February 17, 2018

"There were very drawn out versions of songs where Manson mostly rambled on about our lack of love and other bizarre things. After an hour and fifteen minutes of this, he threw his microphone and left the stage."

From "Marilyn Manson Cuts Concert Short After Meltdown Onstage/The rocker rambled a freestyle jam and repeated demands for applause, while performing at the Paramount in New York on Thursday night."

I'm fascinated by that phrase "our lack of love and other bizarre things."

34 comments:

MayBee said...

Interesting.

He was married to Rose McGowan. And blamed for Columbine. So he might feel a lot of strong emotions at this moment in the world.

tim in vermont said...

Something to do with the Oxford comma went wrong in that sentence. “Love and other bizarre things” is great though, especially the lack of them, a good title for something or other. It’s sort of written at the level of a blog comment.

tim in vermont said...

Bullseye MayBee, as per usual.

madAsHell said...

Hmmmm....maybe it's not an act, and it doesn't wash away with the face paint.

wildswan said...

"MayBee said...
He was married to Rose McGowan. And blamed for Columbine. So he might feel a lot of strong emotions at this moment in the world."

Yes. In the video he is singing (or whatever) in front of a backdrop consisting of two revolvers on a graffiti wall. And there just was a terrible school shooting, another Columbine.

Here's some lyrics from 2017
Time to just kill this crowd, scream this fuckin' loud

We know where you fucking live
We know where you fucking live
We'll burn it down, burn it down
They won't even recognise your corpse

Fire fire fire fire fire away
Fire fire fire fire fire away
Fire fire fire fire fire away
Fire fire fire fire fire fire fire away

I love the sound of shells hitting the ground, man
I love the sound of shells hitting the ground
I love it

Probably I would mumble my message too.

john said...

Maybe he is suffering from the effects of a stroke.

wildswan said...

I guess love becomes a bizarre theme when Marilyn Manson tries to handle it.

tim in vermont said...

maybe it’s not an act, and it doesn't wash away with the face paint.

Maybe it’s not paint?

traditionalguy said...

It is really a tough time for disciples Aleister Crowley's Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn. Their Magick has quit working since the advent of DaTrump.

Wince said...

It's the return of higher interest rates and market volatility making him act that way.

Oh, that and probably the prescription pain killers for his broken leg added to the drugs he was already on.

gspencer said...

Well, one thing's certain, the phrase "our lack of love and other bizarre things"

will never beat "our precious bodily fluids"

Michael The Magnificent said...

In before someone suggests that Manson died while in prison.

Yancey Ward said...

I have always liked Manson's music, but lets face it- the man is probably mentally ill in many overt ways.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Man can’t a freak get a little love up in here!

Jupiter said...

I had always just assumed that any performer who called himself "Marilyn Manson" was probably a sick, perverted monster, making awful sounds and appealing to those who are fascinated by revolting things. Never bothered to check, though. So, I just watched the first 30 seconds or so of a video called "The Beautiful People". Boy, was I spot on!

Jupiter said...

So help me out here, Althouse. When you write about the doings of Bob Dylan, I assume this is because you like his music and find him to be sufficiently insightful that you believe there is value or meaning in contemplating his actions. You "follow" Bob Dylan. You are a "fan", though perhaps not a fanatic. So where does this Manson character fit in? What's next, Snoop Doggy Blog?

JackWayne said...

This is typical behavior for Manson. Nothing new to see here. Move on.

Darrell said...

All we ever learn from Love is how to shoot somebody that outdrew ya . . .

William said...

Marilyn Manson had a bad reaction to drugs. Donald Trump cheated on his wife. The sun rises in the east. You have to keep up with the news.

Ann Althouse said...

I saw Marilyn Manson in concert... years ago, opening for Nine Inch Nails. Great concert. Excellent music, though not the type I choose my own now (or, frankly, then). I listened to a long interview with him recently and thought he was interesting, intelligent, and sensitive. He was seriously dedicated to art and described a longstanding dedication to poetry.

Ann Althouse said...

The interview was a Marc Maron podcast.You could easily find it and listen for yourself.

Triangle Man said...

Come on Ann, what's the fun in thinking about how a person is *not* like our preconceived notions based on their appearance?

Jupiter said...

Mark Maron Marion Manson? Sigh. I have a bad feeling about this. But assigned reading is assigned reading, even if it's a podcast.

Jupiter said...

Sorry, Professor. Those two are way too lame to take up any more of my time.

Rosalyn C. said...

There is a Youtube video of Manson being interviewed by Letterman, Bill O'Reilly, etc., entitled something like "the times when Manson outclassed his interviewers" which gave me some insight into the intelligence and artistic vision of Manson. I respect him now as an artist even though I was never a fan and now even when I tried I couldn't watch more than a few minutes of his performances. His use of shock and guns, etc., is not a suggestion or even an endorsement, but merely a device to evoke an emotional response.

I'm not sure what he meant at the concert but these days I do feel a disturbing lack of love in our culture. Children were murdered and before the bodies even were cold many on the left were out in full force attacking and blaming Trump. And the spin continues. Maybe it's always been that way under a veneer of politeness and standards in broadcasting, but now with mass media at our fingertips the viciousness of people is being broadcast and multiplied and we can't ignore it.

Will Cate said...

He is a smart guy, but he has had terrible substance abuse problems for years, and I'd guess that's what was going on here.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Lack of love? I don't know what the hell he's talking about.

The Republicans who run our government and our lives have plenty of love. For guns and for billionaires.

Just not for little kids who want to get to school safely and survive the day. Or for working poor folks who don't have enough hate in their hearts to blame their fates on non-Americans while letting the owners off scot-free.

D 2 said...

Tuesdays Gone is a long rambling song. Surely some would clap politely if a musician worked that into the set.

Paul Snively said...

I've always felt Manson is an extremely intelligent, thoughtful person with a horrible past and likely some mental illness issues, very much like, say, Courtney Love. In both cases, you underestimate both their work and their insight at your peril.

I've also always thought Manson's shock schtick is just that—schtick. A genuine freak doesn't end up in a relationship with a Dita Von Teese, who is, after all, committed to bringing modesty and mystery and allure back to our images of the feminine. Before Manson there was Alice Cooper, now understood to be one of the most conservative guys in rock 'n' roll. My guess is, if Manson can stay clean like Cooper has, we'll find he too has essentially conservative principles, even if, right now, he mostly sees hypocrisy and power games in them.

Ambrose said...

i thought once Charles Manson died Marilyn Manson would just go away, but I was half-wrong.

Danno said...

Jupiter said...Sorry, Professor. Those two are way too lame to take up any more of my time.

You are free to do whatever you want. Why bother the blog commentariat with your opinions on AA covering this topic? That is lame!

Jupiter said...

Paul Snively said...

"I've also always thought Manson's shock schtick is just that—schtick."

That was what made listening to the interview so unpleasant. It was clear that mentioning unpleasant things has become a verbal tic for him, that he imagines others find entertaining. Plus he sounded pretty damaged, whether temporarily or permanently I don't know. Drug-addled.

Deep State Reformer said...

Manson clearly has an alcohol problem. I remember reading in the LA Weekly a few years back that he more or less did the same thing at a gig in Los Angeles. You stare into the abyss and the abyss stares into you. Looks like the abyss won that particular stare-down.

Jupiter said...

Danno said...

"You are free to do whatever you want. Why bother the blog commentariat with your opinions on AA covering this topic? That is lame!"

When I asked Althouse what she found interesting in this peculiar person, she suggested that I listen to the interview. I took that as a professorial request that I do the reading. So when I wrote "Sorry", I was apologizing for failing to do something I had been advised to do by someone I respect. And I am now answering a question, posed by Danno.