Metal Showdown (Round 1) - Slipknot vs Marilyn Manson
 

There's a metal blog that does a weekly showdown between two Metal/Hard Rock artists where they encourage everyone to vote for their favorite artist, and then when a few days have passed, tallies up the percentages to declare the winner.

The winner then goes on to challenge another band in the upcoming round, and so on and so forth.

So I thought I would create a similar competition here on MB. The first round will consist of two artists that mostly target the same demographic and have a large overlap of fans, so this should be interesting. I'll be giving around a month for each round to fully receive all the votes and to also give time for healthy and maybe somewhat heated discussion.

Let the games begin.


While many write off Slipknot as nothing more than noisy teen angst ridden tunes, you can't deny that they pack a powerful sound, especially in their first two releases, and they even return to it in last year's release, The Gray Chapter.

They have tight musicianship and have managed to keep most of their original line-up intact outside of losing their bassist to an overdose and having to replace their drummer for severe drug use.

For me, though, they don't win this round simply because while they have an angry, powerful sound, it never goes beyond that with them. The Gray Chapter certainly shows a lot of maturity, but it's still the same, angry ranting that has always been a staple of the Knot's sound. A very close second in this round.


Marilyn Manson doesn't exactly have the musicianship of Slipknot or the consistency of material, but the one thing he does possess over the Knot is personality. The Knot definitely had attitude, but Manson's persona managed to evoke fear into his critics and chaos into the hearts and minds of his fans.

Not only that, but he was like a gothic, male version of Madonna in the sense that he was able to pull off a new look and sound for each of his releases without it coming off as fake.

While the band may be a revolving door of artists joining and leaving the band, Manson's strong image is what elevates the music above that of Slipknot for me.

My Verdict:

Marilyn Manson: 1
Slipknot: 0

Marilyn Manson: 2
Slipknot: 0

I listened to both bands in my oh so alternative teenage years.
A lot of MM songs sound pretty good to me even nowadays. Slipknot's... not so much.

You could've picked somebody better than Slipknot, as most people here intensely dislike that band.

I don't think they really like Manson much better.

Obiviously someone in their awkward teenage years thinks some how slipknot is music.

In this battle between utter crap and crap that has a few ok moments, I choose Marilyn Manson.

Slipknot for the lulz.

Gotta go with Slipknot here. Call them crap, whatever you feel the need to label them. But I like there music and can say I've spent money to see them live, f*cking great live band even if you think their music is sh*t, can't deny stage presence and people that know how to put on a show.

I don't mind Manson. I liked his newest album more than some of his older ones. But he gets bland and he's also getting really repetitive too. He doesn't possess that same edge he had before, it's dull. At least Slipknot can keep things somewhat interesting still.

Slipknot get a 0/10 from me, but Marilyn Manson had a few bright moments. Most of his albums don't interest me, but Holy Wood had some legitimate classics on it. The heavy industrial stuff is probably the most boring stuff he does - I like him best when quiet, creepy and melodic.

I vote Slipknot just because of Iowa alone. I know their lyrics are pretty awful most of the time, and their instrumentation isn't anything all that special, but the album has some pretty decent high energy songs that are for the most part are insanely catchy. Manson has some decent albums in his discography, but he'll never be able to come close to Antichrist Superstar, which is his only stand out record to me.

Like the idea of the thread though, and it could be a lot of fun when we get two bands/artist that are similar in style and people actually have a divided opinion on.

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.

I couldn't name the songs I'm thinking of, but I have heard more than my own share of Manson songs where it sounded like he wrote out a bunch of 'cool' lines, arranged them, and made a song out of it. Whatever rhyme or reason they had was lost on me, most likely because the lyrics were sh*t.

And then I found how to be what you want
when I was out looking for something new
Digging too deep
and now it’s too late
we just keep on
breaking the same old ground
So you think that I asked for this
well, let me show you
what I think of your lips
And you think that I asked for this
come on,
use your fist
And then I found how to be what you want
when I was out looking for something new
Digging too deep
and now it’s too late
we just keep on
breaking the same old ground
So you think that I asked for this
well, let me show you
what I think of your lips
And you think that I asked for this
come on,
use your fist
When I found how to be what you want
I was out looking for something new
digging too deep
now it’s too late
we just keep on
breaking the same old ground
breaking the same old ground
shhhhhh…
shhhhhh…
I am owned by death
and
I’m in love with oblivion
I am owned by death
and
I’m in love with oblivion

I think this song is an example of what you are talking about?