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Rock! Registration! Revolution!
If you're in Lawrence next Thursday, head to the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St., where Rock the Vote and local bands will unite to empower and edutain. The all-ages show features myriad local bands including The Elevator Division with Chemical Ali, Darling at Sea, Justin Ripley, Drakkar Sauna, The Girl is a Ghost, $^{4}$ th of July and Andy Gasaway. Doors open at 8 p.m. Viva la democracial
—Dave Ruigh
Lest We Forget: The Best Of ..
Marilyn Manson
It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment that Marilyn Manson had the title of "white-trash hell raiser" wrenched from his sickly white fingers by the next great white hype, Eminem. The most visible moment of his passing was in the video for Eminem's "The Way I Am," which was released in the wake of Columbine, which should have been Manson's defining moment. Instead his ghoulish visage was relegated to window dressing among several jump cuts in the clip, in which Marshall Mathers railed on social critics who tried to "blame it on Marilyn." While on the surface it was a shout-out to all the white metalheads who had dismissed Em as another nigger-loving Vanilla ice, it also reduced Manson to a permanent role as a visual reference to demonic rock. From that
moment on, the image of Manson's crucifix laden, stigmata stained carcass was all anyone needed to see to simultaneously recall and reject the man's entire career.
And what a career it was. Looking back on the five albums and assorted EP's, it's startling to realize just how important the devilish antics of one Brian Warner were to the pop landscape. Billed as a comprehensive collection of Manson's memorable singles and overlooked B-Sides, "Lest We Forget: The Best Of" gets the general idea right even if it fudges a couple of early details.
The seventeen track affair demonstrates Manson's growth from cartoonish freak to Bowie-esque conceptual artist and then back to cartoonish freak, if not in that order. "The Beautiful People," "Disposable Teens" and "mOBSCENE" all couple crunching guitars with genuine hooks while lesser known standouts "Tourniquet," and "The Nobodies" dispatch the spooky.
spoorky.
Of the various cover songs included, the epochal "Sweet Dreams (are made of this)" shines along with the Sneaker Pimps collaboration "Long Hard Road
out of Hell." The inclusion or rarities like "Personal Jesus" simply illustrate how Manson has made a pretty sizable living out of bullying irony like it stole his lunch money. His drab take on "Tainted Love," however, is just plain terrifying.
What's missing are the cuts that created buzz for the band before it hit big with "Smells Like Children." Even without "Cake and Sodomy," the consistency of what did make the album is surprising evidence of the band's stranglehold on all things heavy throughout the Clinton administration.
The fact that most anybody who would care to listen to these songs probably already has them on their hard drive is beside the point.
If Marilyn Manson frightens you beyond belief you better shelter your soul from Nine Inch Nail's "The Fragile," but everybody should listen to Manson's "Mechanical Animals." That album was just plain awesome.
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