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

This article is about the album. For other uses, see In the Shadow of the Valley of Death and Holy Wood (novel).

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 the Mansion in Death Valley, California
Genre	Alternative metal, heavy metal, industrial metal
Length	68:19
Label	Nothing, Interscope
Producer	Marilyn Manson, Dave Sardy
Professional reviews
Allmusic Template:Rating 4.5 link NME (favorable) link Robert Christgau (dud) link Rolling Stone Template:Rating 3.5 link
Analysis and Interpretations
The Third And Final Beast (Nachtkabarett) Mercury & The Androgyne (Nachtkabarett) Holywood Gun Crucifix (Nachtkabarett)
Marilyn Manson chronology
The Last Tour on Earth (1999) Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (2000) The Golden Age of Grotesque (2003)

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 in the US and Australia by Interscope Records. Unlike their previous outings, Holy Wood was a commercial disappointment despite generally favorable reviews from critics and marked a return to the industrial rock/metal style of the band's earlier efforts after the group's foray into glam rock with Mechanical Animals.

It is a concept album and the third and final album in a trilogy that also included Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals. It charted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and spawned three singles ("Disposable Teens", "The Fight Song" and "The Nobodies") and a novel which remains currently unreleased.

As the band's first album since the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999, Holy Wood served the group as both rebuttal and retort at the accusations leveled at them. Manson has described the record as "a declaration of war".

Origin and recording

The album's conception and gestation was marked by the singer's three month seclusion at his then home in the Hollywood Hills following the Columbine tragedy, vacillating on "what I was going to do and how I was going to react". In that time period, the singer avoided interviews and publicity. However, in May of that year, the beleaguered musician began to address the accusations with his notable Rolling Stone magazine op-ed piece, "Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?". This was then followed by a year of production and recording..

The record is said to have been written in Manson's aforementioned former home, which is the same house where the Rolling Stones were rumoured to have written Let It Bleed. Recording was done in a mansion that once belonged to escape artist Harry Houdini. Manson has claimed that over 100 songs had been written during the production of Holy Wood, though only 19 made it into the final product..

The album was produced by Marilyn Manson and Dave Sardy, with programming and synthesizers provided by Bon Harris of Nitzer Ebb.

Concept

for a complete overview of the Trilogy see Triptych.

Holy Wood was Marilyn Manson's first album since Columbine and the ensuing moral panic, for which the musician and the band served as a scapegoat, being held culpable by various media outlets, religious figures, pundits, civic groups and politicians who made reckless and malicious sensationalist allegations that the band's music and imagery drove Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to kill their classmates despite later reports to the contrary; that the two actually considered them "a joke". Consequently, much of the album's content addresses the issue and articulates on American society's common obsession with firearms, religion, and media martyrs by appropriating criticism on what he sees as the three core ideals Conservative Christian America hold above all else, "Guns, God and Government". He also criticizes parents and the news media for the more harmful roles they play in the glorification and acceptance of wholesale violence in "mainstream" culture in comparison to music, movies, books or video games.

As a concept album, Holy Wood's plot is a thinly-veiled satire of modern America. It centers on the ill-fated sojourn of protagonist "Adam Kadmon". Kadmon is an abstract figure borrowed from the Kabbalah where he is described as the archetype for humanity and the first Adam from which every soul is descended. Disillusionment sets in, however, as he helplessly watches humanity become consumed by the ideology of 'Guns, God and Government' into a culture of death and fame where celebrity-worship, violence and scapegoatism are held as moral values and martyrdom has become religion — a religion that canonize dead celebrities into saints and idolize 'Jack' Kennedy as the transfigured 'Lamb of God' and modern-day Christ. Deliberately a parallel of Christianity and a critique of both American celebrity culture and of Jesus Christ's own role as the blueprint of that culture and the 'Dead Rock Star' martyr/celebrity phenomenon, this religion is dubbed "Celebritarianism". The Guns, God and Government world tour that supported the album expanded on this with the tour's logo — a rifle and handguns arranged to resemble the Christian cross. Much like in Mechanical Animals, another lesser character is found in "Coma Black". Similar to the character of "Coma White" from the previous album, Coma Black is an obscure figure which, simultaneously, may or may not be an unattainable ideal, an androgynous facet of Adam or an actual person.

In auditing everyone's complicity in creating the 'death and fame' culture that culminated in Columbine (especially those of Manson's detractors), the album heavily allegories defining events and figures in American pop culture history and confronts everyone with its implications and ramifications. A vast number of these references draw from the cultural impact of the tumultuous Cold War period of the 1960s. Most glaringly, the record undertakes an exhaustive cultural analysis of Abraham Zapruder's film of the JFK Assassination (especially Frame 313) during the "Winter of our Discontent", which Manson has described sarcastically in an essay for Rolling Stone magazine as "[a] good clip of mankind’s generosity to share his violence with the world in such a cinematic way". The death of notable author and intellectual Aldous Huxley on the same day as Kennedy is also brought up — a fact buried in newspapers the following morning as JFK's celebrity gave his assassination top-billing in the headlines — and is subsequently deplored with Joseph Stalin's dismissive quip on the death of a million being nothing more than a statistic. Further references include the Altamont Free Concert tragedy that not only brought an abrupt and violent end to the 'love generation' but also cemented America's fear of its own children as well as The Beatles' White Album and the Charles Manson murders.

Template:Quote box The latter two is especially significant with regards to the larger issue of anti-mimesis (life imitating art) since the White Album was thought to have played a key role in the Tate/LaBianca murder case when news media reported that the murders may have been inspired by Charles Manson's misreading of the record, resulting in the formation of his infamous Helter Skelter manifesto. In this sense, Marilyn Manson drew similarities between Holy Wood and the White Album; not only in that a traumatized, knee-jerk reactionary American public have used both him and it as a scapegoat but also as both expounds on America's obsession with guns and violence and addresses the political concepts of evolution and revolution. More critically, however, Manson casts a spotlight on the universal phenomenon of the press 'canonizing' people into "martyrdom", on TV or print media, by gorging America with vulturistic coverage of their death and the cult-of-personality celebrity worship people reciprocate. He cites, as examples, icons of American assassination such as John Lennon, John F. Kennedy and Jesus Christ. Of Kennedy and Christ's martyrdom he opines,

“	Christ was the blue-print for celebrity. He was the first celebrity, or rock star if want to look at it that way, and [dying on the cross] he became this image of sexuality and suffering. He’s literally marketed — A crucifix is no different than a concert T-shirt in some ways. I think for America, in my lifetime, John F. Kennedy kind of took the place of that [as a modern day Christ] in some ways. [Being murdered on TV], he became lifted up as this icon and this Christ figure [by America].	”
—Marilyn Manson Marilyn Manson - Revelations of an Alien-Messiah.

When Bill O'Reilly suggested, in an interview on the O'Reilly Factor, that 'disturbed' kids could misinterpret certain lyrics in his 1996 song "The Reflecting God" to mean "when I'm dead everybody's going to know me", Manson replied by tying the aforementioned observations to Columbine,

“	Well I think that's a very valid point and I think that it's a reflection of, not necessarily this programme but of television in general, that if you die and enough people are watching you become a martyr, you become a hero, you become well known. So when you have these things like Columbine, and you have these kids who are angry and they have something to say and no one's listening, the news media sends a message that says if you do something loud enough and it gets our attention then you will be famous for it. Those kids ended up on the cover of Time magazine, the news media [and the American audience] gave them exactly what they wanted. That's why I never did any interviews around that time when I was being blamed for it because I didn't want to contribute to something that I found to be reprehensible.	”
—Marilyn Manson Marilyn Manson on the O'Reilly Factor .

Packaging

Like Antichrist Superstar, the album also utilizes a compositional device called the song cycle structure dividing Holy Wood into four sections which form the framework and outline of Kadmon's story: A: In the Shadow, D: The Androgyne, A: Of Red Earth and M: The Fallen.

The album's cover, which portrayed Manson in a crucified pose with a missing jaw as a dual statement on censorship and America's obsession with media martyrs, generated minor controversy upon release and had to be offered with a cardboard sleeve featuring an alternate cover due to some retailers refusing to stock the album with the original artwork. Manson described the move as "censorship" and stated that "those who seek to censor my album cover have successfully proven [the] point [of the image]."

Book and film

See also Holy Wood (novel) for more details

The album was originally to be accompanied by a book and a film of the same name which were to further explore the album's backstory. In an interview with Manson in December 2000, Chuck Palahniuk briefly mentions the book and compliments its style, adding it is due for release "next spring". The book has yet to be released, allegedly due to a publishing dispute, and the film never began production.

Reception

Holy Wood received both mixed reviews from critics:

• Rolling Stone said: "The band truly rocks: Its malevolent groove fleshes out its leader's usual complaints with an exhilarating swagger that's the essence of rock & roll."
• Allmusic said: "There's so much effort, Holy Wood winds up a stronger and more consistent album than any of his other work."
• PopMatters said: "The central flaw of Holy Wood is that the power of its message, an important and provocative one, is watered down by its artistic pretensions. While Holy Wood is often affecting, it would be a better album if it was shorter and dealt with its subject matter directly, instead of through the veil of the 'concept album'."
• NME said: "Manson's comparison of 'Holy Wood...' with 'The White Album' is rather rich, considering that it's basically an elaborate consolidation of ideas he's already explored. [Nevertheless] 'Holy Wood...' puts Manson's critics and second division nu-metallers like Korn and Slipknot firmly in their place."

In the United States it debuted and peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200. It would quickly fall off the charts in the weeks that followed. It was later awarded gold status for selling more than 500,000 copies in March 2003. The commercial failure of this album can be attributed to waning interest in Manson's "shock rock" tactics, to which the public had become habituated at this point.

Guns, God and Government Tour

Main article: Guns, God and Government

In support of the album, Marilyn Manson launched the Guns, God and Government Tour, which featured six legs and a total of 125 shows. The Ozzfest leg of the tour is particularly notable since it marked Marilyn Manson's first performance in Denver, Colorado (on June 22, 2001) since Columbine. Predictably, the band met heavy resistance from conservative groups with the performer receiving numerous death threats and calls to skip the date. The Christian organization Citizens for Peace and Respect asserted on their website that the band "promotes hate, violence, death, suicide, drug use, and the attitudes and actions of the Columbine killers". In response, Manson promised,

“	I will provide a show where I balance my songs with a wholesome Bible reading. This way, fans will not only hear my so-called 'violent' point of view, but we can examine the virtues of wonderful 'Christian' stories of disease, murder, adultery, suicide and child sacrifice. Now that seems like 'entertainment' to me.	”
—Marilyn Manson

The Denver show also provided the backdrop for Manson's landmark interview on gun violence and America's climate of fear in Michael Moore's 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine.

Three concert films depicting the tour, Guns, God and Government, Guns, God and Government - Live in L.A., and The Death Parade, were recorded.

Track listing

A: In the Shadow

1. "GodEatGod" – 2:34

2. "The Love Song" – 3:16

3. "The Fight Song" – 2:55

4. "Disposable Teens" – 3:01

D: The Androgyne

5. "Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)" – 4:18

6. ""President Dead"" – 3:13

7. "In the Shadow of the Valley of Death" – 4:09

8. "Cruci-Fiction in Space"' – 4:56

9. "A Place in the Dirt" – 3:37

A: Of Red Earth

10. "The Nobodies" – 3:35

11. "The Death Song" – 3:30

12. "Lamb of God" – 4:39

13. "Born Again" – 3:20

14. "Burning Flag" – 3:21

M: The Fallen

15. "Coma Black: a) Eden Eye, b) The Apple of Discord" – 5:58

16. "Valentine's Day" – 3:31

17. "The Fall of Adam" – 2:34

18. "King Kill 33°" – 2:18

19. "Count to Six and Die (The Vacuum of Infinite Space Encompassing)" – 3:24

Bonus tracks

20. "The Nobodies" (Acoustic Version) (Bonus track on UK and Japanese versions) – 3:33

21. "Mechanical Animals" (live) (Bonus track on Japanese version) - 4:41

B-sides

• "Diamonds & Pollen" – 3:55
• "Five to One" (The Doors cover) – 4:22
• "Working Class Hero" (John Lennon cover) – 3:42

Autopsy

A short film known as Autopsy could be viewed by running a "START.exe" program included in the disk (in the same way one would run a similar program to listen to the hidden track "Untitled" on the previous album Mechanical Animals. While the video, in which a dead Manson has a fetus removed from his skull during autopsy, was originally hosted on the Interscope website it is no longer featured there and can only be viewed as an easter egg on the Lest We Forget (The Best of) bonus DVD.

Album credits

ALL LYRICS BY M. MANSON ·· 1. (music: MANSON) keyboards and bass · synth: Manson · Vocals: Manson · Guitars: John5 · Lead guitar: T. Ramirez · Ambience: M.W. Gacy · Synth: Bon Harris · Noise rhythm guitar: Dave Sardy ·· 2. (music: RAMIREZ., 5) Vocals and ouro-lead guitar: Manson · Guitar and Bass: T. Ramirez · Guitars: John5 · Keyboards and samples: M.W. Gacy · Live drums and siren loop: Ginger Fish · Synth and drum programming: Bon Harris ·· 3. (music: 5) Vocals: Manson · Bass and additional guitar: T. Ramirez · Rhythm and lead guitar: John5 · Keyboards and loops: M.W. Gacy · Live drums: Ginger Fish ·· 4. (music: 5, RAMIREZ) Vocals: Manson · Bass: T. Ramirez · Guitar and synth guitar: John5 · Synth and electronic percussion: Bon Harris · Live drums: Ginger Fish · Keyboards: M.W. Gacy · Pills: D. Sardy ·· 5. (music: RAMIREZ, 5) Vocals and Optigan: Manson · Bass and additional lead guitar: T. Ramirez · All guitars: John5 · Loop and live drums: Ginger Fish · Synth and loops: M.W. Gacy · Drum programming and synth: Bon Harris ·· 6. (music: RAMIREZ., 5, GACY) Vocals, syncussion, and mellotron: Manson · Rhythm Guitar and bass: T. Ramirez · Lead and rhythm guitar: John5 · Loop and live drums: Ginger Fish · Keyboards: M.W. Gacy · Backing Vocals: Alex Suttle ·· 7. (music: RAMIREZ., 5) Vocals and distorted flute: Manson · All Keyboards: M.W. Gacy · All guitars: John5 · Death Loop and live drums: Ginger Fish · Bass: T. Ramirez ·· 8. (music: RAMIREZ., 5, GACY) Vocals and piano: Manson · Rhythm guitar, bass: T. Ramirez · Rhythm and lead guitar: John5 · Live drums: Ginger Fish · Keyboards, loops and ambiences: M.W. Gacy · Insect hi-hat: Bon Harris ·· 9. (music: 5) Vocals and Ambience: Manson · Synth bass and keyboards: M.W,. Gacy · Live drums and loop: Ginger Fish · Bass: T. Ramirez · Acoustic, electric and slide guitars: John5 · Synths, sleigh bells and manipulation: Bon Harris ·· 10. (music: 5, MANSON) electric harpsichord: Manson · Guitars: John5 · Bass: T. Ramirez · Keyboards and ambiences: M.W. Gacy · Drum machine and live kit: Ginger Fish · Vocals: Manson ·· 11. (music: 5, MANSON) Vocals: Manson · guitars: John 5 · Bass: T.Ramirez · Synth bass and electronics: Bon Harris · Loop and live drums: Ginger Fish · Children's choir and canned laughter of dead people unsure of why they are laughing: M.W. Gacy ·· 12. (music: RAMIREZ.) Vocals, piano and pianette: Manson · Bass, lead and Leslie guitar, keys and drum loop: T. Ramirez · Acoustic, rhythm and lead guitar: John5 · Live drums: Ginger Fish · Ambience: M.W. Gacy · Synths: Bon Harris ·· 13. (music: RAMIREZ., 5) Vocals and synth bass: Manson · Bass and verse guitar: T. Ramirez · Guitar and lead guitar: John5 · Keyboards: M.W. Gacy · Drum Programming: Ginger Fish and Bon Harris · Bass and other synths: Bon Harris · Additional loops: Danny Saber · Recorded live February 14, 1997 ·· 14. (music: RAMIREZ., 5) Vocals: Manson Guitar and bass: T. Ramirez · Guitar: John5 · Live drums: Ginger Fish · Organic drum programming: Bon Harris and D. Sardy · Synth and destructive manipulation: Bon Harris · Keyboards: M.W. Gacy ·· 15. a)(music: MANSON, 5, RAMIREZ.) Vocals and clean rhythm guitar: Manson · Bass, warped rhythm guitars and add. lead: T. Ramirez · Phase, lead and rhythm guitar: John5 · Loops and live drums: Ginger Fish · Synths, ambience and keyboards: M.W. Gacy · b)(music: MANSON) Vocals and clean guitar: Manson · Rhythm Guitar: John5 · Bass and lead guitar: T. Ramirez · Loop: Ginger Fish ·· 16. (music: RAMIREZ., MANSON) Vocals and piano: Manson · Bass and noise lead guitars: T. Ramirez · Loop and live drums: Ginger Fish · Lead and rhythm guitars: John5 · Keyboards and mellotron: M.W. Gacy · Synthesizers: Bon Harris ·· 17. (music: RAMIREZ., 5) Vocals: Manson · Acoustic, rhythm and synth guitar: John 5 · Bass and rhythm guitar: T. Ramirez · Live drums: Ginger Fish ·· 18. (music: RAMIREZ) Vocals: Manson · Bass: T. Ramirez · Guitars and synth guitars: John5 · Keyboards and Synth: M.W. Gacy · Live drums: Ginger Fish ·· 19. (music: 5) Vocals: Manson · Synth strings and Ambiences: M.W. Gacy · Piano: Bon Harris ····· Celebritarian™ used by permission

···ALL TRACKS ©2000 EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC ON BEHALF OF ITSELF, SONGS OF GOLGOTHA MUSIC (BMI), BLOOD HEAVY MUSIC (BMI) & DCLXVI MUSIC (BMI). ALL RIGHTS ADMINISTERED WORLDWIDE BY EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC INC. · MANSON: ALL TRACKS, SONGS OF GOLGOTHA MUSIC · RAMIREZ: ALL TRACKS, BLOOD HEAVY MUSIC, EXCEPT 1, 3, 9, 10, 11, 15b, 19 · JOHN 5: ALL TRACKS, GTR. HACK MUSIC / CHRYSALIS MUSIC ASCAP, EXCEPT 1, 12, 15b, 16, 18 · GACY: TRACKS 6 & 8 DCLXVI MUSIC ©2000 NOTHING/INTERSCOPE RECORDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN CANADA.

HOLY WOOD CONCEIVED AND ARRANGED BY MARILYN MANSON
PRODUCED BY MARILYN MANSON & D. SARDY · MIXED BY D. SARDY
ENGINEERED BY GRED FIDELMAN · ALL PRO-TOOLS: GREG FIDELMAN · EDITING, PROGRAMMING & PRE-PRODUCTION BY BON HARRIS · ADDITIONAL ENGINEERING BY PAUL NORTHFIELD · RECORDED @ THE MANSION · ADDITIONAL RECORDING @ HOLLY STUDIOS, SUNSET SOUND FACTORY AND WESTLAKE AUDIO · MIXED @ LARRABEE EAST
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS: NICK RASKULINECZ, JOE ZOOK, KEVIN GUARNIERI AND STEVE MACAULEY · MASTERING: MARCUSSION · MANAGEMMENT: TONY CIULLA/CIULLA MANAGAMENT · BUSINESS MGT: JAY SENDYK · LEGAL: JEFFREY TAYLOR LIGHT · AGENT: RICK ROSKIN, CAA · EU AGENT: EMMA BANKS (HELTER SKELTER) · ART DIRECTION: P.R. BROWN AND MARILYN MANSON · PHOTOGRAPHY & DESIGN: P.R. BROWN @ BAU-DA DESIGN LAB [LA]. · MAKE UP: MARILYN MANSON & RALLIS KAHN
CLOTHING: DEBORAH @ T'AINT · OFFICIAL WEBSITE: MARILYNMANSON.COM
INFO: 7336 SANTA MONICA BLVD., #730, LOS ANGELES, CA 90046

Cover gallery

• 

  Front cover
• 

  Censored Album Cover
• 

  Back cover
• 

  Disc
• 

  Tray Insert
• 

  Booklet 1
• 

  Booklet 2
• 

  Booklet 3
• 

  Booklet 4
• 

  Booklet 5
• 

  Booklet 6
• 

  Booklet 7
• 

  Start.exe splash page

Charting positions

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2000	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	31

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
United Kingdom	November 13, 2000	Interscope Records	Compact disc	4908292
Australia	November 14, 2000	Interscope Records	Compact disc	—
North America	November 14, 2000	Interscope Records	Compact disc	490790
Japan	December 5, 2000	Interscope Records	Compact disc	—

Trivia

• The front cover of the demo Big Black Bus features the band's first use of the term "Holy Wood", where the words "HOLYWOOD PROD." can be seen on the side of the school bus. The term was later used in a July 28, 1999 post by Manson on MarilynManson.net's message board, which opened with the line "Hello from the depths of Holy Wood..."
• The term "Holy Wood" was once used in a poem by Aleister Crowley, to whom Marilyn Manson frequently references. It is also used as a mockery of Hollywood, as per the imagery in the album's cover art.
• There are three different covers for this album: The standard cover depicting Manson as The Hanged Man, the censored UK cover depicting "stains" on its cover, and a alternate sleeve release depicting a jawless Manson on the front, and the aforementioned "stains" on the back.
• The album's working title was simply "In the Shadow of the Valley of Death".
• To promote the album in Italy, a promotional CD-ROM called Holy Manson was released to the country in 2001.

Personnel

• 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

See also

• Tarot cards
• The Holywood action figures
• References to John F. Kennedy in Marilyn Manson's music
• Guns, God and Government
• Guns, God and Government World Tour (DVD)
• Guns, God, and Government World Tour book
• The Death Parade
• Holy Manson