CD Review

They're not spooky, they're just kids

Release of demos from Marily Manson's first band may only appeal to the most diehard fans

By Mitchell Peters

When I first heard the surprising news that Marilyn Manson’s old band, The Spooky Kids, was releasing a disc of old demos, I was excited and a little curious to see what the band sounded like before they became world famous actresses, supermodels and serial killers. I heard rumors that Spooky Kids demo tapes were floating around on the Internet, but wasn’t interested in buying some second-rate bootleg of something that probably sounded bad and simply wasn’t good. If I wanted that, I could listen to old tapes of my first band recorded on a Karaoke machine when I was a kid.

As a huge fan of Manson’s earlier work, which included wholesome songs the whole family could sit around and eat dinner to like “Cake and Sodomy,” “Diary of a Dope fiend” and “Antichrist Superstar,” I thought maybe there was a chance I’d fall in love all over again with the shock-rockers, or at least get a kick out of it.

I was wrong. Even Alice Cooper would be ashamed.

“ Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows” sounds like a glamorized collection of unmixed demos from a band that hasn’t quite found their niche in a world of wannabe Satanists and Goth-rocker freaks. I wouldn’t be surprised if these songs were recorded in mommy and daddy’s basement while the band was deciding what tattoos they should get while having their girlfriends paint their fingernails black.

The late ‘80s Florida-based band has classic members like bassist Gidget Geins, Madonna Wayne Gacy on Keyboards, Sara Lee Lucas on drums, the eerie guitar playing of Daisy Berkowitz, and of course Mr. Manson himself on vocals, but “Lunch Boxes” sounds like a self-conscious world of music where the musicians are talented, but haven’t quite honed their skills yet. The fact that Trent Reznor didn’t produce it doesn’t help the matter either.

This volume one release, which ironically dates back to the early ‘90s, for lack of a better word, sucks. The only people it will appeal to are hardcore Manson fans and young kids who wear Slipknot shirts and don’t know any better—and even that’s a stretch. The 10-song collection sounds like a mixture of amateur, underdeveloped industrial-punk metal songs that feature a young Manson who hasn’t quite decided how his vocals should sound. In songs like “Dune Buggy” and “Negative Three,” I almost felt embarrassed for him, his vocals whiny and insecure. Not to mention a crappy drum machine that seems to be malfunctioning at times.

After giving it a few listens, however, some of the songs began to grow on me slightly, but only because they brought back nostalgic feelings of when the band was still good and Berkowitz was still kicking ass on guitar. Songs like “Red (In My) Head” with its classic Manson guitar riff and Mr. Manson’s screechy vocals reminded of earlier songs from “Portrait of an American Family” and “Smells Like Children.”

Fans of Manson’s sleazy and controversial lyrics shouldn’t be worried; there are plenty to go around. In “Scaredy Cat,” Manson boasts in his evil distorted scream “you can see the smiles on the one’s I have de-flowered.” Charming, even for Manson’s standards. In “Negative Three,” again I felt embarrassed for Manson’s choice in lyrics as well as his unsuccessful attempt to sing in a low, sexy, Glen Danzig-like voice. It’s quite pathetic.

I think what offends me the most as a long-time fan of Manson’s earlier work, and I do emphasize earlier (I stopped bothering after “Mechanical Animals”), is that this release seems like a cheap attempt to make money off the band’s modern anti-hero image. I think the only use for this CD would be to pass around to friends after a show or to download from the Internet, not to sell at a Tower Records for a ridiculous $18.99.