Overview
Objectives
- Recall the changes that occurred in commercial recording technology during the 1980s and 1990s
- Recall the important people and stylistic features of Britpop, industrial rock, and pop punk
- Examine how Britpop, industrial rock, and pop punk music related to earlier styles and genres of rock music
Industrial continued
Marilyn Manson is another industrial musician from the 1990s. Like Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson is the name of both the band and the lead singer. Each member of the band created a stage name by combining the name of a female celebrity and the name of a serial killer: Marilyn Manson is a combination of Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson, and Twiggy Ramirez combines the name of 1960s model Twiggy with Son of Sam serial killer Richard Ramirez. Marilyn Manson’s music combined the darkness and distortion of other industrial rock with explicit lyrics that often bordered on vulgarity. The members of the band dressed in grotesque costumes that hearkened back to the days of Alice Cooper and Kiss.
Lead singer Alice Cooper wore heavy makeup and prostheses in order to manipulate his appearance. The members of the group frequently consulted with members of the Church of Satan and included satanic or demonic themes in their lyrics.
Although Marilyn Manson’s music was often not played on the radio or else was heavily censored in order to be played on the radio, they began to achieve commercial success during the mid-1990s. They recorded a cover version of the Eurhythmics’ 1983 song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) ♫" (1995), and MTV played the music video for the single in heavy rotation. In 1996, Marilyn Manson released the album Antichrist Superstar, the title of which is a play on the Andrew Lloyd Weber Broadway musical called Jesus Christ Superstar. Produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Antichrist Superstar is a rock opera and concept album, and like Reznor’s album The Downward Spiral, Antichrist Superstar was inspired by the writings of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Antichrist Superstar was followed by Mechanical Animals (1998) and Holy Wood (2000). Each of the three individual albums is a concept album, but when placed together, the three create a trilogy whose story spans the three.
Marilyn Manson was one of the most controversial artists of the 1990s, drawing criticism from religious groups, parenting organizations, and the media. Senator Joseph Lieberman once claimed that Marilyn Manson was "perhaps the sickest group ever promoted by a mainstream record company." In 1999, Marilyn Manson was accused of inciting the Columbine High School shooting in which two high school students shot thirteen classmates and then themselves. Although it was later revealed that the two shooters did not listen to Marilyn Manson’s music, they still drew intense criticism from parenting and religious groups. The band canceled the remaining dates of their 1999 tour and remained relatively quiet both publically and musically until they released Holy Wood in late 2000.
“In the '90s, the radio was still alive with all different kinds of points of view, and I think that's why people are longing for that time. It was the first time that alternative music broke through to the mainstream.”
“A lot of people get into alternative music as part of their identity. It's something that isn't the mainstream, that their brothers and sisters don't know about, and that their parents don't like. It's something they can have as their own.”
Green Day chose their band name due to their fondness of smoking pot. A "Green Day" is a day off to lounge around and be stoned.
