Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:18:00
Marilyn Manson’s new single Heart-Shaped Glasses
Well. It’s new music (iTunes link), and that’s more than I ever expected to hear from Manson again...I suppose I should be thankful for that much at least.
However…
Like everything in Manson’s life these days, it suffers from the “No one to tell me no” disease. Musically, Lee had it almost right when he called it “Duranson Duranson.” It’s not Duran Duran from whom he sourced the sound, it’s Depeche Mode. Covering Personal Jesus a few years ago obviously had a great influence on his ideas about making music. Unfortunately they’re all the wrong ideas; instead of simplistic electronics forming powerful or poignant music and soulful, powerful metaphors mixed with simple, straightforward statements in the lyrics, we’re given self-indulgent, ill-fitting lyrics with no real sense of rhythm and timing, a total lack of guitars, production that is absolutely not good enough...It’s wrong from top to bottom. Did I mention the terrible lyrics? It’s like all of a sudden he’s decided to write like Trent Reznor, who is famous for his awkward metaphors and somewhat teen-aged writing style (again, lyrically, not musically). Example:
I don’t mind you keeping me on pins and needles,
If I could stick to you
and you
stick me too
Don’t break, don’t break my heart
and I won’t break your heart-shaped glasses
What the hell is that, a lyric from some angsty 14 year old’s Myspace page? Musically, Manson’s cover of Personal Jesus is amazing. Of course at that time then, he was listening to other musicians like John5 and Tim Skold. This new song is...well, to use the phrase again, it’s self-indulgent, but unlike Manson’s usual self-indulgence, this is in a bad way. Like Mechanical Animals was.
Why? Because no one can say no to him again, just like in those MA days. He’s fired, left or chosen to ignore everyone in his life that would say “Are you sure? Because that’s just not very good.”
The Golden Age of Grotesque was simply the best work of his life. It was fresh, it was powerful, it was razor-sharp lyrically and oppressively heavy on the music side of things; and yet it still filled you with a need to move...musically it was even better than what most say was his peak, Antichrist Superstar. To follow that brilliance up with this tripe is a bit like following a relationship with Dita von Teese up with a relationship with Evan Rachel Wood.
Oh wait…
In conclusion: Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand) is exactly what you’d expect from the title; pretentious, retro-80s pop crap with ridiculous lyrics and sterile, boring production. I think the man has lost his fire; or worse, his soul. Lastly I would like to thank Lee for inspiring me to waste $0.99 on this crap. ;)
Posted by JimK at 05:18 PM on April 25, 2007
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#2 Posted by JimK 
on 04/28 at 03:25 AM -
You’re exactly the kind of idiot that Manson makes fun of behind your back.
on 04/28 at 03:57 AM - #4 Posted by Vic on 04/30 at 06:39 PM -
Ehh, honestly, I think Marilyn Manson peaked with Antichrist, The Personal Jesus cover is right along the lines of Heart Shaped Glasses. And I think its even sadder that HSG is so 80’s twinged considering 80’s nostalgia is what’s in now on radio, if anything it sounds commercial and derivative.
Honestly, if anything it all tells me how much he benefitted from Twiggy’s input. If I Was Your Vampire sounds like a half finished song, but worse it just sounds like a cliche.
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#1 Posted by You_Dont_Know_Shit_About_Music
on 04/28 at 03:18 AM -
Hey man!! You’re a FUCKING JACKASS!!! Let’s see your ignorant dweeb-ass go out & write a song or 2!! Hmmmm....gee...I wonder what the fuck that would sound like!! It would probably sound like something to the degree of the pointless ramblings based on no facts that you have spat out of your testicle-teabagged mouth here!! For one, you like Personal Jesus & NOT this song?? Also, you speak of Mechanical Animals as being a failure for Manson!! Well that just goes to show that you music critics are JUST as full of fucking shit as the movie critics!! The Dope Show,Coma White,I Want To Disappear,Great Big White World & The Last Day On Earth were some of the GREATEST songs Manson or ANY artist has EVER written!!! Oh, and out of MOST of the Marilyn Manson members of the fan club,which is a number of about 35,000 members worldwide,that were surveyed & asked about his two recent singles...about 87% of those people said they have the CD already on pre-order & CAN’T WAIT until it comes out!!! Another fucking thing, not ONLY did you insult the integrity & musical genius of Marilyn Manson-one of the best musicians of ALL TIME-you ALSO insulted Trent Reznor!!! FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING BITCH-BOY!!! These two artists ALONE influence & have influenced an ENTIRE LIFESTYLE of youth culture!! They are GENIUSES!!! They are ICONS!!! They are GODS!! You are a pethetic bottom-dweller who’s just swimming around trying to find shit in everything!! JUST to show just how little your possibly inbred ass knows, I’m going to point out that you know SOOOOOOO much about music that you let it be known that Golden Age of Grotesque was better than Antichrist Superstar!!! WRONG!!! **Ding-Ding-Ding** BULLLLLLSHIIIIITTTTTTT!!! They’re both JUST as GREAT as the other, but the messages that the lyrics portrayed were much more dynamic!! Honestly, it’s really two different styles of Manson’s music!! Why don’t you do the world a favor & instead of going around trying to find the shit in things...why don’t you just go kill yourself?? Because we both know what this is ALL about!! Your life is a piece of fucking shit & you want other people to hop into the turd that is your miserable pathetic-ass life along with you!! Just go blow your fucking brains out,or play in traffic,or hang yourself from a 15th story window with a piano wire....I don’t care WHAT THE FUCK you do....but whatever it is....SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!! Obviously you need to get back into your parent’s basement,curl up with your Pokemon dolls & go to sleep little boy, because the bottom line is - YOU DON’T KNOW JACK-SHIT ABOUT MUSIC!!!