Shock rocker Marilyn Manson and the band that bears his--yes, his--name can make even the most avidly sociopathic rap and heavy-metal groups look meek.
The band's controversial new album, Antichrist Superstar, a takeoff on Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1971 stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar, is a scathing social critique dressed up as a morbid rock opera. It portrays the rise of a supernatural demagogue who seizes power and leads the world to destruction. The album's 16 songs, including Tourniquet (which is getting steady play on MTV), wallow in nightmarish, frequently X-rated scenarios of occultism, suicide, torture, greed and mindless celebrity worship. "I'm...