Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)

For the book of the same name, see Holy Wood (book).

For the fictional Discworld location of Holy Wood, see Moving Pictures (novel).

Untitled

Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) is the fourth full-length album by rock band Marilyn Manson. It is also the third and final installment in Manson's concept album trilogy. 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 had accused him of fostering the perpetrators' state of mind via his music and "goth" imagery. Consequently, much of the album's content addresses the issue and poses several counterarguments about the role that parents, the values and culture of Conservative America and the media alike play in these matters. The record underlines American society's obsession with guns, religion, and fame - esp. the fame that have historically been attained by people who have very publicly died through the media (televised or print) and consequently painted as "martyrs" within the national consciousness (e.g., President John F. Kennedy).

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.

Cultural references

This album alludes several social, political and cultural icons, such as John F. Kennedy, John Lennon, and others who endured infamous, violent deaths and became "martyrs" of American culture. In part, this is a response to the sentiment that the Columbine massacre was an attempt by two disaffected and disillusioned teenagers at 15 minutes of fame. Manson illustrates the irony that the media's vulture-like behavior and coverage turned the incident into a ratings frenzy, giving Klebold and Harris exactly what they wanted. According to Manson, the media views tragic death as a form of entertainment for public consumption.

Explaining 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 attempts to explain the probable mindset of the teenaged killers:

We are the nobodies, wanna be somebodies.

When we're dead, they'll know just who we are.

Further criticism by Manson on the public's response to the killings (found within the song) include the stanza:

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.

After the shootings, the media widely reported that listening to Manson's music drove the boys to kill, though in fact they didn't appear to be fans of the band. An interview with him about the Columbine shootings was featured in the Michael Moore documentary Bowling for Columbine. When asked what he would say to the boys if he had the chance to talk to them, Manson replied, "I wouldn't say a single word to them; I'd listen to what they have to say, and that's what no one did."

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 the famous. The revolution is a success, but is transformed into something as fake, profiteering and hollow as the original Holy Wood when it is adopted and homogenized by the mainstream, leading to Adam's attempted suicide and the start of the Mechanical Animal's storyline. Mechanical Animals then follows his journey, now under the pseudonym "Omega" - a decadent "Holy Wood" rock star product, back to the Valley of Death to begin the Antichrist Superstar storyline. Along the way, he becomes increasingly drug-addicted, emotionally dissociated and nihilistic. His relationship with Coma White falls into disrepair. He finally snaps, and in "Antichrist Superstar" becomes a fascistic, repressive tyrant, betraying everything the revolution already fought for - hence the epithet that is repeated at the beginning and end of that album: "When you are suffering, know that I have betrayed you".

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 phrase "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 is a quote often attributed to the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
• The phrase "a rebel from the waist down" from "Disposable Teens" is taken from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is also an allusion to Elvis Presley's controversial and infamous sexually-charged pelvic-swinging (notoriously, Elvis was shot only from the waist up in the Ed Sullivan Show to appease conservative viewers), comparing his situation with the controversy and censorship Elvis attracted with the conservative audience of the time.
• "Disposable Teens" was the first single released from Holy Wood. Marilyn Manson is said to have merely rehashed his hit "The Beautiful People" with the severe Teutonic and militaristic staccato of this track.
• "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 name of the main character in the album's story arc."
• The song "Born Again" was allegedly 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 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.
• "The Nobodies" starts with the use of a Roland TR-909 drum machine.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Manson

A: In the Shadow

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"GodEatGod"	Manson	2:34
2.	"The Love Song"	Ramirez, 5	3:16
3.	"The Fight Song"	5	2:55
4.	"Disposable Teens"	5, Ramirez	3:01

D: The Androgyn

No.	Title	Music	Length
5.	"Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)"	Ramirez, 5	4:18
6.	""President Dead""	Ramirez, 5, Gacy	3:13
7.	"In the Shadow of the Valley of Death"	Ramirez, 5	4:09
8.	"Cruci-Fiction in Space"	Ramirez, 5, Gacy	4:56
9.	"A Place in the Dirt"	5	3:37

A: Of Red Earth

No.	Title	Music	Length
10.	"The Nobodies"	5, Manson	3:35
11.	"The Death Song"	5, Manson	3:29
12.	"Lamb of God"	Ramirez	4:39
13.	"Born Again"	Ramirez, 5	3:20
14.	"Burning Flag"	Ramirez, 5	3:21

M: The Fallen

No.	Title	Music	Length
15.	"Coma Black a) Eden Eye b) Apple of Discord"	Manson, 5, Ramirez	5:58
16.	"Valentine's Day"	Ramirez, Manson	3:31
17.	"The Fall of Adam"	Ramirez, 5	2:34
18.	"King Kill 33°"	Ramirez	2:18
19.	"Count to Six and Die (The Vacuum of Infinite Space Encompassing)"	5	3:24

Bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
20.	"The Nobodies (Acoustic Version)" (Japan/UK editions only)	3:35
21.	"Mechanical Animals (Live)" (Japan edition only)	4:41

Hidden 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. 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, Syncussion, Optigan, Mellotron, "Distorted Flute", Synth Bass, Keyboards, Piano, Pianette, Ambiance, Electric Harpsichord, Rhythm Guitar
• Twiggy Ramirez - Bass, Guitar (Rhythm, Lead, Leslie, Warped), Keyboards
• John 5 - Guitar (Lead, Rhythm, Acoustic, Synth, Electric, Slide, Phase)
• Madonna Wayne Gacy - Synths, Ambiance, Keyboards, Samples, Bass Synth, Synth Strings, Mellotron, "Children's Choir and canned laughter of dead people unsure of why they are laughing"
• Ginger Fish - Drums (Live, Drum Machine), Death & Siren Loops, Keyboards
• Bon Harris - Synthesizers, Programming, Pre-Production Editing, Organic Drum Programming, Bass, Keyboard, "Insect Hi-Hat", Sleigh Bells, (Destructive) Manipulation, Electronics, Piano
• Paul Northfield - Additional Engineering
• D. Sardy (Dave Sardy) - Producer, Synths, (Organic) Drum Programming, Mixing, Noise Rhythm Guitar, "Pills"
• P.R. Brown - Art Direction, Design, Photography
• Greg Fidelman - Engineer, All Pro-Tools
• Nick Raskulinecz - Assistant Engineer
• Joe Zook - Assistant Engineer
• Kevin Guarnieri - Assistant Engineer
• Danny Saber - Additional loops
• Alex Suttle - Backing Vocals

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

External links

• Drowned in Sound review
• Autopsy Easter Egg