The Dope Show

"The Dope Show"

Single by Marilyn Manson

from the album Mechanical Animals

Released

September 15, 1998

Format

Recorded

1998

Genre

Length

3:47

Michael Beinhorn
Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson singles chronology

"Long Hard Road Out of Hell
(1997)

"The Dope Show"
(1998)

"I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)"
(1999)

Music sample
"The Dope Show"

"The Dope Show" is a song from Marilyn Manson's 1998 album Mechanical Animals, released in September of that year as the album's lead single. The lyrics were written by Marilyn Manson and the music composed by Twiggy Ramirez.

"The Dope Show" came at a point in the history of Marilyn Manson which saw the band shedding the dark, nihilistic trappings that had characterized the previous album, Antichrist Superstar. Jeordie White (Twiggy Ramirez) has stated on the Q/A section of his website that the song came from "Ripping off Iggy Pop's song Nightclubbing" from his album The Idiot. He also called it "A mixture of Oasis and T. Rex".

The song's verse and chorus structures, delivered in drastically different styles, give the song a "hybrid" feel: electronic sounds are juxtaposed with classic rock-derived guitar sounds for a tone that is both classic and futuristic. The verse is carried by a deep, rolling B-to-D walking bassline provided by Twiggy Ramirez and accented by repetitive, synthesized hi-hat. The chorus, on the other hand, features a 4/4 stomp that drummer Ginger Fish described as "a full bump and grind. . . stripper beat",power chords also played by Ramirez, who also played the simple, but effective lead guitar parts in the final chorus. The song was written and recorded in 12/8 time, using a swing beat in the verses.

In keeping with the album's themes of narcissism and consumerism, the lyrics are an admonition against buying into idolisation and fame, and helping to perpetuate life in the public eye, including especially mass culture and show business:

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Wikipedia