Are TGAOG, EMDM and THEOL underrated?

[pabloccb]

Golden Age: Not under but possibly over rated in my opinion. It's his most commercially successful album, and yet I really don't think is representative of his work, at all. It's a little too showy, I would say; I understand that much of the "hollow" feel both in lyrics and sound is supposed to be making a statement about how art is becoming hollow and stale, but that doesn't make it any less evocative of feeling hollow and stale itself. It would have made more of a point if it had been an extremely strong, emotive, and rich album, which would have then contrasted against the more hollow mainstream art. In fact, that entire point was already made with Mechanical Animals and done so much better, with half the songs meant to feel empty and half full, providing that very contrast. It's a fun record, but that's where it ends for me. Like Atom said, it's what people who don't listen to Manson expect him to sound like.

No. Golden Age was certified Gold in US for 500,000 copies sold... his best-selling album in US is Antichrist, that sold close to 2 million in US and is his most succesful album there, Holy Wood is his best-selling album worldwide.

[kleiner352]

No. Golden Age was certified Gold in US for 500,000 copies sold... his best-selling album in US is Antichrist, that sold close to 2 million in US and is his most succesful album there, Holy Wood is his best-selling album worldwide.

Sorry about that, I fucked that part up! I haven't really payed too much attention to record sales, it's commonly mentioned as being one of the better selling albums. Disregard that and thanks for correcting me!

[iggy]

Golden Age? Definitely? The rhythm, the style, the wordplay, the ultimate expression of self indulgence in it's purest form. People miss the point of GAOG entirely.

EMDM and THELOL however, are shitty whiny fagtastic albums complaining about his failed marriage.

[DecayingSinner]

GAOG is a superb album. The music is solid with the image, style, and attitude to back it up. Plus, this was the last tour that really held up to what a MM show should be.....a mind blowing experience.

While I still love EMDM and THEOL, the live shows were nothing to brag about. I do love both of these albums, I can see why fans lost touch. It does seem ironic now that BV is out, people used to brag about how much they love THEOL and now it seems everyone is just bitching about how much of a failure it is. "Putting Holes in Happiness" and "Into The Fire" are some of my favorite MM songs.

[Whisky And Speed]

As for the Golden Age Of Grotesque, no, it wasn't underrated. It had it's fair share of appreciation and success but the shortness of this era and Manson's lack of passion towards music and his decision to make a best off album then quitting surely affected it's success a bit.

EMDM is criminally underrated,but yet enjoyed it's fair share of success when it came out.

THEOL is underrated Musically but it wasn't that impressive lyrically, it has some songs that upset me lyrically like We're from America.

[JT_]

GOAG is the last Manson record that really did it for me, it's excellent and almost perfect save for a few songs near the end. Great vocals, wordplay and flawless production.
I never thought it was underrated because I've always heard and read people saying it was the last good Manson record.

Eat Me Drink Me - Now this one is underrated. I understand why people don't like it but it got me at the right (or wrong) time in my life where I really attached myself to the emotion and darkness of that record. It has a theme and I still listen to it and enjoy it.

THEOL - Ehhh, hasn't held up well, def at the bottom of the list next to Born Villain. I put it on a few days ago, listened to Devour, Pretty As then skipped the rest, it's just boring and I hate Vrenna's drums on it though they are better than the mediocrity of the ones on BV.

MA
HW
ACSS
GOAG
EMDM
BV
THEOL


Nothing will ever come close to Mechanical Animals, that's the barometer for greatness in my book.

[A Better Messiah]

They're all great albums, yet so very different. The Golden Age Of Grotesque (stabilized audio aside) was a great album lyrically and had some great synth, however, it really was repetitive in terms of guitarwork. Eat Me, Drink Me really was a change from that style and although it took the longest to grow on me, I really do love it. Some of the songs speak to me in ways that no others have dared attempt. And yeah, "Heart-Shaped Glasses" is great, so ,,erpissen auf" if you don't like it! This album really reminded me of an 80's hair metal album or something, to be honest. The High End Of Low mostly caught my fancy from the first listen, but it's grown on me quite a bit since then. They're all great, but Born Villain is technically a vast improvement over all of them.

[Kollaps]

I have to look at GAOG/EMDM as almost a different band than the MM that I connect with most. There's TwiggyMM and NonTwiggyMM. Something as simple as who writes the music really has the biggest impact with me. Never was huge into Portrait, and GAOG/EMDM lack something that never hooked me in. It's just my personal taste, but something about Skold's writing seems really flat. He's a great guitarist and excellent producer - but even with a ripping solo it doesn't feel passionate.

For GAOG, I think the theme and more daring tracks are overshadow by arena rock/jock rock anthems. So it feels really disconnected. Songs like Saint, Slutgarden, Spade, GAOG, Paranoir really are my favorites, but the other tracks just seem like generic rock. Replace the vocalist and you'd have no idea it was suppose to be MM. EMDM, it's just rooted in a more classic rock style that I'm not into. Really big ballady, long solos. Part I'd say is Skold's more 80s rock influence. There are some good songs on the album, but it doesn't feel like Marilyn Manson to me.

As for THEOL, I was really glad to hear Twiggy come back, but overtime the album didn't stand up just due to it feeling more like a collection of songs and not something as a whole. What I did appreciate is Twiggy taking his influence from being outside of MM and injecting it in the song writing. HW and MA where very heavyhanded production wise, and from interviews it sounds like MM and Twiggy now really only care about attitude and energy so it's less overthought production wise. I know some people miss the older production style, but I dig it.

This is a very polite version of my thoughts. :)

[Kollaps]

I will say that while I very much dislike GAOG, it was the last album that was done where Marilyn Manson was a band. The videos, promo shots were all great and everyone was in top form. Even though I was saddened by Twiggy leaving, I was happy to see him go to NIN/APC. I thought that was really exciting at the time.

What really killed EMDM / THEOL for me was the terrible lyrics. The songwriting was fine, you know, maybe a few too many long guitar solos on EMDM but the nail in the coffin was definitely the lyrics and vocal production.

[Thylacinus cynocephalus]

Here's my take

TGAOG I would say it's my LEAST favourite MM album,I agree with whoever said that it's loud for the sake of being loud. Though I LOVE (S)aint and the title track,as a whole I wasn't even crazy over that era

EMDM For a LONG time it was my least fav,and when it came out I was like 'oh fuck this CD sucks' and didn't play it for like a year and dare I say I even lost interest in MM,HOWEVER over time I have grown to actually really like it as I have played it more esp over the past year

THEOL I LOVE this album,and this got me back into Manson,after not caring for the previous ones. It is VERY underrated IMO I personally love it