Binge, but don’t purge. For its masterful composition, rejuvenation of a 46-year-old Marilyn Manson, bleak feel, unpredictable nature and universal acclaim, we dub “Third Day of a Seven Day Binge” the best rock song of the 2010s.

We hopped on the phone with Manson to discuss the bluesy song and how it became a centerpiece for his self-proclaimed comeback, which started with 2012’s Born Villain. “It was a good way to express my feelings a little bit differently than I had in the past,” Manson begins. “Less metaphorical and more direct. Sometimes a little more self-reflective. I was very confidant in making it, so Tyler [Bates] definitely brought out a side of me that was in hibernation.”

Manson actually met Bates on the set of Californication, singing a version of “Hotel California” with Bates and David Duchovny. The duo’s introductory jam session didn’t go to plan; Manson actually assumed he wouldn’t move forward with Bates, but a second try sealed their deal as creative partners.

Marilyn Manson
YouTube: Marilyn Manson
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"The song is me talking to myself, more than anything.”

“I remember we were working on the song and I told Tyler, ‘That’s the chorus of the song,’” the Antichrist Superstar recalls. “It’s so hypnotic and sexy and dark, which is exactly what I was feeling that day. Maybe we had some psychic connection going on there, or maybe just the look on my face was obvious enough.”

“I look at the song as, you’re in the shower, it steamed up and you write ‘Help Me’ on the mirror. Then when the steam goes away, you’re looking at yourself. The song is me talking to myself, more than anything.”

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"I’m very bad with emotions. When something happens that’s painful to me, I won’t really react to it the right way at the right time.”

Manson also reveals The Pale Emperor is his favorite album alongside Holy Wood. “It’s always hard to tell why you like things. I���m very bad with emotions. When something happens that’s painful to me, I won’t really react to it the right way at the right time. Then maybe the next day, I might start crying during a cat food commercial or something and I won’t understand why. I guess something is broken up there, but if we didn’t have that, I guess we wouldn’t have whatever I do as an artist, so I don’t try and fix it.”

What makes “Third Day of a Seven Day Binge” an essential Manson track is its honestly, along with the blues tradition of leaving your songs emotionally wide open. Manson talks about the need to lack specifics throughout the song, along with the importance of leaving “scars” in his music to assure it feels real.

Tim Mosenfelder, Getty Images
Tim Mosenfelder, Getty Images
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"He goes, ‘I guess you really are the Devil.’”

The rock icon also recalls a bizarre story from the song’s mixing process, perhaps pointing to an unintended darkness within “Third Day.” “The day we mixed ‘Third Day of a Seven Day Binge’ was a very interesting day. I was in a really foul mood for some reason, which isn’t abnormal for me,” Manson said laughing.

“[The producer] wanted to play me the mix. I said, ‘I just need a minute.’ I had my head in my hands. He says, ‘Come here, you’re gonna want to see this.’ He just had my voice going through it, the low vocal. It slowly started to make a shape … It made a pentagram. If that’s not empirical proof that there’s some evil going on inside me, then I don’t know what is. He goes, ‘I guess you really are the Devil.’”

Listen to our full chat with Marilyn Manson in the video player above. To grab a copy of Manson’s The Pale Emperor, click here, and for all your Marilyn Manson tour dates, click here.

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