[reply][reply]How come he looks skinny again?
Late,
grmpysmrf
He was never really “fat” he is just dumpy from drinking constantly and from certain angles can be made to look fatter than he is…His chin is gone and he’s got a beer gut but he’s hardly “fat” in fact is still slimmer than the average American or Prongs poster for that matter…lol
It’s funny how much attention his weight is getting from a message board of “serious rock fans” though, more like 16 year old girls.
“OMG AL’s dreadzzz are fake LOLzzz”
“zzzz oh my goth Manson is like TOTALLY chunky now”
My own feedback is that at this point I don’t even know what to think about Manson. He’s like a completely different person than he was 94 to 2000 or so.
I sometimes love that person and identify with them, sometimes shake my head in disgust, sometimes wish he would get serious drop the booze and get his head in the game, sometimes understand and appreciate him for who is now and what he’s doing.
I never know what to think but either way I will always respect him and admire that even today he is 10x more entertaining than pretty much any rockstar I can think of.
The guy is basically batshit at this point, but in a cool way…[/reply]
I think his weight is a topic for two reasons. #1 it’s always odd to see someone to go from rail thin to pudgy and #2 He’s so image conscience You wouldn’t think he’d let himself get that way.
as far as him being interesting, I’ll give you that. It’s just unfortunate for his fans that he’s more interesting that any of his music for the last 10 or so years.
And his drug use, I think, has been greatly exaggerated. If he did all of the drugs he claims to have done just in the long hard road biography he’d be dead or a fuckin’ vegetable.
My two cents.
Late,
grmpysmrf[/reply]
I agree with pretty much everything you said. Regarding the weight, I think most people don’t realize that he actually got slowly progressively bigger though over the years. Also, many people are rail thin and then fill out in 30s and 40s.
Another thing to think about is that he obviously went through a midlife crisis and I think he had to give up the keeping up with the image thing in order to retain his sanity. I mean can you imagine what that was like all those years? Even just wearing a theatre contact in one eye all the time is irritating as FUCK! I think that’s why he ditched the makeup for awhile and displayed publicly this bizarre more humorous side that he used to hide. ‘High End of Low’ to me was the midlife crisis period in his career.
I think with him the weight is mainly bloating due to drinking more than anything. Still it’s pretty good considering if you look at his dad and how he looks…
Regarding the drugs, yes I agree it’s exaggerated but I know he really does drink constantly (from interviews) and do coke (from people who’ve hung out with him). I think he isolates himself between albums/tours to stay away from the party scene the only way he can, and then when on tour/album he is basically using pretty constantly.
I know he is struggling with addictions and in pain, but at the same time he is fighting and still performing when he could easily sit back and just disappear. I think he has a fire inside and it’s still not out, and I admire and identify with that having struggled with addiction myself. I can’t imagine how it was to be in the spotlight all those years and hold it together enough to do what he did. That alone deserves respect and people forget that…
Regarding his music I think his newer music is different, underrated but also certainly not as good as the great albums. But artists grow and change and there always seems to be a period where they’re on fire and then the albums after are never the same. Trent is sober and I enjoy his new work less than I do Manson’s. I though ‘High End of Low’ especially was underrated. The biggest thing is he just needs a great producer but he is in denial and wants to keep everything done DIY by his band in a home studio. It seems he’s surrounded by too many “yes men” and needs a wakeup call.
It’s hard to blame the booze entirely for the state of affairs with modern MM. I think he is a really intelligent and bizarre mind (I believe he is a real sociopath). It’s easy to dismiss him on many levels but if you look deeper, it’s more complicated.
Yes I wish he would get it together and be in top shape, releasing great music, etc. again but I also understand where he’s at now and I accept him as he is, still enjoying his studio albums but also cringing at live videos etc.
It’s the same with Ministry. I mean, yeah in a perfect world I guess Al wouldn’t have been a junkie but ‘Dark Side of the Spoon’ is my favorite album…
