Marilyn Manson has been a culture mover since first painting a portrait of an American family in the early Nineties.
He quickly soared from Spooky Kid to a full-blown Superstar, gaining fans and detractors along the way — packing out venues while amassing picket lines outside. He honed a sound that brought gothic edge to industrial-metal grime, and tweaked it bit-by-bit to include pronounced elements of twisted glam, blues and more. Through it all, his music, style and personal aesthetic made him an icon to many.
Having been on the mobscene for more than 30 years, Manson has produced a hefty songbook — 13 full-lengths and counting as of right now. And while the earliest multi-million movers in his discography remain cherished by many, some would argue that his golden age of grotesque continues to this day.
With that in mind, we asked our readers to pick the Pale Emperor’s greatest hit of the past 20 years, from 2007’s Eat Me, Drink Me and onwards. The votes came in accordingly.
“If I Was Your Vampire”
“Everything’s black, no turning back.”
Per Manson himself, “If I Was Your Vampire” was written on Christmas Day, 2006. Judging by the fan vote this week, the slow-creeping Eat Me, Drink Me opener is the gift that keeps on giving.
What makes it a keeper? Perhaps it’s the dark, staccato guitar work that builds up the gravitas up front. Maybe it’s the teeth-rattling but spacious drum pounding. Or maybe it’s Manson’s gripping performance, the shock rocker somehow both bleakly and hopefully crooning of a a transformative post-mortem relationship (“We built this tomb together, I won’t fill it alone.”).
“As Sick as the Secrets Within”
“Keep sleeping, I’ll make you dream of me.”
After a four-year layover and various legal battles, Manson re-emerged in 2024 with “As Sick as the Secrets Within.” And in that moment, he opened up his Pandora’s box with dark-brooded musings and piercing intensity. It’s a hungry declaration from Manson that he was officially back.
The then-latest Chapter of Manson’s ongoing musical saga was quickly embraced by his followers, and got a ton of love in the comments this week.
“Deep Six”
Pride goeth before the fall. That’s one takeaway you can pull from “Deep Six,” a Pale Emperor-era stomper where Manson plunges you deep into Greek myth.
Powered by a four-on-the-floor rock beat and grand-bending gutter-glam guitar work, Manson lyrically hints at a schism growing between the almighty Zeus and the vanity-coded Narcissus. Manson also plays a wax-winged Icarus figure anticipating a more personal attack.
“Putting Holes in Happiness”
Though 2007’s Eat Me, Drink Me quite obviously wears the influence of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, the album’s dark-swaying “Putting Holes in Happiness” also finds Manson shouting out Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the super-doomed true-crime romance of bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde.
The goth ballad ekes out a mix of “dirty word witchcraft” (“I was in the deep end of her skin”), possibly takes place on Valentines Day, and lights things up with a scorching guitar solo.
While the song reflects a despairing emptiness, “Putting Holes in Happiness” ironically fills up the fandom with pride.
“Third Day of a Seven Binge”
As the first single from The Pale Emperor, “Third Day of a Seven Day Binge” became the official introduction to the then-flourishing, in-world collaboration between Manson and producer-guitarist Tyler Bates — who’d met via their respective involvement with the Californication TV show.
Their partnership brought Manson towards a bluesier, more spacious realm of songcraft, as evidenced by the open-chord sadness of “Third Day.” Manson’s opaque, gravel-croaked weariness hints at fading memories, bitterness and, perhaps, John Wilkes Boothe — the latter a fitting namedrop for Bates and Manson’s future Assassinations.
It’s the modern-day Manson song his fans think he wears so well, and it’s a piece they feel will never wear out its welcome.