Jump to content

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

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by SmackBot (talk | contribs) at 16:37, 8 October 2006 (Album proj fixes/note/Fmt track listing (simple fixes only) &/or gen fixes using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Untitled

Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) is an album by Marilyn Manson.

Released on November 13, 2000, it was Manson's first album since the Columbine High School massacre of April 20, 1999, which he was made scapegoat by some elements of the media. The album is focused on America's celebrity culture, its obsession with guns and its fascination with death and martyrdom, and especially the fame - driven by the national media - which violent death can bring.

Consequently, it's filled with pop culture barbs and rife with references to icons like John F. Kennedy, John Lennon and other people that have gained "martyr" status in American culture because of their deaths. This heavy alluding is partly a result of the sentiment that the two kids who perpetrated the massacre were allegedly just out to get their 15 minutes of fame, and escape being "outcasts" and "loners", by perpetrating the largest school massacre in American history then turning the guns to themselves. Ironically, that was exactly what happened as the media turned the whole thing into a ratings parade. Apparently, to Manson, America uses tragic death as a form of entertainment for the masses.

For example, in the chorus to the song "Lamb of God", on the media's presentation of death:

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" seems to deal directly with the Columbine massacre:

We are the nobodies, wanna be somebodies.
When we're dead, they'll know just who we are.

also:

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:

And "The Love Song", A tirade that blasts the harmful values of conservative Middle America and what he believes are its 3 core preoccupations: Guns, God and the Government, metaphors the father as the arm, the mother as the gun, and the children as the bullet.

Holy Wood is a prequel 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 on Antichrist Superstar. The character Coma White also has a starring role in this album, albeit, this time she's now known as "Coma Black". The plotline of the album 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 famous. The revolution is a success, but becomes as fake and hollow as the original Holy Wood, leading to Adam's attempted suicide and the start of the Mechanical Animals storyline.

Though critically-acclaimed and more popular amongst newer fans, the album is Manson's worst-selling. After debuting at number 15 on the Billboard, it free-fell off the charts in the weeks that followed. It was also meant to be accompanied by a book and a movie of the same name which further delves into the concept album's backstory. While the book is known to be finished for years, the movie has yet to start production. Neither has been released to date.

Track listing

All songs by Marilyn 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

  2. "Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)" – 4:18
  4. "'President Dead'" – 3:13
  6. "In the Shadow of the Valley of Death" – 4:09
  8. "Cruci-Fiction in Space" – 4:56
  10. "A Place in the Dirt" – 3:37

A: Of Red Earth

  2. "The Nobodies" – 3:35
  4. "The Death Song" – 3:29
  6. "Lamb of God" – 4:39
  8. "Born Again" – 3:20
  10. "Burning Flag" – 3:21

M: The Fallen

  2. "Coma Black a) Eden Eye b) The Apple of Discord" – 5:58
  4. "Valentine's Day" – 3:31
  6. "The Fall of Adam" – 2:34
  8. "King Kill 33°" – 2:18
  10. "Count to Six and Die (The Vaccuum of Infinite Space Encompassing)" – 3:24
  12. "The Nobodies (Acoustic)" - Bonus track exclusive to certain regions
  14. "Mechanical Animals (Live)" - Bonus track exclusive to the Japanese edition

Credits

  • 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
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holy_Wood_(In_the_Shadow_of_the_Valley_of_Death)&oldid=80232984"