What happened to Marilyn Manson? He hangs out with hipsters’ goddess Lana Del Rey and merry divorcee Johnny Depp, and now he is covering the Eagles? yes! at a private gig filmed for a scene in the new season finale of Showtime’s Californication, Manson did a cover of ‘Hotel California’.
That’s the worst choice for a cover ever! That sing-along chorus, this indulgent guitar solo, I mean I am bias because I had never been able to stand the song, and the fact we have heard it 3 billion times doesn’t help. Manson cannot even remember the lyrics at one point, he sings with his most scratchy voice (is it me or does he sound a little bit like Beck at the beginning?) and the seven minutes or so are a total drag. He doesn’t even bring anything weird to the song, I mean it would be difficult to sound dangerous when singing ‘Welcome to the Hotel California/Such a lovely place/Such a lovely place’ but he is the blasphemous, terrifying Manson, isn't he? And what does he mean at the beginning, when he says ‘we’re doing it for the kids?’ Which kids? Does he think kids listen to the fucking Eagles or is it a joke?
Manson has softened so much, is it the same guy who recorded ‘Smells Like Children’ and ‘Antichrist Superstar’ in the mid-90s? The same guy who purchased a child's skeleton, masks made of human skin and Nazi memorabilia? The guy who used to preach debauchery, piss off parents and make Christians picket in front of venues? 1995 Marilyn Manson would have a hard time to recognize 21012 Marilyn Manson.