'The Golden Age Of Grotesque' . Eponymous Track Influence

[Nursing Home]

Was just listening to Bauhaus 'The Sky's Gone Out' (awesome album) and realized that there are a lot of similarities between "The Three Shadows part 2" and Manson's "Golden Age of Grotesque" (the title track).

Bauhaus track:

Manson track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxR6CeXq5ig

Thoughts?

[Sans Agendum]

It's a common waltz theme. Plenty of songs use this framework. It belongs to neither Bauhaus or Manson.

[S.D.]

The less blunt response would be that yes, it is a traditional waltz, but that in itself raises a more significant point about The Golden Age Of Grotesque.
If ever that record falls under false accusation of a static sound (because some fans only appear to be able to hear guitar pedals), I'd use this song as an example, and then compare it with the American cheerleadeing chorus during mOBSCENE, and the deliberately ironic hip-hop leanings or phrases during something like Better Of Two Evils. That's rather the point of The Golden Age Of Grotesque; it reflects and documents an amalgamation of the Twenty-First Century, and the way it has churned up and spit out so much art and culture developed over hundreds of years, so how can any one tell the difference between 'high', or 'low'?

Incidentally, a nice Musical Parallel between Bauhaus and Marilyn Manson, he's made no secret of being a fan, both before and after The Golden Age..., so it's not unlikely that The Three Shadows, Part II is known, or an influence of his.

[The Empirical Guy]

compare it with the American cheerleadeing chorus during mOBSCENE

Off topic, but while you mention it, I am frequently amazed at how many people miss that reference and think he is actually taking the line from Faith No More's "Be Aggressive".

[Sans Agendum]

Well, they did do it first so you can't really blame people for assuming such a thing. You also can't necessarily prove he did or didn't draw inspiration from Faith No More one way or the other. As with most things, it's up to interpretation.

(Sorry if that was too blunt[Sorry if that came off as sarcastic])

The album Angel Dust in itself is very Manson-esque with it's dichotomous themes, in that the title is both a word that brings rather pleasant thoughts to mind, yet is a street word for the drug PCP. The album cover, while easy on the eyes is, when you really break it down, just a picture of a filthy bird that is probably dead and stuffed. In a way it's both beautiful and menacing all at once. So there IS little doubt to me that Manson probably likes the album quite a bit and perhaps used Be Aggressive as a template for Mobscene as much as he turned to Bela Lugosi's Dead for If I Was Your Vampire.

[Hazekiah]

^ It's clearly alive in the photo, hence the flapping wings and rippling water.

And the Faith No More/Marilyn Manson misunderstanding is at least somewhat understandable and forgivable insofar as Manson fans aren't exactly renowned for their overwhelming familiarity with sport events, lol.

Manson's always very candid and forthcoming with his homages and fandom and so far as I'm aware he's never ONCE mentioned Mike Patton or any of his many bands. Not a ripoff/homage/reference at all. Not one intentionally pointing to Faith No More, at any rate.

Of course, Manson's more into music than sports himself, obviously, so it's not out of the question that he would have been aware of the song. But given that he's also the same guy who approved of the video treatment for "The Fight Song" and the simple fact that he even knew wtf a fight song was in the first place, it seems safe to assume that "mOBSCENE" is merely a shared reference to the same thing rather than Manson referencing or borrowing from "Be Aggressive" specifically.

[Sans Agendum]

He's also never once mentioned Skinny Puppy and Ogre. I don't think he ALWAYS is candid and forth coming. I think he only tends to point out his influences if they are already popular and well known already. Like David Bowie and The Beatles. He doesn't say anything about Nick Cave or Nevik Ogre though.

[Hazekiah]

He sang one of Nick Cave's songs over a decade ago and invited him to the Born Villain premiere, and he's mentioned Skinny Puppy in addition to actually working with Dave Ogilvie on multiple releases.