Song Review: "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" by Marilyn Manson

There are a lot of bands and artists I'm not a particular fan of, but I respect them greatly as Artists. As mentioned in my "Shape of You/Castle in the Sky" review, Ed Sheeran is one of them since I believe he can be making much better music if he focused more on his strengths as a musician rather than a pop star. Marilyn Manson is another one of these artists. I respect the man, his philosophy and artistic intent, more than I do his work. I just find his music boring most of the time since a lot of his appeal was the shock value and at the time that worked but now that the shock is gone, his songs have to rely on the strength of his music and lyrics. There are some great songs in his repertoire like "The Beautiful People". It is one of his most popular songs for a reason. The energy and the groove are superb. That driving drum beat and the almost percussive guitars create a dark, tense atmosphere. It's a great song with some great lyrics and commentary that still holds up on its own. However, there's one song that people always seem to bring up when it comes to Marilyn Manson: his cover of Eurythmic's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)". I don't get it.


I'll go straight to the point. This song is BORING. A lot of the praise I hear about it is how Manson re-contextualized a song about sweet dreams and turned it into a nightmare. With the video, maybe. But you could play the original song over disturbing footage and get the same effect if you have a good enough editor.  Without the video, the song is boring, limp, and weak. I HAVE fallen asleep while listening to it. The song starts fine with a guitar playing the riff, and Manson softly singing over it. The problem, however, is that he doesn't know where to go from there. The bass kicks when Manson sings "Some of them want to use you" and then a distorted guitar lets a note ring on when he sings "Some of them want to abuse you". This is great for build up, when the bridge hits, all the buildup and atmosphere is gone. Why? Well, it's just guitars and bass playing eighth notes, switching between 2 chords. Furthermore, those chords are G# and G. They just play the power chords but if you played the full chord both of them would be major chords. So, that bridge while not exactly bright, it's not dark or eerie either. It's not dissonant and the rhythm is too mundane to create any sort of musical interest or atmosphere. And this is supposed to be the climax. The second verse is just as boring as the first, but the kick drums mark the beat this time. This song is so pedestrian and boring I'm struggling to find how to explain how boring it is since the arrangement is beyond basic and the song is very repetitive. If you hear the song all the way to the bridge, you've heard the entire thing, basically. Manson just adds more stuff like a solo (which also sounds bright since it's being played over major chords) and a wah-wah, which doesn't matter the context a but wah-wah pedal has never nor will it ever be scary.  Is there something Manson missed when deciding to make this cover?

If we go back to the original, what's the first thing that pops up? That synth, right? Yes, but also the kick drum marking the beat. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" is a very simple song, but here's the thing. The song is tight and tense. It is almost robotic. Even if the song is almost robotic on how precise and repetitive it is, it's not boring. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" builds on that one synth riff, adding and removing voices and harmonies to make the song more dynamic. Furthermore, those G# and G chords, along with some nice vocals, make the bridge feel almost ethereal, breaking the monotony of the main riff. This is not a chorus, or in other words: not a climax. The main riff IS the climax of the song. Note that around the 1 minute and 16 second mark, the song goes into a "pre-chorus" of sorts where it keeps building up as Annie Lennox repeats "Hold your head up/ Keep your head up, movin' along". This section builds up and where does it build up to? The Main synth riff. If you split this song into distinct sections, you'll only end up with 3 parts, and both parts 2 and 3 always go back to part 1: the synth riff.

So, what did Manson do wrong? Well, first off, his arrangement is more down beat, but it's not tense. I understand him wanting to create a feeling of something creeping up on you, but he missed one of the most important elements of the song. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" is a very tight and tense song and if you don't play it right, it loses all of its power. Secondly, the solo was played on the bridge of the song (the G#-G section of the song) which if you're gonna make a song dark, is a terrible decision. What confuses me is that in the original, the "solo" was played ON the main riff. This makes so much more sense in a metal song since the underlying chord progression is Cm-G#-G. You're playing on a minor chord, a minor scale, a darker tone. Lastly, Manson didn't seem to
understand the song he was covering and why it was written the way that it was, so when it came to "translating" it to his style, he changed the song in all the wrong places. There is one part that actually accomplishes what the song set out to do. After a pathetic guitar solo, around 3:10 into the song, Manson whispers his vocals in his signature creepy voice. And that genuinely sounds like a nightmare whispering into my ear right before I wake up with sleep paralysis.This song needed more of this sort of thing. Less distortion, less metal, less screaming. This song would've worked great with a softer sound. Make it creepier rather than aggressive. However, if you want to scream, make it more of a shriek, don't be afraid to go out of tune. Go big or go home if that's what your intention was. If Manson wanted to have the distortion guitars and the solos and the yells, he should've been wailing his vocals.You want some disturbing screams? The ones that'll haunt your nightmares?  Either Check out "Daddy" by Korn or anything by Silencer ("Death Pierce Me" or "Sterile Nails and Thunderbowels"). These songs are terrifying and disturbing like no other because they go all the way with their horror and pain, which is no surprise if you know the story behind the songs, but the point still stands. These songs are disturbing because they come from a real place of horror. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" tries to be a place of horrors, but it just doesn't come across. However, these are superficial elements. Might they have made this song better? Probably, but not by much because he'd still miss that the song is tight and tense and that the "main riff" is the most important part of the song. Overall, I think this cover was a great idea but terribly executed.