Bursting from an American heart of darkness formed by anger/need and unspoken desire - Marilyn Manson's song The Beautiful People is one of the defining tracks of the mid to late 90s. Industrial, Techno, Hardcore metal, Steampunk - this is what rock and roll is all about!
Distortion taken to new levels - added to the bass and lead vocal as well as the guitars. A biting, clipped sonic palette - harmonically rich and brutal . . . the sound of unleashed power. Although the use of compression has since reached new heights, this was a frontrunner of it's time - nothing gentle, everything banging at the highest level with Trent Reznor of NINs at the production helm.
The video for The Beautiful People - combining fetish imagery, s&m, extreme piercing and 'Goth' mixed with elements of Tod Browning's seminal b&w film Freaks, is as extraordinary as the music. An expertly choreographed, apocalyptic vision of sex, death and madness - influenced by the master of 'images of terrible beauty' (photographer/artist Joel Peter Witkin) and directed by Floria Sigismondi.
Musically, lyrically and visually Marilyn is deliberately confusing - a strong fascistic element fuels the proceedings which, although not entirely unique, is effective (many films and books have also exploited the fantasy of a 'perverse sexuality' embedded in the Third Reich).
Marilyn is outrageous, intelligent and controversial. A radical self styleded anti-Christ - he offers his followers an unholy feast made of seemingly toxic but extremely satisfying ingredients.