Line #2 Music/MechanicalAnimals


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mechanical_animals_8807.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"We were neurophobic and perfect\
3	the day that we lost our souls."'']]
4	->''"Rock is deader than dead\
5	Shock is all in your head\
6	Your sex and your dope is all that were fed\
7	So fuck all your protests and put them to bed\
8	\
9	God is in the TV."''
10	-->-- '''"Rock is Dead"'''
11
12	''Mechanical Animals'' is Music/MarilynManson's third studio album, released in 1998.
13
14	This album is the second part of a trilogy/"triptych" that started off with ''Music/AntichristSuperstar'' (1996) and would be concluded with ''Music/HolyWoodInTheShadowOfTheValleyOfDeath'' (2000); much like those albums, this is a RockOpera[=/=]ConceptAlbum. However, since the triptych's narrative is told in reverse order, ''Mechanical Animals'' bridges the gap from ''Holy Wood'' to ''Antichrist Superstar''.
15
16	''Mechanical Animals'' is the only album in the triptych to revolve around two characters instead of one, who each have seven songs (half of the album) told from their perspective:
17	* Omega, a gender-ambiguous alien that falls down to Earth and is captured and turned into a rock star in a band called [[TitleDrop the Mechanical Animals]], soon turning to excessive drug use to cope with their reality as a product of a corporation
18	* Alpha, who acts as Omega's {{foil}} as well as an AuthorAvatar for Manson and is beginning to grasp the idea of emotion, growing distraught with how few emotions humans (or, as he sees them, [[TitleDrop mechanical animals]]) feel
19
20	The album was unique since it showcased the band briefly foraying into GlamRock and straying away from their IndustrialMetal roots; this was a move that wasn't greeted with ample enthusiasm, leading the band to return to their original sound in future works.
21
22	It was the band's first #1 debut on the ''Billboard'' 200, and spawned several hit singles: "The Dope Show," "Rock is Dead," "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)," and "Coma White."
23
24	It is in no way related to the children's cartoon ''WesternAnimation/AnimalMechanicals'' or the trope MechanicalAnimals.
25	----
26	!!Tracklist
27	# "Great Big White World" – (5:01)
28	# "The Dope Show" – (3:46)
29	# "Mechanical Animals" – (4:33)
30	# "Rock is Dead" – (3:09)
31	# "Disassociative" – (4:50)
32	# "Speed of Pain" – (5:30)
33	# "Posthuman" – (4:17)
34	# "I Want to Disappear" – (2:56)
35	# "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" – (5:03)
36	# "New Model No.15"– (3:40)
37	# "User Friendly" – (4:17)
38	# "Fundamentally Loathsome" – (4:49)
39	# "The Last Day on Earth" – (5:01)
40	# "Coma White" – (5:38)
41	# "Untitled" - (1:28)
42	----
43	!!"We're all stars now in the trope show":
44	[[foldercontrol]]
45
46	[[folder:The album as a whole]]
47	* {{Bowdlerise}}:
48	** Some stores refused to store the album without hiding the album cover in a brown paper bag.
49	** The original album cover itself had a slight example of this; Omega originally had nipples on their breasts, but they were removed at the record company's demand.
50	** Creator/{{MTV}} airings of the video for "The Dope Show" edited out the words "drugs" and "queers".
51	* BSODSong: The entire album follows the decay of the antichrist superstar.
52	* ConceptAlbum: It continues the story of the antichrist superstar from ''Music/AntichristSuperstar''.
53	* ExtraDigits: Omega has six fingers on each hand, according to the cover.
54	* FaceOnTheCover: Manson as Omega in the center of the image.
55	* FakeBand: The album concept revolves around the band led by Omega, [[http://www.everythingcollectible.com/images/products/9095.jpg which even got its own album cover]].
56	* GoodAngelBadAngel: Alpha and Omega.
57	* HiddenTrack: An untitled one.
58	* Letters2Numbers: "Marilyn Manson" is portrayed as "[=MAR1LYN=] [=MAN5ON=]" on the album cover.
59	* LighterAndSofter: It's less dark than Manson's previous works, being influenced mostly by Music/DavidBowie-esque glam rock, although the lyrics are still just as dark.
60	* NewSoundAlbum: With 'Antichrist Superstar' being more industrial, this album has a strong leaning to glam rock.
61	* NightmareFace: Omega's stare to the viewer on the cover.
62	* [[FourFingeredHands Six Fingered Hands]]: Manson has six fingers on each hand on the album cover.
63	* SelfParody: Manson parodied his own demonic public image on this album.
64	* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: This is the hedonistic lifestyle of the Antichrist Superstar.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Individual songs]]
68	* FifteenMinutesOfFame: A reoccurring theme throughout the album, but it appears most in "Dope Show" and "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)".
69	-->''"We're rehabbed and we're ready for our fifteen minutes of shame"
70	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal:
71	** "Fundamentally Loathsome"
72	--->''I want to wake up in your white, white sun\
73	I want to wake up in your world with no pain''
74	** "Great Big White World"
75	--->''Mother Mary miscarry''
76	** "New Model No. 15"
77	--->''Pitifully predictable, correctly political''
78	** "Rock Is Dead"
79	--->''Sampled and soulless\
80	Worldwide and real webbed''
81	** "Posthuman"
82	--->''She's pilgrim and pagan''
83	* AlterEgoActing: Manson plays a gender-ambiguous alien named "Omega" and his evil counterpart "Alpha".
84	* AmbiguousGender: Omega, who is seen on the cover and in the music video for "The Dope Show" with a naked body containing breasts and androgynous genitalia.
85	* AntiLoveSong: "User Friendly"
86	-->''She says: "I'm not in love, but I'm gonna fuck you 'til somebody better comes along"''
87	* ArcNumber: 15.
88	** Manson's name is altered on the cover to swap some letters out for numbers; specifically, the numbers 1 and 5 are added.
89	** The Omega-head logo contains 15 squares on the forehead.
90	** The track "New Model No. 15".
91	** In the pre-verse of "User Friendly", Manson harmonizes with exactly fifteen "doo's" each time it is sung.
92	** Marilyn Manson's birthday is January 5 (1/5)
93	** Counting the computer-only hidden track, the album has 15 tracks.
94	** The Devil's tarot card is XV (15).
95	** The album's release date was September 15 (or 9/15, which is 9+1+5=15).
96	** As noted above, "15 minutes of fame" is a phrase which is said at one point on the album.
97	** 15 appears a few times in the liner art of the album (at one point appearing as "3x5").
98	* BarbieDollAnatomy: Manson's genitalia on the album cover.
99	* BeliefMakesYouStupid: "Posthuman"
100	-->''This isn't God, this isn't God, this isn't God\
101	God is just a statistic (...)\
102	God is a number you cannot count to''
103	* BrainlessBeauty: "New Model No. 15" is about the dumbest model imaginable who is still successful at what she does. Also has traits of a ValleyGirl.
104	-->''I'm the new, I'm the new, new model I've got nothing inside\
105	Better in the head and in bed at the office\
106	I can suck it and smile.''
107	* BlasphemousBoast: "I Want To Disappear".
108	-->''Look at me now, I've got no religion''
109	* CapitalismIsBad: "The Dope Show"
110	-->''We're all stars now in the dope show (...)\
111	We love your face, we'd really like to sell you''
112	* ChemicalMessiah: Very much the theme of 'The Dope Show', drugs and celebrity go together to religious levels.
113	* CountingToPotato: {{Invoked\|Trope}} in 'Posthuman':
114	-->''God is a number you cannot count to\
115	You are posthuman and hardwired''
116	* CrapsackWorld: "Great Big White World" describes Manson as looking down on Earth, which is a destroyed world and everybody is hollow, empty and "mechanical" and instead of doing something about it, they wait for someone (god?) to change everything. Also the themes of race and drugs ("white" as cocaine) seem to be present:
117	-->''Because it's a great big white world\
118	And we are drained of our colors\
119	We used to love ourselves\
120	We used to love one another''
121	* DeadArtistsAreBetter: Most evident in 'Coma White', where the assassination of JFK plays a big role. Manson assumes that part of the legend around JFK is because JFK was shot on camera.
122	* DealWithTheDevil: "I Want To Disappear".
123	-->''I wanna die young and sell my soul''.
124	* DownerEnding: Given the hidden track is only heard on computers, the album closes on "Coma White", an incredibly sad song about trying to attain a feeling of perfection through drug abuse and always failing due to being your own worst enemy.
125	* DrivenToSuicide: "Fundamentally Loathsome".
126	-->''Shoot myself to love you\
127	If I loved myself I'd be shooting you''
128	* DrugsAreBad: Played with in "Coma White", no matter how many drugs you take, there's always a fate worse than drugs:
129	-->''A pill to make you numb\
130	A pill to make you dumb\
131	A pill to make you anybody else\
132	But all the drugs in this world\
133	Won't save her from herself''
134	* DrugsAreGood: "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)"
135	-->''There's a hole in our soul, that we fill with dope\
136	And we're feeling fine''
137	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "Last Day On Earth".
138	-->''I know it's the last day on Earth\
139	We'll be together while the planet dies\
140	I know it's the last day on Earth\
141	We'll never say goodbye''
142	* GratuitousPanning: In contrast to the rest of the album, "Fundamentally Loathsome" pans pretty much every instrument entirely to the left or to the right.
143	* HeavyMeta: "Rock Is Dead".
144	-->''Rock is deader than dead\
145	Shock is all in your head\
146	Your sex and your dope is all that were fed\
147	So fuck all your protests and put them to bed''
148	* HollywoodHypeMachine: Parodied throughout the whole album but especially in "The Dope Show":
149	-->''They love you when you're on all the covers\
150	When you're not then they love another''
151	* HumansAreCthulhu: Omega the alien sees humans as "mechanical animals", [[LackOfEmpathy unable to show emotion to other people's feelings]].
152	* HurricaneOfPuns: "New Model, No. 15"
153	-->''And I'm vague and I know that I'm homopolitan'' [[note]]A pun on the magazines "Vogue" and "Cosmopolitan"[[/note]]\
154	''(...) Correctly political\
155	I can choke and diet on coke'' [[note]]A pun on Diet Coke[[/note]]\
156	''(...) That I'm stoned and rolling'' [[note]]A pun of Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}} and/or ''Magazine/RollingStone''[[/note]]
157	* IfItBleedsItLeads: One of the themes of the album is the media's obsession with violence. The music video of "Coma White" re-enacted the UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy assassination, albeit in a stylized manner to bring the point home. Manson's criticism became even more true when one year after the release the UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} High School shootings and death of JFK Jr. took place, which caused a similar media frenzy.
158	* IWantSong: "I Want To Disappear" is about, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin wanting to disappear]].
159	* MechanicalAbomination: 'Mechanical Animals' pictures human beings as this - mechanical in every way.
160	* MetallicMotifs: In 'Mechanical Animals', human beings are associated with metals or more specific weapons:
161	-->''And I was a hand grenade that never stopped exploding.\
162	You were automatic and as hollow as the "o" in God.''
163	* NonAppearingTitle: 'Coma White', the title doesn't appear anywhere in the song and can be seen as metaphor. It has also been suggested that this is the name of the girl in the song.
164	* ObsessivelyNormal: {{Deconstructed\|Trope}} in 'I Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)':
165	-->''Norm life baby'' [...]\
166	''You and I are under dosed and we're ready to fall\
167	Raised to be stupid, taught to be nothing at all.''
168	* OdeToIntoxication: Many of the drug-related songs.
169	* OneWordTitle: "Disassociative", "Posthuman", "Untitled".
170	* OnlySaneMan: Manson is this in the "I Don't Like The Drugs" music video. [[CrapsackWorld And he's not even that sane]]...
171	* OrphanedEtymology: In 'Mechanical Animals' Manson uses the word "neurophobic". While this is not a {{Neologism}}, it's used completely differently than what the dictionary says as being phobic against all brain functions and is applied to a world where people are "mechanical".
172	* ParentalObliviousness[=/=]SuckySchool: "I Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)"
173	-->''Raised to be stupid, taught to be nothing at all''
174	* PlayingCardMotifs: In 'Mechanical Animals', the "suicide king" is the king of hearts.
175	-->''This isn't me, I'm not mechanical.\
176	I'm just a boy playing the suicide king.''
177	* ShoutOut:
178	** The album was inspired by ''Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth'' and ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'' by Music/DavidBowie, which share a similar theme in which an alien comes to Earth.
179	** "The Dope Show" was inspired partly by ''Film/TheHolyMountain''.
180	** "Posthuman" references [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy John F. Kennedy's]] assassination:
181	--->''She's got eyes like [[UsefulNotes/ZapruderFilm Zapruder]]\
182	And a mouth like heroin\
183	She wants me to be perfect like Kennedy\
184	(...) In all of her dreams she's a saint like Jackie O.''[[note]]A reference to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis[[/note]]
185	* SpecialGuest:
186	** Dave Navarro performs on "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)".
187	** Creator/RoseMCGowan provides vocals on "Posthuman".
188	* StepfordSmiler: "Coma White"
189	-->''There's something cold and blank behind her smile''
190	* SublimeRhyme: 'Great Big White World': "all my stitches itch".
191	* TitleTrack: "Mechanical Animals", [[NonAppearingTitle though the title isn't mentioned in the lyrics.]] The hidden track does provide an AlbumTitleDrop.
192	* UnlikelyHero: In 'Mechanical Animals': The hero doesn't believe he will turn the tables for the better:
193	-->''I am never gonna be the one for you.\
194	I am never gonna save the world from you.''
195	* UntitledTitle: "Untitled"
196	* VocalDissonance: Manson uses distorted voices in 'The Last Day on Earth' for dramatic effect, just like in 'Cryptorchid' (Antichrist Superstar).
197	* WatchTheWorldDie: In 'Last day on earth':
198	-->''I know it's the last day on Earth, we'll be together while the planet dies.''
199	[[/folder]]
200
201	[[folder:Music videos]]
202	* LyricsVideoMismatch: Notably 'Coma White' - the song is about drugs and how they can or cannot save you from yourself, the video is a reenactment of the Kennedy Assassination. There are many theories how this will go together but neither the lyrics nor the video give a clear answer.
203	* ShoutOut: The music video of "Coma White" is a shout-out to UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's assassination with the band assuming the people involved, very much following the Zapruder film.
204	* SpecialGuest: Creator/BillyZane has a cameo appearance in the music video of "The Dope Show".
205	* SurrealMusicVideo:
206	** "The Dope Show", directed by Paul Hunter, shows Manson in the androgynous costume he wears on the cover and being examined in a lab, after which he performs on stage.
207	** "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)": Manson runs around with a blonde wig being crucified to a cross made out of TV sets. This comes with many other surreal and bizarre lightings and images.
208	[[/folder]]

Context Music / MechanicalAnimals