The Fight Song

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This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. This article is about the song
For the single see The Fight Song (single)
"The Fight Song"
The Fight Song cover
Song by Marilyn Manson
Album Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
Released November 13, 2000
Recorded 1999–2000 at the Mansion in Death Valley, California
Genre Alternative metal, punk metal, industrial rock
Length 2:55
Label Nothing, Interscope
Writer Marilyn Manson
Composer John 5
Producer Marilyn Manson, Dave Sardy

"The Fight Song" is the second single and the third track of the fourth album Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). The title is a pun on to sports team anthems known as Fight Songs as the song is partially a post-Columbine statement disparaging mainstream America's own glorification of violence amongst it's youth, while also criticizing the slave mentality of Christianity. "I'm not a slave to a god that doesn't exist" is thought to be inspired from a passage by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche which states "the only excuse for God is that he doesn't exist." The music is often compared to Blur's "Song 2". It may also be noted that the line, "the death of one is a tragedy but the death of millions is just a statistic" is a quote from Joseph Stalin and also a quote from Erich Maria Remarque's novel The Black Obelisk.

Appearances[edit]

Manson as he appears in the music video

Albums[edit]

Singles[edit]

Soundtracks[edit]

  • Mean Machine

Versions[edit]

Tarot cards[edit]

The UK versions of "The Fight Song" included Tarot cards featured in the Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) booklet. Each card had a description written on its back.

Music Video[edit]

The band performing in front of the billboard in the video

The music video, directed by Wiz, features the band performing on stage at a football game. The teams playing are typical "jocks" facing against "goths", and, according to the scoreboard, are representative of "Holy Wood" and "Death Valley" (a reference to the album featuring the track, Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). Though it begins as a standard football game, it takes a destructive turn when a player throws a ball at the scoreboard, causing a small explosion, leading to more havoc as a Death Valley player begins cutting down the goal post and setting it ablaze as the music video ends.

As a side note, the billboard behind the band performing reads "We're all HAPPY To live in America", and all the Death Valley players have the numbers "00" on their uniforms (including Manson, having the numbers painted to his back).

Analysis[edit]

The video can be seen as a representation of the concept behind Holy Wood. The two teams of the video (Holy Wood and Death Valley) share the names with the two dueling regions in the world of Holy Wood. Holy Wood is the home of "the beautiful people", who are wealthy and adored, and Death Valley is the host of the lesser, undesirable "Horrible People". In the story, the people of Death Valley revolt against, what they see as a fascist, Holy Wood. The football game is a metaphor for this struggle, and Death Valley's sudden turn to violence acts as the beginning of the revolution. The fact that all Death Valley players have "00" as their uniform number emphasizes their role as "zeroes" or "nobodies". It is assumed that the scene of a football game intertwines with the themes of Holy Wood, as football is simultaneously one of the most violent sports and one of America's greatest obsessions.

Controversy[edit]

The music video generated minor controversy for its violent depiction of a football game between jocks and goths, which some sources have interpreted to be directly "echoing" Columbine.[1][2] Manson, for his part, has vehemently denied this, stating, "I'm trying to show that sports as well as music can be seen as violent, so I chose a traditional black vs white, good vs evil theme for the video."[2] He further dismissed the claims to MTV News at the American Music Awards on January 8, 2001, stating, "People will put into it what they want if it helps them sell newspapers or helps them write a headline. They're gonna want to turn it into something it isn't. Flak is my job."[1]

Lyrics[edit]

    Nothing suffocates you more than
    the passing of everyday human events
    Isolation is the oxygen mask you make
    your children breathe into survive
    
    But I'm not a slave to a god
    that doesn't exist
    I'm not a slave to a world
    that doesn't give a shit
    
    And when we were good
    you just closed your eyes
    So when we are bad
    we'll scar your minds
    
    fight, fight, fight, fight
    
    You'll never grow up to be a big-rock-star-celebrated-victim-of-your-fame
    They'll just cut our wrists like
    cheap coupons and say that death
    was on sale today
    
    And when we were good
    you just closed your eyes
    So when we are bad
    we'll scar your minds
    
    But I'm not a slave to a god
    that doesn't exist
    I'm not a slave to a world
    that doesn't give a shit
    
    the death of one is a tragedy
    but the death of millions is just a statistic.
    
    But I'm not a slave to a god
    that doesn't exist
    I'm not a slave to a world
    that doesn't give a shit
    
    fight, fight, fight, fight

Trivia[edit]

  • Clips of the music video appear in the Michael Moore movie Bowling for Columbine.
  • The lyrics, "The death of one is a tragedy. The death of a million is just a statistic" is a reference to Erich Maria Remarque, "Black Obelisk".[3]
  • Following it's release as a commercial single, "The Fight Song" was often criticized for sounding too similar to "Song 2" by Blur, or in some cases, a direct rip-off. By the time "The Fight Song" debuted as a radio single, "Song 2" had been part of most rock station's regular rotation for a few years.
  • The song "Survival of the Sickest" by Saliva, released 3 years later, borrows the main riff from "The Fight Song".

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Manson Comes Out Fighting". NME. 2001-01-11. http://www.nme.com/news/marilynmanson/5948. Retrieved 2011-03-31. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "See Stills From New Manson Video". NME. 2001-02-13. http://www.nme.com/news/marilyn-manson/6423. Retrieved 2011-03-31. 
  3. ↑ "(Citation error)". https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Erich_Maria_Remarque&oldid=1713687#Sourced. 
Marilyn Manson videography
Music videos Get Your Gunn • Lunchbox • Dope Hat • Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) • The Beautiful People • Tourniquet • Man That You Fear • Cryptorchid • Long Hard Road Out of Hell • Apple of Sodom • The Dope Show • I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me) • Rock Is Dead • Coma White • Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes • Disposable Teens • The Fight Song • The Nobodies • Tainted Love • mOBSCENE • This Is the New Shit • Thrift • (s)AINT • Personal Jesus • Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand) • Putting Holes in Happiness • Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon • Running to the Edge of the World • WOW • No Reflection • Slo-Mo-Tion • Hey, Cruel World... • Deep Six • The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles • Third Day of a Seven Day Binge • WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE • SAY10 • KILL4ME • Tattooed in Reverse • Cry Little Sister • WE ARE CHAOS • DON'T CHASE THE DEAD
Home videos Dead to the World • Groupie • God Is in the T.V. • "Autopsy" • Guns, God and Government World Tour (The Death Parade) • The Mechanism of Desire • Doppelherz • Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows (Bonus DVD) • Lest We Forget – The Best Of (Bonus DVD) • (s)AINT Video (Uncut, Unrated, Banned by Label) • Eat Me, Drink Me (Bonus DVD) • Guns, God, and Government – Live in L.A. • Fifth video album
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