Mechanical Animals is the third studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on September 15, 1998, by Interscope Records. While not abandoning the band's industrial metal roots, the album is less abrasive and more reminiscent of 1970s glam rock, such as David Bowie, T. Rex and Queen. The themes of Mechanical Animals primarily deal with the trappings of fame and drug abuse.
The rock opera and concept album is the second installment in a trilogy also including 1996's Antichrist Superstar and 2000's Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). Manson said in November 2000 that the overarching story within the trilogy is presented in reverse chronological order; Mechanical Animals, therefore, acts as the bridge connecting the two narratives and remains constant whether the trilogy is viewed in reverse or not.
The album has been certified platinum in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, and spawned the singles "The Dope Show", "Rock Is Dead", and "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" as well as the promotional single, "Coma White". The former has been certified gold in Sweden. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making it the first Marilyn Manson album to do so.
Recording and production
Aborted sessions with the Dust Brothers
Following the conclusion of their year-long Dead to the World Tour in September 1997, the band relocated from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Hollywood, California. Work on Mechanical Animals began soon after. By early December of that year, the singer began opening up on the then new and unnamed record's development, sitting down with MTV's "Year in Rock" special on December 12. Early on, it was reported the new album would be produced by the Los Angeles-based production team, the Dust Brothers. According to MTV News, "[They] have completed work on a few tracks on the next effort from Marilyn Manson..."
During this early development stage, the band recorded in Manson's home recording studio in the Hollywood Hills which the group had taken to calling "The White Room" after the vocalist painted the space white. Manson explained that the studio "looked out over Hollywood, which kind of represented space to us." Manson also intoned, "the theme of whiteness comes up a lot on the album, representing a void empty of color and feelings and emotions. We were trying to fill that void with the songs."
Sessions with Michael Beinhorn and Sean Beavan
The band subsequently employed Michael Beinhorn as principal producer, co-producing the record with Marilyn Manson. Sean Beavan was also brought in to supply additional production work. According to Manson, the bulk of the material was written and recorded at that house before Beinhorn came on board.
During his February 24, 1998, interview on National Public Radio's Fresh Air radio talk show to promote the book, he divulged that having exhausted the topic of organized religion in the previous record, Mechanical Animals would see a major shift in focus: "Both sonically and lyrically it's about the depression of alienation, rather than the aggressiveness of it. It's about the emptiness." Guitarist Zim Zum divulged that in one instance the band recorded a song a day for two weeks straight during a particular spree of creativity.
Final mixing and post-production took place in a studio in Burbank, California.