Critical Analysis: Marilyn Manson’s “AntiChrist Super Star”
Marilyn Manson, an internationally wide known rock singer, who was and still is crucially misunderstood lyric wise, has been under sever condemnation and pressure; due to the fact that language ( here, his lyric content ) affects society in different ways based on the environment, traditions, backgrounds, social and political states and many other sites.
In this critical study, I will try, to analyse Marilyn Manson’s lyrics in his most “offensive” album, as most critics state and many people consider. Manson’s “Anti-Christ Super Star” is an autobiographical story of a young boy’s agonised and vacant life (himself), which was mistakenly considered, as I believe, as an invitation to Satanism, suicide, drugs and complete passiveness of what the “church” orders.
It’s in the way the lyrics are analysed, that Marilyn Manson’s goal of producing this very album shifts from what the critics said to the exact contrary meaning. He is telling and preaching to the world, especially to the children, not to fall in sin and become the character, the boy, in this album. Simply, Manson warns of the dark side of becoming a famous rock star. He wants people to understand the most important things in life. But sadly, his mission was never successful, and sarcastically, ironically, became The icon of Satan.
Introduction
Where and how to determine the meaning of any work of cultural expression has become a point of debate in the world today. Structuralism, post-structuralism, feminism, psychoanalysis, phenomenology, new historicism- all have provided controversial new approaches to interpretation.
The Significance of the Lyrics
Whether used to inspire or to protest, to create mood or to create a community, songs are important sources of meaning in many people’s daily lives. However, the nature of a song’s meaning is a continuing point of debate among coders. How do lyrics and music work in cycle to produce different effects? Why do some songs seem clearly defined while others invite all sorts of contradictory and changing interpretations?
When most people think about the meaning of a song, they think of the words, lyrics. The most obvious reason for this is that humans consciously use verbal language to communicate and have developed a wide-ranging and useful methods and models for making sense of that communication.
Both the disciplines of sociology and folklore have longstanding traditions of song lyric analysis, looking at songs as poems or expressions of social principles.
Looking to a song’s lyrics to determine its meaning demonstrates how important words are in our culture. But, more recently, many coders have taken exception to such an approach because it ignores the importance of musical sound in shaping meaning. There are songs, after all, that convey all sorts of emotions and meaning but with nonsense lyrics. Lyrics analysis also tends to downplay the fact that lyrics can mean very different, and sometimes contradictory, things to different people. A love song may signify happiness to a dating couple but unhappiness to a separated couple.
Accounting to all the factors that might go into the meaning of a song, though has proven rather difficult. Several coders have approached music-including lyric and sound- as an alternative language, with its own forms of syntax and meaning. Thus, elements of music like repetition, delays, and closures may stimulate specific psychological feelings of expectation, belief and release in listeners, or even put dancers in a certain “move”.
Other coders, have been unwilling to find meaning in songs at all; rather they see songs as positions through which meaning is developed. For cultural studies theorists, for example, meaning comes from the socio-political background in which music is created and heard; in which different groups in society come together to negotiate for power and control, and the meaning of a song always reflects larger social and ideological debates, particularly those of race, class, and gender. For musicologists, meaning tends to come from lived experience; songs acquire different meaning as they are sung, played or heard in specific environments in daily life and as listeners associate songs’ moods, lyrics and sounds to other song they’ve heard, experience they’ve had and values they hold.
Why Analyse Lyrics
Because lyrics contain no visual information and generally lack the narrative structure, time element and identifiable cast of characters contained in movies, the basic unit of analysis is the complete lyric. Nothing in the music analysis corresponded to the separate analysis of movies according to scene, time interval and characters. No attempt was made to analyze the demographic characteristics of individuals. In addition, the complete reliance on verbal signs in the analysis of song lyrics disallowed the examination of physical setting, location of the “action”, the historical time and frame, and so on.
Types of Language used in Lyrics
- Figurative speech; the use of metaphors, similes, exaggeration, personification and so on.
“ I am high on you”
- 2. Literal references to substances or their use.
“ I am drinkin’ tonight”
- 3. Mention of places or activities often or almost
always associated with substance use.
“ painting the town”, “bar-hopping”.
Marilyn Manson’s “Antichrist Superstar” Album
An Overview of the Album:
Marilyn Manson’s ‘Antichrist Superstar’ is an album that is a history lesson and a self-fulfilling prophecy, as well as more than a little autobiographical. It chronicles the rise of “Brian Warner” from lonely, disturbed, abused and alienated boy to Marilyn Manson, the last of the Rock Stars and All-American Antichrist. This is the story of how the boy that “he” loved became the man that “he” fears.
The album is divided into three cycles. Each cycle represents a transformation of little Brain.
Marilyn Manson believed in the philosophy of a priest in ancient Greece; specifically, the chief priest of the Eleusinian mysteries, called Nietzsche.
Cycle I:
The Hierophant
The word “hierophant” is a term for a high priest who has the power to see into the future. It is used to symbolise the outer forms of religion – the ceremonial, ritualistic aspects of God and worship. It also points to the need to conform to society, the desire to fit in to an ordinary life.
The first cycle of this album touches on all of these ideas. It is probably the hardest cycle of the album to interpret. The roots of this cycle are highly biographical, but yet contain most of the philosophical foundations upon which the album is based on. The opening tracks of the album express the demands on a young Brian Warner to conform to the rules of society and religion, and the pressure to fit into the molds that his parents and his church have created. But this cycle also has the power of the Hierophant, in that it can see into the future and watch it’s own destruction from before it even begins.
This section is Marilyn Manson, the modern day character/man explaining the growth the Brian Warner underwent. At the same time, it champions the fact that any of us can be this young boy. I believe the word ‘hierophant’ was chosen because it places Marilyn in the role of both narrator and advocate.
Track 1: “Irresponsible Hate Anthem”
“When you are suffering know that I have betrayed you.” I am so all-American, I'll sell you suicide I am totalitarian, I've got abortions in my eyes I hate the hater, I'd rape the raper I am the animal who will not be himself Hey victim, should I black your eyes again? Hey victim, you were the one who put the stick in my hand I am the ism, my hate's a prism let's just kill everyone and let your god sort them out Everybody's someone else's nigger I know you are so am I I wasn't born with enough middle fingers I don't need to choose a side I better, better, better, better not say this better, better, better, better not tell I hate the hater, I'd rape the raper I am the idiot who will not be himself.
Analysis:
Americanism, Christianity, the fascism that masquerades as government, media, authority; all these things are attacked here. Lyrics like “I am so all-American I’d sell you suicide” are often misquoted as being a message from Marilyn Manson. People who believe this could not be more incorrect. This lyric, and this song, is a blame of the media, capitalist-at-all-cost, that we have created. The message here isn’t that Marilyn wants you to kill yourself, or to let him kill you. The message is, in effect, “Hey people, wake up. You are being spoon-fed nonsense in a pretty package. You are sheep. Stop following the herder. You are power unto yourself. Stop being a victim. They aren’t any better than you.
"Everybody is someone else's nigger."
Be a part of the whole, but do it on your own terms. Be your own leader…take the power for yourself.
The biographical story of Antichrist Superstar begins when Marilyn Manson was a young boy, still named Brian Warner. However, despite its placement on the album, “Irresponsible Hate Anthem” is not the chronological beginning of this story. As with many artistic works, Antichrist Superstar starts in the middle of things. “Irresponsible” is the voice of Marilyn Manson now, speaking to us as the narrator of the story he is living for us. The song sets the current stage for the listener, showing us graphically where and what Marilyn Manson is today.
So who is Marilyn Manson now? He is a man who wants nothing more than to bring down society, as we know it. In this opening song, Marilyn reflects our own words and ideals back at us, showing us the contradictions that puzzle the moral basics of American society:
"I hate the hater, I'd rape the raper; I am the animal who will not be himself".
Marilyn shows how American society today contradicts itself with its “do what I say not what I do” form of parenting; while at the same time disapproving its own behavior as wrong. Refusing to fit into any mold or ideal, Marilyn forces his imprisoned audience to confront the flaws in the society they themselves have created:
"I am so all-American I'd sell you suicide. . . you are the one who put the stick in my hand".
With one quick stroke, Marilyn is able to show the listener the damaged society from which he sprang and set the stage for the work that is yet to come.
The first couple of lines in the intro of this track,
“When you are suffering…know that I have betrayed you.”
Will also be heard in the last couple of lines at the end of this album.
The reason behind this is that Marilyn Manson needs to make sure that we understand the reality behind all what he has been through.
Track 2: “The Beautiful People”
I don't want you and I don't need you don't bother to resist or I'll beat you It's not your fault that you're always wrong the weak ones are there to justify the strong the beautiful people, the beautiful people it's all relative to the size of your steeple you can't see the forest for the trees you can't smell your own … knees -Hey you, what do you see? something beautiful, something free? hey you, are you trying to be mean? if you live with apes man, it's hard to be clean there's no time to discriminate, hate everyone that's in your way the worms will live in every host it's hard to pick which one they eat most the horrible people, the horrible people it's as anatomic as the size of your steeple capitalism has made it this way, old-fashioned fascism will take it away.
Analysis:
The sonic haze that opens “The Beautiful People” signals the chronological beginning of the album. We are quickly taken from 1997 to the mid 1970’s as young Brian Warner begins to observe the world around him. It’s clear from the start that, for Brian, there is something very wrong with the way the society around him is working:
"Don't bother to resist or I'll beat you. It's not you fault that you're always wrong; the weak ones are there to justify the strong".
This is a society where the strong abuse the weak, and when the weak tries to resist or question their treatment, they are beaten into obedience. At the forefront of this cycle of abuse is the Christian church, in which Brian was raised as a child. The church does teach Brian one important lesson – what is beautiful is what has power. The beautiful people are the ones who can make the weak submit to their will, the ones who make and enforce the rules by which the world must play. In his world, it is the church that manipulates this ultimate power, creating a morality, which it can then force the rest of the world to accept; the ability of the strong to dictate the morality of the weak. And it becomes the very rule that Brian will use later in his life to bring the church down.
It is also in this song that the important worm imagery enters. Marilyn Manson uses an image of a worm to describe man’s evolution from a weakling to the Overman, who is the height of human power and achievement: “You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm…”. In Antichrist Superstar, there is also an evolution – the evolution of Brian Warner to Marilyn Manson to the Antichrist Superstar. The image of the worm is used to show the weakness of the young Brian Warner, unaware of the power he has to change himself and the world. But as the worm ages his power grows, activating the change into an angel.
Track 3: “Dried Up, Tied Up, and Dead to the World”
You cut off all of your fingers trade them in for dollar bills cake on some make-up to cover up all those lines wake up and stop shaking Cause you’re just wasting time Don’t you want some of this? Don’t you need some of this? You take but cannot be given you ride but cannot be ridden pinch this tiny heart of mine wrap it up in soiled twine you never read what you've written I'll be your lover, I’ll be forever I’ll be tomorrow, I am anything when I’m high you shove your hair down my throat I feel your fingers in me tear this bitter fruit to mess and wrap it in your soiled dress now you must spit out the seeds all dried up and tied up forever all dead to the world.
Analysis:
“Dried Up” is one of the most biographical songs on the album, and one of the hardest to interpret. Without knowing a great deal about Marilyn Manson’s childhood, any educated analysis is difficult and shadowy. I can only base my interpretation on the strict lyrical content of the song and what information is available in the press. That being said, I personally see this song as directly referencing one of Brian Warner’s greatest influences in life – his mother.
The maternal imagery in “Dried Up” is powerful. The object of the song is an ageing female who must “cake on some more make-up to cover all those lines”. The fruit and seed imagery recalls the process of reproduction – the fruit that is Brian growing from the seeds his mother planted. It seems that his mother ignored much of what went on in his life, choosing to put on her make-up, her old clothes, and makes believe that everything is ok.
“You never read what you've read written"
This seem to point to the process of parenting itself. Parents ‘write” their children as an author would write a book, creating the character that is their child. But what happens if that parent’s love is so claustrophobic that the child becomes suffocated, unable to respond to love at all? In “Dried Up”, Brian’s mother’s love is all encompassing, consuming, almost suffocating. The repeated images of being invaded, felt from the inside, of being torn apart are graphic and poignant. In response to this crushing emotion, Brian feels trapped, unsure of how to respond. He wants to feel his mother’s love more than anything in the world, and will do or be anything he can to get it. But nothing he does works, and the end result is a deadening of emotion that leaves him cut off from love altogether.
"I'll be your lover I'll be forever I'll be tomorrow I am anything when I'm high . . . "
The only way to get through this childhood was to be high all the time. How would one handle such unconsciousness without being unconscious? If the child spends his time intoxicated on whatever, he can be whatever she needs him to be without regret or shame.
Track 4: “Tourniquet”
Each time I make my mother cry an angel dies and falls from heaven when the boy is still a worm it's hard to learn the number seven but when they get to you it's the first thing that they do each time I look outside my mother dies, I feel my back is changing shape when the worm consumes the boy it's never considered rape when they get to you ”prick your finger it is done... the moon has now eclipsed the sun... the angel has spread its wings... the time has come for bitter things...”
Analysis:
He has risen. The worm is transforming…leaving behind the mother, the Catholic school, the life, the everything, surrendering the last of himself to the angel he needs to become in order to survive. This is the beginning of the end of all we know. This is the angel making a statement. This is your world in which he grew, and he grew to hate you.
He is no longer your victim.
I believe this song is very personal for Marilyn. This may just represent that moment in his life when he literally shed the systems thrust upon him and chose his own path.
"The angel has spread his wings, the time has come for bitter things."
America must see it’s own underbelly. He must find a way to show it to us.
This haunting song ends the first cycle of the life of Brian Warner, as he takes the final step into becoming the rock god Marilyn Manson. As a young boy, Brian couldn’t see that he had the ability to possess the type of power that the church had – the power to create one’s own morality and lifestyle. Now, as a young man, Brian has learned “the number seven” – the number the Christian church uses to symbolize power, Jesus Christ and God. Brian has learned that power – the power to create his own morality and values, avoiding those of the church. And, although it seemingly destroys his mother to watch, Brian accepts this power, feels it changing him, and at last becomes Marilyn Manson. Here we see the first images of the angel, and the wings that Marilyn grows that symbolize his power to captivate and control the masses. This deformed angel is the overruling image of power throughout the rest of the album, and is the final form that Marilyn will assume.
"prick your finger it is done... the moon has now eclipsed the sun... the angel has spread its wings... the time has come for bitter things..."
The simple rhyme at the end of the song is perhaps the most crucial lyric of the album. This rhyme is in fact a prayer, a chant, signaling the precise moment of the transformation. These lines are the album’s center – the repeating phrase that signals the central event or character of a musical piece. These lines will be repeated once more in the album, when Marilyn takes the leap to an even greater power, the Antichrist.
Track 7: “Deformography”
When will realize you're already there?
So watered down-your feelings have turned to mud.
"Love everybody" is destroying the value of
all hate has got me nowhere
I know I'm slipping, I know I'm slipping, I know I'm slipping away
oh no, it is everything they said it was
oh no, I am everything they said I was
when you get to heaven you will wish you you're in hell
when will you realize, you're already here
you'll thank us now that you have crossed over
don't pick the scabs or you will never heal
the world shudders as the worm gets its wings
“then I got my wings and I never even knew it
when I was a worm, thought I wouldn't get through it…”
Analysis:
As far as it’s place in the story, it seems to be sort of a wake-up call. A call to both the angel and to the kids, almost like instructions. Let me paraphrase what I think this song says:
We live in a homogenized society. Nothing has any value anymore. Loving or hating everything cheapens the value of your emotions so much they become worthless. I can feel myself becoming more and more the person that the media and parents accuse me of being, and it’s time that I accepted it. And it’s also time you came with me. As soon as they realize what is happening here, they will try to stop us. They will make such a commotion as we gain strength. But like my growth into an angel, which I never thought I’d survive, we will survive this.
In “Wormboy” we hear the pure voice of Marilyn Manson for the first time. At this point, Marilyn is still a man – one who can feel, love, hurt, and have regrets. But he feels the last of his emotion “slipping away”, as the lifestyle of the rock star gives him the power he has been craving. As a star, Marilyn is consumed by the need for power, to have others do his will. But Marilyn also sees that with this power he can bring and end to those things that scarred him as a child – the church, uncaring parents, turning a blind face to tragedy. Torn between the desire to love and reform society and the desire to manipulate others, Marilyn decides to cease his destiny and become the ultimate star:
"The world shudders as the worm gets his wings".
He has already gone too far, and it is time to fulfill his destiny . . .
Track 9: “Mister Superstar”
Hey. Mr. Superstar I'll do anything for you I'm your number one fan hey Mr. Super star, I, I, I, I want you hey Mr. sickly star, I want to get sick from you hey Mr. fallen star, don't you know I worship you? Hey Mr. big rock star, I wanna grow up just like you I know that I can turn you on I wish I could just turn you offI never wanted this hey Mr. Super hate, I just want to love you hey, hey, hey Mr. Superstar I wanna go down on you hey Mr. super god, will you answer my prayers? Hey, hey, hey Mr. superman, I want to be your little girl hey Mr. superstar, I'll kill myself for you hey Mr. superstar, I'll kill you if I can't have you
Analysis:
By this time in the story, Marilyn Manson the band has achieved national stardom, and Marilyn’s personal popularity is growing every day. “Mr. Superstar”, one of the most distressing tracks on the album, graphically shows the downsides to this popularity.
Marilyn now has what he has always wanted – people who love and worship him. They are his fans, his groupies, and the fanatics that buy his music, go to his shows, and center their lives around him. But even this is not what he expected or wanted. Instead of having people who love him for who he is inside, these fans love him for what he has become, and for the mask of the star he now wears as his face. They don’t understand him, and can’t give him the human connections he so desperately needs. Marilyn’s humanity fades even further as the fans feed the ego of the Antichrist, as they offer their bodies, their souls, and even their lives for him. However, even though he knows he’s gone to far, he can’t seem to stop them anymore:
"I know that I can turn you on, I wish that I could turn you off - I never wanted any of this. . ."
This is the power he dreamed of, but it is nothing like he thought it would be. But not even his own disgust with his fans or himself can stop him anymore . . .
Track 10: “Angel with the Scabbed Wings”
He is the angel with the scabbed wings hard-drug face, want to powder his nose he will deflower the freshest crop dry up all the wombs with his rock and roll sores dead is what he is, he does what he please the things that he has you'll never want to see what you're never gonna be now sketch a little keyhole for looking-glass people you don't want to be him you only want to see him mommy's got a scarecrow, gotta let the corn grow man can't always reap what he sow he is the maker he is the taker he is the savior he is the raper get back you're never gonna leave him get back you're always gonna please him
Analysis:
The ugliest creatures make the most beauty. This is a message I get from many of Marilyn’s words. . .and I think this song is no exception. This is not a traditionally beautiful angel we see. This is a dirty, cracked, broken, twisted angel, come to save the people from the purified, homogenized angel who can do no real good in this life. At the same time. . . what price, freedom?
"He is the maker." Quoted. Said by the flock. The kids. “He is the taker”. Entrance by the angel. "He is the savior." Our label, our desire to lift him higher than is his desire to be. “He is the raper”, taking from us more than we wanted to give freely.
A symbiotic destruction, ending in what?
“Angel with the Scabbed Wings” is “Mr. Superstar” gone global. Marilyn’s fame is now worldwide, and fans from every corner of the earth have come to worship him. Everyone wants a piece of Marilyn Manson – they all want to be what he is, go where he’s gone. But what his fans don’t see – what no one sees – is that Marilyn is dead inside, hollowed out and alone. He can’t love or feel, he soils all he touches, and is disgusted with himself and what he has become:
"he is the angel with the scabbed wings, hard-drug face want to powder his nose. . . dead is what he is".
Marilyn realizes that what everyone is worshipping is a fake, a mask he has created so that he won’t have to feel anymore. All he had wanted was to create something new and pure, but now he is faced with the fact that he must destroy if he is to create anything new. To be the maker, he must take first; to save them he must first rape them. His cries of “get back – you’re never gonna leave him” go unheeded, as his fans push him further into this role of savior and disintegrator.
Track 11: “Kinderfeld”
He lives inside my mouth and tells me what to say when he turns the trains on he makes it go away the hands are cracked and dirty and the nails are beetle wings when he turns the trains on he unties all of the strings The worm: "tell me something beautiful, tell me something free, tell me something beautiful and I wish that I could be." (Then I got my wings and I never even knew it, when I was a worm, thought I couldn't get through It) Jack: (not spoken) come, come the toys all smell like children and scab-knees will obey I’ll just have to kneel on broomsticks just to make it go away (then I got my wings and I never even knew it, when I was a worm, thought I couldn't get through it) "Because today is black, because there is no turning back. Because your lies have watered me I have become the strongest weed the taste of metal disintegrator three holes upon the leather belt it's cut and swollen and the age is swollen " there's no one here to save our self." this is what you should fear you are what you should fear
Analysis:
“Kinderfeld” has dark, moody layers lie in dramatic contrast to the other songs that surround it on the album, and for good reason. “Kinderfeld” is a trip backwards, a break in the timeline of the album, a flashback that allows us- as well as Marilyn himself – to take a close look at the exact moment in time that destroyed Marilyn’s innocence forever. As with “Dried Up”, I am basing my interpretation on the lyrical content of the song as well as information garnered in the press. In “Kinderfeld”, several different voices speak up to tell a tale of abuse and forced silence. “Kinderfeld” is the story of that abuse.
The song begins with an creepy description of an old man who plays with a toy train set in the dark. This man is his grandfather Jack, and it is made quite clear in the opening lines of the song their is something terribly wrong with his relationship with Brian:
"He lives inside my mouth and tells me what to say . . ."
The lyrics reference the strings that appeared before in “Dried Up” and “Tourniquet” as if the bizarre form of love taught by his mother is being “untied”, distorted even further. The voice of the worm, Marilyn’s innocence, enters and begs for “something beautiful . . .something free“, an escape from the corruption that is hurting him so badly. Jack’s voice itself enters the story, telling the listeners that the “scab-knees” – the children – will obey him, and that he knows he will have to repent for what he is doing (kneeling on broomsticks is an old Christian ritual of regret). It is quite clear that is was this moment, this instant of violation and abuse at the hands of his own grandfather, that truly drove a young Brian Warner to change into the punishing angel and rock icon he is today. A small voice in the lyric confirms this, as it repeats “then I got my wings and I never even knew it”.
A new voice then enters the song, indicating a voice we have not yet heard. This is the voice of the angel, the Antichrist himself, speaking for the first time to the people. The angel explains that he was faked through the fires of this abuse, that is was this cruel world that made him and drives him:
"Because your lies have watered me, I have become the strongest weed".
The song fades into a series of cryptic images of abuse and humiliation as we are forced to watch Brian’s abuse through Jack’s eyes. The boy – young Brian – cries that there is no one here to save him. The voice of the Disintegrator, the Antichrist, enters again here, ending the song
"This is what you should fear; you are what you should fear".
What Marilyn is most afraid of is what hurt him as a child: sin, evil, immorality, and the lack of love. But now, Marilyn has become everything he so hates. He is now the one who does not care or love, the sinner, the dirty rock star. If Marilyn hates the world for possessing these attributes, then by all rights he must also hate himself. This is the true “Nietzschian” moment of contempt, the moment that births the “Overman”. The “Overman’s” goal is not only to change and use society to benefit himself, but also to eliminate what is dirty and impure within himself. Marilyn is finally ready to take that step, and so, at last, the Antichrist and the “Overman” are born.
Cycle III:
Disintegrator Rising
The final cycle of Antichrist Superstar is the most philosophical of the three. Chronologically, “Disintegrator Rising” starts immediately after “Irresponsible Hate Anthem” in the immediate future. At this point in time, the band Marilyn Manson is immensely popular worldwide. Millions of fans surround Marilyn, who in turn lashes out at the world, exposing the scheme and selfishness that exists in American culture and the Christian religion. But he has paid the ultimate price for this power – he has sacrificed what was left of his soul and humanity.
“Nietzsche’s Overman” is the model for the character of the Antichrist Superstar. The “Overman” is a being above the level of man, who has the will to create and live out his own set of values, and, by his own influence and charisma, can make others follow his lead. But, despite this incredible will to power, the “Overman” is trapped in a cycle of disgust. He hates himself for having weaknesses, but yet without those very weaknesses he would not driven to be the “Overman”. Thus, he is doomed to a state of constant contradiction, where he at once loves himself enough to exercise his will over others and hates himself enough to require constant change. He can never be happy, and if he ever ceases to be influential or to be disgusted with himself, he will cease to be.
In “Disintegrator Rising”, Marilyn becomes trapped in the cycle of the “Overman”. At one moment, he lords his power over the world, excitedly watching his fans and even his enemies follow his every move and lead. But, at the same time, he hates himself for what he has become, and wishes only to go back to a simpler time without the power or corruption.
Track 12: “Antichrist Superstar”
You built me up with your wishing hell I didn't have to sell you you threw your money in the pissing well you do just what they tell you REPENT, that's what I'm talking about I shed the skin to feed the fakeREPENT, that's what I'm talking about whose mistake am I anyway? Cut the head off the Grows back hard I am the hydra now you'll see your star prick your finger it is done the moon has now eclipsed the sun the angel has spread its wings the time has come for bitter things the time has come it is quite clear our antichrist... is almost here... it is done when you are suffering know that I have betrayed you. when you are suffering know that I have betrayed you.
Analysis:
The title track to the album marks the end of the second cycle of Marilyn Manson’s life. It is within this song that Marilyn Manson makes his final evolution into the Antichrist Superstar, the cruel avenging angel determined to bring down both the world and himself. This new transformation is signaled by the return of the center of the album, the chant and the prayer: The “prick your finger” chant that first appeared in “Cryptorchid”. In the song’s lyrics, Marilyn restates that it was the way of the world that has created this Antichrist, and if we need to blame someone for his existence, then we need look no further than our own mirrors:
"You built me up with your wishing hell - I didn't have to sell you . . . whose mistake am I anyway?”
Marilyn openly challenges us to see the flaws in our religion, our society, and ourselves that have brought about this terrible yet beautiful creature of destruction. To hate the Antichrist is to hate ourselves – the cries of “REPENT!” demonstrate that terrible fact.”Antichrist Superstar” is Marilyn’s first chance to exercise his power to create his own morality by showing the world what is wrong with the pre-existing system of values. This song is the Will to Power in action, and it gives us our first glimpse of the true power of the Antichrist Superstar.
“When you are suffering…know that I have betrayed you.”
The same lines are repeated here once again.
The essence of every charismatic leader that has ever lived, The Antichrist has come. “Nietzsche” predicted him, America created him, and Marilyn Manson became him.
He’s the omen and the prophet and the savior and the destructor. He’s everything to all, or so they make him. He is anti-everything the country holds dear, and they want him to be more, and more.
"You built me up with you wishing hell I didn't have to sell you."
Much of organized religion today has more to do with the Almighty Dollar than the Almighty. We have created a need for false prophets and cheaters dressed in priestly outfits, offering salvation at a price.
"Who's mistake am I anyway?"
The answer is America’s. And regardless of how many times the fake is exposed, there is always another to take his place.
"Cut the head off. . . grows back hard. . . ."
Track 13: “1996”
Anti choice anti girl I am the anti-flag unfurled anti white and anti law I got the anti-future plan anti fascist anti mod I am the anti-music god anti sober anti whore there will never be enough of anti more I can't believe in the things that don't believe in me now it's your turn to see misanthropy anti people now you've gone too far here's your antichrist superstar anti money anti hate anti things I … and ate anti cop anti fun here is my anti-president gun anti Satan anti black anti world is on my back anti gay and anti dope I am the faggot anti-pope anti peace anti life anti husband, anti wife anti song and anti me I don't deserve a chance to be
Analysis:
“1996” marks the height of the power of the Antichrist Superstar. The terrible angel, that is Marilyn, screams his way through this track, which explodes with raw energy. In this song, Marilyn has become a being of pure contradiction, a creature within whom love and hate, light and dark, life and death all mean the same thing. Marilyn here becomes the exact opposite of everything we know and understand:
"Anti Satan, anti black, anti world is on my back. Anti gay and anti dope, I am the faggot anti-pope . . ."
With these contradictions, he presents himself to the world, saying, “Anti people now you’ve gone too far; here’s your Antichrist Superstar”.
They have made him, and whether they love or despise their creation, they have to live with what they have done.
How could people expect a man, who by thier definition must be against everything and everyone, to exist without imploding?
Did they mean to go this far? Did they want to push him to these limits? This is what he’s asking them. And again, this song ends with a warning form the Angel/Antichrist:
"I don't deserve a chance to be."
This is both a warning and evidence of the self-loathing that a “Nietzschian” Antichrist must experience in order to become what he strives to be.
Track 14: “Minute of Decay”
There’s not much left to love too tired today to hate I feel the empty I feel the minute of decayI'm on my way down now, I'd like to take you with me I'm on my way down the minute that it's born it begins to die I'd love to just give in, I'd love to live this lie I've been to black and back I've whited out my name a lack of pain, a lack of hope, a lack of anything to say there is no cure for what is killing me I'm on my way down I've looked ahead and saw a world that's dead I guess that I am too I'm on my way down now, I'd like to take you with me...
Analysis:
This is a surprisingly quiet song that breaks the wall that was “1996”, revealing to us the truth of the Antichrist – his disgust with himself. One of the most emotional songs on the album, “Minute of Decay” struggles with the self-loathing that the “Overman” must feel. All emotion gone or deadened beyond repair, Marilyn is trapped within himself, completely alone:
"I feel the empty, I feel the minute of decay . . ."
Realizing that he’s gone too far, he wishes for someone to love, someone who can put out the feelings of desperation that are overpowering him:
"I'm on my way down now, I'd like to take you with me".
Desperately, Marilyn wishes to be able to go back, but he realizes that who he used to be is dead now, a sacrifice to the Antichrist. All is lost, and his only real hope is to start to believe once again in who he has become, who he was created to be:
"I'd love to just give in; I'd love to live this lie".
There simply is no future for him now, and this quietly desperate song becomes Marilyn’s final acceptance that he will continue to live and die alone as the Antichrist that he and the world have created.
A last reflection of the Angel before his gives himself over completely. A last reflection of the humanity of the Angel/Antichrist. I think this is a very autobiographical song. . .
The first instant that the worm conceived of a plan to become this great and charismatic statesman of the awaiting disaster, he created the machine of his own death.
"The minute that it's born, It begins to die . . ."
When Brian Warner became Marilyn Manson, he erased his name, identity:
"I whited out my name"
(The only thing we can ever say is ours until we die.)
This despair and fear fills him with the feeling that he really doesn’t have anything else for the people, after waving his arms frantically and screaming for the flock to look.
"A lack of pain, a lack of hope, a lack of anything to say." "I've looked ahead and saw a world that's dead I guess that I am too."
Track 15: “The Reflecting God”
Your world is an ashtray we burn and coil like cigarettes the more you cry your ashes turn to mud it's the nature of the leeches, the virgin's feeling cheated you've only spent a second of your life my world is unaffected, there is an exit here I say it is and then it's true, there is a dream inside a dream, I'm wide awake the more I sleep you'll understand when I'm dead I went to god just to see, and I was looking at me saw heaven and hell were lies when I'm god everybody dies scar! can you feel my power? Shoot here and the world gets smaller scar/scar/can you feel my power? one shot and the world gets smaller let's jump upon the sharp swords and cut away our smiles without the threat of death there's no reason to live at all "each thing I show you is a piece of my death" no salvation ( Ha! Ha!) , no forgiveness ( Ha! Ha!) "this is beyond your experience" forgiveness...
Analysis:
The message here is simply, BE YOUR OWN GOD. BELIEVE IN YOU.
“The Reflecting God” is the most philosophical song on the album. It is common with references to “Nietzsche”, clearly showing the Overman to be the creative pattern for the Antichrist Superstar. The lines: “You’ll understand when I’m dead” are a direct reference to “Nietzsche’s” claim that no one alive could ever understand his brilliance. “Nietzsche’s” principle of “be your own god” is referenced in the lines:
"I went to God just to see, and I was looking at me"
And…
"I say it is and it's true".
Even “Nietzsche’s” discharge of Heaven and Hell show up when Marilyn says he:
"saw Heaven and hell were lies".
The lyrics to the song are raw and powerful, showing us the Antichrist/Overman at his most terrifying level. After the final acceptance in “Minute of Decay”, Marilyn lashes out against everyone and everything in “The Reflecting God”. Painting a miserable picture of an uncaring world in the song’s opening lines, the Antichrist declares himself to be “unaffected” by the damage he has created. It no longer seems to matter to him that many have put their faith and trust in him as a savior and hero. He has gotten what he wanted out of the masses, and they are now not necessary to him. This is “Nietzsche’s” master and slave morality in action – no pity or compassion for those who are weaker than you. The Antichrist is racing towards his own death, but even that no longer seems to matter to him. Begging for the bullet that will finally put an end to it all, The Antichrist’s world comes crashing down around him, and he is once again left all alone . . .
Let me paraphrase what I think this song says:
You have been taught by Christian America to value not giving yourself pleasure, or allowing someone to give it to you. They are stealing from you. You have become satisfied and accepting that you need someone else to validate your existence. This is not true. Look at me. All I have to do is exercise the will to power and my thoughts become reality. What makes you think you can’t do the same? I examined the alternatives, and discovered that the only way to be powerful in this world is to give yourself power.
I don’t expect this to be understood now. In fact, I don’t expect most of you to have the ability to affect any change anytime in the near future. But be warned . . . when I finally achieve my goals, all that you know will die. A new way of doing things will be created . . .
Maybe I won’t be here when it happens. Maybe no one will understand this for years to come. Maybe it was take the death of the Angel/Antichrist to make you see. But you will see.
"you'll understand when I'm dead"
This is what I believe Marilyn is saying . . . after all, this is beyond my experience.
Track 16: “Man That You Fear”
The ants are in the sugar the muscles atrophied we're on the other side, the screen is us and we're TV. Spread me open, sticking to my pointy ribs are all your infants in abortion cribs I was born into this everything turns to … the boy that you loved is the man that you fear ”pray until your number, asleep from all your pain, your apple has been rotting tomorrow's turned up dead” I have it all and I have no choice but to I’ll make everyone pay and you will seeyou can kill yourself now because you're dead in my mind the boy that you loved is the master you fear peel off all those eyes and crawl into the dark, you've poisoned all of your children to camouflage your scars pray unto the splinters, pray unto your fear pray your life was just a dream the cut that never heals pray now baby, pray your life was just a dream (I am so tangled in my sins that I cannot escape) pinch the head off, collapse me like a weed someone had to go this farI was born into this everything turns to … the world in my hands, there's no one left to hear you scream there's no one left for you "When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed".
Analysis:
“Man That You Fear” isn’t just the end of the album, but the end of the life of the Antichrist Superstar. The fans have all left, betrayed by their master. Society has avoided and abandoned him, and Marilyn is left alone, even less of a man as an angel than he was as a worm.
“Man That You Fear” works lyrically on two levels – it is at once a description of the death of the Antichrist and a blame on the Christian Church that created him. On one hand the song is the sorrowful, almost apologetic final words of a man who knows his life is over and that he has failed. But, at the same time, it is a direct assault on the Christian church, who has failed just as badly as he has. Virtually every line in this song can be read either way, and I think that both interpretations are equally valid and powerful.
Once again, Marilyn repeats to the listener that he is only what the world has made him, that he is no more evil than it is. Marilyn is almost regretful here, saying that he “had no choice” to become what he did, that he was “born into this“. He openly admits that he has hurt far too many along the way in an effort to bring himself power:
"Peel off all those eyes, crawl into the dark. You've poisoned all your children to camouflage your scars . . ."
His voice breaking, Marilyn begs for his life to be “just a dream”, for it all to finally be over:
"I am so tangled in my sins that I cannot escape".
But, at the same time, Marilyn shows that the church has lost as well. They are left as frightened and as alone as he is, their morality and society in disaster as well. Marilyn mocks the church by saying they can’t ask God for help any longer. For he is God now, he has the power. It is up to Marilyn now whether or not anyone is saved, anyone is worth anything, and there is no salvation or forgiveness in Marilyn’s world. All that is left of Christianity are the plain pieces of Christ’s cross – even the afterlife has ceased to exist. The only one who can answer any prayers won’t help anyone anymore:
"The world in my hands - there's no one left to hear you scream".
Marilyn has both lost and won his war.
The song ends a voice repeating over and over:
"When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed"
Marilyn craved power and love, but achieving his goal required the death of all he was. He got his wish, but his dreams were shattered with that very action, leaving him worse off than when he began.
There is a period of silence after this song, when suddenly track #99 begins with the same notes that ended “Man That You Fear”. And ends with the same notes that begin the album in “Irresponsible Hate Anthem”, creating another cycle, moving from birth to death to rebirth as the album cycles through.
The message here is profound, and is again rooted in Nietzsche’s philosophy. He believed in an Eternal Recurrence where the same people and events occur over and over again infinitely in time. The cycle of the Antichrist is this Recurrence come to life. Marilyn Manson is not the only Antichrist – far from it. The possible of the Antichrist lives in all of us, and when one tries and fails, there is always another waiting to take the place. The battle between innocence and corruption, religion and atheism, good and evil can never be won. It will be fought until the end of time, and Marilyn Manson is simply another player in this eternal game. Somewhere right now there is another young boy in another small town, feeling just as disillusioned as Brian Warner once did. And one day, that young man will grow into another Antichrist, and the whole cycle will repeat again and again. There is no end or beginning, no losers or winners. Only our scars remain to remind us of the battles we fight over and again.
“Cut the head off Grows back hard”.
