetic was already cartoonish in 1996, and time hasn't been kind. His James Hetfield growl is also unfortunate and the lyrics are... not good. The best tracks, like Beautiful People, are b-tier NIN. Still, I'd love to be 25 again and dancing to this nonsense at Ground Zero.

Not gonna give my time to this weirdo after the accusations made about him. Zero anyone?

Another nearly perfect version of something that isn't great and I don't want to listen to. It's too long and I'm too old for this but for the right niche it would hit hard. I can see why it was successful and makes sense to be on the list. I'll never listen again but they know what they're doing.

I remember these days. It comes off pretty shallow lyrically and in it's instrumentation. Some of the oldest tricks in the book, found at a traveling carnival. Not for me.

Kind of shocked to see this on the list. Definitely the title itself will throw people off but also the music isn't great either. Usually heavy metal albums have really great instrumentation even though people might find it noisy but this doesn't have that. Couple songs did but not enough to redeem the album as a whole

I never listened to this whole album back in the day when it came out. I always thought Marilyn Manson was more performative than talented musically. I didn't realize till now that Trent Reznor produced a lot of the album. It certainly has a lot of trademark Reznor type sound. Then again it ain't NIN. Not sure I'd listen to this again, but it was good to follow this with yesterday's country singer songwriter album. Get some rage out. 3/5

Not my bag.... evil.

I ask again: do we separate the art from the artist? I'm not asking this because of the title of the album(the band relied on rage bait to support their career), I'm asking because Brian Hugh Warner is not a beautiful person. As a matter of fact, he's a sex predator, and serial abuser. Granted, it's not fair to the entire band, but his stage name represents the band. Nevermind that conversation, because this album is pure digshit anyway. Juvenile lyrics, shouting, and nonsense pollutes this entire album. I was just glad it was over. Favorite Track: "The Beautiful People".

Ok- interesting! The music was cool, but sometimes I accidentally checked the lyrics and then I wasn’t into it as much- that Beautiful People song is a classic tho!

Hell to the No. Not listening.

Hard no. I will not be giving any royalties to this abusive piece of shit.

"The Beautiful People" is SO good! But unfortunately the things that I think make that song so good (especially building throughout) is abandoned pretty quickly and it is just LOUD and yelling. The back half gets better and saves the album from being horrible, but it sounds like the mic is peaking at times lol Liked Songs: "The Beautiful People" , "Dried Up, Tied And Dead To The World" , "Little Horn" , "Deformography" , "Wormboy" , "Mister Superstar" , "Angel With The Scabbed Wings" , "Antichrist Superstar" , "1996" , "Minute Of Decay"

Not able at all to listen to a song completely. The vocal tone irritates me. Always happy to pillory the right, but just playing for outrage gets boring instantly. Whatever.

I've listened to this once before, and admittedly liked it better this time than that, but that's not to say I enjoyed the record. I can give into the vampire/beast/outcast character of Marilyn Manson enough to admit there's something alluring to his wanting to be a circus freak of a rock star, but it doesn't exactly speak to me. And this review already addresses the issue — this is always more about the product than it is the music, which fails to excite or connect with me. The Beautiful People is the hit for a reason, it's the most interesting song. The rest is produced well enough, but whatever.

yeah, not listening to this. i never cared for him at the time—he seemed like a no-talent poser—and with all the SA allegations, i just don't even want to go there to give him my $0.00004

I tried and then thought to myself, why even consider this sadist's work? Fuck this shit.

Noisy shock value crap from a giant twatwaffle.

Absolutely fucking gut-wrenchingly hideous. Not even Trent Reznor's godly production can save this album, because the lyrical content is so disgusting - I normally wouldn't care about that, but considering the very real crimes that Brian Hugh Warner has been accused of, it leaves a very foul taste. My first 1/10 of this challenge!

Yikes

This is to Nine Inch Nails what Slipknot is to System of a Down. Edge and shock value simply don't equate to meaningfulness, and while there are some admittedly tight and infectious riffs on display, the persona singing along completely ruins any interest to be had. It gets to the point of being unintentionally goofy; I implore everyone to take a look at The Beautiful People's music video, and tell me the Jared Leto-brand Jonkler energy isn't off the charts. Get outta here.

Damn, son. Told myself that when I started this album challenge I would listen to every album twice, and if I didn't feel like it, it was a 1. I appreciate Trent Reznor's work on here, but at the same time, this is an extremely long album that showed its whole hand in the first 30 minutes. I didn't feel like I gained anything new in the second half, let alone from going through the whole thing again. This type of dark character stuff doesn't inherently bother me, but having read Evan Rachel Wood's accusations against him, it absolutely turns my stomach. Turns out that stuff is only fun when it's pretend.

Music as punishment. As disaffection. As shock. A uniquely unpleasant listening experience. The Beautiful People is a banger, tho.

Horrible and I have an open mind

B-B-B-BOOOOOOORIIIIINNNNGGG!!!

Terrible

ya, no. for lots of reasons.

3/5 (but 2.5 because of dickhead deduction) https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/marilyn-manson/antichrist-superstar/ Yes I really like The Downward Spiral too. But I've never listened to it and thought "let me get a watered down version of this with a despicable human being as the frontman". Okay sure it's not as bad as I thought, but I just cannot listen to this without thinking of how gross Marilyn Manson is and that kinda ruins the experience. I get why this was (is?) popular tho; Trent Reznor's paws are all over this. Stupidly long.

I am aware of the existence of Marilyn Manson but don't have any of his songs liked on Spotify. Looking at the track list I do remember "Beautiful People" and remember liking it at the time but not enough to make me buy the album - plus I had forgotten about it so I never went back and "liked" it on Spotify. I am concerned that this album has 17 songs and is 1 hr and 11 minutes long. This could be a total slog to get through if it's not very good. Given that background, let's give this a listen... Ok yeah, this is not for me. I don't have any interest in the whiny, shouty ramblings of this miserable guy. I still like "Beautiful People" and that's about it. It seems like overly dramatic fake rebellion to me. I'm all for changing "the system" in pretty dramatic ways - but this doesn't make me want to do that. It just makes me want to turn it off. I think a band like Rage Against the Machine conveys ideas like that lyrically so much better than this - and with better music. And if you're talking about songs that are against religion - the song "Dear God" by XTC does this so much more effectively. And - yes - it's waaaaay tooooooo loooooong. I only made it through 1 time. I normally listen to these albums on this site 3 times - but once was enough to convince me it was something I wouldn't want to listen to again. Liked songs on Spotify: 1/17 Rating: 1/5

32/100. It's listenable in parts, with a ton of asterisks and the instrumentation is quite good at times, to be fair. I was forced into this listening experience, you would never see me play Manson willingly. I never liked his music or his persona, still don't.

man this guy defined high school and early college for me but i just cant listen to him anymore, yanno

Noise

Favorite: Tourniquet

Yeah not sure about this one... Listening to this is such a weird experience. Knowing what I know about MM, it every time he says the R word, it just leaves a bad sound in my ears... I can't imagine why someone would listen to this, I certainly won't be listening again. Not a fan of this at all... I imagine that listening to this on certain substances could make someone go insane from all the bad vibes. I'm sure this has been used for torture at some point.

it is interesting but not for me, didn’t listen all the way through. wild how upset this music used to make people, we’ve come a long way.

Started off OK but got old towards the end. Not my favorite but a few listenable songs.

Brick wall.

Many of the records on this list haven't aged well at all. This is probably one of them. Immediately at the album's start, you hear a mostly mediocre metal track with exceedingly poor lyrics(white guy using the N-word in a song's chorus, among other things). The rest of the album mostly follows this pattern, with some decent songs mostly ruined by Manson's awful vocals. He can't sing at all, so he just does a weird whisper thing that is pretty annoying or screams, which is a facsimile of rage lacking any real passion. This album is mostly decently hooky metal songs brought down by bad lyrics and vocals. It's not particularly memorable or worthwhile, and it does suffer from CD-era bloat. So, yeah, time has kind of left this one behind, if it was ever that good to begin with. This is not an essential album by any means. This album is the lowest ranked album of 1996 globally. Other 1996 albums rated by me: The Score(1/28)-4 Tigermilk(8/28)-3 Everything Must Go(11/28)-3 Emperor Tomato Ketchup(13/28)-4 1977(14/28)-2 Better Living Through Chemistry(15/28)-2 Oedipus Schmoedipus(23/28)-3 Now I Got Worry(27/28)-4

I kinda like it?

Marilyn Manson is a gross person who makes gross music.

As a wise man once said “there’s something wrong with his medulla oblongata“. Although there were instruments being played this is not music. It’s a screaming match with background noise. This truly is not for me.

This gives off the vibe of a failed musical theater kid who wrote songs inspired by his hidden private browser history. Normally, I can separate the art from the artist in my review, but Manson refuses to do so in his songs, so I’m pleased to say, ‘fuck this rapey creep and his talentless bullshit’. 🖕🏼

Well now, this is an interesting one. I like Marilyn Manson and I like a couple songs on this album, but overall this is a bit much for me. I like a few of his later albums far better, but understand, and agree with, including this one. This is what the premier shock rocker shocked the world with. I was lucky enough to see him on the main stage at ozzfest a few years ago, by few I mean about 25 years ago. To this day one of the most memorable shows I've ever seen, unique over the top and brilliantly staged and performed. Manson can be a fun type of gruesome, but on this album he missed the mark for the most part.

If they’d ditched the vocals it would have been better. And half the songs.

An album I really didn’t expect to like as all the visuals and playing to the controversy lead me to believe there was no substance to the music. I couldn’t have been more wrong as once you listen there is some very decent industrial metal. Clearly heavily influenced and shaped by NIN, the album is beautifully balanced and really flows. His vocals lend themselves to the music and whilst I would say the album was too long, I was pleasantly surprised. Sounds like the man is a 24 carat plonker but love the energy he brings to the music.

You can say what you like about the music, which has its moments when some clear riffs break out, but I’m personally gonna draw the line at over an hour of overbearing shout/growl/screaming. Made me feel unnecessarily tense. Which is disappointing as I’d assumed I would have liked this more. And onwards…..

Terrible

Aside from the allegations, which the statute of limitations prevented from being aired in court, and the fact he tried to bully and threaten using litigation to make the defendants give up, he was and always has been an artist who has utilised controversy and image to mask the lack of musical talent. As my son said, ‘this is one of the worst things I have ever listened to’.

I get that shock can be used as a vehicle for art, but I found this neither shocking or artistic, just shit. Muddy songs, with little technical merit, saying nothing about anything meant this was a hell of a trudge. Even if you separate the art from artist (it’s always the ones you most expect…) there is no art to be found. Awful.

I probably would have liked this a lot more 20 years ago

I supposed getting absolutely mogged by l other members of the band than the eponymous front man is a worthy punishment for Marilyn. Sean, Dave, and Trent all beat him in musicianship and just general quality. While there are good part of this, the rifts, the guitars, and the noise, he’s just an annoyance overall.

The third Rock Opera this week. This one is pure horror though!

Meh

I am conflicted. Ultimately it was a hard listen that doesn't hold up that well. The shock factor that was present when I grew up with this album around no longer carries the same impact and is quite cringy. With a huge grain of separating art from artist, you can find some interesting elements across the album but ultimately it's not doing enough new that wasn't already in the air. Trent Reznor producing probably is partially to blame but as much as it pains me to say, there are still some interesting things happening here with the bringing in glam elements and the heavy industrial sound. Overall not an album that I think that I'll need to return to anytime soon.

Listening to this album at 6 am is a trip… I am impressed that someone can basically yell for an entire album. I saw NIN this summer, and had an absolute blast. So I tried to keep an open mind, but this didn’t work for me.

25+ years ago I would have rated this higher.

Standouts The Beautiful People

75

Skipping this one. He's a predator.

Pretty good, but the second half tapered off a little.

Even as a cringe edgy middle schooler, I found Marilyn Manson to be a try hard edge lord. He comes across as a dorky theater kid who failed his audition to play Romeo in high school and took it way too personally. Contemporary bands that fit this same niche of nu metal edge like Korn - who I am kot a fan of either - at least feel authentic. The whole Marilyn Manson persona is so forced and lame.

3.4 I thought this was a total NIN ripoff until I read that Reznor and half the band produced/was involved, and youd have to be deaf to not hear the influence. My wife was a big NIN fan, I asked if she like MM growing up; said no and called him a lame freak. I got into this more than I would have thought I would have, The stage names for the band are ostentatious but pretty good. Thinking back, what a controversy MM caused, kinda crazy to think about nowadays. Tournaquit is a burner; Wormboy sucks

Despite the vocalist being an all around horrible person I still enjoyed this album. Maybe because it is essentially Nine Inch Nails but not quite as good. Another one to add to the folder of white guys saying the N-word. Favorites were The Beautiful People, Tourniquet, Antichrist Superstar, and The Reflecting God.

A bit interesting, a bit jammin', a bit annoying. Seems like they're trying too hard for shock value more than anything else.

Was alright.

a pioneer in a genre that shouldn't exist

first 35 seconds tolerably dull. 36s-56s strangely erotic. from there on out nothing but ear ache

Couldn't make it through to the end. I hate it.

Marginally better than I was expecting (contained a couple of passable songs) but mostly unlistenable.

Not going to listen to this. Would give zero starts if I could

I’m pretty open minded with music but I hate this I think it sucks it’s stupid and Marilyn Manson seems like a truly awful dude and I don’t want him to receive the few pennies he’d receive from Spotify for me listening more.

Trying to separate the art from the artist but failed, plus this shit is just too much of a desperate rip off.

killing him isnt enough i need to run him over with a semi then reverse back over his body until it’s paste

Probably 4.5 stars. Close to a five, but I think that’s middle school me talking. I do enjoy the industrial sound that Manson brings to this and continues with his next two albums.

3rd act was clearly the best part of this album. Had interesting moments in every song and I liked that every second felt filled, like every minute was actually earned.

Almost as repugnant as his mentor Trent Reznor.

There are parts that sound really cool but the album is way too long. Couple of great tracks like the beautiful people save it from a 2/5.

Enjoyed a lot of the chunky riffs and funky beats more than expected. However, there’s also a few gimmicks that don’t do it any favours. Hope I’m never in a place where I’d choose to stick this on, but it mostly achieves what it set out to achieve, I guess.

Manson? The race war guy?

Scummy person making shitty music.

Alright I guess

What a demented demonic dipstick this guy is. Full of hate and vitriol, and zero musical capability, he needs to visit a psychiatrist, go to church to confess his sins and join the choir, though I suspect he would fail the audition.

I see people like “I loved this album as a kid”….what the hell kind of lives did you lead that allowed this to resonate with you as a child?! lol This is more shock than substance. Any interesting guitars or drums are drowned out by industrial noise, abrasive production, screaming and shock value. I guess its influence on late 90s metal is undeniable, but I’m not listening to this the ever again.

Fuck this creep.

I’m gonna appreciate anything Trent Reznor gets his hands on (including his smokin’ wife, amirite?!), so it goes without saying that this is huge industrial rock that goes hard. The problem, and it’s a big one, is the front man, Marilyn Manson. He’s a try hard. He’s a clown with that makeup, his delivery is affected and annoying, and the lyrics are cringe. It’s so screaming “Look at how shocking I am!” Yawn.

This took around 8 playthroughs, but in the end I like it, a lot. Favourite tracks: Irresponsible Hate Anthem, The Beautiful People, Tourniquet, Cryptorchid, Deformography, Wormboy, Angel With The Scabbed Wings, Man That You Fear.

Fuck off

The most insufferable people I knew in high school were fans of Marilyn Manson. Totally tracks.

(1/5) I've decided in other cases that I refuse to separate the artist from the art. I'll do so here as well. He's a piece of shit and doesn't deserve the royalties no matter how small. After the Kanye album where I did the same, I created an arbitrary "dead line", wherein if the piece of shit is alive and very much a fuckwad, no listen from me. If they're dead, I'll listen, even though their fuckwad-ery will likely influence my rating. I did own and listen to this as a teenager, because it was consistent with my tastes at that time. What I recall is that as an album, it wasn't great. There were some solid tracks (mainly the hits) but overall I remember being bored by it. I didn't often come back to it and it's long faded into memory. It's controversy as an artifact and the whole 'satanism' bullshit around it was obviously and painfully manufactured. I'll call it proto-cringe -- from both sides. Manson wanted the attention and he immediately got it from the Christian Right. That didn't draw or endear me too it and was a huge turn off. I was 18, and I'd buy anything my money could afford (not much), but I remember waiting a while before getting this one. I'm sure I had friends I probably listened to it with before buying. If he wasn't a scumbag, my gut immediately tells me this is in '3' territory for the purposes of this list. It's inclusion? Eh. Maybe. The canned and manufactured outrage over this could warrant an inclusion, but not for the music.. it was middle of the road stuff for the era in hindsight. To continue my keyword dropping trend, I'll listen to DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES today, because **they** should have been included instead of this piece of shit.

I did not have this album as a teenager, though in college I ordered a Nerf Herders album in my initial free discs from BMG and this disk came in that case. I returned it with a strongly worded letter about satanic music and they sent a replacement and released me from my purchase obligation, so I rejoined and got 6 more free discs. Anyway, fuck this rapey prick. As an homage to that incident, I will begin my day listening to Nerf Herder, instead.

147. Antichrist Superstar - Marilyn Manson (1996) 7.19.26 Variety: 1 Adequacy: 2 Listenability: 1 Uniqueness: 0 Emotionality: 0 = .6 rounded up to a 1 "I wish I could just turn you off/ I never wanted this" Manson (the band and the personality) is one that never really grabbed me. It came out in my sophomore year of high school, and I remember the CD bein talked about quite a bit. A friend of mine loved it and let me borrow it. I think I gave up not far after "Beautiful People" so not even sure what other tracks off this I've even heard. I must have previously heard the cover of "Sweet Dreams" and seen the video, so would have known what to expect. By this point I'd seen enough media to not be shocked so much as amused at how seriously everyone else seemed to be taking all of the very unsubtle baiting. I wouldn't learn the term "edgelording" til later, but this was most definitely recognizable as such. The actual satanic panic stuff had become punchline material by this point, so it was very clear this was a big sing into manufactured controversy ( lifestyle of the band not withstanding) and one has to admit that Manson and company were able to ride it into some amazing sales and even somewhat of a legacy. The problem I think is that so much of it didn't depend on the music itself that when the bill finally came due, all the teenage fans ( because who else would be interested) had all aged out within a short time, and the next round of suckers were all too savvy to be taken in. I think the most interesting music done by this guy ( I don't care enough to look into which collaborators stuck around throughout various incarnations to make a distinction between band and man) was all done on the next album anyway ( I say having heard maybe three tracks form it - whatever the music videos were) and leaned more into the glam sound and look, but that falls out of the purview of the list, so we can ignore it. THE TRACKS "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" - Despite not having a writing credit on this one, the NIN influence can be heard here, at least on the pulsing beat in the chorus. Unfortunately that's where the ideas run out. Otherwise this is a conceptual mess and is drowing in sophomoric provocateurism. "The Beautiful People" - The one song I remember clearly from the album, this one at least has a clearly defined song structure with a recognizable and memorable melody. That said, it suffers ( especially in retrospect) from all the little horror tics, that work in the (still visually arresting) music video, but just sound like unrelated Tourette's symptoms without that visual reference. Manson's vocals here ( and throughout) as unpleasant as they are, seem to be kind of the point I guess. This is as focused and on target as I expect them to get, but maybe I'll be surprised. "Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World" - More NIN influence here with the crackly electronic loops, but the comparison ends there as the rest is just Manson's fright house actor with a head-cold vocals, and forgettable chorus. "Tourniquet" - Lyrics aside, this actually has the bones of a decent nu-metal-ish track buried within the abrasive vocals, and is the best instrumentation we've gotten yet, with an identifiable melody, and some legit good bass. "Little Horn" - Are there instrumental versions of these songs? Without Manson's vocals I can see something like this being listenable with the massive bass-driven sound. That said, the drums are way too low in the mix to provide the legit heaviness I think the track is going for. Go check out some Pantera instead if you want to hear how this sort of groove-metal sound is properly done. Interestingly enough, on of the tracks with a writing credit from Reznor sounds the least influenced by him to my ears. "Cryptorchid" - More crackly, staticky loops over top of possibly the most uninspired lyrics we've seen on an album of uninspired lyrics. A pretty boring attempt to bring some sci-fi atmospherics on board. "Deformography" - Only six tracks in and I'm already regretting this experience. More NIN stuff, this time almost leaning into pastiche territory. Reznor gets a writing credit on this one as well, so this makes a sort of sense. Again, I'd be interested to hear an instrumental version of this. "Wormboy" - Instrumentally one of the more listenable songs yet, with some interesting interplay between the guitars and the argely electronic rhythms. Again though, it's all dragged down into the mud by the lousy vocals. "Mister Superstar" - This starts off sounding like an attempt at an Iggy Pop inspired number, and then for the chorus descends into some bombastic sub-grunge guitars for the chorus, which is far less interesting. "Angel with the Scabbed Wings" - More sub-Pantera guitar work wedded to a White Zombie rhythm that leans way too over into nu-metal territory for the chorus, and some of the worst lyrics yet. "Kinderfeld" - The dollar store Halloween aesthetic grew stale many tracks ago, but the vocal delivery here is the nadir. Oohhh.... creepy. I predict if I were to play this for any young people they might actually laugh, like I remember some of them doing all throughout the re-release of the Exorcist some 26 years ago now. The inclusion of the notorious "spider-walk" scene elicited some of the deepest belly laughs I've heard outside of a legit comedy. This was garbage, even more so than much of what we've already heard. "Antichrist Superstar" - It's hard to believe all the nazi imagery in the music video for this and the nods to the same in the song itself, with the chants was meant as anything other than controversy to drum up interest and sales. The lyrics themselves don't really warrant any of this, and aside from the "antichrist" imagery don't really amount o much more than a wet fart ( hey! - two albums in a rows with fart references!) that quickly fills up the room with the stench of obvious provocation. Ozzy managed this sort of thing both casually and accidentally, and it was much more effective given that he had the good artistic taste to let people read whatever they wanted into his look and lyrics. Even Ozzy on tv, earnestly and capably actively denying the satanic messaging works as a much better bit of theater than this, in that it provides just enough plausible deniability to keep both sides talking. This is the flaming bag of shit on your doorstep that you obviously recognize it for, and which is easily extinguished with a cup of water. And on top of all that, it's eminently forgettable musically. "1996" - Meh. Go listen to Nirvana's "Negative Creep" instead if you want a driving, heavy, and truly heartfelt -seeming expression of angst and rage. "Minute of Decay" - More interesting bass work that can't overcome a terrible vocal performance. Korn could have made this interesting. "The Reflecting God" - The last track with a co-writing credit from Reznor, and very much apparent on the surface level. There's a world where this could have maybe been an ok, C-tier NIN track. "Man That You Fear" - In the home stretch and we get... a trip hop influence? Maybe? I don't think Manson is that creative with the influences he's drawing from, and likely just some accidental dovetailing with the industrial stuff in his record collection. This felt like a demo track for a far more interesting track. There's a hidden track here apparently, but I can't be bothered even listening track by track on Youtube. HIGHLIGHTS - MIDLIGHTS - "The Beautiful People" - "Tourniquet" - "Wormboy" - "Minute of Decay" LOWLIGHTS - "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" - "Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World" - "Little Horn" - "Cryptorchid" - "Deformography" - "Mister Superstar" - "Angel with the Scabbed Wings" - "Kinderfeld" - "Antichrist Superstar" - "1996" - "The Reflecting God" - "Man That You Fear" FINAL THOUGHTS I think the lasting legacy of Manson might just be the titillating little short horror movie pieces he released as music videos. In my mind these had WAY more of an impact than his music. The grimy, aesthetic that the Saw and Hostel movies for example seem indebted a bit to this. The kind of nauseatingly dirty, yellowed "Silent Hill" abandoned hospital look, and shaky headed was probably in turn inspired itself by stuff like Jacob's Ladder, and the Hellraiser movies. Musically I am not much impressed here. SO much energy went into the look and the strategy to bait the growing Christian Republican cult that the music feels like an afterthought. There's fine playing throughout, and an ear for melody that occasionally makes itself known, but ultimately its buried under so much sludgy production and effects nonsense that it all swirls together into a muddy, yellow-brown puddle that I'd rather just step around. The album has all the charm of a dingy gas station bathroom, flickering fluorescent lights, broken locks on the stall, and shit-smeared toilet seat included. All in all, if I want to listen to some highly theatrical rock, I'd much rather just listen to Alice Cooper who did all this first and infinitely better. Or even Kiss, who seemed to actually want to entertain after they lured you in with the theatrics. And what's more, their front man is maybe slightly less loathsome of a human being. Even Rob Zombie, whose stuff I was never that into, seems to hang entirely upon the artifice, does this sort of thing with much more aplomb, self awareness, musicality, and more importantly - fun. Plus he seems like an ok enough human. And if I want some legit disturbing, art-forward stuff there's dozens of late 70s and 80s bands that did this sort of shockingly bracing in your face material much better. I'm curious what the likes of Genesis P-Orridge or the guys from Coil thought of Manson if they ever gave him a second thought. Overall I thought this was lacked variety, was nigh unlistenable, made up wholly of parts grave robbed from bands infinitely more interesting, and lacked any sort of legitimate point of view or sense that anyone involved invested a lick of anything other than a shallow and performative misanthropic cynicism into what hey were doing. The lone positive note I can give it is that there did seem to be some genuine good playing that snuck through, especially in the bass work, and the production, while messy and unfocused, was at least professional. PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - Not sure I'll be revisiting any of this ever, and probably none of their other work FURTHER LISTENING - Alice cooper goes to hell by Alice Cooper - 20 Jazz Funk Greats by Throbbing Gristle - Horse Rotorvator by Coil - Remission by Skinny Puppy - Far Beyond Driven by Pantera - The Downward Spiral by NIN - Astro-Creep: 2000 by White Zombie

"Capitalism has made it this way, Old-fashioned fascism will take it away!" So I'm not sure as a teenager I would've rated this higher than a 3. This album came out when I was in high school but it existed farther down the alternative rock line toward the industrial than I preferred. Manson aspired to be the villain of our time, but his shock schlock was kind of a sideshow in the '90s. It made waves in the rural part of America I grew up in, but that was a low bar. The culture was lousy with attention seeking shockers, some of them adept at the performance while others were quite amateurish. Howard Stern, Jerry Springer, South Park, Beavis and Butthead, the Monday Night Wars of WCW & WWF, Stone Cold Steve Austin, 2 Live Crew, Rob Zombie, Mortal Kombat, tabloid headlines, and Kids in the Hall. The '90s were EDGY, dontcha know! "I wasn't born with enough middle fingers!" So Manson tried to up the ante by always being provocative and as extremely as possible. Reference the Antichrist, wear a nude suit, harass(abuse?) your GF Rose McGowan. It was all so obvious and yet we fell for because of course we did. There are some good moments on this album, but they are weighed down by stuff done better by more earnest acts. As an act Marilyn Manson has a few good songs in them, but not an album. Besides that this album also suffers from the dreaded '90s album bloat. Because we had moved to mainly CDs as the preferred format for music, artists were filling them with more music. Vinyl sides and cassette tapes usually topped out at 35, 45, or 60 minutes, but CD's (in the '90s at least) could hold 78:59 minutes of music. Why do I know such a precise number? Because that is the length of Metallica's "Load" album, like "Antichrist Superstar" also from 1996. Metallica purposely recorded enough to fill the CD completely. This album clocks in at 71:48. If you ever feel like an album from the 1990s is 15-25 minutes too long, it is probably because of the CD. Though to be fair, at the time I liked this because it felt like I was getting more for my money. When I put down my $14.99, 16.99, or 18.99 for an album and it came in closer to 30 minutes I usually felt a little cheated. Funny how now with digital albums ability to be as long as desired, seems we've shrunk runtimes, instead of increased. Probably for the best. Still, I think this is ultimately a 2/5 for me. It really is a sound I dig, but this act aped it off of acts I prefer more and is really just adjacent to the stuff I like. This creep did end up the villain, but not in the way he was trying for, just the way he deserved.

Uh, no

(1/7) tough to make it all the way through

Tried hard to find some redeeming qualities to this, but it just does not resonate with me. He certainly has a unique sound and a pretty iconic style that probably deserves a place on this list, but at over an hour long this was a slog to get through.

I could never get into Marilyn Manson. He always felt like a cheap copy of Nine Inch Nails who was trying to be as shocking and controversial as possible. It doesn’t help to find out it’s more than just performative and he actually is a creep in real life. The music here is actually a lot better than I was giving him credit for. It does sound a lot like Nine Inch Nails at times, but Trent Reznor’s fingerprints are all over this album. There were a few standout tracks, the Beautiful People in particular is an excellent song. I still think I’d rather just listen to Nine Inch Nails than return to this album though.

Worse than I expected. Deeply unpleasant both sonically and lyrically.

nice

This album is actually pretty good but the marketing and image seem to be more important for Manson.

Would have been higher if he wasn't such an predator.

A very interesting sound. It was very evocative with the Christian imagery and the disgust it wanted to conjure. I bet a second listen would make me more appreciative. 3 stars

Hate the person. The art, honestly, better than I was expecting. Still don’t love and will likely never revisit. But it’s objectively not horrible. The production is uneven, and the songs aren’t amazing, but the sound has a unique characteristic. Still gets a 2/5, but wasn’t as miserable of a listen as I was expecting.

Isn’t it shocking how artists who write gross, disgusting music with no deeper message other than hate and filth often turn out to be bad people? And isn’t it also funny how the people who enjoy gross, disgusting music turn out to also be bad people who do bad things? Crazy stuff.

skipeada historica

Predator one star

There's separating the art from the artist, and then there's singing "I rape" within the first minute of the album

a bit too hardcore for me, still even though I'm scared of him he is iconic 🙄

Bello aggressivo ma mi è piaciuto

literally fuck this guy and his linger fart scented music i do not care.

2.6 i guess

Having grown up during this time there is a special place in my heart for Marilyn Manson. Only in my anger does it hold up.

#384 Well played algorithm, dealing Marilyn Manson the day after NIN feels rather apt given the Trent Reznor connection. I was playing catch up so played them back to back and the production and sound (unsurprisingly) was a seamless transition. My brother was into MM at the time so I’ve heard this album at least in parts before, and Beautiful People is a banger to be fair. There are some decent tracks thereafter but my interest waned, especially because it’s far too long. Obviously, Brian Warner is a wrong’un so -1 star immediately, plus it feels like all the good is the work of Trent Reznor so just listen to NIN instead! Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ❌ Listen before you die? ❌ Fave track(s): Beautiful People Rating: 6/10 ⭐️⭐️

IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT UNTRUE BY BURIAL IS NOT ON THIS LIST. I HAVE GONE 860+ ALBUMS WITH THE ASSUMPTION THAT IT WAS SO UNAVOIDABLY GOOD THAT EVEN ROBERT DIMERY COULDNT AVOID IT, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT HAS AN INHERENTLY UK SOUND TO IT. I WAS WRONG AND THIS HAS RUINED MY DAY. YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO IT IN PLACE OF THIS ALBUM, AND CONSIDER BURIALS “TUNES 2011-2019” IF YOU HAVE THE PATIENCE FOR A MAJESTIC 2 HOUR AMBIENT JOURNEY. I WOULD ARGUE THAT THE “TUNES” IS JUST AS GOOD AS “UNTRUE”, BUT DUE TO UNTRUE’S MASSIVE STATUS IT WILL FOREVER LIVE UNFAIRLY IN A SHADOW. THAT IS MY SLIGHTLY HOT TAKE AND ANGRY RANT. Anyways. Being provocative is one of the many important cornerstones of art. This album has run a marathons distance past the line where provocation ends and empty edginess begins. We can leave the pop culture phenomena that was Manson and leave it in the 90's. We should replace this spot on the list with a different pop culture phenomena that's missing: early 2010's EDM! I genuinely don't have a lot to say for the substance of this album because there isn't much substance at all. The drums often sound terrible like on "Angel With The Scabbed Wings" or "Tourniquet" with that nasally snare. What does this record do that NIN or Slipknot doesn't do better? Genuinely. It's not even that his lyrics have me clutching me pearls like some did when Manson had his moment in the 90's. It's that I find myself constantly rolling my eyes. There are so many better voices for the damned, especially given what we know now about this guy. Cryptorchid has passable electronic production for it's time, "Mister Superstar" had a good chorus, but everything else about this project is so bleh. 1/5

I owned this as a teen. I occasionally do go back to the hits, and his music reminds me of drinking in the park at the skatepark and the characters that I grew up with. At the time - I didn't notice it was a concept album. I was there for the hooks. --------- Brian's vocals are fantastic -creepy, furious and sneering. The production is raw, experimental and has a constant feeling of dread about it. This album is the definition of atmospheric - and that is one of dirt, grime and scum. Possibly as an album it's overlong, but definitely a keeper. So many deep cuts I'd recommend - from the haunting [Cryptorchid] to the pounding [Angel with the scabbed wings]. Listening as an adult: the concept lands. -------- Also - hilarious juxtaposition by the generator giving me this after Bon Jovi! Spicy.

Even before the disclosures that he was an abusive dick, I already just thought he was a bit of a dick, leaning so heavily on image that there wasn’t really enough substance behind it to stand on its own. This was actually slightly better musically than I remembered, more effective in the style-over-substance bracket than KISS, but it still strikes me as the sort of music made by people who felt ignored and ridiculed when they were kids.

Pretty dark grimy rock. The Beautiful People brings back memories of Attitude Era WWE so bonus points there. Nothing else really stands out but it's not as awful as I expected. 2.5/5.

I enjoyed some songs. Others were a bit grating, there's definitely a lot of edginess going on. 2.5 to 3 range for me.

Yeah no. Not my thing.

3.5 I enjoyed this more than I expected. Maybe if I was more of a lyrics person then I would feel differently, but the overall vibes of the music I fw.

Enjoyed that more than I thought I would.

Poor man’s Trent Reznor.

Terrible vocals, cringe lyrics, but some of these riffs actually go kind of hard.

First time listening to a Manson record front to back and hopefully the last time. Trying way too hard to be shocking but instead it’s just corny and juvenile. If someone thought they were hardcore for listening to this guy I would simply laugh in their face. Favorite track: n/a 1.5/5

One of the artists out there that I didn't really care for and then all kinds of creepy, disgusting, abusive allegations come out? Not even going to bother

Separating the art from the artist... This album rocks. Marilyn Manson deserves the hate he gets for his actions, but he got hate for his music long before people knew he was a bad person, and the hate for his music is unwarranted. Totally chaotic in the best way possible.

It’s a hard no from me.

Trying to rate the art instead of the artist here. Some of the songs are very well-done and stand out as more than just edgy pop metal. Not too surprising that Trent Reznor co-produced. The Beautiful People is easily the most interesting track to me. But this album goes on far too long and the later tracks trade substance for vibes. The lyrics get very repetitive on some songs.

yucky! i thought it'd be more offensive to my sensitive mainstream palate but it holds up okay. a little bit of the late 90's edge comes off kinda dorky, and it's probably too long. still, there's some gnarly sounds in there i really enjoyed. favorite song is Tourniquet or Wormboy. very strong 3

This is my favorite "not GREAT" album so far. It's super cool and an absolute building block of alt rock/metal, and I'm really glad I listened to it as part of this list. It's super chunky and substantial and interesting, but as a whole I don't love all of it too much but I respect tf out of it, and honestly it would probably bump up to a 4* with more listens. It feels like the common ancestor of every New Hampshire ass modern-y hard rock-y song that's come out since 1996. Favorite songs are Tourniquet (probably because it's probably the most modern sounding), and Kinderfeld because it sounds cool and is most similar to the weird corners of metal that I sometimes wander into. OVERALL big shoutout to mr manson 6.9/10

Mid 90s hard rock radio station music pushing the envelope. Closer to White Zombie, Filter, or Powerman 5000 than Ministry, Nine Inch Nails in my opinion. I was deep into the zeitgeist of the music in this era, and this album definitely had its place. There a bit of nostalgia that creeps in from it, but mostly from the memory of thinking MM was just trying to hard. Definitely got him noticed though. Overall, it's listenable and I enjoyed it week enough, but it won't be something I'll ever be reaching for. If it ever pops up in a group of friends, it'll certainly start a conversation though.

Freakish demented sick music. Not for me.

decided not to listen. genre is right up my alley, but i don't wanna support this creep.

A more modern Alice Cooper. John 5 is worth 4 stars by himself.

Heard enough in the first 1 minute. I did some research and I came to a conclusion that I don´t want support this person by listening to this album. I like this type of music but I just don´t want to support yk :)))

I could very well listen to industrial music, but this album just doesn't sound good. Tbh a lot of the lyrical content on this piece is corny at best. I decided to save my time & only listen to some snippets from each track, and I don't regret that decision. This isn't for me. Knowing all the shit he has done I have no desire to explore his artistic ventures any further: it didn't even take a whole minute for him to start talking about rape, so it definitely has to be a passion of his. If I want to listen to music like this I'll pick someone else.

Amazing album

This is pretty good rage rock. Heavy but catchy the way it should be. It is a bit too long and a few songs sound like filler

This is what Marilyn Manson really sounds like?? Gross. I was never a fan and had only heard the big singles. The rest of the stuff is so lame! Good call, younger me, not trying to get into this.

the virtue signaling in the reviews pushed me to really try to listen with an open mind. Still not my vibe though

I feel like everyone’s being so dramatic about this one

There were some songs I liked musically but I just can't get over the lyrics

Didn't enjoy it. He seems to have two styles: morose singing or shouting. There was no warmth and he didn't have anything interesting to say. It just seems to be all about the shock value and nothing else.

No matter how loud I turned it up it just never got loud enough- almost like despite thinking it would sound loud it never actually! A few of the tracks on the album brought back memories of my dad playing them when I was younger. But honestly the voice isn’t great although the sound does help make it easier to listen to. The use of the computer voice at times worked and at other times I’m not sure it did. Personal highlights included ‘the beautiful people’ ‘Cryptor child’ ‘mister superstar’ ‘Antichrist superstar’ but my personal favorite was the slower quieter ballad almost of ‘man that you fear’ A shame that the album followed this and ended with the worst track on the album with ‘untitled’ I mean was it really needed 🤷‍♂️ Overall I enjoyed I just wish I could have played it louder! 7.5/10

Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar Better than I thought it would be. Yes, loads of Nine Inch Nails in there but with a certain sprinkling of pantomime on top. No idea what he was going on about... Think he mentioned his beautiful meatball, chuntered something about Morrissey and, at one point, repeatedly called me a soft grape 🤷 I won't listen again, but glad I listened once and can see why emo kids love all this shit. Would have been a 4/10 but then I found out he's just another creepy, rapey cunt. So fuck him. Best Track - 1996 Worst Track - Wormboy 1/10

I expected this to be more difficult to sit through than it actually was. Its reputation suggests something far more dangerous, obscure and socially corrosive than the record itself quite turns out to be. It is grotesque, certainly. You can smell the rot and hear the flies buzzing. But much of it is also very direct, very legible, and far more pop-aware than the outrage around it suggests. The most useful way into it, for me, is through Alice Cooper. Vince Furnier helped codify a particular American musical grammar for causing outrage: make the threat theatrical, make it singable, blur the line between band, character and product, then allow parents, clergy, pundits and politicians to complete the artwork by panicking about it. This record updates that grammar for the 1990s. Cooper is the carny selling the freak show. Marilyn Manson climbs into the exhibit and becomes the thing the moral guardians claimed to fear. That is where the album is cleverest. It is not simply trying to shock. It takes the froth of American moral panic and treats it as a blueprint. You think rock music is satanic, corrupting, anti-Christian, sexually diseased, nihilistic and dangerous to the young? Fine. Here is the export model. The joke is not warm, but it is there. It belongs to that mid-90s comic territory where the central question is not “is this funny?” but “is this for real?” Musically, the surprise is how much of a band record it is. There are riffs, hooks, chants, choruses and moments where a genuinely funky dance engine pushes through the industrial murk. It is much less airless than Nine Inch Nails, and much more rooted in shock-rock theatre. The production gives it damp, rust and contamination, but underneath that there is often a straightforwardly effective rock machine at work. The concept, though, is not as profound as the endless analysis around the album sometimes makes it sound. Strip away the fog machine and it is basically Kafka’s Gregor Samsa joins KISS and reads Revelation badly. The outsider becomes the monster society accused him of being, then turns that accusation into celebrity, power and decay. That is a strong engine, but not a bottomless one. The more the album asks me to inspect its grand worm mythology and quasi-Biblical machinery, the flimsier it becomes. The basic idea lands early, and much of what follows feels less like development than reiteration. The elaborate framing sometimes looks like scaffolding round a shed, although the shed does have a filthy PA system and a surprisingly good band inside it. Its real achievement is in the execution. Not the concept as scripture, but the deployment: the way it was waved under America’s nostrils and allowed the outrage machine to authenticate it by reacting exactly as expected. It was accessible enough to reach a mass audience, ugly enough to scare people who wanted to be scared, and theatrical enough to make the panic part of the product. So I respect it more than I like it. As industrial rock, it is effective and often more enjoyable than expected. As culture-war artefact, it is fascinating. As a lifestyle accessory or great tragic song-cycle, it is considerably less convincing. I’m giving it 3/5: a clever, foetid, well-executed provocation whose mythology is not quite as deep as its smell.

In a nutshell: industrial pop. Despite being produced by two genre heavyweights (Greg Ogilvie and Trent Reznor), this album sounds comically derivative to me. Like watered down Nine Inch Nails. Looking back, I think it was not the music of Marilyn Manson that made them popular. It was the *product* of Marilyn Manson (the angry, Satanic aesthetic designed to shock). Anitchrist Superstar sold millions. But being a bestseller doesn't mean it's automatically essential listening. You just need to know who Marilyn Manson is, not their music. There are other artists in this wheelhouse more worthy of your attention (Deftones, Tool, Rammstein, other Nine Inch Nails albums, etc). Overall: 1/10

It's not available on Spotify and I do not care enough to seek it out elsewhere - I dislike the songs I know and I'm unlikely to enjoy the rest. This dude is a monster. Bye.

Ignoring that he's a massive piece of shit for a moment, I still can't get into this music. Listening to him in my youth I enjoyed his tamer songs, but it's too heavy and brash for me.

херня, никогда он не нравился.

It was interesting to explore this aesthetic more and see what's going on over there in Marilyn Manson land. It definitely grabs the attention, but I don't think I ever need to listen again. I don't really know why the popular songs are popular. For me personally, it's a 2, but as a cultural idea I could consider it a 3.

Very conflicted. I don't care about the anti-christian crap, but this dude is garbage. Separating the artist from the art, I don't think this has aged well. Like maybe I would have liked it when I was younger and into bands like Korn, but now it just sucks. Listened to 3.5 songs and got the idea, 1*

Was never a fan of Manson back in the day. He was a bit too creepy for me, too twisted and I don’t really enjoy much about him. The Beautiful People was the saving grace and only cause of its use in WWE in the late 90s/early 00s

I'm conflicted on actually listening to Marilyn Manson. When multiple women are accusing you of sexual assault/abuse and even claims of torture, that's morally too much to handle to listen to an artist. I'm not entertaining "art over the artist" argument when the man's art consists of edgy provocative content like that, even depicting sexual assault/abuse in some of his videos. Look, I understand half of the many controversies about Marilyn Manson (the band and the person) are bullshit in some way or form regarding Columbine influence or being able to perform in certain American states and Russia, but treating other human beings with fair human dignity is a bar that cannot be lowered. And, I mean, there's so much better metal and industrial records out there, there's a decent amount of industrial music on the list and I can firmly say this record is probably the worst one on it. I know Antichrist Superstar helped this dude blow up and made him notable as a conservative rally call against goth culture or kids that want to be different or whatever from white hetero christian nuclear family norms for the 90s, but I don't think you need to hear this before you die. Listen to like, 80's The Damned, Ministry, The Cure and Skinny Puppy. You'll get a better sense of the picture of that music scene better than this edgy abusing asshole.

This is #day679 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… Marilyn Manson is kind of like one of those scary monster characters from childhood. At least if you grew up in the '90s and spent your teenage years in the early '00s. He was always there: in music magazines, on TV, on the radio. And, as an alternative kid at heart, I didn't really mind it. This is a great record and a true snapshot of its time. I'm giving it a 4 out of 5. Looking forward to #day680.

I liked this more than I remembered, though the lyricism feels lacking. Then again, perhaps it's just that the meaning would be lost on me.

It’s not good but it’s not as bad as I was expecting

Enjoyed this more than I expected. 3.3 but on the three side.

👿☠️⚰️🦇🩸

Some bangers here but the album is just bloated at an hour and eleven minutes.

This shit was a game changer. Raw, unapologetic, wierd, disturbing, hard metal, puzzling and noisy. This album is great although the type of music is not easy to take. Mostly need to be in the mood to hear stuff like this.

Oh, this should be fun… or pure torture… time will tell. Interesting. First, separating my opinion about the album from the controversy around Brian Warner is necessary. I refuse to rate an album on perceived positive or negative qualities of its creators. I love early Red Hot Chili Peppers. Even my teenage self knew that Anthony Kiedis was cringey af. Or how about Mick Jagger? Never accused of rape, just an unapologetic, debaucherous rock star whose sexual exploits are glorified. Truth be told, I have no doubt that Brian is a sick individual. But the first part of this album is… awesome. Sorry. The first thing of which I became aware was Trent Reznor’s obvious sound. At this time, 96, I really wasn’t paying much attention to NIN anymore and I certainly wasn’t giving ANY mind to Marilyn Manson. But I had loved Downward Spiral when it came out. I remember feeling like it was an ending. And it was for Trent and I for some time to come. He went his way, I went on to Radiohead, Massive Attack, the back catalog of the Pixies, and Aphex Twin. So, Antichrist Superstar: it’s really too bad these guys were doing so much heroin at this point. This album has such potential. I am sure, having listened to some interviews and placing this album in the context of time, not because of anything said directly, that this album is on the path of Trent’s Downward Spiral. He wasn’t going to bottom out until 2000, but the fraying is already evident. By the second half it really starts to feel bloated and all the potential of the concept starts to crumble. But man, that beginning… I mean in the privacy of my headphones this is a workout album par excellence. I would never subject husband or dogs to such, but… sorry, I gave The Marshall Mathers LP a 4 too. 4 Boolean: True. Sorry. But it’s true.

I wasnt looking forward to this what with Brians allogations of assault and the fact its over an hour of screamy heavy raaaa hate the world lyrics and look at me I'm a deprived demon. However its got good riffs a hard bassline and real quality in places. I am not a metalhead but can appreciate good music and talent and there is a lot of that here. I have to detract the album from the contoversy. Once you have done that its pretty good for what it is . not my genre but it has something that draws you in. I remember The Beautiful People which is the highlight track still

i'd be lying if i said i didn't enjoy the hell outta this

Music for the MAGA generation. It’s not even good.

I try to make my reviews unbiased, but it becomes hard to separate the art from the artist when the art seems to reflect the artist so much. The vocals were irritating. More gimmicky than creepy. There were some cool instrumentals, but a lot of it also felt shallow. Gross album cover. Manson was kinda ahead of his time for getting into crypto during the 90s though ("Cryptorchid"). The best track was "Deformography".

10 minutes into this album felt like an hour. Absolutely unlistenable and dreadful.

Very influential. Hell, Manson had every politician talking smack about him and his music. I miss the simpler times when we just blamed our problems on music and video games instead of brown people...

Horrible. It pains me to even give him a 1. He is so much less than that.

Ugh. I can’t even pretend that I am giving this album an unbiased listen.

I skipped this I refuse to listen to an artist like this but also don’t want to leave it pending I phoned a friend who gave me "As Cruel As School Children" by Gym Class Heroes as an alternate album instead -- if that's wrong or ruins my project integrity I don't want to be right

Listens: 3 Standout Tracks: Beautiful People, Tourniquet, Mister Superstar This goes pretty hard. I wasn't sure I was going to like it. It was okay, but I imagine its not for everybody. Produced in part by Trent Reznor, it sounds like Nine Inch Nails, only cranked up to 11 (whatever that means). The screaming gets pretty grating sometimes, but on other tracks, its not too bad. I do really like the music; Very similar to The Downward Spiral. My only prior experience with Marilyn Manson consists of the circulated 90s and 2000s childhood rumors about a certain procedure he had done to himself to be able to perform a certain act... on himself. Wikipedia makes no mention of said procedure or rumor, but that doesn't really matter too much, considering all of the other controversies I found when I visited his page :/ My only other thoughts are that this music is best listened to with high fidelity headphones or a good sound system. This album and maybe the industrial rock genre in general seem to suffer from fidelity issues when you use poor quality headphones, or in my specific case, I am a sucker for bone conducting headphones for approximately half of all of the music listening I do. I think I made effectively the same remark for The Downward Spiral.

Not a fan. Not quite industrial enough, poppy.

Detaching the art from the artist (and Reznor is super prominent here anyway), I thoroughly enjoyed this weird, twisted, and energetic work. Could've been shorter though, some tracks are fillers.

Too long and Manson is too rapey.

Makes you want to die, and not in a good way. Edgelord bullshit that I never wanna hear again, fuck this dude forever.

Not worth the time to listen.

Sorry. Can’t listen to on principle

what the super fuck

Listened to first 6. That’s enough

IT was OK, but the songs all sound the same.

Hi legacy is tainted, but this album is undeniably a classic.

Fuck Marilyn Manson, I ain't listening to his horseshit

Absolute garbage made by a complete fucking loser. Get this trash off the list. 1/5

Heartbreaking: A noted sex pest made enjoyable industrial rock in the 1990s. 7/10.

It's really hard to seperate the art from the artist with Marilyn Manson.

no es música que me guste escuchar

i enjoyed this

I ain’t listening to this garbage person

Heavy rock

Don’t give a shit about any allegations or such, the music is pure shit. Sole line is to shock, but not being a conservative middle American, it doesn’t so much shock, all it does is annoy. What shock rock became in the 90s when actual music was the last in the list of priorities. Without Renznor god only knows how much worst this Cooper/bowie 90s take wannabe shit could have been, without the videos etc it’s empty industrial metal. Waste of my time, thank you 1001 list. 1 star.

Manson is a loser and this album sucks

Garbage

Did Not Listen - No Interest

I coulda died without hearing this. Pretty sure this album has already failed the test of time and we're not that far in.

I'm both impressed that this album made it into the collection, and also somewhat disappointed to have it in the project. I own this album, and used to enjoy listening to it not longer after it released, but have gotten more and more disenchanted as the years have gone on and Manson has proven to be a clueless ass (and worse) both professionally and personally; I can't remember the last time I listened to this, to be honest. There are definitely some great tunes on this too-long album--especially "The beautiful people" (with a suitably disturbing dystopian video), "Cryptorchid" (with an interesting art video, apparently based on a 1989 experimental horror film "Begotten" by E. Elias Merhige), "Mister superstar" and the title track (with an interesting video released long after the album) (and kudos to the video for "Man that you fear" incorporating both Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Jodorowsky's film "Santa Sangre")--and I still appreciate the bleak and incessant nihilism, rock-opera-style, that drips from nearly every song, coupled with an interesting mix of Nirvana, Ministry and Nine Inch Nails. But even when this came out, it was pretty evident that Manson not only thought he was smarter and more insightful than the rest of us, but also than he actually is. It just took me a while to figure out he wasn't as creepy as much as a world-class creep. (I'm also glad that we only get one Marilyn Manson album, and this one in particular, but a shame that we don't get any of his *really* impressive covers, including the darkly spectacular versions of "Sweet Dreams" as well as "I put a spell on you".)

I usually separate the art from the artist but this dude is so full of himself I can't stand it.

Listening session: may 28th, while cooking dinner Listened to before: no Thoughts: although I don’t want to support Marilyn Manson (that took down my rating), I actually really enjoyed this album. It was nice to hear something a bit heavier on here. Side note: I never knew The Will Of The People by Muse was so heavily influenced by Marilyn Manson Favourite tracks: The Beautiful People, Mister Superstar & The Reflecting God

(1) not for me!

Marilyn Manson could really just say slurs like that in 1996 huh? This was, unfortunately, really a bit of me and I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to (especially as gym music) loved the nihilistic concept and how batshit the whole thing turned out, other than the glaringly obvious it’s also aged pretty well after 30 YEARS?? loved that, but trust me I feel VERY dirty rating Marilyn Fucking Manson anything even remotely positive, but here we are.

My first and hopefully only did not listen. Don't give this loser nonce any of your streaming money. Cringe

I don't feel safe here

1 star for abusers.

During this bands heyday, it was pompous and pandering conservative politicians. Under current conditions, the haters are hard left crusaders of social justice. Doesn’t really matter, they’re both the same. Fuck off Moral Majority!

not listening again sorry not my stuff

Tbh this was pretty hit or miss for me

Watch out for Wormboy when listening to this album. Otherwise you’ll end up Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World.

This was my first time listening to a Manson's album. I gotta say I'm shocked. I didn't expect to like it that much.

Completely separating the man from the music- this is great. It’s very nihilistic and definitely not a happy listen. It’s musical roots in both sabbath and NIN which is an instant win for me. I think it manages to shock in a way that not a lot of music has the power to do in this desensitised age. We’ve come a long way since the Stones saying ‘let’s spend the night together’ was considered edgy.

Sick album overal. The riffs are epic

Before having to listen to this album, my experience with Marilyn Manson was basically as many other people: only listened to "The Beautiful People" and "Sweet Dreams". I also saw him life, but I can't really remember how it sounded. Nowadays, with all the stuff that has being revealed about him, I feel glad I never decided to dig his discography, Not that I was really interested in the first place, with now feeling even less interested. I think is important I mention this because I'm pretty sure the lack of interest has impacted my opinion negatively. Alright, let's talk about the record. I basically think it is a lackluster version of "The Downward Spiral" by Nine Inch Nails, a comparison that it is unavoidable to make due to Trent Reznor being directly involved in the production of this album. Not only the album feels like a imitation of another one, but also I find it to be very lame. Except from some decent riffs and energetic tracks, like "Irresponsible Hate Anthem", "The Beautiful People", "Little Horn" or "1996", most of the material here I think is boring, specially the middle part. There is no energy, no true emotion, no super twisted or super dark industrial aesthetics, no catchy elements... it is bland. The only thing I can say about the album is that it is provocatively disturbing. There are a lot of slurs, hate, macabre and disgusting narrated scenes. All these aspects add to create a shock value element that tries to be a critique but ends up feeling pretentious edginess with no real direction. The cake on the top is this thing being 1 hour and 11 minutes long, getting a bit tedious. So, between its length, the tame composition, the edginess and me not being interested on what this artist does, I can't say I liked this. Not even Trent Reznor's distinct production can save this.

Marilyn Manson is a great artist and very creative

😂 Remember when this old lady was the biggest threat to America’s youth? Now he looks like your average first-grade teacher. I miss the '90s.

As seems to be the case with a lot of this “type” of music, the musicianship is excellent and the singing is fucking awful!

Stinks

An excellent example of marketing outpacing actual artistic ability. Beautiful people is a tune and the drummer is great, otherwise fairly stand heavy late nineties music

I have never really enjoyed nor understood. Marilyn Manson as a touchstone in Rock. I went to see nine inch nails in 94 and he was an opener along with Jim Rose circus. I loved both the other acts but I just sort of felt like his brand of music was shocked for the sake of shock? He himself seems quite contemplative. I think for him this sort of expression is a means to a paycheck. I don't think there's anything wrong with that and clearly people enjoy it. It's well made. It's a product. I don't particularly enjoy it. There's stuff like Mr. Bungle Out there in the world. That occupies the same territory, but does it in a way that is truly challenging and creative and sort of mind-boggling. Same statements made. More musical complexity. Probably more edgy if that's what you're trying to buy. Definitely more poetic. If you like this album, go try Mr. Bungle's California as a soft on-ramp to that weird world.

Just…ugh

3.5

ужас

not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue

i hate marilyn manson i think he’s too creepy and weird and honestly i couldn’t even finish this album cos it was just pure shit 0 stars

No.

I'd give this a zero if I could lol. Made it through half of one song and gave up.

Sorry mom

one song…

I thought I would hate this. Instead I only disliked it! Nice.

I think Trent Reznor's influence/production is what really makes this album. I like the sound, but the person behind it leaves a kind of slimy film on everything.

Okay i had low expectations for this. But this was such a fun album! I listened to it while at the gym which was the pergect place for it. The production was really lively!

There's better ways to piss off Christians

I really do try to get through every album on the list at least once. And there are a couple guitar riffs in here that aren't horrible. But this was a tough one, couldn't get all the way to the end. Hopefully once I hit my review and get a new one it will be a brighter day. Hitting rating in 3....2....1....

Never been a fan.

I think this was the first Marilyn Manson album I’ve ever listened to. You can definitely hear some production by Trent. I did enjoy it. I know Brian Warner is a bad guy. It’s always difficult to separate the art from the human.

Kinda really enjoyed this album it went hard

Felt like a bit of a knock off nine inch nails album, which isn't a bad starting point but at the same time a bad thing to be constantly comparing to. Now see Trent produced it, that makes sense. The concept of the album passed me by, didn't realise there was meant to be a story in this, thought Marilyn was just going off about scary stuff. The over the top themes do stop me getting into it a bit I think. So overall I liked a fair chunk of the music but thought it was also a bit silly and missed any stand out parts.

Back in college in Bury, we had two local clubs. Siberia: For the underage goths, and Sol: Rigorously-enforced ID checks, more pop music. My first club experience was Siberia. Queuing and hoping the bouncer would just wave you in (rarely rejected), and then down the stairs to a moist basement, sticky floor, and £1 VKs. The music of choice was limited to hard rock/goth stuff, possibly ending the night on something lighter like Fall Out Boy, before ending with a bang on Mr. Brightside. I would spend all my money from my part-time job at the bar, rarely left with much for a taxi, so I'd walk back. Usually with friends, we'd have a nice 4am chat, and only rarely were we harassed by chaos driving their cars at us. Then I hit 18 - and Sol was accessible. I never made as good Sol memories as I did Siberia. Wearing a large afro wig one night, picking up cheap chains from H&M to show off, none of this was acceptable in Sol. It is part of growth, I suppose. If I'd have stayed longer in Siberia, I don't think I would have had the same life trajectory. This album caught me off-guard. I recognized a few. Irresponsible Hate Anthem, Beautiful People, Tourniquet, Angel With The Scabbed Wings. Brought me right back to Siberia. Competing with moshers from the rival (worse) college over who could out-headbang each other. Extreme, nervous, teenage nostalgia.

Never been a Marilyn Manson fan really but know the "hits". I think fight song was the best of these, but it's not here! Coincidentally I went down a bit of a columbine rabbit hole yesterday and Marilyn popped up. Ridiculous that the media tried to say music had a role, think he came off quite well from that..... Although in more recent years his reputation seems to have taken a nose dive. I think his whole schtick is just to try and shock, can't say I've ever found it that shocking. Musically, it's ok, not really my thing. Was quite enjoying it initially, but I started getting bored. Tourniquet was decent enough. Beautiful people never did much for me Somewhere around 2.5

Nah... I could give it 2, because some of the moments are kinda creative in arrangements, but no. His voice is annoying, this whole thing is annoying and to me albums like this is what killed all the fun in loud/heavy rock music in the 90s. Also the whole concept is fucking dumb.

I didn’t hate this but I didn’t really like it. Some great sounds but the Mansonness of the whole thing overshadows all of it. Would be interested in hearing a version of this without the Marilyn Manson voice effects. You can really hear the Trent Reznor influence on a couple tracks too!

I don't want to waste my time listening to Antichrist Superstar or writing about Marilyn Manson. I listened to this album when I was younger, so strictly speaking I'm not cheating. I think 1996 was the best year in music so there are plenty of great albums to listen to instead. Here are 5 albums that I think should be on the list of 1001 albums but aren't: 1. Weezer: Pinkerton 2. Fountains of Wayne Fountains of Wayne 3. Rocketship: A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness 4. Brendan Benson: One Mississippi 5. Go Sailor: Go Sailor

This is disgustingly sacrilegious.

Has its moments but far too long

Some this is OK. A lot of filler. Siouxsie and the Banshees cover of Helter Skelter is better.

💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩

Awful music / awful human

Awful music / awful human

No.

One of the best albums of all time, a staple of my Senior year of High School. First concert I ever went to and still one of the best shows I've yet to see.

This was not my jam.

crazy a$ man

Shocked by how much this rocked. As a child of the 90s, Manson was everywhere for a couple years, and every parent’s worst nightmare. The aesthetic, the anti-Christian themes, and general abrasive approach was like intense and super risky at the time. Having not heard this whole album for at least 20 years, I eye-rolled hard when I saw 17 tracks. But it rules. The songs more than hold up, they actively kick ass. On a list that only has one NIN and no Rammstein or Godflesh, this was the blast of industrial metal I needed to hold me over.

Filth, remove this from your platform.

Skip

I remember liking some Marilyn Manson singles when I was 15, but never wanted to listen to an entire album of it, because it would feel exhausting. This is one of the incredibly rare times where current me agrees with 15-year-old me. Listening to an entire album was a sonic pummeling that I could do without. And the highlight is by far the lead off single "The Beautiful People," which is so much better than every other track on here combined. Overall the music doesn't feel very dynamic, but it's still pretty decent industrial rock (presumably the influence of album co-producer Trent Reznor) but the vocals are the weak link. I'm also mostly trying to separate the art from the artist while I'm listening and reviewing these albums, but I'm still docking it a point because Manson himself is an abusive POS.

I know that this is Marilyn’s second record, and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails produced the album. The only song I know is “The Beautiful People,” and I heard it’s a bit of a concept album like Trent’s “The Downward Spiral.” “The Beautiful People” I think is a critique on Hollywood culture and celebrities.

no

not listening fk this guy

Separating art from artist (which you really have to do to find any worth in MM’s music), I think this is still a very effective album that transitions mainstream rock from the shouty angry post-grunge era into the more industrial, alternative and nu metal era of the late 90s. For a brief moment, he was a very exciting and very unique voice in rock.

some really good drumming but overall it was meh, shock rock that just doesnt

I've never listened to this in full. He was one of the big names at the time I became a rock and metal fan though. Can't help but appreciate it, despite the whole edgy teen shock factor thing and the fact it's aged badly olus allegations. The Beautiful People is still really fun, the rest is alright. Not to be taken super seriously.

I bought 'The Golden Age of Grotesque' at the time which I thought at the time was a great album (though I haven't listened to it in a while). I like their heavy guitar/bass sound and the songs where he makes more or an attempt to 'sing', or at least a more restrained growl. I dislike the out and out screaming numbers. Some stuff on here I love (Tourniquet) and some I don't (Irresponsible Hate Anthem). But mostly it's ok.

Не весь альбом порадовал, но в целом угар уже прослеживается

I'm not going to mark this down because Marylin Manson is clearly a dodgy fucker. That said, this album is hardly a classic. It's fine, possibly a bit more than that in places, but it's hardly revolutionary.

It's not a phase, Mom! DID YOU REMEMBER THAT THERE WERE SEVERAL RACIAL EPITHETS IN THE FIRST TRACK?? I didn't. Well, the school shooter scapegoat album rears it's ugly head and reminds me the hold that edginess had on the youth of yesteryear. Whilst it's now cool to be aloof and unbothered, there was a time where being the most bothered about everything was rad as hell. I'm talkin' clips of fights set to "Angel with the Scabbed Wings." Just imagine Monday Night Raw opening with "The Beautiful People." The wrestling intro song is really where this album is best, and the rest of the time it's trying far too hard. I mean there was the aforementioned N-word. Still can't believe that one. This isn't a horrific album, but it's so very dated, and unfortunately played no small part in the neural development of the boys who have now grown up to say things like "well BIOLOGICALLY you're a woman so." I actually have just enough middle fingers for my rating here. Take two of these and call me in the morning. 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Could it be that GUNS cause school shootings???? That can't be it. I'm concerned it's the makeup man.

used to love this one. Wondering how much this holds up!

Beautiful people still class. Otherwise mostly missable

This is intense and sounds great… but I don’t necessarily want to live here

I wanted to hate this so I could make a joke like "removed a rib and stabbed myself with it to end my suffering" or something maybe even funnier. But it was alright if too long and samey. That's why it loses a star.

Nine Inch Nails Light ™️ Wasn't bad, music was decent, some of the lyrics were cringe as fuck though. Very glad I didn't discover this in my edgy emo teenage years or I might have made it my whole personality

I really like the sound but the unnecessarily offensive lyrics and creepiness make me unsurprised at some of the band member controversies

5/10 Best songs: Cryptorchild, Mister Superstar Honestly? This album is better than I was expecting. It's cohesive, has some interesting songs, and the screaming is not as overwhelming as I'd expected. That being said, I think a lot of these songs could have been significantly improved if sung in a different way, or with different music. I suppose I'm thinking of this a little strangely - I've been listening to Rasputina's cover of Tourniquet for decades now, and their approach is far more mellow, less metal, and thus (?) much more interesting. By comparison, the Marilyn Manson version has instruments that overwhelm the vocals, and the screaming detracts from the meaning of the song. I feel like this is representative of much of the album - there's something there, but the musical choices let it down. I would also be remiss not to mention that several of the songs contain slurs. While the performative hate (towards others as well as himself) is Manson's whole shtick, I always deduct a star or two for slurs. I suppose it's "less bad" in this context because, well, we expect that kind of thing from Marilyn fuckin' Manson, but I just can't support that kind of thing. (Also, Manson is a trash human, so he doesn't deserve a rating higher than this.)

Screw this guy, hate his music... ok, I guess I've heard worse

No thank you

Pass

Njet

3.5 or 4??? I hate this guy but I can’t lie, the album is good.

Nope!

There was so little going on during the mid 90s that they had to invent this guy as an evil rock star antagonist.

Ew

Not as relentlessly horrible as expected, just mostly. Some songs are quite listenable, but overall really not for me. 2

While musically I was not particularly a big fan of this I dig the fact that as per the wiki entry .... "The central storyline on the album revolved around ......... a populist demagogue who is driven solely by resentment, misanthropy, and despair, he uses his newfound position to destroy the world. The record can be seen as a social critique, utilizing this premise as a metaphor for the perceived fascist elements of the conservative political movement and the Christian right in North America." Sadly this is as pertinent today as when this album came out 30 years ago. For this reason alone I'll bump it up from 2 to 3 stars.

# Playlist Track - The Beautiful People # Notes - Never was much of a Marilyn Manson fan, and also don't really enjoy industrial metal, so it shouldn't be a surprise that I didn't really enjoy re-listening to this. On my years it aged really poorly. - From the lame cover to the overly worked sound it all screams "I'M EDGY" to my 40-year old ears.

Finns några ok spår men är mestadels påfrestande att lyssna på. Stökigt och slamrig produktion, vilket gör vissa spår blir väldigt krävande att lyssna på. Det finns spår jag tycker är ok men albumet är långt och det är glest mellan det som är ok. Om albumet hade varit hälften så långt hade det ev kunnat vara helt ok. Bäst är Beutiful people, Antichrist superstar, 1996, Minute of decay och The reflecting God.