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
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 studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on November 14, 2000 in the US and Australia by Nothing/Interscope and marked a return to the industrial rock/metal style of the band's earlier efforts, after the glam rock-inspired Mechanical Animals. As their first release following the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999, Holy Wood served the group as both rebuttal and retort to the accusations leveled against them. The band's frontman described the record as "a declaration of war".

It is a rock opera concept album and the third and final installment in a trilogy that includes Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals. After its release, Manson revealed that the over-arching story within the trilogy is divulged in reverse chronological order. Holy Wood, therefore, begins the story, followed by Mechanical Animals and concluding with Antichrist Superstar.

The album was initially a commercial disappointment, garnering first week sales of 117,000 units and a peak charting position at No.13 on the Billboard 200. However, with worldwide sales of over 9 million copies, as of 2011, the album has become one of the most successful of Marilyn Manson's career. It spawned three singles ("Disposable Teens", "The Fight Song" and "The Nobodies") and an abandoned film project that was modified into a novel which currently remains unreleased.

On November 10, 2010, British rock magazine Kerrang! published a 10th anniversary commemorative piece in which they called the album "Manson's finest hour...A decade on, it is still scathingly relevant. [It] is a credit to a man who refused to sit and take it, but instead come out swinging."

Background and development

Template:Quote box In the aftermath of the Columbine tragedy, Manson and the band became a scapegoat. Their music and imagery were alleged by various media outlets, religious figures and politicians to have driven Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to kill their classmates despite later reports to the contrary — that the two actually considered them "a joke". Consequently, after cancelling the remaining dates of their Rock Is Dead Tour, the band retreated from public view. The album's early development would be marked by the singer's three month seclusion at his then home in the Hollywood Hills.

During this period of relative silence, Manson avoided interviews and publicity. He spent this time vacillating on "what I was going to do and how I was going to react". He also admitted that the maelstrom caused him to reconsider whether or not it was judicious to continue to pursue his career, stating, "[t]here was a bit of trepidation, [in] deciding, 'Is it worth it? Are people understanding what I'm trying to say? Am I even gonna be allowed to say it?' Because I definitely had every single door shut in my face...there were not a lot of people who stood behind me." He would later tell Alternative Press that there was also a genuine concern for his safety: "one reason I didn't leave was, I genuinely believed that there was a realistic possibility that I could be shot Mark David Chapman-style".

It was after he determined that it was less prudent to allow his detractors to use entertainment as a scapegoat, including his, for a controversial artist such as himself, that he decided to continue making music. On May 1, 1999, the embattled musician wrote his notable Rolling Stone magazine op-ed piece "Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?", as an initial response to the accusations, during the only break in his self-imposed sequestration. In it, he noted,

“	I chose not to jump into the [news] media frenzy and defend myself, though I was begged to be on every single TV show in existence. I didn't want to contribute to these fame-seeking journalists and opportunists looking to fill their churches or to get elected because of their self-righteous finger-pointing. They want to blame entertainment? Isn't religion the first real entertainment? People dress up in costumes, sing songs and dedicate themselves to eternal fandom...I'd like [the] media commentators to ask themselves, because their coverage of the event was some of the most gruesome entertainment any of us have seen.	”
—Marilyn Manson Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?

Recording and production

Manson had begun writing material for the record as early as 1995, prior to the release of Antichrist Superstar in 1996. It would finally be worked into shape in his aforementioned former home during his confinement, which is the same house where the Rolling Stones were rumoured to have written Let It Bleed and which Manson has noted for its connection with the Altamont Free Concert tragedy. Following the conclusion of his three month hiatus, the band embarked on a year of production and recording. During this stage, the band retained their low profile and Manson stated that their official web site "will be my only contact with humanity."

Template:Quote box Most of the songwriting effort was shared between Twiggy Ramirez, John 5 and Marilyn Manson. Keyboardist Madonna Wayne Gacy provided input on the songs "President Dead" and "Cruci-Fiction in Space" while Ginger Fish provided drum work for the entire album. The songwriting sessions with John 5 were some of the most focused on the record. According to Manson, "there was rarely an occasion where we didn't complete our ideas before bringing a song to the band. When we did present the material, everybody was really into what we were trying to create." In contrast, the songwriting sessions with Twiggy Ramirez were marked by free experimentation with absinthe. Of the songwriting process, Manson has stated "We must have written a hundred pieces of music and worked maybe 25 or 30 of them into songs." This was subsequently whittled down to the 19 tracks that made it into the final record.

Recording took place in several "undisclosed" locations, including Death Valley, under the working title "In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death". Mix engineer Dave Sardy was drafted in to co-produce the album with Manson. Bon Harris, of seminal EBM group, Nitzer Ebb was also brought in to supply programming and pre-production editing. In a brief pre-release interview with the singer in its July 20, 2000 issue, Rolling Stone magazine pointed out that recording took place in a Hollywood Hills mansion that once belonged to the escape artist Harry Houdini "because it's got big rooms to record drums in, which I couldn't really do at home." Manson also noted that the record will sound like "what a fan of Marilyn Manson wants."

A written address was posted by Marilyn Manson on the group's website on December 16, 1999 which announced that the album is now progressing under the working title "In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death" and will now be represented by the alchemical symbol for Mercury. Manson then took a short break from the recording sessions to deliver a 20 minute lecture, via satellite, at the DisinfoCon 2000 on February 23, 2000. Six days later, the album was officially titled "Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death)". By April 12, 2000, the band had reached the final stages of recording and Manson posted "a silent film documenting our environment for your viewing."

Book and film

See also Holy Wood (novel) for more details

Template:Quote box Manson's ambitions for the project initially included an original screenplay of the same name which would further explore the album's backstory. In July 1999, Manson had reportedly entered negotiations with New Line Cinema to produce and distribute the film and corresponding soundtrack. At the 1999 MTV Europe Music Awards in Dublin, Ireland, on November 11, where the band was slated to perform, Manson revealed to MTV News' John Norris the title of his then-unrevealed film project and his hopes for it "[to] go into production sometime in the next year." Manson also met with Chilean avant-garde filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky to discuss the possibility of working on the film. However, no final decision was made. By February 29, 2000, the deal had fallen through due to Manson's reservations that New Line Cinema was taking the film in a direction would not have "retained his artistic vision."

After abandoning his attempt to bring Holy Wood to the big screen, Manson shifted medium for the project and announced plans to put out two books to accompany the then-forthcoming album instead. The first was a "graphic and phantasmagoric" novelized adaptation of the script intended to be released shortly after the record. It was then to be followed by a coffee table book of images created for the "Holy Wood" project.

In an interview with Manson in December 2000, Chuck Palahniuk briefly mentions the Holy Wood novel and compliments its style, adding it is due for release "next spring". Neither book has yet been released, allegedly due to a publishing dispute. Template:-

Concept

for a complete overview of the Trilogy see Triptych.

Template:Quote box The album's plot is a thinly-veiled satire of modern America, metaphorically substituted in the record as place called Holy Wood. The central character is the ill-fated protagonist "Adam Kadmon", an idealized abstract figure borrowed from the Kabbalah in which he is described as the "Primal Man" or, in the similar Sufic and Alevi philosophy, "Perfect or Complete Man" — the very archetype for humanity. Disillusionment takes over the protagonist, however, as he watches humanity consumed by Holy Wood's 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 the 'Dead Rock Star' martyr/celebrity phenomenon in American celebrity culture and of Jesus Christ's own role as its very blueprint, this religion is called "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.

Marilyn Manson further explained to Rolling Stone that the storyline of Holy Wood is semi-autobiographical and that "This story can be interpreted on a number of levels, but one of the simplest ways, is about a boy who wants to become part of the world that he doesn't feel adequate for, and the bitterness and rage becomes a revolution inside him, and what happens is that the revolution becomes just another product. When he realizes it's too late, his only choice is to destroy the thing he has created, which is himself."

Themes

Template:Quote box America's fear of its own children and the Littleton tragedy are directly addressed in the album by taking a critical look on American society's common obsession with firearms and media martyrdom. In particular, taking aim at what Manson saw as their root cause — guns, conservatism and religion — referred to in the record as the three core ideals of conservative Christian America, "Guns, God and Government". Parents and the news media were also castigated for the more harmful roles they play in the glorification and acceptance of wholesale violence in "mainstream" culture in contrast to music, movies, books or video games.

To examine America's cultural fascination with guns, death and fame and the role all Americans played in the Columbine tragedy, the record makes numerous references to events and figures in pop culture history. With an eye toward their implications and ramifications, the vast number of these allegories primarily draw from the impact of the tumultuous and culturally defining Cold War period of 1960s America. A substantial amount of the record is devoted to a cultural analysis of Abraham Zapruder's film of the JFK Assassination (especially Frame 313) during the "Winter of our Discontent", on which Manson has commented, "To me, that's the only thing that's happened in modern times to equal the crucifixion of Christ" This is sharply contrasted with the death of author and intellectual Aldous Huxley on the same day — which was buried in newspapers the following morning because America's obsession with celebrity ensured JFK's assassination top priority in the headlines. It is subsequently deplored with a quip often attributed to Joseph Stalin, "One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is just a statistic". Manson has further sarcastically described the Zapruder film in an op-ed piece for Rolling Stone as "[a] good clip of mankind’s generosity to share his violence with the world in such a cinematic way."

Template:Quote box Manson also made a point of drawing parallels with The Beatles' White Album and the Charles Manson murders as particularly relevant to the album due to the issue of anti-mimesis (or life imitating art), brought up in the wake of Columbine since the White Album was thought to have played a key role in the Tate/LaBianca murder case when news media reported that Charles Manson took inspiration from his misreading of the record, resulting in his infamous Helter Skelter manifesto. Marilyn Manson observed that the Beatles song of the same name "was the first piece of music to be blamed and associated with violence". He also notes that both him and it have ironically been used as a knee-jerk reactionary scapegoat by a traumatized American public who have misinterpreted them to be promoting the very thing they are deploring. Most critically, however, the record puts a spotlight on the universal phenomenon of the press 'canonizing' people into media martyrdom in TV or print by turning their death into vulturistic overexposed spectacle. He cites, as examples, icons of American assassination such as John Lennon, John F. Kennedy and Jesus Christ who have attained cult-of-personality celebrity-worship as a result. 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 August 28, 2001 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

Composition

Template:Quote box During pre-release interviews, Manson stated that Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) was intended to be the "industrial 'White Album' ...in the sense that it's very experimental. I play a lot of keyboards, we switched things around, wrote in the desert ...it's experimental and when I think of experimental I think of 'The White Album'." The sonic qualities of the record was "arrogant in an art-rock sense" yet still came out "a lot heavier than anything that anyone would imagine. It's definitely the heaviest record we've ever made. It needs to be to complete the trilogy." Manson also noted that the album was their most collaborative effort to date, with each member contributing compositional input at some point in the songwriting process, resulting in "the first time that Marilyn Manson sounds like a band."

Template:Quote box Rolling Stone noted that "on such songs as 'Target Audience', 'Disposable Teens' and 'Cruci-Fiction in Space', [the band] dismantles the slick, glam-tinged sound of [Mechanical] Animals in favor of the more brutal industrial-goth grind of his first album." The lyrical concept for "The Love Song" stemmed from the idea that "[t]he love song is one of the most common titles in music, and I wanted to make a metaphor about guns, and I was suggesting with the lyrics that the father is the hand, the mother is the gun, and the children are the bullets. Where you shoot them is your responsibility as parents." The bouncing guitar riff and teutonic staccato of the first single, "Disposable Teens", has its roots in former glam rocker and convicted pedophile Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll, Pt.2".

The lyrical and musical influence of The Beatles is also present throughout. In the song "Lamb of God", Manson paraphrases the chorus of "Across the Universe". He later notes that even though Lennon sang that "nothing's going to change my world", "[Lennon's killer] Mark David Chapman came along and proved him very wrong. That was always something, growing up, that was very sad and tragic to me — a song that I always identified with." John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" was also covered during the recording sessions.

Release

Template:Quote box Early in the year, Manson said that Holy Wood would be ready for release in the "Fall of 2000". By August 2, the singer had announced on the group's website that the album is scheduled for release on October 24 on Nothing/Interscope Records. An early draft of the tracklisting was also published, listed in no particular order. Manson also stated that starting in the following week, weekly previews of the new album, featuring either new songs or artwork, will begin appearing on the site in order for fans to be able to "see it and hear it here first before someone gets it inappropriately and without our permission" and adding, "We'd like [the site] to be a place where the true fans can get what they're looking for rather than having to find it through unapproved means." On August 25, 2000, Manson released the complete track listing for the new album.

On September 18, 2000, Manson clarified, in a nine-minute video message posted on the band's website, that the album's release has been moved to a finalized date of November 14, 2000. He also confirmed that the album's first single will be "Disposable Teens". In the UK, the album was released on November 13, 2000.

Cover and packaging

The cover art, which portrayed Manson as a crucified Christ with a torn off jaw as a criticism on both censorship and America's obsession with media martyrs. Manson explained the choice for the cover further, "Throughout the years I wanted to disbelieve [Jesus's] story, but I thought on this record it would be more interesting to open my mind and believe it on my own terms. He was the first celebrity, the first rock star."

It generated controversy upon release and had to be offered with a cardboard sleeve featuring an alternative cover due to refusal by some retailers to stock the album with the original artwork. Manson described the move as "censorship" and stated that "the irony is that my point of the photo on the album was to show people that the crucifixion of Christ is, in deed, a violent image. My jaw is missing as a symbol of this very kind of censorship. This doesn't piss me off as much as it pleases me, because those offended by my album cover have successfully proven my point." For this reason, Gigwise ranked the cover 16th out of their list of The 50 Most Controversial Album Covers Of All Time!.

Similar to Antichrist Superstar, Holy Wood utilizes a compositional device called the song cycle structure which divides the record into the four acts, or movements — A: In the Shadow, D: The Androgyne, A: Of Red Earth and M: The Fallen — to form the framework and outline of Kadmon's story. The album also uses the symbol for the planet Mercury, which Manson notes, "is most commonly used in alchemy." Expanding on its relationship with the album's concept, he states, "It represents both the androgyne and the prima materia, which has been associated with Adam, the first man. And all of these things are major influences into the writing of the new album."

Formats

Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) was released in three physical formats. The standard jewel case CD release contained a single Enhanced CD, a gatefold booklet and a card stock outer slipcase. The limited UK edition CD featured a bonus track acoustic version of "The Nobodies" while the limited Japanese edition CD contained both the UK bonus track and a live rendition of the song "Mechanical Animals" as bonus material. Universal Music Japan released an Original Recording Remastered version of the album, on December 3, 2008, in Super High Material CD (SHM-CD) and a limited edition 10th anniversary commemorative reissue in 2010. The LP vinyl release was pressed on two black discs contained in a gatefold paperboard slipcase. The Compact Cassette release contained a single cassette tape, a gatefold booklet and a card stock outer slipcase.

A digital version has been available from Amazon.com in MP3 format since November 14, 2000.

Promotion

A UK promotional poster for Holy Wood.

Promotion for the then-nascent album was largely undertaken through the band's website. Since stating that it "will be my only contact with humanity", Marilyn Manson employed regular updates to generate interest among fans.

Promotion began as early as June 9, 1999, when Manson posted that he has been busy writing early composition for a new record in tandem with an original screenplay. On December 16, 1999, Manson posted a four-minute video clip, accompanied by a written address, which elaborated on the new album's themes and featured excerpts of the band in a studio performing two new songs. The first cut was a rock song that would later become the single "Disposable Teens" while second cut was a rough demo cover of the ballad "Little Child" (otherwise known as "Mommy Dear"), originally sung by Constance Towers in the 1964 Samuel Fuller neo-noir film The Naked Kiss. Manson also described the nascent album as "the most violent yet beautiful creation we have accomplished. This is a soundtrack for a world that is being sold to kids and then being destroyed by them. But maybe that's exactly what it deserves." An acoustic version of the song "Sick City", from Charles Manson's 1970 album Lie: The Love and Terror Cult, was later posted by Manson as "an impromptu Valentine's Day gift to fans" on February 14, 2000. The song was not intended to be included in either the upcoming album or the Holy Wood feature film.

On April 12, 2000, Marilyn Manson announced on the site, "I am writing to you from within the studio where we are completing the final stages of our recordings" and posting a downloadable silent movie that documented the album's recording process. This was followed on August 09, 2000 with a posting of the cover of the Holy Wood novel and a soundclip of "The Love Song" the next day. On August 25, 2000, Manson released three new tracks, "Burning Flag", "Cruci-Fiction In Space" and "The Love Song" for digital download on their website. Manson then traveled to the UK to perform "Disposable Teens" on the October 12, 2000 episode of BBC One's Top of the Pops. Towards the end of the month, on October 27, 2000, the band launched the worldwide Guns, God and Government Tour, 17 days ahead of the album's launch. Video footage and photographs from the inaugural show at the Minneapolis Orpheum Theatre and Milwaukee Eagles Ballroom were posted on the band's website on November 2, 2000, showing them perform "Disposable Teens" and "The Fight Song".

On the evening of November 14, 2000, Marilyn Manson, Twiggy Ramirez and John 5 celebrated the album's release, earlier in the day, by taking a short break from the tour to play a brief invitation-only acoustic set at the Saci nightclub in New York City. Tickets for the event were given away through radio contests, via the band's website or by being among the first 100 to buy the album at the Tower Records store in New York's Broadway avenue. The set comprised of four songs including a cover of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" and a cover of Johnny Mandel's theme song for the TV series M*A*S*H, "Suicide Is Painless". Manson noted of the latter song that "[it] is far more depressing than anything I could have ever written." The following day, Manson appeared on MTV's Total Request Live (TRL) in New York's Times Square for a segment titled Mothers Against Marilyn Manson (MAMM). The band later performed "Disposable Teens" at MTV's New Year's Eve celebration (along with a cover of Cheap Trick's "Surrender") and again on January 8, 2001 at the 2001 American Music Awards.

From November 1 to November 13, 2000, the UK division of Nothing/Interscope Records held a contest to promote both the album and the launch of the UK version of the band's official website. The contest invited fans to log on the site daily to pick up a series of coded clues leading to a message linked to the album. Fans who solved the riddle received an exclusive Manson download and entered into a draw to win a week-long trip for two to meet the frontman in Hollywood, California.

Singles

Template:Quote box Three singles were released from the album. The first single, "Disposable Teens", was released in two standalone physical formats. The first, titled "Disposable Teens Pt.1", was released on November 6, 2000 in the UK. It features Manson's cover of "Working Class Hero". The second, titled "Disposable Teens Pt.2", followed on November 14, 2000 and features a cover of The Doors' "Five to One". "Disposable Teens Pt.2" was also released as a 12" picture disc vinyl LP. The music video was directed by Samuel Bayer and premiered on MTV's Total Request Live on October 25, 2000 (3:30-4:30pm EST).

The second single, "The Fight Song", was released in two standalone physical formats. The first, titled "The Fight Song Pt.1", was released on January 29, 2001 in the US and on February 19, 2001 in the UK. "The Fight Song Pt.1" was also released as a 12" picture disc vinyl LP on February 19, 2001 in the UK. Both feature a remix by Joey Jordison of the heavy metal band Slipknot. The second, titled "The Fight Song Pt.2", was released on February 02, 2001 in the US and on March 6, 2001 in the UK. The music video was directed by W.I.Z. and 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. Manson vehemently denied this and stated to MTV News at the American Music Awards on January 8, 2001, "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."

As early as April 30, 2001, there were already speculation that the "The Nobodies" would be chosen as the album's third single. The single was released in physical format on October 6, 2001 in the US. A remixed version of the song would later appear in the 2001 Johnny Depp film From Hell.

Reception

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	Template:Rating 4.5
Entertainment Weekly	B
Robert Christgau
Rolling Stone	Template:Rating 3.5
NME	(favorable)
Drowned in Sound	10/10

The album received generally favorable reviews. It earned a collective score of 72% out of 100 from Metacritic. Barry Walters from Rolling Stone commented that "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.... On Holy Wood, Manson is as ambitious, personal and heavy as he's ever been, but the album is not, as he has proclaimed, the band's White Album. The music of these L.A. scenesters, though still evolving, can't hope to match the Beatles' level of eclectic experimentation or melodicism." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic commented that "It's easy to see this as the definitive Marilyn Manson album, since it's tuneful and abrasive. Then again, much of its charm lies in Manson trying so hard, perfecting details in the concept, lyrics, themes, production, sequencing, the tarot card parodies in the liner notes, the self-theft, the self-consciously blasphemous cover art. There's so much effort, Holy Wood winds up a stronger and more consistent album than any of his other work. If there's any problem, it's that Manson's shock rock seems a little quaint in 2000...It's to Warner's credit as, yes, an artist that Holy Wood works anyway." Erlewine further complimented the band in "figur[ing] out [how] to meld the hooks and subtle sonic shading of Mechanical Animals with the ugly, neo-industrial metallicisms of Antichrist [Superstar]." PopMatters commented: "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'." Drowned in Sound, which assigns a normalized rating out of 10, gave the album a score of 10 while noting, "There're a number of criticisms that could come Marilyn Manson's way: too much more of the same, too much philosophical posing, too much sloganeering. Regardless, all this needs to attain perfection is a few minutes shaved off of the overall running time...[and] lyrically it actually says something intelligent for once and musically it has a lot more variation and scope than the Limp Bizkits of the world." Katherine Turman of Amazon commented "The impact of Marilyn Manson's subversive musical agenda has waned, and what's left is a provocative, talented artist writing affecting, powerful, and yes, controversial songs...Rife with references to the Beatles and the Kennedys, and full of pop-culture barbs, Holy Wood is a musically diverse and powerful statement...Like Marilyn Manson the man, Holy Wood is intelligent, dynamic, and multifaceted, with myriad charms that are evident to the tuned-in listener."

According to LA Weekly, "Yeah, it's a party. And it's great rock music. Those who claim Manson "went back to Goth" and reclaimed Antichrist's noise after Mechanical proved too subtle for kids are only partly right. Okay, he virtually cloned his hit "The Beautiful People" in "Disposable Teens." And there are several familiar yell-and-stomp numbers on Holy Wood. But even those almost all contain a double-take chord change or a textural overdose or a mind-blowing bridge, and they'll be terroristic in concert. More important, there are a bunch of plain brilliant tracks where Manson anoints bits of rock history into his own church." Billboard Magazine said, "Manson proves again that he's one of the most skilled lyricists in rock today." DOTMusic commented "Where 'Holy Wood' does come together and threaten to transcend its at times cliched parts is in its clarity of vision. This is a lean, visceral album that is as tripwire lithe as its maker. Manson's also remembered to write some great pop-goth tunes this time out, nowhere more so than with first single 'Disposable Teens'." Revolver magazine editor Christopher Scapelliti commented "For all Holy Wood's well-tempered melodies and drunken pandemonium, what comes across loudest on the album is not the music but the sense of injury expressed in Manson's lyrics. Like Plastic Ono Band, John Lennon's bare-boned solo debut, Holy Wood screams with a primal fury that's evident even in its quietest moments." Sonicnet commented "Nonetheless, while more ambitious than almost all of today's metal-flaked rock competition, the 19-track Holy Wood is not without its problems. On numbers such as "President Dead" and "Cruci-Fiction in Space," the band seems to be just rehashing old terrain. And, while The Wall may be a worthy role model, Manson and company don't quite have Pink Floyd's lyrical or musical range, adding to the rote feeling that troubles some of this overlong (60+ minutes) disc." Joshua Klein of The A.V. Club opined "[This] sort of agitprop is thoroughly predictable, and the only thing that could prove shocking about Manson's antics would be if the singer actually evinced any power over his followers. Here, he seems entranced by his own power, which may be why his dark worldview sounds baseless even as he offers sharp hooks others would kill for."

Commercial performance

Since early critical appraisal of Holy Wood was far less favorable than the band's previous effort, Mechanical Animals, many critics and retailers questioned if Manson still carried appeal in the music scene of the early 2000's. Best Buy's sales projections in 2000 for the record estimated its first week sales would be around 150,000 units nationally, significantly less than the 223,000 units sold by Mechanical Animals in its first week. In the US, the album debuted and peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 117,000, initially making it a commercial disappointment. It took the album three years to attain a gold certification from the RIAA in March 2003 for shipments of over 500,000 units. In the UK, the album peaked at No. 23. As of 2010, the album has sold over 9 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful in Marilyn Manson's career.

Accolades

In 2001, UK music magazine Kerrang! named Holy Wood the year's "Best Album" at their annual Kerrang! Awards. During the ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, Manson sardonically remarked that "[there is] nothing like a good school shooting to inspire a record" as he collected the award.

Kerrang! ranks Holy Wood 9th in their 2000 list of Albums of the Year. British magazine NME ranks the album 34th in their critic's picks for the 50 best albums of 2000 in their Decade In Music series, calling it "A series of heroic rallying cries for the disenfranchised, while also baiting the American Far Right for all its worth." The record ranked 30th in the Critics Top 50 and 9th in the Popular Poll of German magazine Musik Express/Sounds in their 2000 Albums of the Year. The French edition of the British magazine Rock Sound ranked Holy wood 15th in the 'Le choix de la rédaction' (Editor's choice) and 5th in 'Le choix des lecteurs' (Reader's choice) of their 2000 Choix des critiques (Critic's choice) Albums of the Year. British magazine Record Collector also listed the album among their Best of 2000 list.

Legacy

On their November 10, 2010 issue, Kerrang! magazine published a 10th anniversary commemorative piece on the album titled Screaming For Vengeance in which they called the album "Manson's finest hour...A decade on, there has still not been as eloquent and savage a musical attack on the [news] media and mainstream culture as Manson achieved with Holy Wood...[It is] still scathingly relevant today." The article goes on to say, "...perhaps that's where Holy Wood achieved its greatest success. In deflecting the attention that was targeted at him back onto the [news] media, they reacted exactly as he knew they would: by blustering and further exposing their own inadequacies... The shame of it all, though, is that so little has changed. That the album is still so relevant today suggests it failed in its task of changing attitudes. That it exists at all, though, is a credit to a man who refused to sit and take it, but instead come out swinging."

Guns, God and Government Tour

Main article: Guns, God and Government

To support the release of Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death), Marilyn Manson staged a worldwide stadium tour 17 days ahead of the album's launch, titled the Guns, God and Government Tour. Beginning on October 27, 2000 and lasting until September 2, 2001, the tour included six legs spanning Eurasia, Japan and North America with a total of 107 completed shows out of 109 planned. Typical of the band, the concerts were extremely theatrical. Manson has several costume changes throughout the sets ranging from a Bishop's dalmatic and mitre (often confused for Papal regalia), an elaborate Roman legionary-style Imperial galea, an Allgemeine SS-style police cap, his signature black leather corset, g-string and garter stocking ensemble, a black-and-white fur coat and a giant rising conical skirt that lifts the singer 12 meters (40 feet) into the air.

The Ozzfest leg of the tour is particularly notable since it marked Marilyn Manson's first performance in Denver, Colorado (on June 22, 2001 at the Mile High Stadium) since the Columbine tragedy in nearby Littleton, Colorado. After initially pulling out due to scheduling conflicts, the band altered their plans in order to accommodate the Denver date. Predictably, the band met heavy resistance from conservative groups and the performer received numerous death threats and calls to skip the date. A group of church leaders and families related to Columbine formed an organization specifically to oppose their show called 'Citizens for Peace and Respect', which drew the support of Colorado Governor Bill Owens (R-Colo) and Representative Tom Tancredo (R-Colo). On their website, they asserted that the band "promotes hate, violence, death, suicide, drug use, and the attitudes and actions of the Columbine killers". In response, Manson issued a statement, saying,

“	I am truly amazed that after all this time, religious groups still need to attack entertainment and use these tragedies as a pitiful excuse for their own self-serving publicity. In response to their protests, 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 also examine the virtues of wonderful 'Christian' stories of disease, murder, adultery, suicide and child sacrifice. Now that seems like 'entertainment' to me.	”

The Denver show also provided the backdrop for Manson's landmark interview on America's climate of fear and culture of gun violence in Michael Moore's 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine. When Moore asked what he would have said to the students at Columbine, he replied, "I wouldn't say a single word. I would listen to what they have to say and that's what no one did."

Two concert films depicting the worldwide tour were recorded. The Guns, God and Government DVD was released on October 29, 2002 by Eagle Rock Entertainment and features live concert footage culled from performances in Los Angeles, Europe, Russia and Japan. "The Beautiful People", "The Nobodies" and "Lunchbox" are on the release. It also includes a 30-minute behind-the-scenes featurette titled The Death Parade with guest appearances from Ozzy Osbourne and Eminem.

Seven years later it was followed by Guns, God and Government - Live in L.A. Released in Blu-ray format by Eagle Rock Entertainment division Eagle Records on November 17, 2009, it depicts the sixteen song set of the Los Angeles performance in its entirety. "Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes", "Antichrist Superstar" and "The Dope Show" are on the release.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Manson.

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

Notes

• The disc contains a data track which leads to a video no longer hosted by Interscope's website. This video was later included as a secret track on the companion DVD of Lest We Forget.

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 outro-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

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  Front cover
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  Censored Album Cover
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  Back cover
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  Disc
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  Tray Insert
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  Booklet 1
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  Booklet 2
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  Booklet 3
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  Booklet 4
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  Booklet 5
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  Booklet 6
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  Booklet 7
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Charts, certifications and procession

Album

Charts (2000)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	8
Austria (Ö3)	6
Belgium (Flanders) (Ultratop 50)	34
Belgium (Wallonia) (Ultratop)	29
Canada (CANOE)	13
Germany (Media Control)	11
Finland (Mitä Hitti)	25
France (SNEP)	12
Ireland (IRMA)	21
Italy (FIMI)	7
Netherlands (MegaCharts)	53
Norway (VG-Lista)	12
New Zealand (RIANZ)	18
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)	7
Switzerland (Hitparade)	20
United Kingdom (OCC)	23
United States (Billboard 200)	13
Top Internet Albums	10

Certifications

Region	Provider	Certification	Shipment	Actual Sales
Canada	CRIA	Gold	50,000+	—
Switzerland	IFPI	Gold	20,000+	—
United States	RIAA	Gold	500,000+	—

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2000	"Disposable Teens"	Australia (ARIA)	24
		France (SNEP)	67
		Italy (FIMI)	7
		Mainstream Rock Tracks	22
		Modern Rock Tracks	24
		Netherlands (MegaCharts)	99
		Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)	52
		Switzerland (Hitparade)	73
		United Kingdom (OCC)	12
2001	"The Fight Song"	Austria (Ö3)	59
		Finland (Mitä Hitti)	19
		United Kingdom (OCC)	24
	"The Nobodies"	Austria (Ö3)	56
		France (SNEP)	94
		Italy (FIMI)	17
		Spain (PROMUSICAE)	8
		Switzerland (Hitparade)	96
		United Kingdom (OCC)	34

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

• 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

Production

• Bon Harris of Nitzer Ebb — synthesizers, programming, pre-production editing, organic drum programming, bass, keyboard, "Insect hi-hat", sleigh bells, (destructive) manipulation, electronics, piano
• Paulie 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

See also

• Marilyn Manson: Mercury Web Address
• 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