Manson and Cooper united on stage

Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper were united on stage in Bucharest, Romania on the 1st of July; Manson joined Cooper and his band for a rendition of I’m Eighteen, before Cooper joined Manson during his headlining set to duet on Sweet Dreams. This is pretty astounding given the widely held assumption that there must be some rivalry between the two superficially similar shock rock icons, but what could have been a colossal event in the history of rock music came off as a bit of a shambles. Both singers looked uncomfortable on the other’s stage, Cooper being the worst, remaining pretty much static with his free hand stuffed into his pocket.

Of course, you can see it all on YouTube:

Manson joins Cooper

Cooper joins Manson

No theft here

Just to make it clear that although I downloaded the Eat Me, Drink Me leak, I do not advocate stealing music, here’s a picture of me enjoying my legally purchased copy of that very album:

And what did Interscope come up with to encourage us in the UK not to settle for the leaked version? Two utterly abysmal lounge /dance remixes of Heart Shaped Glasses.

“Heart Shaped Glasses” – Manson controversial again?

It seems that Herr Doktor has made a slight return to the controversy he used to inspire so effortlessly at his peak; and all it required was a rumor that the sex scenes in his latest video were not simulated.

This comes at a time when Manson claims to be uninterested in being shocking, and considering the themes of this latest era contain no controversial ideas, I take this claim at face value. After The Golden Age of Grotesque failed to raise any such controversy and suffered from a sense that Manson was trying a bit too hard, I see this kind of attention as a sign that his art is flowing more freely and honestly in this era, and I’m glad of it.

Eat Me, Drink Me

I’ve gone ahead and downloaded the leaked version of Eat Me, Drink Me to give it a try before I get my copy; so, here’s my review…

Leaving behind the production sheen characteristic of Manson’s previous releases, this is a lo-fi, straight up rock album, complete with some compelling extended classic rock guitar solos from Tim Skold. I was glad to find that subtle shades of the dark aesthetics of The Golden Age of Grotesque remain in the form of some pleasing keyboard breaks. Manson’s talked a lot about how he wanted to sing skillfully on this record, and he’s delivered a strong and engaging vocal performance.

With his new lyrical style, concentrating on personal themes of love, sex, and celebrity, Manson has lost most of the air of rebellion that he exemplified so powerfully earlier in his career. The fact that he has done this voluntarily now is probably a good thing, as his credibility in that role had already slipped considerably, and this new focus has served to make him more personable than ever.

With Eat Me, Drink Me, Manson has produced another great album, once again unique from each of his previous records.

“Heart Shaped Glasses” Video

The video for Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand) has finally been revealed, and the good news is that it holds together well and makes the song seem less wet. The car scene in the extended into sequence is, in my opinion, the best thing about the video; firstly because it adds reckless driving to the list of things-you-shouldn’t-do-that-Manson’s-done-in-a-video, and secondly because the dialogue between Manson and Wood seems natural amongst the pleasing noir aesthetics.

Though the initial sex scene is pretty explicit the video doesn’t quite deliver the “near pornographic” content promised. However, the indications are that there is a more explicit version to look forward to.

I’ll finish this post by pointing out the coincidence of Manson releasing a video including a scene in which its raining blood soon before embarking on a tour with thrash metal legends Slayer. As Manson generally has an eye for these kind of thing, perhaps the correlation between his blood drinking concept on Eat Me, Drink Me and Slayer’s famous famous track Raining Blood contributed to his decision to do the co-headlining tour.

Update: I’ve just discovered that Bleeding Through will be joining Manson and Slayer on tour; I think there’s a very clear blood theme developing.

Marilyn Manson not industrial anymore

Despite Marilyn Manson’s upcoming album, Eat Me, Drink Me, being a close collaboration between Manson and industrial powerhouse Tim Skold, it seems that this time round all industrial elements have been purged from Manson’s sound. So what does that leave us with? Judging by lead single Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand), we may be left with a set of rather limp, radio-friendly rock tunes. However, the only other track to be made public so far, If I Was Your Vampire, is a lot more encouraging. The track is a powerful morbid fantasy that comes close to full-filling Manson’s “vampire national anthem” promises.

In a recent press conference Manson stated that he indented to make Eat Me, Drink Me more like the music he listens to at home, mentioning David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs, Radiohead’s Ok Computer, and Prince’s Purple Rain as examples. Hopefully the rest of the new album doesn’t stray to far into this world of softness, and delivers plenty more gothic grandeur like If I Was Your Vampire.