Article:2000/11/20 Marilyn Manson May Be In for a Shock

Marilyn Manson May Be In for a Shock
News Clipping Holy Wood
Author	Times Staff Writers
Date	November 20, 2000
Source	Los Angeles Times

Marilyn Manson May Be In for a Shock
By Times Staff Writers on November 20, 2000
Los Angeles Times - Entertainment
In the Know / A LOOK AT THE WEEK AHEAD


Can Marilyn Manson still scare up big sales? The shock-rocker's new disc, "Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)," will hit the album charts on Wednesday and answer the question of where the famous fiend fits in today's pop scene. His most successful album, 1996's "Antichrist Superstar," has sold 1.6 million copies in the U.S., while the 1998 "Mechanical Animals" fell a bit short of that (1.2 million sold to date). But "Animals" also brought Manson his most favorable reviews. The early critical appraisal of "Holy Wood" is far less positive (The Times' pop music critic, Robert Hilburn, for instance, calls its themes "obvious and belabored"), and some retailers have privately questioned Manson's appeal in the rap-rock era. Manson also will have a significant chunk of the market closed to him. His label, Nothing/Interscope Records, is bucking industry convention and not releasing a "clean" version of the album--i.e., one that has obscenities excised. Mass retailers such as Wal-Mart and Kmart have policies against stocking albums with parental warning stickers, and with no clean version, that means Manson has no chance of being a blue-light special. Still, Best Buy spokeswoman Laurie Bauer points out that Manson fans will find the album if they really want it, and many already have. "It came on strong right out of the chute," Bauer said. "It's selling well and meeting expectations." Perhaps, but Best Buy's own sales projections show the album will sell about 150,000 nationally in its first week, which is a far cry from the 223,000 sold by "Mechanical Animals" during its initial week, suggesting that Manson expectations may have taken a grave turn.