It is hard to believe that a few years ago Middle America had no better nightmare than Marilyn Manson's arena-rock evil. Best of is a fitting tombstone to Manson's moment in the mainstream: It includes all of his essential pied-piper calls to alienated suburban youth such as "The Dope Show," "The Beautiful People" and his cover of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams." Manson's mix of fetish, goth, hedonism and metal still jells on these tracks and others. But this devil worked better with his little helpers; Manson's music stagnated after the departure of key collaborators. The one new track here is a predictably Manson-ized version of "Personal Jesus," which makes for three Eighties covers. Marilyn Manson may have come on like a Horseman of the Apocalypse, but he needs to be careful that he doesn't turn into a one-trick pony.

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.