Eat Me, Drink Me
Encyclopedia
Eat Me, Drink Me is the sixth full-length studio album
by American rock
band Marilyn Manson
. It was released on June 5, 2007, debuting at number 8 in the United States with more than 80,000 copies sold in the first week. It was recorded in a rented home-recording studio in Hollywood, California
by lead vocalist Marilyn Manson
and former guitar
ist and bass
ist Tim Sköld
. It was produced by Manson and Sköld, and mixed
by Sean Beavan
. It has been stated that there were originally around 20 embryonic songs, all written by Sköld, two of which (that did not make the album) Manson considered complete with lyrics and vocals. Manson stated that he had a difficult time cutting some of them, but felt he had to in order to prevent the album from being "diluted".
This album was also the last to feature Sköld's contributions, having been replaced by Twiggy Ramirez the following January. The singer referred to the album as "very guitar-oriented and very melodic", and as featuring "various unconventional forms of percussion". He has also called it a romantic album, whose lyrical content involves "the unfulfilled yearning to be in another time or another place where you feel like you would fit in better".
The title, "Eat Me, Drink Me", represents a multidimensional group of theme
s, all of which are relevant to Celebritarianism. Four of the most prevalent concepts being the morbid and death-centered Christian
theology, specifically Christ's sacrificial offering of his body for the world to devour which is present in the synoptic gospels and other writings contained within the Holy Bible; passages of text contained with Lewis Carroll
's "Alice in Wonderland" and the infamous quote from which the album derives its name; the famous cannibalistic fantasy which was enacted in Rotenburg, Germany by Armin Meiwes and Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes; and lastly the romantic vampiric connection of "draining the life out of a woman" and Manson's full-on adoption of the role of Nosferatu which his critics have attempted to pigeonhole him into since the beginning.
"Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)
" was released as the lead single of the album. The song peaked at #24 on U.S. Modern Rock Tracks
. "Putting Holes in Happiness
" was released as the second single from the album. Written on his own birthday Marilyn Manson describes the song as being "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad".
On May 31, the entire album was uploaded for streaming on Marilyn Manson's MySpace page, five days prior to its American release.
in severe depression and contemplating his permanent departure from the music industry, Manson had a change of heart and recorded a duet of "Don't You Want Me" with Shirley Manson
. This was originally intended to support the forthcoming 'best of' release but was felt by both artists not to live up to their standards and has yet to see release.
Lest We Forget
was released on September 28, 2004. It was referred to by the singer as his "farewell" album; however, he insisted that it would not be the final Marilyn Manson album. After the release of the single "Personal Jesus
", the band made a number of promotional appearances. Lest We Forget was certified Gold in 2005. When promotion for Lest We Forget concluded the band returned to the studio and recorded eight embryonic songs—some of which had vocals, and one notably a tribute to Andy Warhol
. It was supported by the Against All Gods Tour. The tour was marked by one release, a 2005 EP of "The Nobodies" featuring a new mix of the song (by Chris Vrenna) and other remixes.
Manson began his recording sessions on the album in November 2005 but was focused on his film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll
, the process of opening an art gallery and personal troubles relating to his marriage
. It was after opening the gallery, the Celebritarian Corporation Gallery of Fine Art on Halloween night of 2006, that Manson really began his contribution as a singer by working out melodies and structures around Sköld's already existing compositions, writing lyrics quickly and usually recording on the same day. One result of this is that the album features six guitar solos from Sköld (comprising 3 minutes, 39 seconds of the album in total) and many other guitar moments while bass and keyboards—both played also by Sköld—feature much less than on a usual Marilyn Manson
release. Manson explained that "[he] was writing in the way you would write a diary" and as a result thinks that the record was written from a "more mature musical point of view."
Manson has stated that he sang most of the album
lying down on the studio floor with his hands cupping the studio mic
, resulting in a very distinctive vocal sound. Of Sköld's compositions a further two are said to have been turned into fully-fledged songs with lyrics, music and vocals completed but were not put onto album for fear of making it overwrought. Manson raised the possibility of using the two as starting points for his following album, The High End of Low
.
, which started to become comfortably predictable in the wake of his popular/creative peak of Mechanical Animals
, but the stab at soul-baring on Eat Me might not have been the way to do it. But Manson is such a true believer in rock & roll mythos that he's wound up embracing the cliché of the post-divorce confessional album, peppering this album with songs about "broken relationships and new love". Personal songs are unusual for Manson, but that doesn't mean he's abandoned his tendency to write about grand concepts. The difference is that this time around, Manson himself is the grand concept which may give him a lyrical hook, but not a musical one. On a sonic level, this is a bit of "Manson-by-numbers", but it feels as if his usual murky menace has lifted, with the music sounding clearer, less affected, and obtuse, while still retaining much of its gothic romanticism and churning heaviness. If anything, Eat Me is a bit too transparent, as its clean arena rock
production makes the album sound safe, a bit too close to Manson cabaret for comfort, especially when he's penning songs whose very titles feel like unwitting self-parodies
such as "If I Was Your Vampire", "You and Me and the Devil Makes 3" and "They Said That Hell's Not Hot", or when he lazily spews out profanity as the chorus to "Mutilation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery." These are the moments where Manson seems like the eternal teenager, unwilling and unable to grow up, and they provide a bitter ironic counterpoint to the rest of the record, where he is striving for an emotional honesty he's never attempted before.
The most prevalent literary influence of the album and Manson's state of being is that of Lolita
by Vladimir Nabokov
, one of the most notorious books of the Twentieth Century. The song "Heart-Shaped Glasses" is the most obvious nod to Lolita as according to Manson, Evan Rachel Wood
is also a huge fan of Nabokov and had deliberately worn heart-shaped sunglasses upon meeting for a tryst when their relationship became romantic.
Connections to the novel
are much deeper than simply the "inside joke" between Manson and Wood of the obvious age difference and it should be noted that the heart-shaped sunglasses as associated with Lolita appear only in the promotional poster and cover of Stanley Kubrick
's film adaptation of the novel, not actually in the movie itself or in Nabokov's novel.
According to Manson, vampirism is just one of the dark theme
s running through Eat Me, Drink Me. "If I had to do a record review, I'd say it's got a cannibal, consumption, obsessive, violent-sex, romance angle, but with an upbeat swing to it." Aside from the obvious Lewis Carroll and Jesus Christ references, Manson says the album's title was also inspired by the story of Armin Meiwes
, who placed an ad online for a person consenting to be eaten.
The Vampire, whom Manson personified during "Eat Me, Drink Me", in one regard is an inversion of the mythology of Christ. Both entities rise from the dead but as Christ offers his body and blood
for his disciples to feast upon in communion with him, the vampire as contrary to this, devours the flesh and blood of his victims in order to make them one with him.
, mock-fascism
or an artistic movement. This logo, later dubbed the "heart-shaped spiral" in official online store item descriptions, was minimalistically a roughly drawn heart which spiraled at its center. Manson revealed that it was an homage to Evan Rachel Wood
for inspiring him with love and creative drive which was the impetus needed to create the album
. He elaborated that as it was tattooed on his left inner wrist
.
The Eat Me, Drink Me era's visuals, was inspired by the iconography of the 1935 Karl Freund
film Mad Love
. As can be seen within both the album art
work and repeated on the CD single for "Putting Holes in Happiness", we see a closeup of Manson's eye with a heart as the pupil signifying a romantic and newly inspired Manson with literal "hearts in his eyes". In very close relation to the film and artwork of Mad Love
, which portrayed an insane and malformed monster
of a man who is driven to create his mad abominations by the love of a woman
, Manson's eyes can be seen to signify this theme likewise in reflecting how Evan inspired his resurgence of creativity needed to compose the album
.
Though not particularly esoteric or heavy in symbolism, the primary Eat Me, Drink Me Marilyn Manson logo were two blood dripping fang-like M's to represent the initials of the band
. Fairly self explanatory in representation, and included here for the sake of being all-inclusive, the dripping red M's are nonetheless an iconic logo in themselves and work effectively in illustrating the many vampiric themes of the album.
, also known as the time of "Thanksgiving", in which Jesus gave his disciples the instruction to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. This is precisely where the concept of Manson's Celebritarianism originates from; that is, in the view presented by Manson of Christ being the first celebrity and the crucifix being the first piece of merchandise, Celebritarianism is the worship of death and celebrity and is thereby, as the word itself implies, the consuming and devouring of celebrity as taken example from the symbology of the Eucharist.
Notoriously adopted in popular culture by Jefferson Airplane
as the rallying cry for the psychedelic
generation of the 60's, as most are familiar with it, the following passages of Lewis Carroll
's creation, Alice in Wonderland
are of notable importance as the title Eat Me, Drink Me is quite literally taken verbatim
from the instructions written on the cake and bottle respectively, along with Manson's numerous connections to Carroll via his production of Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll
, and Manson's fixation on both Carroll, and his intangible literary creation, Alice
, created from the author's own fixation with his child friend Alice Liddell
.
Armin Meiwes
and Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes, met together after Brandes had responded to an online post by Armin Meiwes, in which Meiwes wrote, "Looking for a well built 18 to 30 year old to be slaughtered".
Brandes and Meiwes met, dismembered Brandes' penis
, and consumed it together. It is reported that afterwards Brandes voluntarily consented to his own death, and was killed by Meiwes, who then ate his remains. Originally sentenced to an 8½ year sentence for manslaughter
, Meiwes was later charged with murder
, and resentenced, this time to life imprisonment.
Directly preceding the album's release followed with numerous connections made to vampires, including the signature goth anthem, "If I Was Your Vampire", and the song "Putting Holes in Happiness" described as "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad.", one can also examine the title of the album, Eat Me, Drink Me, from a vampiristic perspective, in which the flesh is punctured and sustenance is drawn from the blood of the host, quite literally the life source of their being.
leaves his "hard rock style" and moves to a more goth rock
-driven style. Manson pulls off the multitude of styles in this album, going from a cheap, 70s rock simplistic guitar riff to an "80s keyboard hook", the album seems a retrospective
of the times, while keeping the shock rock
style; even if this album has gone a bit more towards the typical mainstream.
The singer also referred to the album as "very guitar-oriented and very melodic", and as featuring "various unconventional forms of percussion". He has also called it a romantic album, whose lyrical content involves "the unfulfilled yearning to be in another time or another place where you feel like you would fit in better".
The various lyric allusions of Eat Me, Drink Me and the imageries which are referenced by Manson, not visual in this case but in verse form. As Eat Me, Drink Me has been Manson's most personal album to date, the lyrics are full of self explorations of past themes which Manson has explored as well as many subtle allusions to the album's inspirations.
The album opens with "If I Was Your Vampire", an industrial-goth song. Quiet ringing guitars are offset by heavy drums, owing as much musically to the Sisters of Mercy
as it does to Nine Inch Nails
. And the lyrics are as much Bauhaus
as Ministry
with talk of "blood-stained sheets in the shape of your heart". Majestic would be another way to describe it, as drenched in irony-deprived passion, Manson intones "Beyond the pale/ Everything is black/ No turning back."
The lyrical auto-erotica
that begins in the lead-off track ("Drive me off the mountain/ You’ll burn, I’ll eat your ashes/ Impossible wheels seducing our corpse") continues with the wailing "Just a Car Crash Away" and the stand-out "Are You the Rabbit?", which harkens back to the "glammy
guitar feel" of Mechanical Animals
. "Are You the Rabbit?" builds off of Manson's obsession with Lewis Carroll, while pulling fairy-tale like lyrics off in style with an all-around catchy song and hook.
In what can only be seen as a way to maintain a buzz with the generation behind, his very public attachment to Evan Rachel Wood
is flaunted throughout the peripheral of this release, from his personal artwork to the song and video for the Lolita-inspired first single, "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)". The song itself is a piece of militant drum cadence
mixed with raw adolescent sexuality in both Manson’s lyrics and delivery: "She’ll never cover up what we did with her dress."
The blustery guitar of "You and Me and the Devil Makes 3" revels in the repetition of the title alongside the menacing delivery of "There’s not a word for what I want to do to you", but it’s hard to take any song too seriously when it contains a "Murdercute happyrape" lyrical chorus
. Although somewhat lyrically stunted, "The Red Carpet Grave" is an interesting song on the album, "The Red Carpet Grave" is perhaps the most confessional track, with Manson repeating the line, "I can't turn my back on you, but you're walking away."
The new wave
elements are present to a lesser extent on harder-rocking songs like "Mutilation Is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery". The latter song is one of several that touch on Manson's marriage and subsequent divorce from Dita von Teese
, as Manson writes about his personal life in his music for the first time.
Rumors also circulated for some time that Marilyn Manson
wrote the song "Mutilation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery" as an attack on the band My Chemical Romance
, for his Eat Me, Drink Me release (which he later denied, saying that it was aimed at people in general seeking to imitate him). In another interview Manson stated that "I'm embarrassed to be me because these people are doing a really sad, pitiful, shallow version of what I've done". In response to this, Gerard Way
, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance
claimed nothing Manson could say would bring the band down.
There's other songs like "They Said That Hell's Not Hot", that incorporates a rather simplistic guitar riff into a catchy, easily radio-friendly song.
On April 15, 2007 Marilyn Manson’s Interscope Records
-administered Myspace
page went live with promotional artwork. The next day "If I Was Your Vampire" was added to the player as Myspace Music's "Single of the Week". Hours later, Manson’s official website went through a revision to coincide with the imagery of the new album. Later still but on the same day, Interscope e-mailed out a press release containing the album artwork by Nela Koenig. Two days later Interscope opened a "VampireFreaks
" account for Manson. The album leaked onto P2P
networks on May 1, Manson said he was unconcerned by the leak as it mainly affects record companies and not the artists.
To promote the album, Manson first traveled to France
, the United Kingdom
and Germany
, where he held both press conferences and listening parties. Similar listening parties for journalists and fan club administrators took place in other European countries and America
. Measures taken to prevent an unauthorized recording or copy of the album from leaking included bag searching and the prohibition of recording devices and mobile phones. Manson appeared twice on BBC Radio 1
; on April 17 on the Zane Lowe
Show and on May 23 in the Live Lounge
where he and Sköld performed an acoustic version of "Heart-Shaped Glasses" and a cover of Justin Timberlake
's "What Goes Around Comes Around
", having been given a choice by the station of Timberlake, Green Day
, Amy Winehouse
or Muse
.
The next significant promotion took place on May 18 with the uploading to the official website of the album's 16-page linear booklet. The uploading coincided with Manson’s in store signing at Hot Topic
in California
where fans who had obtained an entry wristband days prior were given a copy of the booklet for Manson to sign though he signed other items on fans request for two hours. Also available at the event, and now available in Hot Topic stores and online shop, is an exclusive 2-track "Heart-Shaped Glasses" single. All Hot Topic stores across the USA held listening parties for the album on May 25. The stores are also added three new official t-shirts to the racks to coincide with the party and Manson recorded linking material for the songs.
Newbury Comics
gave away licensed Eat Me, Drink Me pint glasses with each pre-order of the album. Further promotional oddities were to be found in the UK where boxes were distributed containing chocolates marked "Eat Me" and mini bottles of Tequila with "Drink Me" on the back.
An official Eat Me, Drink Me mini-site was discovered through a link found in the EU "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)" single. The site, www.marilynmansonvault.com, contains lyrics, a photo gallery, a mosaic, and the ability to stream up to two tracks per day starting on May 28, 2007. Upon completion of the mosaic, an Eat Me, Drink Me wallpaper becomes available for download, and three preview tracks ("Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)", "If I Was Your Vampire", and "Evidence") become available for streaming. The official release of the single coincided with the opening of the vault itself (for those with the single) to access a screensaver
, ringtone and two "classic tracks for download" ("Disposable Teens" and "The Dope Show").
The song "If I Was Your Vampire" was used in the soundtrack to the 2010 parody flick Vampires Suck
. In the film it opens the end credits.
The title of the painting however evokes the much deeper and intricate reference of Charles Baudelaire
's 1857 incendiary poetic collection during the era of Romanticism, Les Fleurs Du Mal
(English: The Flowers of Evil).
in a hotel after the Heart-Shaped Glasses video shoot in which a naked Wood lies over Manson who has his fingers in the vicinity of her anus.
Other publications to include original content with Manson have been the April issue of UK magazine Rock Sound
, the May issue of Revolver, an interview with French RockMag, an MTV
online piece focusing on Manson's suicidal ideation, a longer, more in-depth interview in Rock Sound, a long, very descriptive and open piece in The Observer Magazine
(The Life and Loves of a He-Devil), a partial transcript of a friendly chat with Alejandro Jodorowsky
, an interview in Germany’s lifestyle monthly BlondMag, the cover story of June's Spin
magazine stretched out over eight pages entitled "The Last Rock Star?", an article in Rolling Stone from Austin Scaggs who spends a fair amount of time with Manson judging by the five pieces in four months he has contributed, The Sun
newspaper's Something For The Weekend section.
's page, Manson says: "I would like to thank the loyal few that waited, at the far end of the abyss, for me to make this record. My mother and father, my best friends (you know who you are). Tony, Bobby and everyone else who has forgiven me for my wrongdoings. This record is dedicated to those who stood by me. Most of all, this is for Evan
." A tour shirt was released to the online market and it featured the cover of the album.
The front cover was shot by Nela Koenig and the back cover by Anthony Silva. The inside photos were shot by Perou
and Nela Koenig and all Polaroids
by Manson and Wood. The Heart-Shaped Eyes were self-portrait by Manson and the art direction and design by Marilyn Manson and Liam Ward.
and a 16 page booklet
. The limited edition CD featured bonus tracks with acoustic version of "Putting Holes in Happiness
" and three other remixes of the single "Heart-Shaped Glasses". An edition including a bonus DVD
was also released. It featured a bonus CD including seven remixes
of "Putting Holes in Happiness", "Heart-Shaped Glasses" and "You And Me and the Devil Makes 3"; and a DVD, including the music videos of "Putting Holes in Happiness" and "Heart-Shaped Glasses" and a "Track by track interview" video.
An instrumental version of the entire album entitled Bonus Track and Instrumentals from the Album Eat Me, Drink Me was leaked in late 2007 on YouTube. It features all tracks from the album without the vocal track and also includes a remix of "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)", which was released as a bonus track on most international versions of the album. It is not a sanctioned release by Interscope. Nevertheless, a FLAC version of the album was uploaded to torrents thereafter, which made availability more widespread due to the price and rarity of pressed, physical copies.
" was released as the lead single of the album and was added to the Marilyn Manson's official MySpace
page on April 24. On April 27, 2007, Marilyn Manson released a clip featuring the last 34 seconds of the then upcoming music video for "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)" on YouTube
, and later on the official website
. The song peaked at #24 on U.S. Modern Rock Tracks
.
"Putting Holes in Happiness
" is Marilyn Manson's second single from the album. Written on his own birthday, Marilyn Manson
describes the song as being "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad". A two-track promotional disc was released in June 2007, but no confirmation of the song as the album's second single followed until Marilyn Manson
confirmed the next single to be "Putting Holes in Happiness" on August 7, 2007. The song has already appeared on the radio in France
, where a promo of the single has been sent out to several major radio stations. The Guitar Hero
Remix by Nick Zinner
version of the single was featured on early special editions of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
.
"You and Me and the Devil Makes 3" was released as a promotional single from the album in September 2007.
kissing maliciously while having simulated sex and scenes of her being covered in blood, overdubbed with an instrumental
of the Eat Me, Drink Me track "Evidence". At the 1:35 mark the scene cuts to Manson and Wood driving down a highway in the dark, Wood daring Manson to go faster, to which Manson proclaims "[I'm] going as fast as I can." Manson takes his hands off the wheel to take numerous pictures of Wood, who lifts her leg up to the wheel and holds a knife to her mouth while wearing heart-shaped glasses. The two kiss again, concluding the introduction, and the setting cuts to a club.
On stage, in front of a large crowd, Manson begins singing as Wood watches him intently, apparently masturbating, from the crowd (still wearing the heart-shaped glasses), while numerous photos begin to fall over the audience. Shots of the two driving are flashed throughout the video, as the scene once again changes, this time revealing Manson and Wood in a bed, drenched in what appears to be blood. The two begin kissing vigorously again before the final scene returns to the two of them speeding along the highway. The front of the car erupts in flames, and they continue along, kissing once again. Manson says "Together as one...", and Wood replies "Against all others", before they drive off a cliff and fall, the video ending as they crash.
It has been rumored that the scenes in the video depicting sex between Manson and Wood was footage of legitimate sex between the two. To make matters more confusing, in an MTV interview with Manson, he did not confirm or deny the authenticity of the depictions, at one point dismissing it:
And at another point implying the possibility that the sex was in fact real:
Evan Rachel Wood
has said the sex was not real, however.
In response to the video's release, and a string of claims from those on the set, bloggers across the web have offered their opinions on the validity of the sex act.
In an attempt to clear the air, Spin felt it wise to contact Janine Lindemulder
, a porn star who stars alongside infamous starlet Jenna Jameson
in Janine Loves Jenna. She said: "I'm completely convinced. You can't fake that kind of raw passion, you can tell they are a couple and you can't fake that kind of stuff," Lindemulder told Spin. "It's one of the most erotic things I've ever witnessed, the subtleties, the realness. It feels like you're peering into their private sex life. It's hot."
filmmaker Philippe Grandrieux
, is a simple performance by the band in an unknown, seemingly outdoor area. There is a young girl who Manson is seen with many times in the video, and also a small boy who seems to be frightfully screaming from something not seen. Manson has stated in various interviews that select segments of the video were filmed in Germany
during the shooting of the "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)
" video in April 2007.
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score 63, based on 14 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Allmusic gave the album a mixed review and said that "[it] is a bit too transparent, as its clean arena rock production makes the album sound safe [...] Eat Me, Drink Me becomes an intriguing muddle, an interesting portrait of Manson at the cusp of middle-age melancholy even if as sheer music it's the least visceral or compelling he's ever been." The Los Angeles Times
praised the album's concept, saying "The songs too are sculpted from the darkest stone with special care. Previous Manson guitarists will envy the solo space allotted Sköld; a number of exceptional ax workouts perfectly reflect moods that range from mounting pride to roiling anguish to moaning abjection." It also noted that "Putting Holes In Happiness" stands out as "one of Manson's greatest songs." Jamie Fullerton of NME
gave the album a rating of 7 out of 10, and said that "[t]his album sees him rising from the hordes of spider-black hoodies, becoming a musical force beyond the Download ticket-holders. Eat him, drink him, but make sure you listen to him too." Popmatters
also gave the album a rating of 7 out of 10, and commented that "Eat Me, Drink Me should return Manson to his former successes, and rightfully so. There is an earnestness in the music designed to speak directly to fucked-up adolescence while often inexplicably foregoing the pander. There is something to be said for knowing where the line is and when to cross it. Call Manson what you will—genius, has-been, shock rocker, freak—but like his best work, Eat Me, Drink Me is as fun as it is cartoonishly scary." Slant Magazine
gave the album a favorable review and praised "'Putting Holes in Happiness' [as] the best of the autobiographical tracks, with a melancholic guitar riff that matches the song's appropriately plodding arrangement. Hardcore fans may take offense to the lack of any songs challenging God, government, or society in general, but it's their loss. Eat Me, Drink Me is a bona fide creative rebirth." Rolling Stone
magazine gave the album a negative review and said: "For Eat Me, Drink Me, which he recorded and produced in a home studio with the help of bandmate Tim Sköld, Manson delivers mostly mid-tempo goth-ballads ("Putting Holes in Happiness") and icey dirges ("Eat Me, Drink Me") often powered by nothing more than drum-machines and electric guitars."
page, five days prior to its American release. When released, debuted at № 8 in the United States with more than 80,000 copies sold in the first week. The album charted at № 1 in Estonia
and Turkey
. Its peak position was № 2, on the Austria
Albums Top 75, it stayed there for 1 week. Its highest entry was № 2 in the Austria
Albums Top 75. The album's initial entries in the charts were positive, it managed to reach the top ten in some countries, including Australia
, Belgium
(Wallonia), Canada
, Croatia
, Finland
, Germany
, France
, Greece
, etc. In the other hand, the album only reached № 38 in the Netherlands
and № 36 in Poland
.
's least calculatedly "shocking" records, Eat Me, Drink Me may also be one of his best, favoring sturdy new wave hooks instead of cheap horror-movie theatrics. The welcome return to inspired songwriting also reinvigorates his dark introspection, such as on "If I Was Your Vampire," a bloodcurdling tale that merges vampire lore with a story of a dangerously obsessive relationship. Eat Me, Drink Me is a reminder of what Manson does best: turning scary industrial rock
noises into universal messages of fear and self-doubt."
embarked on, under management of major record label Interscope Records
. It was also the band's seventh tour to span over multiple legs. The band was on the tour from May 26, 2007 until March 2, 2008. During the North American dates the band toured with thrash metal
band Slayer
and hard rock band Bleeding Through
. During the Australian dates, Manson was supported by Australian pop-punk band The Spazzys, who received harsh criticism from the crowds.
During the Winter European tour leg the band was supported by Turbonegro
. The support act for the Winter North American tour leg was OURS.
For this tour Manson returned to the theatrics of the Grotesk Burlesk Tour, some influenced by Alice in Wonderland. Initially, Manson took to the stage wearing a leather jacket with cut off gloves and a black, long-sleeved shirt to perform the opener, "If I Was Your Vampire" and the follow-up, "Disposable Teens
". When first performed as an encore on the European tour, Manson took to the stage for either "Are You the Rabbit?" or "The Nobodies" (and in the case of Paris, the album's title song), wearing a striped white-gold, long-sleeved shirt. Manson later replaced the long-sleeve shirt for a black t-shirt with cut off sleeves. When the butcher knife
microphone debuted, Manson performed the first song like this but also wore black, elbow-length gloves. On certain dates, Manson wore silver pants with his black shirt. "If I Was Your Vampire" then began to be performed in a black frilly shirt and a black feather boa and pink gloves for "Are You the Rabbit?".
Following his appearance with Alice Cooper
, Manson began to take to the stage in a t-shirt depicting a cartoon of a bunny rabbit, or on later occasions, a cut-off t-shirt with a skeleton chest on. Costume changes on these dates after the distinctly nontheatrical European tour first leg featured a top hat and striped pants (occasionally a leather trench coat and jacket) for "Mobscene
", a jacket with '333 HALF EVIL' patched onto it, and even at some dates, a boxing gown for "The Fight Song" with the iconic twisted heart on the front and the bleeding MM logo on the back, as well as a white jacket, reminiscent of Elvis Presley
, for "Rock Is Dead
" at later dates. Contrasting these changes, Manson still performed "Antichrist Superstar
" in the black business suit/red shirt ensemble, sometimes changing into a silver version of the rabbit shirt for later performances of "The Beautiful People" on dates on the European tour.
members adopted the latter half of their stage name
s from), models
and actresses (a handful of which the band members adopted the first of their stage names from), martyrs, iconic figures which represent the themes of Eat Me, Drink Me and various horror movies.
.
Production
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson (band)
Marilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...
. It was released on June 5, 2007, debuting at number 8 in the United States with more than 80,000 copies sold in the first week. It was recorded in a rented home-recording studio in Hollywood, California
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
by lead vocalist Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
and former guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist and bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
ist Tim Sköld
Tim Skold
Tim Sköld is a multi-instrumentalist who, in addition to producing solo work, has also collaborated with multiple musical groups including Shotgun Messiah, KMFDM and Marilyn Manson.-Early life:...
. It was produced by Manson and Sköld, and mixed
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
by Sean Beavan
Sean Beavan
Sean Beavan is a musician, record producer, and audio engineer best known for his work with Guns N Roses, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, God Lives Underwater, and Slayer...
. It has been stated that there were originally around 20 embryonic songs, all written by Sköld, two of which (that did not make the album) Manson considered complete with lyrics and vocals. Manson stated that he had a difficult time cutting some of them, but felt he had to in order to prevent the album from being "diluted".
This album was also the last to feature Sköld's contributions, having been replaced by Twiggy Ramirez the following January. The singer referred to the album as "very guitar-oriented and very melodic", and as featuring "various unconventional forms of percussion". He has also called it a romantic album, whose lyrical content involves "the unfulfilled yearning to be in another time or another place where you feel like you would fit in better".
The title, "Eat Me, Drink Me", represents a multidimensional group of theme
Theme (arts)
In the visual arts, a theme is a broad idea or a message conveyed by a work, such as a performance, a painting, or a motion picture. This message is usually about life, society or human nature. Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a work. Themes are usually implied...
s, all of which are relevant to Celebritarianism. Four of the most prevalent concepts being the morbid and death-centered Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
theology, specifically Christ's sacrificial offering of his body for the world to devour which is present in the synoptic gospels and other writings contained within the Holy Bible; passages of text contained with Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's "Alice in Wonderland" and the infamous quote from which the album derives its name; the famous cannibalistic fantasy which was enacted in Rotenburg, Germany by Armin Meiwes and Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes; and lastly the romantic vampiric connection of "draining the life out of a woman" and Manson's full-on adoption of the role of Nosferatu which his critics have attempted to pigeonhole him into since the beginning.
"Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)
Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)
"Heart-Shaped Glasses " is a song by Marilyn Manson. It was released as the first single from their sixth album, Eat Me, Drink Me released on June 5, 2007. Initially, "Putting Holes In Happiness" was set as the first single from the album, but this was changed, similar to the case of "Get Your Gunn"...
" was released as the lead single of the album. The song peaked at #24 on U.S. Modern Rock Tracks
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
. "Putting Holes in Happiness
Putting Holes in Happiness
"Putting Holes in Happiness" is Marilyn Manson's second single from his sixth studio album Eat Me, Drink Me. Written on his birthday , Marilyn Manson described the song as "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad"...
" was released as the second single from the album. Written on his own birthday Marilyn Manson describes the song as being "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad".
On May 31, the entire album was uploaded for streaming on Marilyn Manson's MySpace page, five days prior to its American release.
Development and recording
After spending time around the end of the Grotesk Burlesk TourGrotesk Burlesk Tour
Grotesk Burlesk was the ninth tour Marilyn Manson embarked on, under management of major record label Interscope Records. It was also the band's fifth tour to span over multiple legs...
in severe depression and contemplating his permanent departure from the music industry, Manson had a change of heart and recorded a duet of "Don't You Want Me" with Shirley Manson
Shirley Manson
Shirley Anne Manson is a Scottish recording artist and actress, best known internationally as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Garbage. For much of her international career Manson commuted between her home city of Edinburgh to the United States to record with Garbage but now lives and...
. This was originally intended to support the forthcoming 'best of' release but was felt by both artists not to live up to their standards and has yet to see release.
Lest We Forget
Lest We Forget (album)
-Notes:*Tracks 1, 4, 8 and 14 are from Holy Wood *Track 2 previously unreleased*Tracks 3, 7 and 18 are from The Golden Age of Grotesque*Track 5 is from the Not Another Teen Movie ...
was released on September 28, 2004. It was referred to by the singer as his "farewell" album; however, he insisted that it would not be the final Marilyn Manson album. After the release of the single "Personal Jesus
Personal Jesus
"Personal Jesus" is Depeche Mode's 23rd UK single, released on August 29, 1989, and the first single from the album Violator. The single reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100...
", the band made a number of promotional appearances. Lest We Forget was certified Gold in 2005. When promotion for Lest We Forget concluded the band returned to the studio and recorded eight embryonic songs—some of which had vocals, and one notably a tribute to Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
. It was supported by the Against All Gods Tour. The tour was marked by one release, a 2005 EP of "The Nobodies" featuring a new mix of the song (by Chris Vrenna) and other remixes.
Manson began his recording sessions on the album in November 2005 but was focused on his film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll
Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll
Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll is an upcoming fantasy-horror film by Marilyn Manson with Geoffrey Cox and Anthony Silva. It is directed by Marilyn Manson as part of his Celebritarian Corporation art movement, and is his directorial debut as a feature filmmaker. It is being produced by...
, the process of opening an art gallery and personal troubles relating to his marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
. It was after opening the gallery, the Celebritarian Corporation Gallery of Fine Art on Halloween night of 2006, that Manson really began his contribution as a singer by working out melodies and structures around Sköld's already existing compositions, writing lyrics quickly and usually recording on the same day. One result of this is that the album features six guitar solos from Sköld (comprising 3 minutes, 39 seconds of the album in total) and many other guitar moments while bass and keyboards—both played also by Sköld—feature much less than on a usual Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
release. Manson explained that "[he] was writing in the way you would write a diary" and as a result thinks that the record was written from a "more mature musical point of view."
Manson has stated that he sang most of the album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
lying down on the studio floor with his hands cupping the studio mic
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
, resulting in a very distinctive vocal sound. Of Sköld's compositions a further two are said to have been turned into fully-fledged songs with lyrics, music and vocals completed but were not put onto album for fear of making it overwrought. Manson raised the possibility of using the two as starting points for his following album, The High End of Low
The High End of Low
The High End of Low is the seventh full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. Sean Beavan, who mixed Antichrist Superstar, Mechanical Animals, and Eat Me, Drink Me, is co-producer of the album along with Chris Vrenna...
.
Concept and themes
"Manson probably needed something to shake up his musicMusic
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, which started to become comfortably predictable in the wake of his popular/creative peak of Mechanical Animals
Mechanical Animals
Mechanical Animals is the third full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on September 14, 1998, in Australia and on September 15, 1998, in the US, Germany and France through Nothing and Interscope Records and marked the beginning of the band's brief foray into...
, but the stab at soul-baring on Eat Me might not have been the way to do it. But Manson is such a true believer in rock & roll mythos that he's wound up embracing the cliché of the post-divorce confessional album, peppering this album with songs about "broken relationships and new love". Personal songs are unusual for Manson, but that doesn't mean he's abandoned his tendency to write about grand concepts. The difference is that this time around, Manson himself is the grand concept which may give him a lyrical hook, but not a musical one. On a sonic level, this is a bit of "Manson-by-numbers", but it feels as if his usual murky menace has lifted, with the music sounding clearer, less affected, and obtuse, while still retaining much of its gothic romanticism and churning heaviness. If anything, Eat Me is a bit too transparent, as its clean arena rock
Arena rock
Arena rock is a term used to describe rock music that utilised large arena venues, particularly sports venues, for concerts or series of concerts linked in tours...
production makes the album sound safe, a bit too close to Manson cabaret for comfort, especially when he's penning songs whose very titles feel like unwitting self-parodies
Self-parody
A self-parody is a parody of oneself or one's own work. As an artist accomplishes it by imitating his or her own characteristics, a self-parody is potentially difficult to distinguish from especially characteristic productions .Sometimes critics use the...
such as "If I Was Your Vampire", "You and Me and the Devil Makes 3" and "They Said That Hell's Not Hot", or when he lazily spews out profanity as the chorus to "Mutilation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery." These are the moments where Manson seems like the eternal teenager, unwilling and unable to grow up, and they provide a bitter ironic counterpoint to the rest of the record, where he is striving for an emotional honesty he's never attempted before.
The most prevalent literary influence of the album and Manson's state of being is that of Lolita
Lolita
Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
by Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
, one of the most notorious books of the Twentieth Century. The song "Heart-Shaped Glasses" is the most obvious nod to Lolita as according to Manson, Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
is also a huge fan of Nabokov and had deliberately worn heart-shaped sunglasses upon meeting for a tryst when their relationship became romantic.
Connections to the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
are much deeper than simply the "inside joke" between Manson and Wood of the obvious age difference and it should be noted that the heart-shaped sunglasses as associated with Lolita appear only in the promotional poster and cover of Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's film adaptation of the novel, not actually in the movie itself or in Nabokov's novel.
According to Manson, vampirism is just one of the dark theme
Theme (arts)
In the visual arts, a theme is a broad idea or a message conveyed by a work, such as a performance, a painting, or a motion picture. This message is usually about life, society or human nature. Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a work. Themes are usually implied...
s running through Eat Me, Drink Me. "If I had to do a record review, I'd say it's got a cannibal, consumption, obsessive, violent-sex, romance angle, but with an upbeat swing to it." Aside from the obvious Lewis Carroll and Jesus Christ references, Manson says the album's title was also inspired by the story of Armin Meiwes
Armin Meiwes
Armin Meiwes is a German man who achieved international notoriety for killing and eating a voluntary victim whom he had found via the Internet. After Meiwes and the victim jointly attempted to eat the victim's severed penis, Meiwes killed his victim and proceeded to eat a large amount of his flesh...
, who placed an ad online for a person consenting to be eaten.
The Vampire, whom Manson personified during "Eat Me, Drink Me", in one regard is an inversion of the mythology of Christ. Both entities rise from the dead but as Christ offers his body and blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
for his disciples to feast upon in communion with him, the vampire as contrary to this, devours the flesh and blood of his victims in order to make them one with him.
Logos
In 2007, Eat Me, Drink Me brought with it, for the first time in nearly over ten years, a symbol Manson adopted to represent himself with that did not have an immediate and apparent deeper connotation to the occultOccult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
, mock-fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
or an artistic movement. This logo, later dubbed the "heart-shaped spiral" in official online store item descriptions, was minimalistically a roughly drawn heart which spiraled at its center. Manson revealed that it was an homage to Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
for inspiring him with love and creative drive which was the impetus needed to create the album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
. He elaborated that as it was tattooed on his left inner wrist
Wrist
In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as 1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...
.
The Eat Me, Drink Me era's visuals, was inspired by the iconography of the 1935 Karl Freund
Karl Freund
Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. was a cinematographer and film director most noted for photographing Metropolis , Dracula , and television's I Love Lucy .-Early life:...
film Mad Love
Mad Love (1935 film)
Mad Love is a 1935 American horror film adaptation of Maurice Renard's story The Hands of Orlac. Directed by German-émigré film maker Karl Freund, the film stars Peter Lorre as Dr. Gogol, Frances Drake as Yvonne Orlac and Colin Clive as Stephen Orlac. The plot revolves around Doctor Gogol's...
. As can be seen within both the album art
Cover art
Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
work and repeated on the CD single for "Putting Holes in Happiness", we see a closeup of Manson's eye with a heart as the pupil signifying a romantic and newly inspired Manson with literal "hearts in his eyes". In very close relation to the film and artwork of Mad Love
Mad Love (1935 film)
Mad Love is a 1935 American horror film adaptation of Maurice Renard's story The Hands of Orlac. Directed by German-émigré film maker Karl Freund, the film stars Peter Lorre as Dr. Gogol, Frances Drake as Yvonne Orlac and Colin Clive as Stephen Orlac. The plot revolves around Doctor Gogol's...
, which portrayed an insane and malformed monster
Monster
A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
of a man who is driven to create his mad abominations by the love of a woman
Woman
A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
, Manson's eyes can be seen to signify this theme likewise in reflecting how Evan inspired his resurgence of creativity needed to compose the album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
.
Though not particularly esoteric or heavy in symbolism, the primary Eat Me, Drink Me Marilyn Manson logo were two blood dripping fang-like M's to represent the initials of the band
Marilyn Manson (band)
Marilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...
. Fairly self explanatory in representation, and included here for the sake of being all-inclusive, the dripping red M's are nonetheless an iconic logo in themselves and work effectively in illustrating the many vampiric themes of the album.
Album title
The title, "Eat Me, Drink Me", represents a multidimensional group of themes, all of which are relevant to Celebritarianism. There are prevalent concepts in the album: EucharistEucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, also known as the time of "Thanksgiving", in which Jesus gave his disciples the instruction to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. This is precisely where the concept of Manson's Celebritarianism originates from; that is, in the view presented by Manson of Christ being the first celebrity and the crucifix being the first piece of merchandise, Celebritarianism is the worship of death and celebrity and is thereby, as the word itself implies, the consuming and devouring of celebrity as taken example from the symbology of the Eucharist.
Notoriously adopted in popular culture by Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
as the rallying cry for the psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
generation of the 60's, as most are familiar with it, the following passages of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's creation, Alice in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
are of notable importance as the title Eat Me, Drink Me is quite literally taken verbatim
Verbatim
Verbatim may refer to:*Verbatim Latin - the term "Verbatim" means, in a UK legal context: "word by word, exactly"*Verbatim Corporation, a US company that markets storage media and flash memory*Verbatim , a magazine edited by Erin McKean...
from the instructions written on the cake and bottle respectively, along with Manson's numerous connections to Carroll via his production of Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll
Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll
Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll is an upcoming fantasy-horror film by Marilyn Manson with Geoffrey Cox and Anthony Silva. It is directed by Marilyn Manson as part of his Celebritarian Corporation art movement, and is his directorial debut as a feature filmmaker. It is being produced by...
, and Manson's fixation on both Carroll, and his intangible literary creation, Alice
Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
Alice is a fictional character in the literary classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There. She is a young girl from Victorian-era Britain.-Development:...
, created from the author's own fixation with his child friend Alice Liddell
Alice Liddell
Alice Pleasance Liddell , known for most of her adult life by her married name, Alice Hargreaves, inspired the children's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, whose protagonist Alice is said to be named after her.-Biography:...
.
Armin Meiwes
Armin Meiwes
Armin Meiwes is a German man who achieved international notoriety for killing and eating a voluntary victim whom he had found via the Internet. After Meiwes and the victim jointly attempted to eat the victim's severed penis, Meiwes killed his victim and proceeded to eat a large amount of his flesh...
and Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes, met together after Brandes had responded to an online post by Armin Meiwes, in which Meiwes wrote, "Looking for a well built 18 to 30 year old to be slaughtered".
Brandes and Meiwes met, dismembered Brandes' penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
, and consumed it together. It is reported that afterwards Brandes voluntarily consented to his own death, and was killed by Meiwes, who then ate his remains. Originally sentenced to an 8½ year sentence for manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
, Meiwes was later charged with murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, and resentenced, this time to life imprisonment.
Directly preceding the album's release followed with numerous connections made to vampires, including the signature goth anthem, "If I Was Your Vampire", and the song "Putting Holes in Happiness" described as "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad.", one can also examine the title of the album, Eat Me, Drink Me, from a vampiristic perspective, in which the flesh is punctured and sustenance is drawn from the blood of the host, quite literally the life source of their being.
Composition
In this album, Marilyn MansonMarilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
leaves his "hard rock style" and moves to a more goth rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
-driven style. Manson pulls off the multitude of styles in this album, going from a cheap, 70s rock simplistic guitar riff to an "80s keyboard hook", the album seems a retrospective
Retrospective
Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...
of the times, while keeping the shock rock
Shock rock
Shock rock is an umbrella term for artists who combine rock music with elements of theatrical shock value in live performances.-History:Screamin' Jay Hawkins was arguably the first shock rocker...
style; even if this album has gone a bit more towards the typical mainstream.
The singer also referred to the album as "very guitar-oriented and very melodic", and as featuring "various unconventional forms of percussion". He has also called it a romantic album, whose lyrical content involves "the unfulfilled yearning to be in another time or another place where you feel like you would fit in better".
The various lyric allusions of Eat Me, Drink Me and the imageries which are referenced by Manson, not visual in this case but in verse form. As Eat Me, Drink Me has been Manson's most personal album to date, the lyrics are full of self explorations of past themes which Manson has explored as well as many subtle allusions to the album's inspirations.
The album opens with "If I Was Your Vampire", an industrial-goth song. Quiet ringing guitars are offset by heavy drums, owing as much musically to the Sisters of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy
The Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy is an order of Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. , the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations....
as it does to Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
. And the lyrics are as much Bauhaus
Bauhaus (band)
Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J . The band was originally Bauhaus 1919 before they dropped the numerical portion within a year of formation...
as Ministry
Ministry (band)
Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded by lead singer Al Jourgensen in 1981. Originally a synthpop outfit, Ministry changed its style to industrial metal in the late 1980s. Ministry found mainstream success in the early 1990s with its most successful album Psalm 69: The Way to...
with talk of "blood-stained sheets in the shape of your heart". Majestic would be another way to describe it, as drenched in irony-deprived passion, Manson intones "Beyond the pale/ Everything is black/ No turning back."
The lyrical auto-erotica
Erotica
Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...
that begins in the lead-off track ("Drive me off the mountain/ You’ll burn, I’ll eat your ashes/ Impossible wheels seducing our corpse") continues with the wailing "Just a Car Crash Away" and the stand-out "Are You the Rabbit?", which harkens back to the "glammy
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
guitar feel" of Mechanical Animals
Mechanical Animals
Mechanical Animals is the third full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on September 14, 1998, in Australia and on September 15, 1998, in the US, Germany and France through Nothing and Interscope Records and marked the beginning of the band's brief foray into...
. "Are You the Rabbit?" builds off of Manson's obsession with Lewis Carroll, while pulling fairy-tale like lyrics off in style with an all-around catchy song and hook.
In what can only be seen as a way to maintain a buzz with the generation behind, his very public attachment to Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
is flaunted throughout the peripheral of this release, from his personal artwork to the song and video for the Lolita-inspired first single, "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)". The song itself is a piece of militant drum cadence
Drum cadence
In music, a drum cadence is a work played exclusively by the percussion section of a modern marching band , descended from early military marches, primarily as a purposefully emphasized means of providing a beat to marchers and often using patterned rhythmic drum strokes to produce a drum beat.A...
mixed with raw adolescent sexuality in both Manson’s lyrics and delivery: "She’ll never cover up what we did with her dress."
The blustery guitar of "You and Me and the Devil Makes 3" revels in the repetition of the title alongside the menacing delivery of "There’s not a word for what I want to do to you", but it’s hard to take any song too seriously when it contains a "Murdercute happyrape" lyrical chorus
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
. Although somewhat lyrically stunted, "The Red Carpet Grave" is an interesting song on the album, "The Red Carpet Grave" is perhaps the most confessional track, with Manson repeating the line, "I can't turn my back on you, but you're walking away."
The new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
elements are present to a lesser extent on harder-rocking songs like "Mutilation Is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery". The latter song is one of several that touch on Manson's marriage and subsequent divorce from Dita von Teese
Dita Von Teese
Dita Von Teese is an American burlesque dancer, model, costume designer, author and actress.-Early life:...
, as Manson writes about his personal life in his music for the first time.
Rumors also circulated for some time that Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
wrote the song "Mutilation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery" as an attack on the band My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance is an American alternative rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of punk, emo, glam metal, and progressive rock...
, for his Eat Me, Drink Me release (which he later denied, saying that it was aimed at people in general seeking to imitate him). In another interview Manson stated that "I'm embarrassed to be me because these people are doing a really sad, pitiful, shallow version of what I've done". In response to this, Gerard Way
Gerard Way
Gerard Arthur Way is an American musician and comic book writer who has served as lead vocalist and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance since its formation in 2001...
, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance is an American alternative rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of punk, emo, glam metal, and progressive rock...
claimed nothing Manson could say would bring the band down.
There's other songs like "They Said That Hell's Not Hot", that incorporates a rather simplistic guitar riff into a catchy, easily radio-friendly song.
Promotion
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
-administered Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page went live with promotional artwork. The next day "If I Was Your Vampire" was added to the player as Myspace Music's "Single of the Week". Hours later, Manson’s official website went through a revision to coincide with the imagery of the new album. Later still but on the same day, Interscope e-mailed out a press release containing the album artwork by Nela Koenig. Two days later Interscope opened a "VampireFreaks
Vampirefreaks
VampireFreaks.com is an online community for the Gothic–industrial subcultures. It was created by site owner Jethro Berelson in 1999. It began with a small number of forums dedicated to Gothic–industrial music....
" account for Manson. The album leaked onto P2P
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
networks on May 1, Manson said he was unconcerned by the leak as it mainly affects record companies and not the artists.
To promote the album, Manson first traveled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where he held both press conferences and listening parties. Similar listening parties for journalists and fan club administrators took place in other European countries and America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Measures taken to prevent an unauthorized recording or copy of the album from leaking included bag searching and the prohibition of recording devices and mobile phones. Manson appeared twice on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
; on April 17 on the Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe also known as 'Zipper', is a radio DJ and television presenter. He was born in New Zealand and grew up in Auckland, where he was a presenter on the local music station Max TV, before moving to England...
Show and on May 23 in the Live Lounge
Live Lounge
The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio station BBC Radio 1. Originally hosted by Jo Whiley on her mid-morning radio show and now hosted by Fearne Cotton, it exhibits well-known artists usually performing one song of their own and one by another artist, in an acoustic format...
where he and Sköld performed an acoustic version of "Heart-Shaped Glasses" and a cover of Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
's "What Goes Around Comes Around
What Goes Around Comes Around
What Goes Around Comes Around is an album by Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1979. Released when the outlaw country movement was already visibly past its prime, it was Jennings' first studio album to feature his distinctive logo on the cover, surrounded by neon and stars; I've Always...
", having been given a choice by the station of Timberlake, Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
, Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
or Muse
Muse (band)
Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...
.
The next significant promotion took place on May 18 with the uploading to the official website of the album's 16-page linear booklet. The uploading coincided with Manson’s in store signing at Hot Topic
Hot Topic
Hot Topic is an American retail chain specializing in music and pop culture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music on CD. The majority of the stores are located in regional shopping malls. The first Hot Topic store was opened in 1988 by Orv Madden, who retired as CEO in 2000...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
where fans who had obtained an entry wristband days prior were given a copy of the booklet for Manson to sign though he signed other items on fans request for two hours. Also available at the event, and now available in Hot Topic stores and online shop, is an exclusive 2-track "Heart-Shaped Glasses" single. All Hot Topic stores across the USA held listening parties for the album on May 25. The stores are also added three new official t-shirts to the racks to coincide with the party and Manson recorded linking material for the songs.
Newbury Comics
Newbury Comics
Newbury Comics is a New England-based music retailer. Newbury Comics began as a comic book vendor on Newbury Street in Boston. The company was founded in 1978 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students John Brusger and Mike Dreese. Over the next few years, the focus of the company changed...
gave away licensed Eat Me, Drink Me pint glasses with each pre-order of the album. Further promotional oddities were to be found in the UK where boxes were distributed containing chocolates marked "Eat Me" and mini bottles of Tequila with "Drink Me" on the back.
An official Eat Me, Drink Me mini-site was discovered through a link found in the EU "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)" single. The site, www.marilynmansonvault.com, contains lyrics, a photo gallery, a mosaic, and the ability to stream up to two tracks per day starting on May 28, 2007. Upon completion of the mosaic, an Eat Me, Drink Me wallpaper becomes available for download, and three preview tracks ("Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)", "If I Was Your Vampire", and "Evidence") become available for streaming. The official release of the single coincided with the opening of the vault itself (for those with the single) to access a screensaver
Screensaver
A screensaver is a type of computer program initially designed to prevent phosphor burn-in on CRT and plasma computer monitors by blanking the screen or filling it with moving images or patterns when the computer is not in use...
, ringtone and two "classic tracks for download" ("Disposable Teens" and "The Dope Show").
The song "If I Was Your Vampire" was used in the soundtrack to the 2010 parody flick Vampires Suck
Vampires Suck
Vampires Suck is a 2010 vampire spoof film based on the Twilight film series and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. It stars Jenn Proske, Matt Lanter, Christopher N...
. In the film it opens the end credits.
Watercolors
Marilyn Manson's 2007 to 2008 worldwide art exhibition named for its title-piece watercolor which had surfaced in mid-2006, at the period when Manson had been thoroughly immersed in the composition of his film project Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. As such, many of the paintings released simultaneously bore similar themes and re-interpretations of the nightmare world of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.The title of the painting however evokes the much deeper and intricate reference of Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
's 1857 incendiary poetic collection during the era of Romanticism, Les Fleurs Du Mal
Les Fleurs du mal
Les Fleurs du mal is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. First published in 1857 , it was important in the symbolist and modernist movements...
(English: The Flowers of Evil).
Release
Manson announced via his website in mid-January that the record was "nearly finished", titled Eat Me, Drink Me, and that the band would be touring the world in support of the record that was scheduled for release on June 5, 2007. The album's artwork was wrapped up in early February 2007 thus bringing an end to the creative process in preparation for the imminent promotion and publication of details. Since the release of the album, Manson appeared in Rolling Stone four times: the March article "Manson's Dark Return", a further paragraph from the Smoking Section, a mention in the "50 Albums To Look Forward To This Summer" issue and a small snippet featuring an explicit picture of Manson and Evan Rachel WoodEvan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
in a hotel after the Heart-Shaped Glasses video shoot in which a naked Wood lies over Manson who has his fingers in the vicinity of her anus.
Other publications to include original content with Manson have been the April issue of UK magazine Rock Sound
Rock Sound
Rock Sound is a British magazine which champions rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, whilst also giving coverage to more well known acts.-History:...
, the May issue of Revolver, an interview with French RockMag, an MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
online piece focusing on Manson's suicidal ideation, a longer, more in-depth interview in Rock Sound, a long, very descriptive and open piece in The Observer Magazine
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
(The Life and Loves of a He-Devil), a partial transcript of a friendly chat with Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comic book writer and spiritual guru...
, an interview in Germany’s lifestyle monthly BlondMag, the cover story of June's Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
magazine stretched out over eight pages entitled "The Last Rock Star?", an article in Rolling Stone from Austin Scaggs who spends a fair amount of time with Manson judging by the five pieces in four months he has contributed, The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
newspaper's Something For The Weekend section.
Cover and packaging
The cover art for Eat Me, Drink Me portrayed Manson as a vampire, dressed with a black-toned outfit, standing still looking at the camera next to a window covered with blood. The back of the cover features a photo of a woman with her eyes covered by a hand, possibly Manson's hand, with the track listing featured on the left side. In one of the bookletBooklet
Booklet may refer to:* A small book or group of pages* Postage stamp booklet, made up of one or more small panes of postage stamps in a cardboard cover...
's page, Manson says: "I would like to thank the loyal few that waited, at the far end of the abyss, for me to make this record. My mother and father, my best friends (you know who you are). Tony, Bobby and everyone else who has forgiven me for my wrongdoings. This record is dedicated to those who stood by me. Most of all, this is for Evan
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
." A tour shirt was released to the online market and it featured the cover of the album.
The front cover was shot by Nela Koenig and the back cover by Anthony Silva. The inside photos were shot by Perou
Perou
thumb|perou by frances|rightRalph John Perou , known professionally as Perou, is a British fashion, portrait and music photographer who has also appeared as a judge on Make Me a Supermodel UK and on season 2 of Bravo TV's American Make Me a Supermodel...
and Nela Koenig and all Polaroids
Instant film
Instant film is a type of photographic film first introduced by Polaroid that is designed to be used in an instant camera...
by Manson and Wood. The Heart-Shaped Eyes were self-portrait by Manson and the art direction and design by Marilyn Manson and Liam Ward.
Formats
The album was released in three physical formats. The standard jewel case CD release contained a single Enhanced CDEnhanced CD
Enhanced CD, also known as CD Extra and CD Plus, is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both Compact Disc and CD-ROM players....
and a 16 page booklet
Booklet
Booklet may refer to:* A small book or group of pages* Postage stamp booklet, made up of one or more small panes of postage stamps in a cardboard cover...
. The limited edition CD featured bonus tracks with acoustic version of "Putting Holes in Happiness
Putting Holes in Happiness
"Putting Holes in Happiness" is Marilyn Manson's second single from his sixth studio album Eat Me, Drink Me. Written on his birthday , Marilyn Manson described the song as "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad"...
" and three other remixes of the single "Heart-Shaped Glasses". An edition including a bonus DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
was also released. It featured a bonus CD including seven remixes
RemixeS
RemixeS is a compilation of French singer Mylène Farmer's singles by various famous DJ's, including JXL, Felix Da Housecat and Paul Oakenfold.-Brackground, writing and release:...
of "Putting Holes in Happiness", "Heart-Shaped Glasses" and "You And Me and the Devil Makes 3"; and a DVD, including the music videos of "Putting Holes in Happiness" and "Heart-Shaped Glasses" and a "Track by track interview" video.
An instrumental version of the entire album entitled Bonus Track and Instrumentals from the Album Eat Me, Drink Me was leaked in late 2007 on YouTube. It features all tracks from the album without the vocal track and also includes a remix of "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)", which was released as a bonus track on most international versions of the album. It is not a sanctioned release by Interscope. Nevertheless, a FLAC version of the album was uploaded to torrents thereafter, which made availability more widespread due to the price and rarity of pressed, physical copies.
Singles
On April 17, 2007, "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)
"Heart-Shaped Glasses " is a song by Marilyn Manson. It was released as the first single from their sixth album, Eat Me, Drink Me released on June 5, 2007. Initially, "Putting Holes In Happiness" was set as the first single from the album, but this was changed, similar to the case of "Get Your Gunn"...
" was released as the lead single of the album and was added to the Marilyn Manson's official MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page on April 24. On April 27, 2007, Marilyn Manson released a clip featuring the last 34 seconds of the then upcoming music video for "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)" on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, and later on the official website
MarilynManson.com
MarilynManson.com is the official Marilyn Manson website. The website, since its launch in 1998, has been integral to the promotion and direction of the band...
. The song peaked at #24 on U.S. Modern Rock Tracks
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
.
"Putting Holes in Happiness
Putting Holes in Happiness
"Putting Holes in Happiness" is Marilyn Manson's second single from his sixth studio album Eat Me, Drink Me. Written on his birthday , Marilyn Manson described the song as "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad"...
" is Marilyn Manson's second single from the album. Written on his own birthday, Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
describes the song as being "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad". A two-track promotional disc was released in June 2007, but no confirmation of the song as the album's second single followed until Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
confirmed the next single to be "Putting Holes in Happiness" on August 7, 2007. The song has already appeared on the radio in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where a promo of the single has been sent out to several major radio stations. The Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in...
Remix by Nick Zinner
Nick Zinner
Nicholas Joseph Zinner is the guitarist for the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He is known for his "unmistakable" wild hair, skinny physique, and pale appearance...
version of the single was featured on early special editions of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a music video game, the third main installment in the Guitar Hero series, and the fourth title overall...
.
"You and Me and the Devil Makes 3" was released as a promotional single from the album in September 2007.
"Heart-Shaped Glasses" music video controversy
The video contains a 2:47 introduction featuring Manson and girlfriend Evan Rachel WoodEvan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
kissing maliciously while having simulated sex and scenes of her being covered in blood, overdubbed with an instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
of the Eat Me, Drink Me track "Evidence". At the 1:35 mark the scene cuts to Manson and Wood driving down a highway in the dark, Wood daring Manson to go faster, to which Manson proclaims "[I'm] going as fast as I can." Manson takes his hands off the wheel to take numerous pictures of Wood, who lifts her leg up to the wheel and holds a knife to her mouth while wearing heart-shaped glasses. The two kiss again, concluding the introduction, and the setting cuts to a club.
On stage, in front of a large crowd, Manson begins singing as Wood watches him intently, apparently masturbating, from the crowd (still wearing the heart-shaped glasses), while numerous photos begin to fall over the audience. Shots of the two driving are flashed throughout the video, as the scene once again changes, this time revealing Manson and Wood in a bed, drenched in what appears to be blood. The two begin kissing vigorously again before the final scene returns to the two of them speeding along the highway. The front of the car erupts in flames, and they continue along, kissing once again. Manson says "Together as one...", and Wood replies "Against all others", before they drive off a cliff and fall, the video ending as they crash.
It has been rumored that the scenes in the video depicting sex between Manson and Wood was footage of legitimate sex between the two. To make matters more confusing, in an MTV interview with Manson, he did not confirm or deny the authenticity of the depictions, at one point dismissing it:
And at another point implying the possibility that the sex was in fact real:
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
has said the sex was not real, however.
In response to the video's release, and a string of claims from those on the set, bloggers across the web have offered their opinions on the validity of the sex act.
In an attempt to clear the air, Spin felt it wise to contact Janine Lindemulder
Janine Lindemulder
Janine Marie Lindemulder , also known as Janine Marie James, is an American exotic dancer and adult film actress, best known for her work in American pornographic films during the mid-1990s and a 2004–2005 comeback...
, a porn star who stars alongside infamous starlet Jenna Jameson
Jenna Jameson
Jenna Jameson is an American entrepreneur and former pornographic actress, who has been called the world's most famous adult-entertainment performer and "The Queen of Porn."...
in Janine Loves Jenna. She said: "I'm completely convinced. You can't fake that kind of raw passion, you can tell they are a couple and you can't fake that kind of stuff," Lindemulder told Spin. "It's one of the most erotic things I've ever witnessed, the subtleties, the realness. It feels like you're peering into their private sex life. It's hot."
"Putting Holes In Happiness"
The music video, directed by FrenchFrench people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
filmmaker Philippe Grandrieux
Philippe Grandrieux
Philippe Jesus Grandrieux is a French film director born in 1954.- Biography :He studied movies at the INSAS in Brussels and started his career as a moviemaker by shooting fictional films and documentaries. Grandrieux then worked as an experimental filmmaker in Belgium where he exhibited his...
, is a simple performance by the band in an unknown, seemingly outdoor area. There is a young girl who Manson is seen with many times in the video, and also a small boy who seems to be frightfully screaming from something not seen. Manson has stated in various interviews that select segments of the video were filmed in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
during the shooting of the "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)
Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)
"Heart-Shaped Glasses " is a song by Marilyn Manson. It was released as the first single from their sixth album, Eat Me, Drink Me released on June 5, 2007. Initially, "Putting Holes In Happiness" was set as the first single from the album, but this was changed, similar to the case of "Get Your Gunn"...
" video in April 2007.
Critical response
Upon its release, the album met with mixed and positive reviews. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score 63, based on 14 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Allmusic gave the album a mixed review and said that "[it] is a bit too transparent, as its clean arena rock production makes the album sound safe [...] Eat Me, Drink Me becomes an intriguing muddle, an interesting portrait of Manson at the cusp of middle-age melancholy even if as sheer music it's the least visceral or compelling he's ever been." The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
praised the album's concept, saying "The songs too are sculpted from the darkest stone with special care. Previous Manson guitarists will envy the solo space allotted Sköld; a number of exceptional ax workouts perfectly reflect moods that range from mounting pride to roiling anguish to moaning abjection." It also noted that "Putting Holes In Happiness" stands out as "one of Manson's greatest songs." Jamie Fullerton of NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
gave the album a rating of 7 out of 10, and said that "[t]his album sees him rising from the hordes of spider-black hoodies, becoming a musical force beyond the Download ticket-holders. Eat him, drink him, but make sure you listen to him too." Popmatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
also gave the album a rating of 7 out of 10, and commented that "Eat Me, Drink Me should return Manson to his former successes, and rightfully so. There is an earnestness in the music designed to speak directly to fucked-up adolescence while often inexplicably foregoing the pander. There is something to be said for knowing where the line is and when to cross it. Call Manson what you will—genius, has-been, shock rocker, freak—but like his best work, Eat Me, Drink Me is as fun as it is cartoonishly scary." Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
gave the album a favorable review and praised "'Putting Holes in Happiness' [as] the best of the autobiographical tracks, with a melancholic guitar riff that matches the song's appropriately plodding arrangement. Hardcore fans may take offense to the lack of any songs challenging God, government, or society in general, but it's their loss. Eat Me, Drink Me is a bona fide creative rebirth." Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine gave the album a negative review and said: "For Eat Me, Drink Me, which he recorded and produced in a home studio with the help of bandmate Tim Sköld, Manson delivers mostly mid-tempo goth-ballads ("Putting Holes in Happiness") and icey dirges ("Eat Me, Drink Me") often powered by nothing more than drum-machines and electric guitars."
Chart performance
On May 31, the entire album was uploaded for streaming on Marilyn Manson's MySpaceMySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page, five days prior to its American release. When released, debuted at № 8 in the United States with more than 80,000 copies sold in the first week. The album charted at № 1 in Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. Its peak position was № 2, on the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
Albums Top 75, it stayed there for 1 week. Its highest entry was № 2 in the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
Albums Top 75. The album's initial entries in the charts were positive, it managed to reach the top ten in some countries, including Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
(Wallonia), Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, etc. In the other hand, the album only reached № 38 in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and № 36 in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
Accolades
About.com nominated the album the 10th best rock album of 2007 and said: "One of Marilyn MansonMarilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
's least calculatedly "shocking" records, Eat Me, Drink Me may also be one of his best, favoring sturdy new wave hooks instead of cheap horror-movie theatrics. The welcome return to inspired songwriting also reinvigorates his dark introspection, such as on "If I Was Your Vampire," a bloodcurdling tale that merges vampire lore with a story of a dangerously obsessive relationship. Eat Me, Drink Me is a reminder of what Manson does best: turning scary industrial rock
Industrial rock
Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused...
noises into universal messages of fear and self-doubt."
Rape of the World Tour
The Rape of the World Tour is the eleventh tour Marilyn MansonMarilyn Manson (band)
Marilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...
embarked on, under management of major record label Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
. It was also the band's seventh tour to span over multiple legs. The band was on the tour from May 26, 2007 until March 2, 2008. During the North American dates the band toured with thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
band Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
and hard rock band Bleeding Through
Bleeding Through
Bleeding Through is an American metalcore band from Orange County, California. Formed in 1999, the band blends influences stemming from modern hardcore punk, symphonic black metal, and melodic death metal...
. During the Australian dates, Manson was supported by Australian pop-punk band The Spazzys, who received harsh criticism from the crowds.
During the Winter European tour leg the band was supported by Turbonegro
Turbonegro
Turbonegro is a Norwegian punk rock band that was initially active from 1989 to 1998, and later reformed in 2002. Their style combines glam rock, punk rock and hard rock into a style the band describes as "deathpunk"....
. The support act for the Winter North American tour leg was OURS.
For this tour Manson returned to the theatrics of the Grotesk Burlesk Tour, some influenced by Alice in Wonderland. Initially, Manson took to the stage wearing a leather jacket with cut off gloves and a black, long-sleeved shirt to perform the opener, "If I Was Your Vampire" and the follow-up, "Disposable Teens
Disposable Teens
"Disposable Teens" is a song by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It is the first single from their fourth full-length studio album, Holy Wood , released in 2001....
". When first performed as an encore on the European tour, Manson took to the stage for either "Are You the Rabbit?" or "The Nobodies" (and in the case of Paris, the album's title song), wearing a striped white-gold, long-sleeved shirt. Manson later replaced the long-sleeve shirt for a black t-shirt with cut off sleeves. When the butcher knife
Butcher knife
A butcher knife is a knife designed and used primarily for the butchering and/or dressing of animals.During the late 18th century to mid 1840s, the butcher knife was a key tool for mountain men. Simple, useful and cheap to produce, they were used for everything from skinning beaver, cutting food,...
microphone debuted, Manson performed the first song like this but also wore black, elbow-length gloves. On certain dates, Manson wore silver pants with his black shirt. "If I Was Your Vampire" then began to be performed in a black frilly shirt and a black feather boa and pink gloves for "Are You the Rabbit?".
Following his appearance with Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, Manson began to take to the stage in a t-shirt depicting a cartoon of a bunny rabbit, or on later occasions, a cut-off t-shirt with a skeleton chest on. Costume changes on these dates after the distinctly nontheatrical European tour first leg featured a top hat and striped pants (occasionally a leather trench coat and jacket) for "Mobscene
MOBSCENE
"Mobscene", stylized as "mOBSCENE", is the inaugural single taken from the 2003 Marilyn Manson album The Golden Age of Grotesque. Lines in the song chanted by female vocalists, "Be obscene, be, be obscene..." are inspired by a quote by Oscar Wilde that has been commonly used as a chant among...
", a jacket with '333 HALF EVIL' patched onto it, and even at some dates, a boxing gown for "The Fight Song" with the iconic twisted heart on the front and the bleeding MM logo on the back, as well as a white jacket, reminiscent of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, for "Rock Is Dead
Rock Is Dead
"Rock Is Dead" is a single from Marilyn Manson's third studio album, Mechanical Animals. It is also featured on The Matrix Soundtrack and Midnight Club 3.-Concept:...
" at later dates. Contrasting these changes, Manson still performed "Antichrist Superstar
Antichrist Superstar (song)
"Antichrist Superstar" is a promotional-only single from Marilyn Manson's second studio album of the same name. The song itself is symbolic of the climax of the concept album's story, the point where the abused and wretched victim at the center of the tale takes on the identity of the nihilistic...
" in the black business suit/red shirt ensemble, sometimes changing into a silver version of the rabbit shirt for later performances of "The Beautiful People" on dates on the European tour.
Posters
Limited edition tour posters sold during the January to March 2008 Winter tour became important for the album's promotion. Each poster, printed and designed by Print Mafia, was limited to 100 runs each with a unique design available for, and exclusively in, each city of the tour. The dark themed poster designs featured serial killers (namely many of which the bandRock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
members adopted the latter half of their stage name
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s from), models
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
and actresses (a handful of which the band members adopted the first of their stage names from), martyrs, iconic figures which represent the themes of Eat Me, Drink Me and various horror movies.
Track listing
All lyrics written by Marilyn MansonMarilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
.
Album charts
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... (ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... ) |
9 |
| Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... (Ö3 Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... ) |
2 |
| Belgium (Flanders) Flanders Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp... (Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... ) |
19 |
| Belgium (Wallonia) (Ultratop Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... ) |
9 |
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... (CANOE Canadian Online Explorer Canadian Online Explorer is a bilingual online news and information site from Canada.A subsidiary of Quebecor Media, Canoe.ca is a leading local and national interactive media provider of news, entertainment and services, helping to inform and connect Canadians... ) |
8 |
| Croatia Croatia Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ... |
7 |
| Czech Republic Czech Republic The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest.... (IFPI) |
12 |
| Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... (Tracklisten Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... ) |
18 |
| Estonia Estonia Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies... |
1 |
| Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... (Mitä Hitti Mitä hittiä The Official Finnish Charts is a national record chart in Finland composed by Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.The singles chart was started in January 1991 as Radiomafian lista and was broadcast on the radio station Radiomafia of the Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE. This chart is based on a... ) |
9 |
| France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... (SNEP Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... ) |
5 |
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... (Media Control Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... ) |
4 |
| Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... (IFPI) |
7 |
| Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The... (Mahasz Mahasz Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary.... ) |
32 |
| Ireland Ireland Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth... (IRMA Irish Recorded Music Association Irish Recorded Music Association is the Irish record industry association. IRMA is a non-profit association set up to manage and control the music industry in the Republic of Ireland.-Goals and activities:... ) |
23 |
| Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... (FIMI Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... ) |
7 |
| Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... (Oricon Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... ) |
7 |
| South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south... (RIAK) |
2 |
| Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... (AMPROFON) |
12 |
| Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... (MegaCharts MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... ) |
38 |
| Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million... (VG-Lista VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... ) |
12 |
| New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga... (RIANZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... ) |
18 |
| Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... (ZPAV Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... ) |
36 |
| Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the... (AFP Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa The Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa is currently the only recording industry association in Portugal. Created in 1989, it succeeded GPPFV and UNEVA .... ) |
25 |
| Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... (PROMUSICAE) |
7 |
| Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... (Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... ) |
10 |
| Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... (Hitparade Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... ) |
4 |
| Turkey Turkey Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe... (Mü-YAP) |
1 |
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... (OCC) |
8 |
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
8 |
Singles
| Single | Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand) Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand) "Heart-Shaped Glasses " is a song by Marilyn Manson. It was released as the first single from their sixth album, Eat Me, Drink Me released on June 5, 2007. Initially, "Putting Holes In Happiness" was set as the first single from the album, but this was changed, similar to the case of "Get Your Gunn"... " |
Austria | 41 |
| Germany | 49 | |
| Ireland | 46 | |
| Sweden | 27 | |
| United Kingdom | 19 | |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 31 | |
| Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 24 | |
| "Putting Holes In Happiness Putting Holes in Happiness "Putting Holes in Happiness" is Marilyn Manson's second single from his sixth studio album Eat Me, Drink Me. Written on his birthday , Marilyn Manson described the song as "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad"... " |
Germany | 83 |
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | June 5, 2007 | Interscope Records | Compact disc |
Credits and personnel
Marilyn Manson- Marilyn MansonMarilyn MansonMarilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
– vocals, percussion, lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
, composerComposerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, photography, art direction and design - Tim SköldTim SkoldTim Sköld is a multi-instrumentalist who, in addition to producing solo work, has also collaborated with multiple musical groups including Shotgun Messiah, KMFDM and Marilyn Manson.-Early life:...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, music, engineering, programming, producer, composer
Production
- Sean BeavanSean BeavanSean Beavan is a musician, record producer, and audio engineer best known for his work with Guns N Roses, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, God Lives Underwater, and Slayer...
– mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Ambooleg – photography
- PerouPerouthumb|perou by frances|rightRalph John Perou , known professionally as Perou, is a British fashion, portrait and music photographer who has also appeared as a judge on Make Me a Supermodel UK and on season 2 of Bravo TV's American Make Me a Supermodel...
– photography - Nela Koenig – photography
- Anthony Silva – photography
- Liam Ward – art direction and design
- Evan Rachel WoodEvan Rachel WoodEvan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
– polaroid photographyInstant filmInstant film is a type of photographic film first introduced by Polaroid that is designed to be used in an instant camera... - Mark Williams – A&R
External links
- Official Eat Me, Drink Me website
- Eat Me, Drink Me at MetaCriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...