JIM AND DONNA GIVE THEIR ON INTERPRETATION OF
MARILYN MANSON'S ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR
CYCLE II
Jim:
"What is the ape to man? A laughing stock or a painful embarrassment. And
man shall be just that for the Overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. You
have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm."
--Nietzsche, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", Book 1, Section Three
Worms. A metaphor for? Many times the metaphor has been used in art of one sort
or another. Here I believe it means the boy/young man as he begins to learn and gains
strength. He realizes he can use this pain, this dysfunction, he can take it and make it
grow. Make it into something he can use for the benefit of himself and others like him. I
would go so far as to say that Marilyn's interest in philosophy started around this phase
of his life, and he drew personal empowerment from the things he read. My contention is
that Nietzsche was introduced to Brian/Marilyn in this period.
Donna:
The meat of the album lies in this second cycle of Antichrist Superstar. In this
cycle, Brian transforms into Marilyn Manson, the rock star able to sway the minds of
people across the world. But this metamorphosis has a price, and that is his innocence,
which is swept away by the power of this new, dirty, potent world. As Marilyn's influence
grows, the power he has to manipulate and control begins to corrupt him, stealing away
what humanity he has left. By the end of the cycle, Marilyn is perched on the edge of a
great abyss, where both ultimate power and ultimate destruction await him at the bottom.
Track 5: "Little Horn"
Donna:
"Little Horn" is drastically different from everything that
comes before it on this album. Musically, it is louder, angrier, more distorted anything
save "Irresponsible", and it is this anger that signals the new change that the
character Brian is undergoing. Brian is older now, aware of the patterns of use and abuse
that have been going on around him. He sees how society and religion have warped values so
that it is impossible to love or be loved, and that he has the power to stop it all:
"There's a tumor in the TV mouth; burn it out before it grows." For the first
time, he now realizes that he doesn't have to be passive - he can do something. Thus is
born "Little Horn", the one who arises to change the warped values of the world
that have so scarred him and others like him.
The worm imagery enters again here, signaling the next step the evolution
towards the Nietzschian Overman. In Nietzsche's philosophy, the cycle of the Overman
begins with a moment of great contempt, when one realizes how warped and filthy the world
has become. "Little Horn" is that moment for Brian, and thus he takes his first
step towards becoming the Overman. This song serves as a glorification of this change, as
the other "worms" around him "wait with baited breath" for the One who
has the power to change the world. But "Little Horn" is also the last warning to
a world about to be overtaken; the final cry to repent or be destroyed by the power that
is the Antichrist Superstar.
Jim:
"Out of the bottomless pit, comes the little horn." The birth of a
superstar.
Revelations 9
1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth:
and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as
the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke
of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was
given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
The little horn birthed from the smoke? Perhaps.
This is the moment a young man realizes that he indeed has the power to shape.
He has influence. He can speak his mind and make what he knows as truth known to many. The
imagery was said to come from a dream Marilyn had, but the message that runs throughout
the song is one that runs throughout 'ACS'...
"Save yourself from this..."
In other words, "Get away while you can. If you stay, I will take you down.
I will break you and use you according to my will." The secondary, and perhaps more
foretelling message is found within the lyric "You can't save yourself." I think
this in effect says "You want to run away from me. You should run away from me. But
you will not and cannot run from me."
"Everyone will suffer now..." The worm gains strength and the courage
of his convictions...the power to start to make his vision real. I also take this to mean
not that everyone will experience great pain and suffering, but that those who oppose and
seek to repress freedom, especially Christian America, will suffer when the empty systems
they have built come tumbling down like a house of cards.
I see an echo of something else, as well, almost like this song is a cry to stop
the little horn before it's too late. As with so much of this album, there is always
another layer...
Track 6: "Cryptorchid"
Jim:
He is 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.
Donna:
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.
Brian has learned that power - the power to create his own morality and values, eschewing
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 enthrall and control the masses. This deformed angel is the overriding image of power
throughout the rest of the album, and is the final form that Marilyn will assume.
The simple rhyme at the end of the song is perhaps the most crucial lyric of the
album: "Prick your finger, it is done. The moon has now eclipsed the sun. The angel
has spread his wings, the time has come for bitter things." This rhyme is in fact an
invocation, signaling the precise moment of the metamorphosis. These lines are the album's
idee fixe - 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"
Donna:
One of the most lyrically complex songs on Antichrist Superstar,
"Deformography" is like an intricate dance played out between the two sides of
Marilyn Manson. On one side, there is the human element, innocence, the man who doesn't
want to corrupt or be corrupted. On the other lies the angel, the rock icon who wants the
sex, the filth, the power to manipulate others. The two voices interweave throughout the
song, tossing lines back and forth until, finally, one side emerges as the winner.
The first lines of the song are a warning, for both himself and to others, to
preserve at least a little bit of humanity and dignity, to not take this new role of the
rock star too far. The worm imagery returns immediately, as we see Brian
"squirming" into his new body, pulling on his new skin, assuming a new identity
as the old one gets eaten away from within. The voice of the angel, the Antichrist,
returns fire, making his goals of destruction clear: "I'll tear you down like a
whore. I will bury your god in my warm spit...". The angel wants nothing to do with
humanity - he wants only to eat, to tear down, to be dirty.
Slowly, throughout the next verse, the angel, torn apart consumes the worm:
"You eat up my heart and all the little parts. Your star is so sharp it leaves me
jagged holes..." As the worm dies, Brian Warner dies too, and the destructive desire
of the angel - the powerful Nietzschian Overman - takes over. Nowhere in the song is this
transformation more evident than in the repeating lines of "You are the one I want
and what I want is so unreal". As the song ends, the lyrics morph into: "I am
the one you want and what I want is so unreal". The "you" becomes
"I", the worm becomes the angel, and the man takes his first giant steps towards
the creating powers of the Overman.
Jim:
In America, who are the most easily influenced? Kids. Who do kids revere most?
Rock Stars. What would the angel want to be if he wanted to both teach and manipulate the
children?
A Rock Star.
Marilyn Manson the band squirmed it's way into the belly of America, and clung
like a tenacious parasite, feeding off the scraps that this society threw them. The
children no one else catered to, or even cared about, were this band's nutrition. More
importantly, they were food for Marilyn Manson the man.
I believe this song speaks to the children, the flock, the followers that the
angel has gathered. In the lyric sheet, it seems to me that the line "You are the one
I want and what I want is so unreal" is spoken to them by the angel. Then, in
parentheses, the line "I am the one you want, and what you want is so unreal" is
an admission of fraud, really, or perhaps stirrings of the self-hate required to fuel the
Overman.
Like many other lines throughout 'ACS', this song both warns and explains,
pushes away and pulls you in. It's both sides of the coin at once.
Track 8: "Wormboy"
Jim:
To be perfectly honest, I could have done without this song on 'ACS'. Sometimes
I program it out on my CD player because I feel like the continuity of the record is
broken here. That having been said, it's not because of the lyrical content, or the
message or apparent meanings, but because the sound is jarringly different.
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. Watch...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."
Donna:
In "Wormboy" we hear the undiluted voice of Marilyn Manson
for the first time. Chronologically, I believe this song takes place just as the band
Marilyn Manson is starting to hit the national scene, gaining recognition and admiration -
note the playful, almost campy nature of the music that easily recalls the music from
Portrait of an American Family. 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"
Donna:
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 poignant 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, the fanatics that buy his music, go to his shows, 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...
Jim:
Being the angel and a Rock Star has a price. That price sometimes takes the form
of obsession. We expect so much from our rock stars... they communicate to us on such a
personal level, we tend to expect to be able to communicate back to them on the same
level. Who could be that intimate with literally millions of people? No one. And yet we
get angry, we expect certain considerations form our rock stars. We expect intimacy, most
often represented by sex.
When that intimacy isn't forthcoming, well...
Things happen. People get hurt.
This song is the Angel's experience with the wrong type of adoration, and on a
philosophical level, it is representative of every "fatal attraction" style
relationships that any of us has ever had.
Track 10: "Angel with the Scabbed Wings"
Jim:
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. Look at the images on the album.
This is not a traditionally beautiful angel we see. This is a dirty, cracked, broken,
fucked up angel, come to save us from the purified, homogenized, cookie cutter angel who
can do us no real good in this life. At the same time... what price, freedom?
Again, I turn to the lyric sheet and how certain lines are presented.
"He is the maker." Quoted. Said by whom? Us. The flock. The kids.
(He is the taker). Admission 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?
Donna:
"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"
Donna:
"Kinderfeld" is my favorite song on Antichrist Superstar. It's 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 the listener - 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. Marilyn has
repeatedly talked in the press about his strange and abusive relationship with his
grandfather, Jack. "Kinderfeld" is the story of that abuse.
The song begins with an eerie description of an old man who plays with a toy
train set in the dark. This man is Grandpa Jack, and it is made quite clear in the opening
lines of the song there 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
repentance). It is quite clear that it was this moment, this instant of violation and
abuse at the hands of his own grandfather, that truly drove a young Brian Warner to morph
into the avenging angel and rock icon he is today. A small voice in the background
confirms this, as it repeats "then I got my wings and I never even knew it".
A new voice then enters the song, denoted in the lyric sheet as
"a voice we have not yet heard". This is the voice of the angel, the Antichrist
himself, speaking for the first time to the listener. The angel explains that he was
forged 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 degradation 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 with a potent and prematory mantra: "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, 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 eradicate 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.
Jim:
A synopsis of the entire story. This song contains all three cycles wrapped up
(in plastic?) in one concise package. The outside pressures molding the boy. Jack, his
grandfather, his activities as a child. The string, I believe, is a mention of the twine.
Then, the worm is transformed to the current Marilyn Manson. The disintegrator
warned us that while we should fear our own destructive behavior, he is indeed what we
should be fearing as well.
Just as he had in the past...
Source: www.marilyn-manson.com/acs/overview.htm
Cycle I | Cycle III