Video Disturbeo: Marilyn Manson.

Running through the annals of popular culture and the storied history of pop music itself, the yearning to shock the public's sensibilities has always been a constant in the course of entertainment. From KISS and their demonic costumes, Alice Cooper with his snakes and scimitars, Jimmy Page and his studious transliterations of the writing of Aleister Crowley, Ozzy Osbourne's pigeon/bat feasts, and John Lennon's blasé dismissal of Jesus' popularity to GWAR's epically nasty (and fucking disgusting - in a good way) stage massacres, Revolting Cocks' own name, Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy's self-mutilation, and Judas Priest's S&M-inspired frenzies of metal mayhem, there has always been something out there somewhere to shock just about anybody. Heaven knows people can be easily offended; and sometimes offensiveness is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to moving copies of albums off those record shelves. (Or getting kids to clickety-click on the "Buy" button on iTunes.)


So it came as no surprise that, at the end of the 20th century, the bogeyman du jour for middle-American parents was none other than Brian Hugh Warner from Columbus, Ohio -- better known to the world at large as Marilyn Manson. A card-carrying member of the Church of Satan who had supped personally with that church's leader Anton La Vey in his San Francisco home; a provocateur of the highest order with that vaguely disturbing coloured contact lens and the androgynous costumes; an estimable member of the late 90's shock-rock community with blaring guitars and bludgeoning lyrics revolving around violence, drugs, mayhem, and - yes - Satan; and a shameless self-promoter whose often conflicting statements about his "message" in interviews confused many; Marilyn Manson represented many aspects of popular culture to many different people. But on the 20th of April, 1999, when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, Marilyn Manson was ridiculously blamed somehow for the carnage and sadly, his career took a hit.


I've never been a huge fan of his music, truth be told. I usually found his music to be on the puerile side of things -- I didn't think his works represented any kind of shock, per se. More like schlock than anything else. I personally found Portrait of an American Family to be a quite irritating record -- grating, masturbatorial nonsense. Antichrist Superstar fared better in my opinion, but I felt it was outweighed by an almost impenetrable barrage of speed metal. But when Manson and his merry band of mates put out 1998's Mechanical Animals, something snapped in me. Here at last was an intelligent, well-thought out, thematic, aggressive, and entertaining piece of work that still, almost thirteen years later, stands up on its own as a brilliant record. From the squelching drone of "Dope Show," to the hyperdriven manic energy of "Posthuman," to the flat-out rocking "Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)" -- this is very listenable stuff, and I can't recommend it enough.


Today's Video Disturbeo is not taken from the album, but it was recorded in the same year for the soundtrack to David Lynch's time-puzzle of a film Lost Highway. (In fact, Marilyn Manson had a bit role in the film as "Porn Star #1). The song I'd like to showcase today is called "Apple of Sodom," and it ranks right up there with my favorites. Disturbing vocal distortions, an incredibly menacing synth, and the phrase "I'm dying - I hope you're dying too" make this track a suitable addition for our Halloween playlist here at Second Drawer Up HQ. Enjoy!

marilyn manson

"apple of sodom"

lost highway soundtrack

Wax Trax!: Ministry.

Somewhere between the hardcore and aggressive metal-infused industrial music Ministry became known for -- "N.W.O.," "Just One Fix," "Stigmata," and "Reload" are some of the tracks that come immediately to mind -- and the 1983 new wave oddity With Sympathy, which featured longtime provocateur and leader Al Jourgensen singing melodic pop songs with a feigned English accent (Ministry sprouted from Chicago, IL), they released a total of four 12" singles on the Wax Trax! label. Of these four, one of them spawned what would become, arguably, Ministry's most popular and well-known songs. I'm speaking, of course, of the single for "All Day" (WAX 007) -- the B-Side was "(Everyday) Is Halloween." I'm sure you've heard of it? Whilst Jourgensen despised With Sympathy (he famously referred to it as "an abortion of an album"), "All Day" was included in Ministry's 1986 followup, Twitch, which gave listeners a hint in what direction Jourgensen (along with new partner Paul Barker) would follow with 1988's The Land Of Rape And Honey.


But let's focus on "(Everyday Is) Halloween," shall we? Who can forget the intro and its steady drumbeat and drone-y synth, with those "bop ... bopbop's" in the background as Jourgensen (still in faux-English accent mode) sings, "Well I live with snakes and lizards and other things that go bump in the night"? I can't. It's admittedly a rather simple song -- existing in a realm between the banal and the extreme -- but you gotta admit, it's pretty fucking catchy. No Halloween celebration would be complete without this track being on the playlist; and we have Wax Trax! to thank for that. Happy Halloween from your friends at Second Drawer Up -- for those about to dress up, we salute you.

ministry

"(everyday is) halloween"

all day / (everyday is) halloween 12"

Electro Classic Jukebox: Skinny Puppy.

Well! I had so much fun revisiting the EBM stylings of Front Line Assembly, I felt I had to make a return trip for the sole purpose of bearing homage to fellow Vancouverites Skinny Puppy. Formed as an experimental side project by cEvin Key whilst he was in a new wave band called Images In Vogue in 1982, it became a full-time project when he became disillusioned with his band's music - and when Nivek Ogre came on board as vocalist. After the initial release of a cassette demo Back and Forth in 1984, they signed to Canadian label Nettwerk and put out (in the same year!) their debut EP Remission - which let the world know they were a force to be reckoned with. And *poof!* just like that, Skinny Puppy (widely is believed to) had given messy birth to a new genre - electronic industrialism. And bully for them - 26 years later Skinny Puppy is still churning on, delivering shockingly disturbing metal-based electronic horror that has the power after all these years to still blanche the spirit. I think one aspect of Mssrs. Key and Ogre's brainchild that gives it its oomph is that they have consistently wore their severed, blood-spattered hearts on their sleeves; they have a lot of energy and, if you've ever seen their videos or have gone to one of their shows, they proudly debase the whole meaning of where their vicious style of electro-industrial ends and where death metal begins to seep into the works like a dripping, infected wound. Blood spatters. Horrible images of death, decay, and torture are emblazoned on giant screens. Self-mutilation. Evil iconography. Lyrics about murder, animal experimentation, politics, genocide, mutants, and villainy. Aggressive music that flies in one's face, challenging. So I got to thinking: with Halloween a scant four days away, I'd share some of my favorite Skinny Puppy tracks with you today. Enjoy!

Here, from their 1984 debut Remissions, is "Smothered Hope." I think this was the first song of theirs I heard. I think Ogre's distorted vocals and the nearly poetic stream-of-consciousness lyrics sound fucking fantastic together.

skinny puppy

"smothered hope"

remissions ep

From 1986's Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse, here's "Dig It." When Ogre and friends chant "Dig it! Dig it! Execute economic slave!", I have to admit, I bang my head a little. Such anger in this track.

skinny puppy

"dig it"

mind: the perpetual intercourse

From Vivisect VI, released in 1988, here's an epically disturbing and horrific track about animal testing and torture called "Testure." WARNING: INCREDIBLY DISTURBING VIDEO. I've always been curious as to where the opening sample comes from: "I hope you make sure we're properly dead before you start, old rip beak!" Freaky shit.  UPDATE: Have located source of the above sample. It is taken from the 1982 animated film Plague Dogs, a super-depressing adaptation of Richard Adams' (Watership Down) novel of the same name. The entire quote, from dear, hyper-active Snitter - speaking to his fellow escapee Rowf: "Have you ever thought, Rowf ... that we won't need food when we're dead? Or names for that matter. I wonder who the buzzards will like best, you or me ... I hope you make sure we're properly dead before you start, old rip beak!" This film will make you weep.

skinny puppy

"testure"

vivisect vi

Last, but most certainly not least, from 1985's Bites, is what is probably Skinny Puppy's "danciest" single, "Assimilate." I certainly know it was very popular at The Church and other gothic clubs I frequented in the early '90s. As a treat, here it is being performed live! Check out the visuals that would accompany them on tour. Disturbing, but not as disturbing as "Testure," that's for damn sure.

skinny puppy

"assimilate"

bites