| Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Studio album by Marilyn Manson | |||||
| Released | November 13, 2000 (United Kingdom) November 14, 2000 (Australia and United States) December 5, 2000 (Japan) |
||||
| Recorded | 1999-2000 at Death Valley, California | ||||
| Genre | Alternative metal, industrial rock, industrial metal | ||||
| Length | 68:19 | ||||
| Label | Nothing/Interscope | ||||
| Producer | Marilyn Manson, Dave Sardy | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
|
|||||
| Marilyn Manson chronology | |||||
|
|||||
Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) is the fourth full-length album by rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on November 14, 2000. Holy Wood was Marilyn Manson's first album since the Columbine High School massacre (20 April 1999), for which some media outlets, pundits and politicians accused him of encouraging Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the perpetrators of the massacre. Consequently, much of the album's content addresses the issue and poses several questions about the role that parents, the values and culture of Conservative America and the media alike play in these matters. This record underlines American society's obsession with guns, religion, and the fame that can be achieved through the national media - all of which thrive on violent death as well as martyrdom. Manson claimed that "over 200 songs" had been written during this album's production, although none have been released aside from those appearing on the album.
Contents |
Cultural References
This album references several icons, such as John F. Kennedy, John Lennon, and others who endured famous, violent deaths and became "martyrs" of American culture. In part, this is a response to the sentiment that the Columbine massacre was just a chance by two disaffected teenagers at 15 minutes of fame. Manson illustrates the irony that the media turned the incident into a ratings event. According to Manson, the media views tragic death as a form of entertainment for the masses. In 2004, Manson wrote an article in Rolling Stone that explained the role of the media in immortalising dead music figures, admitting that Lamb Of God was inspired by Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison. Illustrating this point in the song "Lamb of God", Manson sings:
- If you die when there's no one watching,
- Then your ratings drop and you're forgotten.
- But if they kill you on the TV,
- You're a martyr and a lamb of God.
The Nobodies seems to deal directly with this issue:
- We are the nobodies, wanna be somebodies.
- When we're dead, they'll know just who we are.
also:
- Some children died the other day;
- We fed machines and then we prayed.
- Puked up and down in morbid faith;
- You should have seen the ratings that day.
In "The Love Song," Manson touts what he sees as the three core preoccupations of Conservative Middle America, "Guns, God and the Government". In this song Manson also suggests metaphorical relationship of the father as the arm, the mother as the gun, and the children as the bullet.
Concept
Holy Wood is a prequel (in the storyline, not in the Discography) to the albums Mechanical Animals and Antichrist Superstar. The main character in the over-arching storyline is Adam Kadmon who has previously manifested as the androgynous "Omega" in Mechanical Animals and "The Worm / Antichrist Superstar" on Antichrist Superstar. The character Coma White is paralleled on this album by "Coma Black." The story follows Adam as he leads the population of the Valley of Death—where the rejects of the world dwell—in a revolution against Holy Wood, home of the beautiful and famous. The revolution is a success, but becomes as fake and hollow as the original Holy Wood, leading to Adam's attempted suicide and the start of the Mechanical Animals storyline.
Reception
Though critically acclaimed and more popular amongst newer fans, the album was Manson's worst-selling album at the time. After debuting at number 13 on the Billboard 200 chart, it free-fell off the charts in the weeks that followed.
Book and film
The album was meant to be accompanied by a book and a movie of the same name which further delves into the concept album's backstory. The book has yet to be released, allegedly due to a publishing dispute, and the movie never began production. While interviewing Manson around the time of the release of the book Stranger Than Fiction, Chuck Palahniuk mentions the book—saying it is complete—and compliments its style. Manson released chapter 10[1] of the book. Many fans noticed the prevalence of misspellings and errors in grammar (either intentional or otherwise). See Holy Wood (book).
Trivia
- "GodEatGod," the album's opening track, is a spoonerism of the term "Dog Eat Dog."
- "The Love Song" critiques American society's obsession with Christianity, fire arms and patriotism.
- "The Fight Song" was inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche.
- "The Fight Song" has lyrics that state,"The death of one is a tragedy, but the death of a million is just a statistic". This was actually a war quote by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
- The phrase "a rebel from the wasit down" from the same song, is taken from George Orwell's 1984.
- "Disposable Teens" was the first single released from Holy Wood. Marilyn Manson is said to have duplicated his hit "The Beautiful People" with this track. This song also contains an allusion to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. He says "a rebel from the waist down," which was also mentioned about the main character Winston's sexual interest.
- "Target Audience" is a pun used to mock the media's sole interest in ratings and the duality of usage of "targets" (Columbine shootings).
- "The term "Holy Wood" was once used in a poem by Aleister Crowley, to whom Marilyn Manson frequently refers. It is also used as a mockery of Hollywood, as per the imagery in the album's cover art.
- On the US 'God, Guns and Government' tour of 2000, Christian lobby groups petitioned for the banning of Manson performing 'The Nobodies' due to its references to events surrounding the Colorado shootings.
- The first letters of each of the album's sections spell out "ADAM."
- The song Born Again is used without permission as the theme song to Stupid Tom
- The song Born Again was recorded live on 14 February 1997, the same day as Irresponsible Hate Anthem
- The title of the album and song references Psalm 23 from the Bible.
- "Cruci-Fiction in Space" is used in the television commercial for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game The Darkness The commercial can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fc_z7uZCg8
- The song "President Dead" is exactly 3 minutes and 13 seconds. Frame 313 of the Abraham Zapruder film of President JFK's assassination is the frame when Kennedy's head explodes.
Track listing
All lyrics by Marilyn Manson.
A: In the Shadow
- "GodEatGod" – 2:34 (Manson)
- "The Love Song" – 3:16 (Ramirez, 5)
- "The Fight Song" – 2:55 (5)
- "Disposable Teens" – 3:01 (5, Ramirez)
D: The Androgyne
- "Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)" – 4:18 (Ramirez, 5)
- ""President Dead"" – 3:13 (Ramirez, 5, Gacy)
- "In the Shadow of the Valley of Death" – 4:09 (Ramirez, 5)
- "Cruci-Fiction in Space" – 4:56 (Ramirez, 5, Gacy)
- "A Place in the Dirt" – 3:37 (5)
A: Of Red Earth
- "The Nobodies" – 3:35 (5, Manson)
- "The Death Song" – 3:29 (5, Manson)
- "Lamb of God" – 4:39 (Ramirez)
- "Born Again" – 3:20 (Ramirez, 5)
- "Burning Flag" – 3:21 (Ramirez, 5)
M: The Fallen
- "Coma Black a) eden eye b) apple of discord" – 5:58 (Manson, 5, Ramirez)
- "Valentine's Day" – 3:31 (Ramirez, Manson)
- "The Fall of Adam" – 2:34 (Ramirez, 5)
- "King Kill 33°" – 2:18 (Ramirez)
- "Count to Six and Die (the vacuum of infinite space encompassing)" – 3:24 (5)
- "The Nobodies" (Acoustic Version) – 3:35 (Japan / UK bonus track) (5, Manson)
- "Mechanical Animals" (Live) – 4:41 (Japan bonus track)
Secret video track
Autopsy is a short bonus easter egg included on the album as a hidden format. The video was hosted at interscope (no longer available), and was accessed from the CD by running START.exe. The video features Manson on an autopsy table having his head opened from which a fetus is extracted. This could be reference to the birth of the Greek goddess Athena, who had been the result of a tryst that Zeus had with Metis, and out of fear of her conceiving children more powerful than he, swallowed her. But he was too late, for Metis had already conceived Athena within him. [1] Or, in another sense, along with all the album's themes of emotionally neglected children, could be the child theoretically hiding within himself. This video was also included as a secret track on the companion DVD to Lest We Forget. It is accessible by pressing the Left directional button on the "special features" menu.
Credits
- Marilyn Manson - Arranger, Vocals, Producer, Art Direction, Concept
- Paul Northfield - Engineer
- Dave Sardy - Guitar (Rhythm), Producer
- Twiggy Ramirez - Bass Guitar, Guitar, Keyboards
- D. Sardy - Producer, Mixing
- Bon Harris - Synthesizer, Programming, Editing, Electronic Percussion
- P.R. Brown - Art Direction, Design, Photography
- Greg Fidelman - Engineer
- Ginger Fish - Drums
- Nick Raskulinecz - Assistant Engineer
- Joe Zook - Assistant Engineer
- M.W Gacy - Keyboards
- John 5 - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar
- Kevin Guarnieri - Assistant Engineer
Charting positions
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | The Billboard 200 | 13 |
| 2000 | Top Internet Albums | 10 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | "Disposable Teens" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 22 |
| 2000 | "Disposable Teens" | Modern Rock Tracks | 24 |
