Marilyn Manson Shows He’s Dope
We may all be stars now, as Marilyn Manson sings
on his band’s new single, “The Dope Show,” but Manson is this
week’s brightest star by far.
Manson’s Mechanical Animals, the follow-up to the wildly
controversial 1996 album Antichrist Superstar (perhaps the
Christian Coalition’s least favorite record of all-time), touched
down as the country’s No. 1 album for the week ending September 20,
according to SoundScan, selling 223,000 copies its first week in
stores. The album knocked off hip-hop’s Lauryn
Hill from the top spot, where she had been residing for
three weeks.
Mechanical Animals finds Manson trading in the goth rock
whips and leather jock straps in favor of glam-style androgyny,
complete with plastic-breasted suit. The evolving shock value,
combined with Manson’s downright catchy radio hit “The Dope Show,”
(not to mention Manson’s much-talked about T&A performance on
MTV’s VMA show two weeks back) powered Mechanical Animals
to No. 1.
Two other albums made Top Ten debuts for the week:
Hootie and the Blowfish‘s Musical Chairs
came in at a surprisingly strong No. 4, while the hip-hop
soundtrack to the Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker action
flick Rush Hour debuted at No. 7.
Meanwhile, Hole‘s closely watched Celebrity
Skin held its own during its second week in stores, dropping,
but just barely, from No. 9 to No. 10. (Celebrity Skin‘s
producer Michael Beinhorn also worked on
Mechanical Animals, which may explain why each record
shares a glossier pop sound than did previous records by both
artists.) That same commercial staying power did not save rapper
Canibus however. His debut, Can-I-Bus,
which hit stores the same week as Celebrity Skin, plunged
from No. 2 to No. 22.
From the top, it was Mechanical Animals, followed by
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (selling 194,000 copies);
the Beastie Boys‘ Hello Nasty (111,000);
Musical Chairs (110,000); ‘N Sync (108,000); the
Barenaked Ladies‘ Stunt (92,000); the
Rush Hour soundtrack (89,000); The Backstreet
Boys (84,000); the Brian Setzer Orchestra‘s
Dirty Boogie (80,000); and Celebrity Skin
(79,000).