In my mind, Marilyn Manson will always be remembered as the man whom, after a long 20-year hiatus, brought Alice Cooper-style shock value back to corporate rock n' roll. As a teenager, I thought he was one of the most fascinating artists to emerge from the 90's, and since then I've always had trepidations about admitting to more conservative people that I like some of his music. Sure, he may be creepy and supposedly Satanic, but the man has created some of the catchiest metal of the 90's and early 2000's.

Obviously, "Lest We Forget" is a nostalgic collection of his greatest hits starting from 1994's "Portrait of an American Family" to 2003's "Golden Age of Grotesque." Most of the basic radio hits are here, but also included are non-radio staple songs like "The Love Song" and "Long Hard Road Out of Hell," which are included simply because they are great songs. The CD also includes the two "now-campy" songs "Lunchbox" and "Get Your Gunn" from Portrait, which came out before Manson got big. These two songs may be good, but they prove that Manson has improved drastically as a musician over the years.

1995's "Smells Like Children" contributes only one song, the star-making cover of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams," but it was the only real hit worth putting on the album. 1996's "Antichrist Superstar" throws in the stomping "The Beautiful People," the eerie yet catchy "Tourniquet" and the ultimate Manson-fan favorite, "The Reflecting God." Unfortunately, the industrialized "Antichrist Superstar" and "Man That You Fear," (a song that was on the radio and MTV and was also one of his best ballads), are both left off the compilation. 1998's

Mechanical Animals offers the boring yet somehow popular "The Dope Show," and fails to include its other two radio and MTV hits, the soulful "I Don't Like the Drugs" and "Coma White" (which is another great Manson ballad). 2000's Holy Wood includes the hopping "Disposable Teens," the aggressive "Fight Song" and the only ballad included on the CD "The Nobodies."

It's pretty obvious by the time you get to 2003's Golden Age of Grotesque's "Mobscene" and "This is the New Shit" (which pretty much sounds like the "old shit"), that Manson has run out of ideas and seems to be going for campiness instead of trying to disturb people. The main problem with the CD is that it contains two covers that unlike "Sweet Dreams" weren't that big of hits to begin with. There's Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" and that 80's Classic from one-hit-wonders Soft Cell, "Tainted Love." - I guess I've always felt that covers have no business being included on greatest hits compilations. Still and all, despite the few missing hits and pointless cover additions, Lest We Forget is a pretty decent (or indecent - if you will?) package for Marilyn Manson fans everywhere.