Born Villain as Antichrist Superstar
So, as pretty much everyone here knows, Manson has said that Antichrist Superstar is a message sent by Modern Manson to 90s Manson, and that Born Villain is that message. So, I figured, rather than looking at specific songs and their references to outside things, we should take a look at the song-to-song connections between the two. Now, this is a little hard, because Manson lopped off two songs from Born Villain, because apparently it was "too long", a common criticism of ACSS by both normal people and Scott/Daisy. At first, I assumed it this would make the comparisons harder, because it seems impossible to figure out where they were placed. However, placing the track listings side by side, they have to come after track 12, as on both albums, #12 is the title track. And yes, we're counting "You're So Vain". And additionally, we'll take Manson completely seriously on his claims of time travel album messages, because it's the premise of this and it's interesting.
1. Hey, Cruel World/Irresponsible Hate Anthem
From a purely superficial level, the similarities are obvious, being angry three-word-title attacks on the world. On a more in-depth level, Irresponsible Hate Anthem opens with "When you are suffering, know that I have betrayed you", just as the album ends, therefore being a circle, fated to repeat for eternity. While faith in the Worm/Disintegrator/Antichrist Superstar doomed humanity in the album, the true cause is fate. They're fated to die every time you play the album. With or without faith, fate decrees it repeats. Similarly, Hey, Cruel World repeats the mantra of not needing faith, as "We've got fucking fate", and needless to say, the Antichrist Superstar is "among no one", fated to be alone, much like Manson in Hey, Cruel World.
2. No Reflection/The Beautiful People
Again from a superficial level, one is Grammy-nominated and one is Manson's most famous original song. They're both catchy and slightly repetitive. While many have said that the "crushing, cheating, changing" in No Reflection is about the Triptych, perhaps it is more about The Worm/etc/etc. For not only does The Worm change in many ways, but so do those around him and his own actions. After trying to help those around him, he betrays them, cheating them of their dreams and crushing humanity. Of course, the Biblical Antichrist is the same, cheating his followers via taking over the world, a change, and crushing everything. "This'll hurt you worse than me" could also allude to "The Beautiful People" hurting his critics, religious figures and those opposed to him in general more than their attacks and hatred of it hurt him. However, tonally, No Reflection is the inverse of The Beautiful People. While The Beautiful People is hate and anger and attacks, No Reflections is uncertainty, introspection and self-destruction. However, even No Reflection seems to acknowledge it's age, with "Rusty signs of something violent coming" and "made of scars and filled with my old wounds". In fact, The Beautiful People seems to be directed at No Reflection. The Beautiful People is a rejection of something older, something weaker, something Manson sees as blind. A solid argument can be made that there's nothing Marilyn Manson hates more than himself. The Beautiful People's proclamation that "capitalism has made it this way, old-fashioned fascism will take it away" can also be seen as a description of Modern Manson. Interscope made demands of what Manson should do, how he should be, and what should be singles and videos. With Hell, Etc, he now has full control of every detail, old-fashioned fascism. In fact, The Beautiful People is a call against much of what Modern Manson is. He no longer hates "every motherfucker that's in his way", but is far more laid back. He's now the leader of his own vanity label, like his mentor before him. To young Manson, old Manson would be one of The Beautiful People.
3. Pistol Whipped/Dried Up, Tied and Dead To The World
Both songs are directed at a lover, and both are from a violent male point of view. In both, Manson is the person's lover, while also hating them. Not too much to get in to here, at least not to me. Both feel kinda like filler.
4. Tourniquet/Overneath The Path of Misery
From a superficial point, both have really, really weird videos, although technically OTPM's is a trailer for the album as a whole. Tourniquet is a more subtle song about the decay and death and death of love despite fighting it
Overneath is a powerful rejection of another, from a much older and more experienced in the matters of the heart Manson. In fact, this Manson is seeking the ability to return to how he was before, to "unswallow his pride" and "fuck [himself] down" (to fix being fucked up, I'd assume). Meanwhile, in Tourniquet, we see a more remorseful, mournful, sad Manson, one who swallows his pride and is submissive to another, letting them take it all out on him and even trying to make sure they don't hurt. This younger Manson takes rejection the opposite of the elder, with submission instead of rage. While Tourniquet ends with the declaration "I never ever believed in me", Overneath has a far more in control Manson having instead turned rejection around and back at the other, along with affirming himself of his believed meaning of life: no reason.Originally Posted by Tourniquet
5. Slo-Mo-Tion/Little Horn
Despite on the surface looking unrelated, these two have the same theme: stardom and Celebritarianism. In both songs, there is a clear message of celebrity worship. With Little Horn, it's most obvious in the chorus, with "the world [spreding] it's legs for another star", "the worms... [waiting] with bated breath" and the "dead... [dancing] for what is left". Slo-Mo-Tion, meanwhile, is a song of the culture and worship, of the lies behind the scenes, with applause and laughter recorded in the 1950s, backroom casting couches and, like the Little Horn, everyone finding this beast "incredibly charming"
6. The Gardener/Cryptorchid
Both songs are odder than the rest, with The Gardener being partially spoken-word and Cryptorchid being weird and distorted, with strange sounds. Both are about something not human, unable to fit in, but becoming something that does. Lyrically, however, Cryptorchid lacks The Gardener's anti-romantic themes. There's not much here to compare.
7. The Flowers of Evil/Deformography
Someone else might see something here. I do not.
8. Children of Cain/Wormboy
Children of Cain has been picked lyrically apart, and Wormboy doesn't have much to analyze. Wormboy is about The Worm slipping and falling apart. Children of Cain is very Biblically linked (and Enoch, a descendant of Cain, had a coded connection to the Knights' Templar version of the Cross of Lorraine, so there's that). However, Children of Cain seems to be directed at... someone. Someone Manson feels needs to die twice, who even when he is with physically, he is not with, whose duo's death they never thought was a bridge they'd cross. While most of the book-eating in Children of Cain is directly in the Bible, with John and the Angel, "bitter stories" was not. Wormboy, meanwhile, is the only Antichrist Superstar song to have never been played live. Wormboy is also the song that incorporated most of Daisy's ideas, according to Manson. Daisy tells many of the stories that Manson does differently, and on both sides, the way they're told make the teller look good. Both could be safely assumed to be bitter at each other, and as someone who has seen the comments on Daisy/Scott's posts on Facebook, if that bitterness is gone, he certainly doesn't mind fostering it in others. So, yeah.
9. Disengaged/Mister Superstar
"The only thing forever is hate" is a lesson The Worm/Antichrist Superstar learns quite well in Mister Superstar. Fittingly, it comes from Disengaged. He regrets his fame, and regret is a mantra of Disengaged. In Disengaged, Manson would give anything to kill the subject of the song, a hatred the Worm is learning in Mister Superstar. Whether they are with him or against him, he forever hates them, similarly to "you're with me, against me, but the only thing forever is hate".
10. Lay Down Your Goddamn Arms/The Angel With The Scabbed Wings
The one common thing between these, other than being some of the heavier songs on their respective albums is the convergence of "sketch a little keyhole for looking-glass people" (oh, hey, an Alice reference this far back, that's rare) and "There isn't a key you can use on me". So, if these have anything in common other than harder songs with long titles, Manson is a sketched keyhole.
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