Issue #61: Marilyn Manson – Smells Like Children

Released:  October 24th, 1995

Recorded:  1994 – 1995

Genre:  Industrial Rock/Metal, Alternative Rock/Metal

Record Label:  Nothing / Interscope

Duration:  54:43

Producers:  Trent Reznor, Marilyn Manson

Personnel

Track Listing

Singles

Why Smells Like Children is One of My Favorites

There are a handful of albums that got me into “harder” and more adult music – the Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Offspring’s Smash come to mind – but Smells Like Children was the very first Marilyn Manson record I ever owned and really started my deliberate foray into the music that would identify my youth.  However, Smells Like Children really isn’t a great place to start with the band’s catalog.  Although it may look like an album, it’s really an EP, with the length stretched out though experimental tracks and tracks composed entire of vocal samples: “Shitty Chicken Gang Bang,” “Scabs, Guns and Peanut Butter,” “Sympathy for the Parents,” and “Fuck Frankie” just to name a few.  When it’s parred down to the real songs, there’s not really much cohesion between them.  If anyone had never heard Manson and started in on this album, I can’t imagine what kind of impression they’d get; I was at least somewhat familiar with his other work before I picked this up, it just happened to be the first one I picked up.

What is featured on here of note is “Sweet Dreams,” the song that launched the band to fame and fortune.  It’s still a damn good cover after all these years, maybe even one of the best covers ever.  To really grasp Smells Like Children on a conceptual level, it is first important to have a grasp of the band’s previous album (also their debut), Portrait of an American Family.  With Portrait fresh on the brain, Children begins to make much more sense.

“Dope Hat,” a song from Portrait, was released as a promotional single.  It is common accepted that Smells Like Children began its life as the retail version of the “Dope Hat” single which would explain the remix of said song (“Dance of the Dope Hats”) and re-recorded re-working of the song (“Diary of a Dope Fiend”).  For whatever reason, it began to evolve, but in a strange way.  The remainder of the material is either experimental or non-musical material aside from a handful of real songs.  Ignoring all the “weird stuff,” we’re left with 2 groups of songs.  The first are covers: “Sweet Dreams” is a cover of the Eurythmics song, “I Put a Spell on You” covers Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Nigger” is a Patti Smith cover.  The other camp are remixes:  “Kiddie Grinder” is a remix of “Organ Grinder” (originally on Portrait), “Everlasting Cocksucker” is a remix of “Cake and Sodomy” (also from Portrait), and “White Trash,” although labeled as a “remix by Tony F. Wiggins,” is actually a re-working of “Cake and Sodomy” performed by Tony F. Wiggins (it’s half original, half cover), a bus driver for Danzig and Pantera who befriend Manson while on tour.

So, if we cut the filler, examine the sometimes misleading song labels, and understand a little about Portrait of an American Family, Smells Like Children begins to make a lot more sense as an EP – an EP of remixes from the previous album with 3 cover songs thrown in for a little something new.  Makes a lot more sense now, right?  Of course it does, but I didn’t know any of this when I first sat down with the record wondering what the hell half of this crazy shit was.  But understanding what this EP really is is crucial to appreciating it.  Viewed upon as an album, it seems like an eccentric concept with almost no cohesion, a lot of repeated lyrics, and a ton of filler.  But as an EP of remixes from the bands Portrait era with a bunch of filler thrown in for the hell of it, it suddenly becomes an interesting little transitional piece in Manson’s catalog.

One of the holy grails for Manson collectors is the “Uncut Promo Version” of Smells Like Children.  It isn’t anything too special, but I do want to briefly mention it.  This version was put on shelves momentarily before being pulled to the objectionable content on 2 of the tracks and the lack of sample clearance on a few others.  The samples are minuscule and hardly noticeable.  The 2 cut tracks are “Abuse Pt. 1 (There is Pain Involved)” and “Abuse Pt. 2 (Confessions).”  These fall into the “weird shit” category; the first is Manson and Wiggins beating on a chick into S&M, and the second is the two of them wringing a confession out of a girl about a strange experience with her little brother when younger.  Both are purely for shock value, though I guess they did their job a little too well, but it really isn’t worth lamenting.  Both are widely available on the internet anyway.

As an EP and compliment to the band’s 1994 debut album, Smells Like Children has a lot to offer, though it really is necessary to have at least heard the previous album.  Like Portrait, it has that feeling of being a kid’s album that isn’t for kids.  There’s a lot of childlike imagery, and it’s intertwined with sex, drugs, and general depravity for an unnerving effect.  But hey, Marilyn Manson was out to shock, and this whole “kinderwhore” style that they were exploring did just that.  They were filthy, drugged up crossdressers with a fascination of children’s movies like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and this record sounds exactly like it was recorded by filthy, drugged up transvestites with a fascination of children’s movies.  And that’s the point – they wanted to find the most offensive angle possible.  A year later Manson would 1-up himself by tearing up bibles on stage.

Musically Children is dark and perverse.  There’s a crossroads of nursery rhymes and psychedelica at many points in the record.  It is a twisted, warped vision that subverts childhood in every aspect from the vocals to the samples used.  To be fair though, it is wildly intriguing, and I still find myself coming back to the “real” songs again and again even today.  Yes, this is a bit of goofy and chaotic and drug-induced piece of work, but it’s also criminally undervalued for what it does have to offer.  Let’s hit the “real” stuff.

“Diary of a Dope Fiend” is an amazing rendition of “Dope Hat.”  I wish more bands would take alternate approaches to their songs simply based on how awesome this one is.  It’s slow and sludgy, and Manson’s vocals sound more evil than on any other song I can think of.  I imagine him spewing out this circus-based lyrics with a huge, menacing grin.  Bass and fuzz push this song deeper into hell for a crushing, suffocating feeling and all the disorientation of a bad trip.  If you didn’t know the words, you wouldn’t have any idea that it’s a version of “Dope Hat” at all.  I would without hesitation recommend this track as essential Marilyn Manson listening.

“White Trash” is the other re-worked track on Children.  I remember finding Wiggins’ southern inflection and lyrics referencing stereotypical redneck and white trash activities both mildly shocking and humorous, though I really had no idea what the hell I was listening to.  It is basically a cover of “Cake and Sodomy” sung by Wiggins and accompanied by an acoustic guitar, with a few lyrics of his own added in.  It’s pretty effective on its own, especially with prior knowledge of “Cake and Sodomy.”  Wiggins gives a convincing performance as the disgusting, reprehensible redneck, particularly when he screams.

“Kiddie Grinder” is a dancier version of “Organ Grinder,” and I think, substantially more interesting than the original.  It’s also heavier and more chaotic, retaining the childlike sounds of the original while bolstering the dark aspects with a very industrial overlay of instrumentation and guitars.  “Everlasting Cocksucker” morphs and mixes the “punk-ness” of “Cake and Sodomy” with industrial beats and techniques as well.  In fact, it is during these remixes that the band’s transformation from their weird brand of punk/alternative on their first album to the industrial metal of Antichrist Superstar can be seen.

“Dance of the Dope Hats” is the third and final remix, and like “Kiddie Grinder,” is a faster, more beat driven version of the original.  It’s a little frantic and intense, and evokes images of a carnival ride that’s flown into hell and gone completely out of control.  Again, industrial elements are heavily featured and it is very much a different song from the original “Dope Hat,” not nearly as generic and bland like a lot of remixes tend to be.

“Sweet Dreams” kicks off our coverage of covers; what is there to say about “Sweet Dreams” that hasn’t been said?  It’s a masterful reinterpretation of the poppy original, borrowing and slowing down a guitar lick from Black Sabbath’s crazy train.  The track is slow and grimy, filthy, sleazy, teeming with decay.  The guitar solo midway is the very antithesis of what it means to dream, and Manson’s whispered, grunted vocals during the last verse are a nice touch to the nightmarish feel.

“I Put a Spell on You” may be one of the band’s eeriest songs.  The lyrics themselves are about total control and attachment in the most unhealthy sort of way.  Manson croons and moans through most of the song, clearly leaving sanity behind in favor of this spell.  The music begins simply enough with a plodding baseline, but soon starts to evolve into something more sinister, as do the vocals.  By the end, Manson is screaming, even shrieking the words, “I don’t care if you don’t want me!  Cuz I’m yours, yours, yours, anyhow!” and the break from reality is complete.  It is absolutely chilling, and further appreciated if one hears how far removed Manson’s version is from the original.

Finally we get to “Rock ‘n’ Roll Nigger,” the title of which had always shocked me from the first time I read it.  Of course the word “nigger” is used in its original sense to mean “outcast,” further playing into the stereotypes that tend to put rockers on the outskirts.  It’s all about breaking society’s chains, though I have no doubt that Manson chose this cover partially out of shock value.  Still, the man’s passion carries him through another awesome track.  It’s fast, distorted, guitar heavy, and would’ve been perfectly at home on the band’s next album (Antichrist Superstar) with the powerful opening line, “And the world spreads its legs / and the world spreads its legs for another fucking star / because I AM THE ALL-AMERICAN ANTICHRIST!”  The astute listener will even hear him drop his own name at one point: “Jimi Hendrix, was a nigger / Jesus Christ and grandma too / Brian Warner, what a nigger!”  Aside from the frivolous hidden track (with an alternate version of “Shitty Chicken Gang Bang” no less; go ahead and file under “weird shit”), “Rock ‘n’ Roller Nigger” is an excellent closer, preparing us for the madness to come only a year later!

Smells Like Children might not be a masterpiece, but it is severely undervalued and misunderstood; of course part of that is the band’s fault and how they chose to present it, but what’s done is done.  When viewed correctly, it is a wonderful little clump of music that truly bridges the gap from the somewhat punk-oriented Portrait of an American Family to the balls-to-the-wall industrial metal classic Antichrist Superstar.  I still remember those couple of weeks where the EP really started clicking with me even if I wasn’t as able to understand it as completely as I do now.  This isn’t a place to get started with Manson, but it is perfect for getting more Manson.  In addition to my love for “Diary of a Dope Fiend,” the EP’s 3 covers are without question the best covers every produced by the band.  Forget “Sick City,” “Personal Jesus,” “Tainted Love;” this is where it’s at.

I still come back to this record from time to time for its wholly original blend of the innocent and perverse.  Manson’s later work carries a certain gravity (if not a degree of pretentiousness, particularly from Holy Wood and onward) that demands some seriousness from the listener, but Children is a maddening free-for-all of a highly unusual perspective.  Anyone who hasn’t heard this should – this is a small but unique chunk of the band’s output not to be missed.

Written by The Cubist

Other albums from Marilyn Manson in this series:

• 1994 – Portrait of an American Family – Issue #62
• 1996 – Antichrist Superstar – Issue #3
• 1998 – Mechanical Animals – Issue #78

Back to The Cubist’s 90’s Albums

Written by The Cubist

Widget not in any sidebars
Co-founder, Head Author, & Site Technician

Find out what these ratings mean and how I rate video games.

I collect as much video gaming paraphernalia as I can get my hands on, especially when it comes to hardware. With over 40 systems including oldies like the ColecoVision and Intellivision, obscurities like the CD-i and 3DO, and the latest and greatest including the Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, 3DS, and PS Vita, I get easily overwhelmed. Most of the time you can find me firmly nestled sometime between 1985 and 1995 when it comes to my games of choice, but I’m also having a great time seeing what the 8th generation has to offer.

Currently in love with: Mortal Kombat

Email me anytime, about anything: thecubist@butthole.nerdbacon.com