An objective comparison

While still a student in middle school, my aunt Monique bought me a Hole CD (which she was NOT happy about, understandably, as Hole is shit) that I had wanted for my birthday. I've occasionally had lapses in my better judgment, but one CD that I bought around the same time and recently rediscovered was Marilyn Manson's 1996 album antichrist svperstar. It's not that particular album that I want to defend right now, but Marilyn Manson as an artist. After listening to antichrist svperstar again, I realized that I hadn't actually seen or heard anything from Manson in a long time. It probably doesn't help that I don't watch TV anymore, but I think it's fair to assume that he has fallen off the radar for most of us. So I decided to catch up a little bit on this lovely Columbus Day and found that Marilyn Manson rocks harder than ever.

While I like the band's original material, I prefer their covers. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" is what got Manson into our collective consciousness in the first place, and I still think that their version is great. What made the strongest impression on me when I first heard it back in middle school, was the juxtaposition of the whispered parts with the angst-ridden screaming. It was completely haunting. I distinctly remember watching top 10 countdowns on MTV (a thing of the past) before going on a bike ride with my friend Mike, and then repeating over and over in my head parts of the song. Specifically the part of the song where he is under a bright green light with clocks fastened to his head, and he's whispering the chorus in a very guttural way. The Manson sound is powerful (even if you find him and his presentation corny) and I think it's more than just a way to steal the song away into your brain.

So that brings me to what this post is about. I found two Manson covers (from 2001 and 2004) that I hadn't previously heard. In 2001, for the Not Another Teen Movie soundtrack, Manson recorded a cover of "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell, and in 2004 Manson covered Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus." I've now listened to these two songs about a dozen times each (just today) and I'm prepared to defend one of them against the original and its other versions. I think I like "Tainted Love" better and until watching that video I had never really understood Marilyn Manson's sex appeal. After all, I don't think there's anything particularly sexy or sexual in his earlier stuff. Manson's more recent videos have a lot more sex in them, and for the same reasons that I find gothic chicks hot I find Manson himself,... well, hot, I guess. The more so because he does that look particularly well. Despite how much I like the song, I'll use "Personal Jesus" instead because there are four versions that are available on YouTube, and I've included two of them below.

Depeche Mode wrote the song for their 1989 album Violator, and it became their 23rd single in the UK. The song was inspired by Priscilla Presley's book "Elvis and Me" and according to writer Martin Gore: "It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody's heart is like a god in some way, and that's not a very balanced view of someone, is it?" It had fantastic success and has since been covered by (among others): Lollipop Lust Kill, Tori Amos, Johnny Cash, and Marilyn Manson.

The focus in the Depeche Mode video is clearly on the sexual nature of the song, like Martin Gore points out. The band rides into a dusty town on horses, and then fucks down at the local whorehouse. The panting during the bridge in the video is a personal highlight.

Now, the focus in the Manson video (co-directed by Manson) changes quite a bit. You can't deny that there are a lot of sexual images (including a woman masturbating in a confessional, and nipples! [3:00]), but there seems to be more going on than in the Depeche Mode version. If Gore is right about love relationships, then Manson is expanding that to include hero-worship (especially of politicians), littering his video with images of Stalin, Hitler, Gandhi, Mussolini, and Kennedy (as well as much lesser figures like George W. Bush [0:56]). I think he kind of beats us over the head with his point, and the essential message remains the same. The fact that it's Manson covering this song is perfect though. While I think Manson rocks, and I would throw my vagina at him (like he implied Lindsay Lohan did in a recent interview), who honestly would be prepared to make him their Jesus? The fact that he casts himself in the role of your personal Jesus is great for reasons that should be obvious.

Aside from the addition of distortion, little of the actual song was changed in the Manson version. The instruments do change the overall feel of the song and I love those single high guitar chords. In the same way, Johnny Cash truly made it his own, but unlike the Depeche Mode and Manson versions, the Johnny Cash one is just boring. That goes double for the Lollipop Lust Kill version. All the notes are there, but it sounds like noise.

I have more to say but it's already 9:49 here in Massachusetts and I'm bored of writing about this song. Manson remains busy. Click on the following link for a live cover of Justin Timberlake's What Goes Around Comes Around for Radio 1. Not sure if I like it yet. I don't think so.

Technorati tags: Marilyn Manson, Depeche Mode, Personal Jesus, Cover songs