SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies : Something Beautiful
Welcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
It's Second Sunday Slowly so it's time for the downtempo segment of February's "Dark Valentine's" theme I've entitled: "Love Songs to Beautiful People You Think Are Sexy But With Whom You Are Not In Love!" Behind the scenes: I had found two different (and fantastic) Temple of Love covers and one of them almost ended up in this entry (yes, a downtempo version exists!) But then I found this about three weeks ago and it became instantly clear that this was the perfect pick for the week of Valentine's Day, despite the fact that it is in no way a love song of any kind:
Roniit - The Beautiful People (Marilyn Manson)
Marilyn Manson released their second studio album, Antichrist Superstar, in October 1996, only a couple of weeks after its groundbreaking single, The Beautiful People. The track is said to take its title and some portion of its inspiration from The Beautiful People by Marilyn Bender, a non-fiction book published in 1967 about fashion and high-society. The actual phrase is believed to have been first coined in Vogue magazine in 1962 by its editor, Diana Vreeland, which would seem to be verified by Bender's book. The term reflects something about the lifestyles of the glamorous, the trendsetters, the wealthy, and the celebrities. Manson's track seems to regard those for whom the term applies with equal parts reverence and contempt. Manson himself has said, "I make things glamorous as a revolt to glamour."
The opening of the song features a heavily distorted and practically indecipherable sample of Charles "Tex" Watson (one of the members of Charles Manson's "family," known notoriously for his role in the 1969 Tate murders) saying, "We'd swoop down on the town and kill everyone that wasn't beautiful." From there, the song lyrically explores a dense minefield of issues revolving around aspects of Nietzschean philosophy, Social Darwinism, capitalism and fascism. For most, the fullness of its message may have been lost to the track's hooky, insistently loud, and galvanizing rock rhythms which clearly made the song the band's first original hit single embraced by mainstream audiences.
The Beautiful People has been covered a number of times, primarily by rock bands in a variety of styles, so this one is without a doubt unique in its interpretation.
Roniit, a "dark electro pop" songstress based in southern California who has also covered tracks by The Cardigans, Lana Del Rey, Halsey, and Depeche Mode, released her version of The Beautiful People in December 2016. It was put out in tandem with a video sponsored by and produced with the fashion company, Killstar, starring a number of the company's models and clothing. According to Roniit, the original is obvious in declaring that "the beautiful people" are wretched and without fundamental moral character. In a recent interview she explained that she wanted to approach her version with a more positive spin, saying. "the verses are from the perspective of someone who is different, someone who feels defeated by life and the evil that surrounds us. In the chorus that person becomes empowered; that person is beautiful."
By dropping the tempo down by 30 percent of the original and incorporating her signature form of slinky "goth jazz" in the melody, she has transformed this hard rock industrial anthem into a sultry, blackhearted mistress of a croon, demanding adoration and quite deserving of it.
The Cover (click-through to bandcamp for the link to her video):
The Original:
Next week:
We continue our "Dark Valentine" theme with a trip to the 20th Century and our Third Sunday Throwback, featuring a track for which both the original (top 40 pop) and covering (industrial/alternative) artists have very phallic names. ^_^
Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome! (You do NOT need a LiveJournal account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
I spin tomorrow night in the Boston area and again in Western Mass on the last Friday of this month. If you want to come to either, pop over to my schedule where you can find links to more details. ^_^
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Feb 05 - Leæther Strip - Love Song (Simple Minds)
Jan 29 - Rammstein - Stripped (Depeche Mode)
Jan 22 - Avarice In Audio - Welcome To Paradise (Front 242)
Jan 15 - Vogon Poetry - Mourn (Apoptygma Berzerk)
Jan 08 - Vernian Process - The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove (Dead Can Dance)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
It's Second Sunday Slowly so it's time for the downtempo segment of February's "Dark Valentine's" theme I've entitled: "Love Songs to Beautiful People You Think Are Sexy But With Whom You Are Not In Love!" Behind the scenes: I had found two different (and fantastic) Temple of Love covers and one of them almost ended up in this entry (yes, a downtempo version exists!) But then I found this about three weeks ago and it became instantly clear that this was the perfect pick for the week of Valentine's Day, despite the fact that it is in no way a love song of any kind:
Roniit - The Beautiful People (Marilyn Manson)
Marilyn Manson released their second studio album, Antichrist Superstar, in October 1996, only a couple of weeks after its groundbreaking single, The Beautiful People. The track is said to take its title and some portion of its inspiration from The Beautiful People by Marilyn Bender, a non-fiction book published in 1967 about fashion and high-society. The actual phrase is believed to have been first coined in Vogue magazine in 1962 by its editor, Diana Vreeland, which would seem to be verified by Bender's book. The term reflects something about the lifestyles of the glamorous, the trendsetters, the wealthy, and the celebrities. Manson's track seems to regard those for whom the term applies with equal parts reverence and contempt. Manson himself has said, "I make things glamorous as a revolt to glamour."
The opening of the song features a heavily distorted and practically indecipherable sample of Charles "Tex" Watson (one of the members of Charles Manson's "family," known notoriously for his role in the 1969 Tate murders) saying, "We'd swoop down on the town and kill everyone that wasn't beautiful." From there, the song lyrically explores a dense minefield of issues revolving around aspects of Nietzschean philosophy, Social Darwinism, capitalism and fascism. For most, the fullness of its message may have been lost to the track's hooky, insistently loud, and galvanizing rock rhythms which clearly made the song the band's first original hit single embraced by mainstream audiences.
The Beautiful People has been covered a number of times, primarily by rock bands in a variety of styles, so this one is without a doubt unique in its interpretation.
Roniit, a "dark electro pop" songstress based in southern California who has also covered tracks by The Cardigans, Lana Del Rey, Halsey, and Depeche Mode, released her version of The Beautiful People in December 2016. It was put out in tandem with a video sponsored by and produced with the fashion company, Killstar, starring a number of the company's models and clothing. According to Roniit, the original is obvious in declaring that "the beautiful people" are wretched and without fundamental moral character. In a recent interview she explained that she wanted to approach her version with a more positive spin, saying. "the verses are from the perspective of someone who is different, someone who feels defeated by life and the evil that surrounds us. In the chorus that person becomes empowered; that person is beautiful."
By dropping the tempo down by 30 percent of the original and incorporating her signature form of slinky "goth jazz" in the melody, she has transformed this hard rock industrial anthem into a sultry, blackhearted mistress of a croon, demanding adoration and quite deserving of it.
The Cover (click-through to bandcamp for the link to her video):
The Original:
Click to viewNext week:
We continue our "Dark Valentine" theme with a trip to the 20th Century and our Third Sunday Throwback, featuring a track for which both the original (top 40 pop) and covering (industrial/alternative) artists have very phallic names. ^_^
Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome! (You do NOT need a LiveJournal account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
I spin tomorrow night in the Boston area and again in Western Mass on the last Friday of this month. If you want to come to either, pop over to my schedule where you can find links to more details. ^_^
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Feb 05 - Leæther Strip - Love Song (Simple Minds)
Jan 29 - Rammstein - Stripped (Depeche Mode)
Jan 22 - Avarice In Audio - Welcome To Paradise (Front 242)
Jan 15 - Vogon Poetry - Mourn (Apoptygma Berzerk)
Jan 08 - Vernian Process - The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove (Dead Can Dance)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies