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''The Golden Age of Grotesque'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on May 13, 2003, by Nothing and Interscope Records, and was their first album to feature former KMFDM member Tim Sköld, who joined after longtime bassist Twiggy Ramirez amicably left the group over creative differences. It was also their final studio album to feature keyboardist Madonna Wayne Gacy and guitarist John 5, who would both acrimoniously quit before the release of the band's next studio album.

The record was produced by Marilyn Manson and Sköld, with co-production from Ben Grosse. Musically, it is less metallic than the band's earlier work, instead being more electronic and beat-driven. This was done to avoid creating music similar to hip-hop influenced forms of nu metal, a then-predominant genre that the vocalist considered cliché. Despite this, the album's sound has been compared to the likes of several nu metal bands, notably Slipknot and Korn. Manson collaborated with artist Gottfried Helnwein to create several projects associated with the album, including ''Doppelherz'', a 25-minute surrealist short film which was released on limited edition units of the record as a bonus DVD. ''The Golden Age of Grotesque'' was also the title of the Manson's first art exhibition.

The album's lyrical content is relatively straightforward, and was inspired by the swing, burlesque, cabaret and vaudeville movements of Germany's Weimar Republic-era, specifically 1920s Berlin. In an extended metaphor, Manson compares his own work to the '' Entartete Kunst'' banned by the Nazi regime as he attempts to examine the mindset of lunatics and children during times of crisis. Several songs incorporate elements commonly found in playground chants and nursery rhymes. " Mobscene" (stylized as "mOBSCENE") and " This Is the New Shit" were released as singles, and a controversial music video was released for "Saint" (stylized as "(s)AINT").

The record received mixed reviews from mainstream music critics: some praised its concept and production, while others criticized its lyrics and described the album as uneven. Despite this, it was a commercial success, selling over 400,000 copies in Europe on its first week to debut at number one on ''Billboard''s European Top 100 Albums. It also topped various national record charts, including Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the US ''Billboard'' 200. It was certified gold in many of these territories. "Mobscene" was nominated in the Best Metal Performance category at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards in 2004. The album was supported by the Grotesk Burlesk Tour.

Background and recording

After the band completed work on what became their triptych of albums (2000's '' Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)'', 1998's ''Mechanical Animals'' and 1996's '' Antichrist Superstar''), the band was free to begin a fresh project. In late 2001, the eponymous vocalist worked with composer Marco Beltrami and former KMFDM multi-instrumentalist Tim Sköld to create an original score for the 2002 film ''Resident Evil''. This was the second project on which Manson collaborated with Sköld, after the band's cover of " Tainted Love", which became an international hit when released as a single from the ''Not Another Teen Movie'' OST in 2001. The ''Resident Evil'' OST was released in March 2002, and included a remix of " The Fight Song" created by Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison. The soundtrack to ''Queen of the Damned'' was also released that month, which featured Manson performing lead vocals on the Jonathan Davis-composed track "Redeemer". On May 29, Sköld became an official band member when Twiggy Ramirez amicably left the group, citing creative differences.

The album was produced by Manson, Sköld, and Ben Grosse. It was recorded at Ocean Way Recording and the band's own Doppelherz Blood Treatment Facility in Los Angeles, as well as Grosse's The Mix Room in Burbank, California. Most of the songwriting effort was shared between Tim Sköld, John 5 and Manson, with the latter describing it as the most focused record in the band's discography. During the album's early stages of development, Manson indicated that both Jordison and Canadian musician Peaches had contributed to material, although neither artist appears on the album. Several songs on the record feature backing vocals by Andrew Baines of Tennessee, a 16-year-old fan who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. This collaboration had been facilitated by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with Manson saying that he "wanted to make Andrew a permanent part of history, sealed up in distortion and megabytes of plastic."

"Para-Noir" contains a distinctive guitar solo from John 5, who performed it in one take using an unfamiliar, out-of-tune guitar whilst blindfolded. "Ka-Boom Ka-Boom" was the final song composed for the record, and was written in response to criticism made by the head of the A&R division of Interscope Records, who said that the album "had no kaboom". In a 2008 interview with a now-defunct fansite, Manson claimed to have performed the majority of the keyboards and synthesizer on the album, and not the band's longtime keyboardist Madonna Wayne Gacy. According to Manson, Gacy displayed little interest in contributing creatively, and eventually detached himself from the rest of the group to such a degree that he refused to attend studio sessions when informed that recording was to begin in June 2002. As a result, Manson received musical composition credits for eleven of the fifteen tracks on the record, in addition to his usual lyrical credits.

Musically, the album is more electronic and beat-driven than preceding releases, with reviewers commenting that its sound is at times reminiscent of KMFDM. This has been attributed to Sköld, who was a member of that band immediately prior to his arrival in Marilyn Manson. It is also not as metallic as their earlier work, with Manson explaining to MTV that he wanted to create music which was dissimilar to the nu metal being played on radio at the time. He also noted the influence of early industrial rock acts such as Ministry, Big Black and Nitzer Ebb on the material. Early twentieth-century German composer Kurt Weill was also claimed as an influence, along with the lucid dreams Manson was having during the album's production, elaborating that he would "wake up and say, 'I want to write a song that sounds like a stampeding elephant' or 'I want to write a song that sounds like a burning piano'."

Themes and artwork

The vocalist would later describe the period surrounding ''The Golden Age of Grotesque'' as being one of his most creative. He was inspired by then-girlfriend, burlesque performance artist Dita Von Teese, into exploring the decadent swing, burlesque, cabaret and vaudeville movements of Germany's Weimar Republic-era, specifically 1920s Berlin. He explained to ''Kerrang!'' that the album's content was inspired by "the lengths that people n pre-Nazi Germany">Nazi_Germany.html" ;"title="n pre-Nazi Germany">n pre-Nazi Germanywent to in order to live their lives to the fullest and to make their entertainment as imaginative and extreme as possible." He also found inspiration in the flamboyance of Dandyism, along with the cultural movement">cultural and art movement">artistic movements