Children's Scented EP

Marilyn Manson released the stopgap EP Smells Like Children a year after Portrait of an American Family. While the full-length debut hinted at character and invention beneath industrial metal sludge, Smells Like Children is a meticulously crafted horror show, filled with vulgarity, ugliness, goth freaks, and sideshow scares. Manson wisely chose to heighten his cartoonish personality with the EP. Most of the record is dedicated to spoken words and samples, all designed to provoke the outrage of middle America. Among these sonic collages, there is one new song and remixed versions of songs from Portrait, including "Kiddie Grinder," "Everlasting Cocksucker," "Dance of the Dope Hats," and "White Trash." In addition, there are three covers: "Sweet Dreams," "I Put a Spell on You," and "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger," all given a signature spooky makeover. Musically, it may not be groundbreaking - it's goth-metal-industrial, much like the debut's "Dope Hat," "Lunch Box," and "Cake and Sodomy" trilogy. However, as a sonic sculpture and objet d'art, it's effective and fascinatingly wicked. It was exactly what Brian Warner needed to establish Marilyn Manson as America's bogeyman for the late '90s. The EP was originally released as a promotional item, complete with unauthorized Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory samples and other unapproved sound bites. It was pulled, censored, and re-edited (with "Abuse, Pt. 1" and "Abuse, Pt. 2" being removed) before its official release in October 1995, making the original promo copies valuable collectibles and the most bootlegged item in the Manson catalog. Mostly a collection of remixed tracks from Portrait of an American Family and samples swiped from talk-radio dialogue, Smells Like Children is what Manson did while preparing to work on Antichrist Superstar. Notable among the remixes is Tony Wiggins's acoustic country "White Trash" version of "Cake and Sodomy." This EP is really interesting due to Manson's clever choice of covers, including an authentically creepy interpretation of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" and his take on Patti Smith's "outside of society" anthem, "Rock 'N' Roll Nigger." Manson's unrestrained reworking of Howling Wolf's "I Put a Spell on You" was later included on the soundtrack to David Lynch's Lost Highway.

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