I don't know if I want to agree on the part about Slipknot and their lyrics being awful. I think Corey Taylor has penned some thought out lyrics that had a purpose or was written in a way that got the point across, while the other hand Manson seems to sort of ramble on about random things. Manson being as intelligent as he is, you'd think his lyrics would be better thought out than they are.

To each is own. I just find the subject matter of almost all Slipknot songs are similar. With that being said , I don't care about lyrics when listening to metal as much as I do in other genres because I feel that the atmosphere can certainly make up for a lack of compelling lyrics.

Hm, well I can't say you're entirely wrong about subject matter, because I do agree thematically, the lyrics tend to be similar. I pay attention to lyrics in what I listen to. So I hear other topics Corey is writing about, because it's not all the same thing, or of similar things in topic. Not sure if it's a good example, but their song Snuff off of All Hope Is Gone, I think it is a rather sentimental and personal song, and it is not like really anything the band has written beforehand either. So I'm saying that there is diversity in the lyrical themes Slipknot touches on.

I'll stress however, that I am not saying Corey Taylor is this amazing lyricist, he's probably a bit above average in my book but that's not really saying much either of him.

Manson is kind of like Lupe Fiasco when it comes to word play. A lot of Manson's lyrics are clever word play.

I love both bands but prefer older Manson over Slipknot but definitely think Slipknot have kept their strength where Manson fell off.

I've heard somebody describe Manson as a white boy trying to sing the blues. I thought it was funny.

So I'll give this one to Manson for his older stuff.

You and I see Manson in very different ways. What's so clever about a song like Dope Show or The Beautiful People? Got the bastard rich but I still think the writing was sub par. I do think he's a great entertainer taking influence from others, namely Alice Cooper. And yeah, I think there are bands around that could learn a few things from Manson. Clever word play wouldn't exactly be one of those things.

I'm going Slipknot on this one. I mean I generally think both are piss poor excuses for metal music in general, but there are a few moments early on in the Slipknot discog I can get down with (such as Wait & Bleed). Bad lyrics sure, he'll bad music as well, but something about their early work is entertaining in a way that Manson always tried so hard to be.

Aside from the fact that I would not call, nor consider anything Manson has ever done, to be metal, not even a sub genre of it. He had industrial, rock, punk, blues even, maybe an influence from metal, but his music was never metal. I hear heavy riffs in a lot of bands and some pretty intense aspects known to be in metal music, but that doesn't make those bands metal.

Not everything Slipknot has put out has been bad either, same goes for Manson, in fact I found his newest album to be one of his best in a long line of mediocre releases from him.

'It's all relative to the size of your steeple'
'The week ones are always there to justify the strong'

It's a review on social classism. Very important in the context of the album's story.

The Dope Show uses drugs as a metaphor for fame which also fits into the context of that album's story.

Well. I know all too well the point or narrative of Manson and his lyrics. He knew how to put a perspective on things most didn't or would not pay attention to in society at the time he was fairly popular, and he was labeled everything from a satanist, to a supporter of suicide and promoter of violence. Really people just didn't like getting the worlds problems shoved in their face, more comfortable being complacent to things like that.

Point is that in the world of writers, lyricists, what have you. I feel that Manson was not so great, not to what you claim he is certainly not. But when you put him against people like Chester Bennington of Linkin Park or Johnathon Davis of Korn, Manson sounds like a genius (not really) lyrically, but don't take that as something positive for Manson, it just means he manages to write better than two other sub par writers. Not really something to give kudos over.

If you feel that I am demeaning you or your opinion, you're taking away the wrong thing from what I'm saying. Like who you want to like man.

Well I may have overstated things by saying he's Lupe, but my main point is that he doesn't just ramble and people have accused Lupe Fiasco of just rambling that's where I drew the connection.