On the Road Again
Live Reviews:

Marilyn Manson
November 19, 1998
Arrow Hall, Toronto, ON

Marilyn Manson may just very well be saving rock and roll. Despite having a song on his latest album Mechanical Animals entitled "Rock is Dead," the former death-metal goth-boy with a penchant for thongs, cocaine and tearing up the bible is (arguably) rescuing big axe-wielding, parent-frightening rock 'n' roll from extinction.

As I watched the tall, lanky Floridian vamp around on stage in sequins, G-strings, feather boas, a cowboy hat, high-heeled stripper boots (and at one point big metal stilts), I began to realize that here is a man who understands what it means to be an entertainer...to perform.

Having attended Marilyn's press conference on Tuesday, as well as his performance in a converted airplane hangar Wednesday night, I believe that there are five things that Manson is doing that make him the Best Thing To Happen To Rock in Absolute Ages. They are (in no real order):

1. Big F'n Metal Guitar Riffs — I was never a big fan of heavy metal, whether that be the 70's stadium rock version, or the 80's hair farmer version...but one thing metal always had going for it was the riffs. AC/DC built a career not out of songs, but out of awesome guitar riffs. Manson began as Death Rocker, started palling around with Trent Reznor and became an Industrialist. Now, in his latest incarnation, he's a David Bowie-inspired Stadium Rocker, but from the get-go, Twiggy Ramirez's knees-to-the-groin riffs have fueled songs such as "Beautiful People" and "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)." Metal's had a slow recovery from the damage inflicted upon it by Grunge, and while God knows the last thing we need is another Motley Crue album, it feels good to pull the old air guitar out of the closet every now and then.

2. The second great thing Manson's doing involves his obvious early love of bands like AC/DC, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and the like. While bringing back the ultra-explosive light show, the ultra-tuff riffs, and the ultra-ridiculous overindulgences of Metal (Ginger Fish's drum kit Wednesday featured three bass drums), Manson's doing it all with a predisposition to drum machines and even, dare I say it, dance beats. Or at least danceable beats. Manson obviously learned a lot from Reznor about the possibilities of bringing Electronics into the fray. This, combined with Manson's lyrical explorations of his own depravity, weaknesses, fears and Nietzschian wish fullfillments, (rather than the metal standards of Tolkien-inspired dungeons and dragons fantasies or irritating macho male bluster) elevates Mr. Manson from the crushing-beer-cans-against-your-forehead-crowd into a more experimental arena.

3. No matter what form rock music takes, it should always be against something. Rock music began as counter-culture, and it should endeavour to remain so. There will always be pop music, and it just needs to sound nice and that's fine, but Rock music should be confrontational. Radiohead stand against consumer culture, social engineering, and pretty much having a good time. Bruce Springsteen in his prime, stood against America's class system. AC/DC stood against...well they stood against being quiet, which is still something. Matchbox 20 don't stand against a damned thing. Marilyn Manson, as the world now knows, stands against pretty much everything felt to be important in Western society. On stage he bragged about letting a Toronto cop give him head, a giant stage-wide sign reading "Drugs" flashed behind the band, he danced with his black back-up singers before raging about his right to use the word "nigger" symbolically in the song "Rock and Roll Nigger," and of course last but not least he tore up a Christian bible and threw the pages into the crowd. Yeah it might be for shock value, yeah it might seem predictable as a reaction against the growing popularity of the Christian Right, but it still kicks more ass than anything I've ever seen Dave Matthews do.

4. As I mentioned above, this is a guy who knows how to put on a show. At least five costume changes, three or four different backdrops, stage props, and a better light show than anything I've seen in the last few years. I've always felt that if the audience is paying $30 to see a show, then they deserve to get a show. Four guys in t-shirts running through the songs from the new album (plus a couple of old faves) does not a good show make. Marilyn entertains. At no expense to the songs or the music, Manson satisfies his audience visually as well as sonically. After witnessing Manson's ultra-glam alter-egos Omega and the Mechanical Animals, I don't imagine I'll have any patience for shoe-gazing, flannel-wearing college kids for quite some time.

5. Which brings us to number five. The 90's have undoubtedly been a strange decade for rock music. 1991 changed everything with the emergence of Nirvana, and Grunge became the new esthetic. You weren't allowed to care about the show anymore, you weren't allowed to get dressed up anymore. The subsequent rise of "Alternative" in north America was matched in Britain with the rise of "Brit-pop". FM rock radio has now settled into a woeful state as, much like the state of Rock at the end of the 80's. The only difference is that now they call it New Rock (Anyone else remember "New Rock Alternative" or even "Modern Rock"? Methinks the programmers should pick one name and stick to it for awhile...but I digress). Marilyn Manson is here to wipe the floor with the Dave Matthews, the Our Lady Peaces and the Fastballs of the world. He's here to say that Pavement is crap, and he's gonna show you why. New Rock is a travesty of everything Jimi Hendrix, the Sex Pistols, KISS, Prince and Kurt Cobain ever tried to achieve, and it must be stopped.

I think Marilyn Manson is just the man for the job.