Promotion
After announcing that it would be his only mode of contact with the outside world, Manson regularly posted updates about the then-nascent album on the band's website to generate interest and anticipation among fans. Promotion began as early as June 9, 1999, with an update stating that he was writing early compositions for a new album in tandem with an original screenplay. On December 16, 1999, he posted a four-minute video clip, accompanied by a written address, which elaborated on the upcoming album's themes, and featured excerpts of the band performing two new songs. The first cut was a rock song that later became the single "Disposable Teens", while the second cut was a rough demo cover of the ballad "Little Child" (otherwise known as "Mommy Dear"). He described the album as "the most violent yet beautiful creation we have accomplished. This is a soundtrack for a world that is being sold to kids and then being destroyed by them. But maybe that's exactly what it deserves." An acoustic version of the song "Sick City", from Charles Manson's 1970 album Lie: The Love and Terror Cult, later appeared on February 14, 2000. The song was not intended to be included in either the upcoming album or the Holy Wood feature film.
On April 12, 2000, Manson wrote that they were completing the final stages of recording, and posted a downloadable silent movie that documented the process. This was followed on August 9, 2000, with a posting of the cover of the Holy Wood novel and a sound clip of "The Love Song" the next day. On August 25, 2000, he released three tracks, "Burning Flag", "Cruci-Fiction in Space", and "The Love Song", for digital download on their website. He traveled to the UK to perform "Disposable Teens" on the October 12, 2000, episode of BBC One's Top of the Pops. On October 27, 2000, the band launched the worldwide Guns, God and Government Tour. Video footage and photographs from the inaugural show at the Minneapolis Orpheum Theatre and Milwaukee Eagles Ballroom were posted on the band's website on November 2, 2000, which showed them performing "Disposable Teens" and "The Fight Song".
From November 1 to November 13, 2000, the UK division of Nothing/Interscope Records held a contest to promote the album and the launch of the UK version of the band's official website. The contest invited fans to log on the site daily to pick up a series of coded clues which led to a message linked to the album. Fans who solved the riddle received an exclusive download and were entered into a draw to win a week-long trip for two to meet the frontman in Hollywood, California.
In mid 2001 Universal Music Group received criticism for airing commercials which promoted the album on MTV's Total Request Live. Manson voiced suspicion that former Democratic vice presidential candidate Senator Joseph Lieberman had a part in its orchestration. At the time the Senator had just introduced a bill to the United States Congress called The Media Marketing Accountability Act, which sought to levy criminal penalties against entertainment industry distributors who market violent and sexually explicit media to minors. The proposed legislation stemmed from the publication of the Federal Trade Commission investigation he, along with senators Brownback and Hatch, had requested from then-US President Bill Clinton at the May 4, 1999, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing on entertainment industry marketing practices to minors.
Read more about this topic: Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
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