Antichrist Superstar

Antichrist Superstar is Marilyn Manson's second full-length studio release. Antichrist Superstar, sometimes spelled Antichrist Svperstar, was released in 1996. The album raised awareness of the band, and led to numerous protests due to the band's perceived anti-Christian stance. It was produced by the band and Trent Reznor.

The album can be considered a concept album; it follows a three part storyline, which tells the story of a abused and apathetic person (no sex given, metaphorized as "The Worm") who is attracted to a self-abusive rock star, and a resulting transformation into a new, destructive character known as "The Disintegrator". Much of the album is deliberately vague, to allow listeners to draw their own conclusions. It has elaborate packaging, containing pictures of the band, a visual worm-to-angel metamorphosis, symbols related to Kabbalah, and medical diagrams.

There is severe division amongst Manson fans over whether his best album is either this, or Mechanical Animals. Typically, this division does seem to exist upon gender lines, with males generally preferring Antichrist Superstar and females preferring Mechanical Animals. This is not true in all cases, however. A third, smaller, group prefers the more recent Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) or The Golden Age of Grotesque albums.

Track listing

The album is broken up into three parts, called "cycles", (although all on a single CD).

Cycle I - The Heirophant

1. "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" (Manson/Berkowitz/Gacy/Ramirez)
2. "The Beautiful People" (Manson/Ramirez)
3. "Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World" (Manson/Ramirez)
4. "Tourniquet" (Manson/Berkowitz/Ramirez)

Cycle II - Inauguration of the Worm

1. "Little Horn" (Manson/Ramirez/Reznor)
2. "Cryptorchid" (Manson/Gacy)
3. "Deformography" (Manson/Ramirez/Reznor)
4. "Wormboy" (Manson/Berkowitz/Ramirez)
5. "Mister Superstar" (Manson/Ramirez)
6. "Angel With the Scabbed Wings" (Manson/Ramirez/Gacy)
7. "Kinderfeld" (Manson/Ramirez/Gacy)

Cycle III - Disintegrator Rising

1. "Antichrist Superstar" (Manson/Ramirez/Gacy)
2. "1996" (Manson/Ramirez)
3. "Minute Of Decay" (Manson)
4. "The Reflecting God" (Manson/Ramirez/Reznor)
5. "Man That You Fear" (Manson/Ramirez/Gacy/Berkowitz)

Personnel

• Marilyn Manson - All voices, Guitar ( tracks 3, 11, 14), Pan Flute
• Twiggy Ramirez - Lead and Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Bass
• Madonna Wayne Gacy - All keyboards, loops, and other original pieces of 16-bit audio information
• Ginger Fish - Live drums, Programming
• Zim Zum - Live Guitarist for Antichrist Superstar

• Trent Reznor - mellotron (6), guitar (7, 9), rhodes piano (16)
• Daisy Berkowitz - guitar (4, 9, 12)
• Sean Beavan - guitar (2)
• Danny Lohner - guitar (10, 15)
• Chris Vrenna - drums (11)