Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson may seem like nothing but a shock-rock successor to Alice Cooper on the surface but his music is on another plane, a poisonous pop blend of Bowie's glam period (the mascara-smearing sheen of Mechanical Animals), drug-gobbling rock 'n' roll ("The Fight Song," "Personal Jesus"), and Downward Spiral-era Nine Inch Nails (the nihilistic noise of "The Beautiful People" and "mOBSCENE"). Fun fact: Aside from taking him on 1994's appropriately titled Self Destruct tour, Trent Reznor was a major production presence on Manson's first two full-lengths, Portrait of an American Family and Antichrist Superstar.

As our Next Steps will show, there's a reason why Reznor took Manson under his broken wing: his innate ability to terrorize some and mesmerize others.

Eminem didn't tap Marilyn Manson for an industrial-strength version of "The Way I Am" in hopes of stealing his alt-rock audience; he borrowed Manson's ghastly scowl as a sign of solidarity, showing how they're both a love-or-hate proposition, sending shockwaves and brilliant songs across the pop charts. Like Eminem's career-confirming second disc, Manson's polarizing presence is best understood by succumbing to his sophomore album: the modern industrial masterpiece Antichrist Superstar, a stark, downright menacing mix of acidic synth sprays, cheese-grater guitars, and high concept lyrics that detail the rise-and-fall story line of a character that may or may not be Manson himself.

Forget the soft-spoken, well-read Marilyn Manson that humanized (or is it de-demonized?) himself in Bowling for Columbine. He's nowhere to be found within our decade-plus overview of his bloodletting musical career, a button- and boundary-pushing maelstrom of songs that sound downright delightful despite their ominous overtones (keep your ears peeled for jackhammer rhythms, eye-gouging electronic effects, and chainsaw chords) and question-everything themes — sung bittersweet one second and screamed the next. From Portrait of an American Family to Eat Me, Drink Me, Manson's shocked us, sure, but he's also established himself as a true rock star in the classic sense, a train wreck of contradictions and chaos theories we can't help but watch, whether we like him or not.