Case of the Stolen Nineties Goth Logo

Here’s a delectable morsel for those of you who are clamoring for branding news from the godforsaken realm of the Hot Topic t-shirt rack. That blathering old vampire Marilyn Manson has unveiled a new logo in association with his new album – and boy, does it look an awful lot like an old logo of his former mentor and cryptmate, Trent Reznor. The image above compares the new MM logo with a nineties-era NIN logo that was used on the ‘Sin’ single and other band merch. The two logos use extremely similar shapes to form jagged symmetrical compositions with vertical pillars in the center.

Nine Inch Nails’ debut, the brooding synth-goth masterpiece Pretty Hate Machine, is one of my favorite albums of all time. Reznor has since become known as an early embracer of the digital music industry and an Oscar-winning film score composer. Manson, on the other hand, still makes stuff I guess. Reznor once accused Manson of stabbing him in the back and being a “malicious guy [who] will step on anybody’s face to succeed.” Does this new logo prove that the old bat still has bite? I think the similarities in the designs speak for themselves.