20 years ago: Mechanical Animals

Happy 20th birthday to one of the last great rock albums of the 90s!

This was Marilyn Manson's first album not produced by Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails), and it definitely has a different sound to their two previous records. Billy Corgan had a huge influence on the more glam rock sound and it is one of MM’s best because of it.

"This is definitely the right direction, but if you're gonna do this, go all the way with it. Don't just hint at it."

Said Billy Corgan, after hearing a few songs Marilyn played for him.

This album is the second in the triptych of albums they made, with the story going in reverse chronological order of when they were released (2000's Holy Wood, 1998's Mechanical Animals, and 1996's Antichrist Superstar).

"[On 'Antichrist Superstar',] I was being grandiose, saying that I would be this icon that would have a lot of power in my hands and be able to decide many people's future. That ended up being true. Life imitated art and the story started writing itself.'Mechanical Animals' represented the middle of the story and 'Holy Wood...' ties all the pieces together at the start. It's a parable."

If you aren’t familiar with Marilyn Manson this is a good album to start with since its music probably has the most accessible sound of all their albums. You can really hear (and see) the influence Bowie had on the band (especially on Marilyn himself) with this album. If you love 90s music as much as me you should consider giving it a listen. -Noah

Nearly every song on the album feels like it could have been a single.

My favorites are:

Coma White

Great Big White World

The Speed Of Pain

and Mechanical Animals