~Soun Ca e Pa pe ; “May we begin the millen- Marilyn Manson nium wat oF chick confu- Holy Wood sion, violence and unease (im the shadow of the as we have ended it with.” valey of death) This was the message Manson posted on the inter- net on January 1st as his New Years message. As one of the most contro- = versial artists promoted by a major label, Manson has been continuously the whip- ping boy of overtly conserva- tive attack. 1997 saw former Secretary of State and drug czar William Bennett hold a press conference to “berate the music industry about ‘objectionable’ CD’s. At the time, it was _ Antichrist Superstar. Senator Joseph Lieberman (now democratic VP candidate) says of Marilyn Manson that his is “perhaps the sickest group and is taking demo tapes for the 2000 Battle of the Bands. office at UNBC. The deadline for entries is December 8, 2000. Everyone is welcome to apply! The University of Northern British Columbia The Northern Undergraduate Student Society If you are interested in trying out for this annual event submit a demo tape to either The Max 94.3, the Tuning Point, or the NUGSS ever promoted by a main- stream record company.” Lets face it though Maryiln Manson is incredibly popular. He hasn’t actually released a CD which hasn’t gone plat- inum almost instantly. The reason is that whatever one might think of Manson’s point of view, along with Twiggy Ramirez (bass), Madonna Wayne Gacy (keyboards), Ginger Fish (drums), and John 5 ( guitar), his music is incredibly produced and care- fully engineered to a level of painstaking quality. Holy Wood is generally Mansons reaction to being blamed for violence. Throughout the 19 track com- pilation, he addresses the subject head on. This album manages to capture the over- whelming fear, anger and ' | uncertanity which is present in society today. Using tradi- tional songwriting mangled into “riot music and sickly sweet death parades of self- loathing,” Manson explicitly begins the first part of a trilo- gy which began in 1995. His inspiration came from the novel with the same name as this CD. Antichrist Superstar created an ultimate destoyer and a_e tragic ending. Mechanical Animals worked backward to the middle with “the sardonic character of Omega” and now the story begins an earlier chapter with Holy Wood. The story? It’s about a naive boy who wishes to be part of a “perfect” world that doesn’t want him. When he finally finds acceptance in Holy Wood, the “object” which Phone: Brought to you by Over The Edge and SoundScape welcomes your opions and contributions. he has become consumed by is the very thing that shows exactly what that “perfect” world is; it’s a place where the rich get high on violence, chil- dren are disposable enter- tainment and the “imperfect poor are cast out to a Proletariat ghetto known as Death Valley. His idealism becomes the seed of a revo- lution, however, not only does he fail to overthrow Holy Wood in an attempt to “save” it, his revolution simply becomes “another hollow product to be sold to the doped-out masses.” Deep. -Kevin Milos Can you name one of Marylin Mansons other CD’s? If you have a contribution to make to SoundScape, please contact Over The Edge at over-the-edge @unbc.ca or (250) 960-5633