Rock Is Dead

Single infobox
Name = Rock is Dead


Artist = Marilyn Manson
from Album = Mechanical Animals &
Released = 14 June 1999
Format = CD
Genre = Industrial metal
Length = 3:09
Label = Nothing/Interscope
Writer =
Last single = I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me) (1998)
This single = Rock is Dead (1999)
Next single = Coma White (1999)

Rock is Dead is a single from Marilyn Manson's third studio album, "Mechanical Animals". It is also featured on "" and "Midnight Club 3". It may be seen as a criticism of fresh young rock bands: "Your sex and your dope is all that we're fed; so fuck all your protests, put them to bed."

Concept

The song's title itself seems to further allude to Manson's ongoing interest in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, in this particular case, at least for the title, his concept of God is dead. This is possible, for the aforementioned lyric is sung in the fatalistic syntax of the character Omega refers to Nietzsche's outlook on Christianity as being an individually hindering concept. It could also be referring to the incumbent Western culture that has been widely accepted, and therefore "Rock is dead" could be used in the same fashion that Nietzsche was using "God is dead": to break the accepted mainstream consciousness. However, the title may be perceived as a spin on the "Punk is dead" idea.

Video

The video of the song features Manson in costume (as Omega) and his band (perhaps as the "Mechanical Animals" band) performing onstage. This is the only video to feature Marilyn Manson's back up singer, who sings on several other songs. She is most notably heard on the live version of "The Dope Show" on "The Last Tour On Earth".They are later shown destroying their instruments, an allusion to Manson's destruction of the life-size statuettes of himself (as Omega) in "The Dope Show" video.Another version of the video contains the same performance footage edited with footage from The Matrix for which the song was featured as a promotional single.

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=302UTCt3cF0 Watch "Rock is Dead" on Youtube]