Synopsis

Marilyn Manson wanders through a surreal, television-saturated world where religion, medicine, entertainment, and consumer culture blur together. Dressed in a pale glam-rock outfit, he carries a cross made from television sets while being pursued by headless authorities. Inside an unsettling medical facility, the band appears among grotesque patients and bizarre talk-show imagery, including people with oversized eyes and a pregnant woman carrying a television. Manson eventually escapes through an abandoned industrial complex, but the pursuit ends in a fatal-looking leap from a high catwalk.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed during the third week of October 1998 and released in 1999 to promote the second single from *Mechanical Animals*.

• Manson explained at the time that the "drugs" in the song were not limited to narcotics. He specifically connected the idea with television and religion, which helps explain the video's repeated use of television screens, talk-show imagery, and Christian symbolism.

• The television-set cross echoes the *Mechanical Animals* era's recurring concern with celebrity, media worship, and manufactured identity. It also recalls the title of the later Marilyn Manson video compilation *God Is in the T.V.*

• The clip's white costume, platinum bob, pale makeup, and theatrical poses reflect the glam-rock and David Bowie influence associated with the *Mechanical Animals* persona.

• Nearly every character outside the band is shown with unnaturally large eyes, giving the suburban and medical settings a deliberately artificial, surveilled quality.

• A limited tour edition of *Mechanical Animals* included an 18-page comic book illustrating scenes from this video.

• The video was later included in the 1999 home-video compilation *God Is in the T.V.*, which collected Marilyn Manson's videos from the band's early years through the *Mechanical Animals* period.

• The song itself features guitar by Dave Navarro and a gospel-style backing choir, an unusual combination that reinforces the track's contrast between polished pop accessibility and disturbing subject matter.