Marilyn Manson’s ‘Antichrist Superstar’ turns 30 on 8 October
Marilyn Manson’s “Antichrist Superstar” turns 30 on 8 October. The 1996 Nothing/Interscope album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200.
Marilyn Manson’s second studio album, “Antichrist Superstar,” turns 30 this year. The band released the record on 8 October 1996 through Nothing and Interscope Records. A rock opera and concept album, it followed 1994’s “Portrait of an American Family” and the 1995 EP “Smells Like Children,” and was recorded over roughly eight months at Nothing Studios in New Orleans.
The album was produced by Marilyn Manson together with Trent Reznor, Dave Ogilvie and Sean Beavan, with Ogilvie departing partway through the sessions and Beavan brought in to finish the record with the band. Guitarist Daisy Berkowitz left the group during recording and was replaced by Zim Zum shortly after the album’s completion, with bassist Twiggy Ramirez performing the majority of the guitar parts. The 16-track CD, split into three sections titled “The Heirophant,” “Inauguration of the Worm” and “Disintegrator Rising,” runs “Irresponsible Hate Anthem,” “The Beautiful People,” “Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World,” “Tourniquet,” “Little Horn,” “Cryptorchid,” “Deformography,” “Wormboy,” “Mister Superstar,” “Angel with the Scabbed Wings,” “Kinderfeld,” “Antichrist Superstar,” “1996,” “Minute of Decay,” “The Reflecting God” and “Man That You Fear,” followed by a hidden track, “Empty Sounds of Hate.” Album artwork was designed by P. R. Brown using photography by Dean Karr.
“Antichrist Superstar” debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and has sold close to two million copies in the United States. Lead single “The Beautiful People” preceded the album on 22 September 1996 and reached number 26 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, followed by second single “Tourniquet” on 8 September 1997, which peaked at number 28 in the UK. The album is the first installment of a trilogy the band completed with “Mechanical Animals” (1998) and “Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)” (2000), and was supported by the year-long Dead to the World Tour.
About Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson formed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1989, when singer Brian Warner – who took the stage name Marilyn Manson – paired with guitarist Scott Putesky, known as Daisy Berkowitz. Performing initially as Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids, the group built a South Florida following through theatrical live shows, with a lineup that came to include bassist Brad Stewart (Gidget Gein), keyboardist Stephen Bier (Madonna Wayne Gacy) and drummer Fred Streithorst (Sara Lee Lucas). In 1993, Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor signed the band as the first act on his Nothing Records label and produced their debut album, “Portrait of an American Family,” released on 19 July 1994. The “Smells Like Children” EP followed in 1995, featuring a cover of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”; Jeordie White, performing as Twiggy Ramirez, had by then replaced Gein on bass.
“Antichrist Superstar” followed on 8 October 1996, co-produced by Reznor, Marilyn Manson, Dave Ogilvie and Sean Beavan, and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 behind lead single “The Beautiful People.” The album’s success coincided with the departure of founding guitarist Daisy Berkowitz and the arrival of Zim Zum, and the band supported the record with the Dead to the World Tour. The group’s next album, “Mechanical Animals,” arrived on 15 September 1998, followed by “Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)” in 2000, closing out the self-described triptych that “Antichrist Superstar” opened. Thirty years after its release, the album remains the first chapter of that trilogy.
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