Holy Wood was a concept album released by Marilyn Manson in 2000 following the Columbine
High School massacre and serves as their rebuttal at the accusations leveled at them. Their frontman has described it as "a declaration of war".
The record make numerous allegories to pop culture history to show how everyone had a participating role in Columbine: From Abraham Zapruder to the JFK Assassination, from
the Beatles' White Album to the Charles Manson murders and from the Crucifixion to the
Dead Rock Star celebrity worship phenomenon, the band left no stone unturned to give america a righteous ass-kicking.
Notable themes:
1.Guns, God and Government - rightwing America's main obsession that, arguably, fucked Klebold and Harris up more than any 'rock' or 'metal' album.
2.Celebritarianism - a word coined by Manson to describe a devotion to celebrity and celebrity culture. In the album it is a
religion that canonizes
dead celebrities into saints in the same way the crucifixion canonized Jesus Christ into a superstar messiah and celebrity. In effect, the crucifixion is the root cause of shit like reality TV, Jersey Shore, TMZ and Harris and Klebold's desire to become famous by murdering
people.
Holy Wood was never a commercial success and received mixed reviews from
music journalists who said the band's artistic pretensions overshadowed the powerful lyrical indictment contained in it. Despite this, many
people view it as the band's finest hour.
Kerrang Magazine: ...There has still not been as eloquent and savage a musical attack on the media and mainstream culture as Manson achieved with Holy Wood (In the
Shadow of the Valley of Death).
Me:If you thought what Manson said about
Columbine in Michael Moore's documentary was incisive, you should see how Holy Wood throws his detractors hypocrisies
right back into their faces.
