MARILYN MANSON - "DISPOSABLE TEENS"/"THE FIGHT SONG"
from what i understand, one of these is going to be the first single from manson's upcoming album. let me talk about "disposable teens" first.
manson's described "disposable teens" as a tribute to gary glitter. given glitter's troubles with the law, i thought it possible that, when he said "tribute," it might have something to do with pedophilia. happily, this isn't the case and manson instead takes his cue from glitter's beat-heavy glam hits.
prior to the release of mechanical animals, i found manson to be an intriguing figure who, to be frank, made shitty music. when the aformentioned album was released, though, i know myself and many other like-minded music fans became converts: by making his music sexy with glammed-up sounds, he gave his confrontational sound just the right tweaking it needed to reach a new audience and to garner full-on mainstream attention for his message.
had i heard "disposable teens" before mechanical animals, i'd likely have dismissed it -- the beat utilized is obviously a variation on glitter's stomp, but it's also not a million miles away from "the beautiful people." now, hearing "disposable teens" through the lens of mechanical animals, i can fully appreciate that beat and the bolan-filtered-through-industrial roar of the riff. the lyrics are what you've come to expect from manson: raw and edgy, attacking society and god (i particularly like, "i'm a rebel from the waist down"). it's topped off with a typical populist chorus from the man with a neat beatles nick. top stuff.
like "disposable teens," "the fight song" is a short (3 minutes) blast of fury. the chorus is arguably better: "i'm not a slave to a god who doesn't exist, i'm not a slave to a world that doesn't give shit" followed by shouts of "fight! fight! fight!" -- he certainly has a knack for sloganeering. i've seen people call this his "song 2" and the comparisons are not so off: both feature heavy riffing, a mechanical drum beat...hell, substitute "whoo-hoo!" for "fight!" and you're set. it's one of those songs that you play right before you go out to get yourself hyped up; what exactly this hypes you up for is not a question for me to answer. it's fun, if not just a bit insubstantial. i take back my earleir proclamations: based on what i've heard so far, maybe manson's got another good album up his sleeves. however it turns out, you can't say that the man's not an excellent demagogue.
(c) 2000 - fred solinger -
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