Post by Lydia Purple on Jan 5, 2014 12:16:01 GMT -8
"The Beautiful People" is a song by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released as the lead single from the band's second studio album, Antichrist Superstar (1996) in September 1996. Classified as industrial metal, the song was written by frontman Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez, and was produced by Trent Reznor, Dave Ogilvie and Manson. Lyrically, it discusses what Manson refers to as "the culture of beauty".
The single peaked at no.26 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and remains known as one of Marilyn Manson's most famous and most successful original songs; in a 2004 review, Richard Banks of the BBC called the track "still the most impressive" in the band's catalogue, and it was ranked in 2006 at no.28 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs.
Floria Sigismondi directed what has been described as "the creepiest of creepy videos" for "The Beautiful People". The clip, filmed in the abandoned Goodenham and Worts distillery in Toronto, Canada, depicts the band performing the song in a classroom-like area decorated with medical prostheses and laboratory equipment. Intercut with these performance clips are scenes of lead singer Marilyn Manson in a long gown-like costume and aviator goggles, wearing stilts and prosthetic makeup which make him appear bald and grotesquely tall; after being placed in this costume by similarly attired attendants, he appears to a cheering crowd through a window in a scene reminiscent of a fascist rally, and later stands in the center of a circle while people march around him giving the Hitler salute. Other fast cut scenes include extreme close-ups of crawling earthworms, mannequin heads and hands, and the boots of people marching; and shots of the individual band members bizarrely costumed, including Manson in black and neck braces and an apparent dental device which pulls the flesh of his mouth with hooks, exposing metallic teeth. The video premiered on MTV on September 22, 1996 and was nominated for two 1997 MTV Video Music Awards: Best Rock Video and Best Special Effects.
(Source: Wikipedia)