Johnny Mercyside

Friday, May 15, 2015

My Top 100 Favourite Music Videos: #29

#29: "The Beautiful People" - Marilyn Manson
Release Date: 1996
Director: Floria Sigismondi
Fun Fact: The song's title comes from a 1967 book of the same name, written by Marilyn Bender, which talks about how a certain lifestyle in the sixties was all about the perception that beauty is completely entwined with fashion and politics!
This is the third and last Marilyn Manson video on the list. Naturally this suggests that that this is my favourite video by the band. I have mixed feelings about calling it that. But those are mainly because the song is quite overplayed and it's also Manson's most famous of songs.

But if you strip those two things away from the equation, what you have here is Manson's finest video. Why do I say that? Mainly because, if you were to put Marilyn Manson's entire career into one music video, this would be that one. It's creepy, it's scary, it's artistic, it's jam packed full of historical references and there's just so much going on in it. A lot of the lyrics and the scenes in the video suggest capitalism and fascism, two things that are a strong theme in Manson's lyrics in general. The man is obsessed with Hitler to a certain degree, and he does portray the worshipping of Hitler a lot in the video, even having the Nazi salute in here at some discrete points. It's just a damn good video, creepy as hell, but hey, that's what I love about the guy. It may be overplayed but it certainly has never, ever, been overrated.
Note: This is the fifth and last video from the year 1996 in this list.


Here is the video for your enjoyment!

Click here to see #28 on the list or here for #30!

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