| "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" | ||||
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| Single by Marilyn Manson | ||||
| from the album Mechanical Animals | ||||
| Released | February 17, 1999 | |||
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| Length | 5:03 | |||
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| Marilyn Manson singles chronology | ||||
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"I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" is a song by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released as the second single from their third studio album, Mechanical Animals (1998). It was written by the band's eponymous frontman, along with bassist Twiggy Ramirez and then-guitarist Zim Zum, and was produced by Manson and Michael Beinhorn. A glam rock song inspired by drugs, television, and religion, the track features a gospel choir and a guitar solo by Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction.
The song garnered a mostly positive response from music critics, who complimented its catchiness and memorability. Critics noted similarities between "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" and the music of David Bowie, particularly his song "Fame" (1975), as well as the work of Manson's contemporaries. The song's stance on drugs garnered differing interpretations; some critics felt it glamorized drug use, while others saw it as anti-drug. Its music video was directed by Paul Hunter, and features an androgynous Manson attached to a cross made of television sets and a series of vignettes. Critics praised the video's imagery and found it critical of both capitalism and the pharmaceutical industry. Commercially, the single peaked within the top 40 of Billboard's Alternative Songs and Mainstream Rock charts, as well as the national charts of New Zealand and Spain.