Reflections on Marilyn Manson's God...

In the song The Reflecting God, Marilyn Manson states the following;

“I went to God just to see
and I was looking at me
saw heaven and hell were lies
when I’m God everyone dies

It’s a pretty intense song.
But here was my thought regarding that particular lyric…

Sorry Marilyn… I know you think you’re a bad ass and all but…
You’re not any worse than the presently believed in God.
Under God… Everyone already dies!

[size=75]Thanks God… [/size]:lol:

is not any worse than

I think its interesting that you note that he can’t be worse than the current god. Alot of people here might agree. Hilarious.

Thanks Scott. Indeed, MM is very much like God.
They both have ten fingers and ten toes,
both are mistaken for Paul on the Wonder Years,
both are angry all the time,
and both want to kill everyone! :laughing:

Marylin Manson & Superman

“The rock star Marilyn Manson has also used Neitzsche’s writings to influence his view of the world and this is evident in his lyrics and the way he presents himself to the public. There is an essay that discusses the philosophies of Marilyn Manson as they are represented on one particular album. The essay uses the term “social darwinism” in the same context as Nietzsche’s writings would be used and the theories could be used interchangably in the essay. The writer also uses the word “Star” in the instances when “Superman” could just as well be used had the author also included Nietzsche’s works in the essay. Links to other similar essays can also be reached by clicking on the link to the home of the aforementioned essay. The general idea behind that essay is that Marilyn Manson does not allow society to tell him what is right or wrong, or what to believe in. In a way, the author of the essay points out the semi-progression from “man” to “Superman” as can be seen in the album discussed. Marilyn Manson can almost be considered a modern day Neitzsche based on these facts. Manson, as well as Nietzsche, seems to encourage independent thinking by discouraging people from following “the herd” or accepting the values of society unquestionably. They both also seem to have a dislike for Christianity and the values that it represents”

Ironically the pre-cursor to Manson was Trent Reznor. Whom actually produced and helped write “Anti-Christ Superstar”. His concept album “The Downward Spiral” actually is more laden w/ Nietzsche references than Superstar

sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=129

This is a small review of the album showing the rise to a position of Der Ubermensch. There is much more relating the two if you look hard enough.

As a fan of both, I’d suggest that Antichrist Superstar represents a successful attempt at self-overcoming (Recall that Uebermensch is not in Nietzsche a stable, fixed ‘position’, but a temporal interrelation of forces to affects which cannot be maintained - hence the ‘eternal return’ at the end of the 99th track to the opening of “Irresponsible Hate Anthem”), whereas The Downward Spiral represents the exact opposite of the figure in Antichrist Superstar, the ‘last man’ who wants only to narcoticize himself into oblivion through sex, violence and drugs.

I’m no fan, but you don’t understand the universal metaphor in that last line, ‘when I’m God everyone dies’; say it aloud and think about it…

Except that’s not the last line of the album. “Man That You Fear” follows “The Reflecting God” (wherein the Antichrist Superstar at the height of his power decides to destroy the world of his own creation by "shoot, shoot, shoot"ing until the world gets “smaller” - a typical dying God/Uebermensch at the crest of his power), and in this song he gloats about his coming act - but he does not do it. There are several dozen tracks of silence after the end of “The Man That You Fear”, then one last track, 99, sometimes labeled “Empty Sounds of Hate”:

“Go ahead and build a better messiah,
We can dig another grave.
This is your calling.
If you are hearing this, there is nothing I can do.
Something has grown out of my chest.
I have seen it.
It is hard and cold.
It has been dormant for many years.
I have tried to save you, I could not save you.
This is what you deserve,
this is what we deserve.
This is something we have brought upon ourselves.
We are not a victim, you are not a victim.
we are not a victim, you are not a victim.
God will grovel before me.
God will crawl at my feet.
These are the dying years.
When you are suffering, know that I have betrayed you.

Thus the album ends as it began, in an eternal return of the meaningless slogan “We hate love/we love hate”. On 2000’s “The Fall of Adam”, Manson would go on to pen the lyric,

[i]"When one world ends,
something else begins,
but without a scream/

Just a whisper because we just/
Start it over again."[/i]

Nietzschean themes tie far more heavily into the triptych (Antichrist Superstar, Mechanical Animals, and Holy Wood) than they do The Downward Spiral. Another example are the titular creatures of the second album of this cycle, “neurophobic and perfect” creatures who are as “hollow as the ‘O’ in God” - they are very much Nietzsche’s Last Men.

There are, of course, Nietzschean themes throughout Manson’s discography (as in “(S)aint” from The Golden Age of Grotesque - “Now I’m not an artist; I’m a fucking work of art” - which parallels a similar, if less verbose, euphemism in The Birth of Tragedy speaking of a similar Dionysiac experience - “Man is no longer an artist; he is a work of art.”). However, the triptych represents a kitch work of an almost metaphysical nature, and deals quite heavily with themes derived not only from Nietzsche, but also Crowley, the Qahballah and the Tarot, and other esoteric schools of thought. Among other parallels I’ve noticed are the three ‘characters’ of the triptych - Adam Kadmon (the Qahbalistic rebel), Omega (the androgynous glam-rocker), and the Antichrist Superstar, who, in a way, mirror the Three Metamorphoses of the Spirit: Adam as the camel, fleeing into the desert - or, on the record, Death Valley - to escape the confines of traditional society; Omega, who openly rebels and confronts these social paradigms; and finally, the lion, the Antichrist, who creates.

The Nachtkabarett - your source for all Manson-related esoterica.

Wow! Lots of info!

I’ve only heard a little bit of Manson, and looked up the lyrics for that song. I was just using the particular quote to show that God is not all good, for he kills all of us, including his own son. Thanks for all the info everybody.