It was the year that Marilyn Manson had his revenge on the media establishment that had made him a scapegoat for the Columbine massacre.

When Manson spoke by satellite at Disinfo.con 2000 (February 19, 2000), he mentioned Brian Deneke, exposing the media's double-standards about prosecuting incidents of high-school violence and hate crimes.

More "reversals of fortune" were to come. There's plenty of evidence that "no-brainer" rock crit is alive and well. Maybe it's the 24/7 deadlines and the 150 word limits for reviews, but many critics can't even use a search-engine to discover the significance of "King Kill 33", or explain why Manson recorded the album in Harry Houdini's house, or divulge why Manson talked with Alejandro Jodorowsky and Kenneth Anger during the Holy Wood film project.

The MTV review of Holy Wood is an example: mention Pink Floyd and, obviously, The Wall. A better analogy would be meme-splicing the fury of "Dogs" from Animals (EMI/Capitol, 1978) with the brooding rage of The Final Cut (Sony/Columbia, 1983), but that might require some knowledge of back catalogues. I'm not trying to be superior here: the best critics, from Lester Bangs to Nik Cohn have informed their audience of lost histories and artistic juxtapositions (check out Mojo Magazine if you haven't experienced this), not just re-written press releases.

Holy Wood is filled with references that critics failed to research, even when Manson directly mentioned them, like the fact that "Adam Kadmon" is a refence to Theosophy. If only the Promise Keepers would listen to "Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)": "Sorry your Sunday smiles are rusty nails/And your crucifixion commercials failed."

Um, care to remind me why Shakespeare was banned again?

Rage Against The Machine
Renegades
Sony/Epic, 2000

During my early-1990s stint in Australian music journalism I learned, despite interviewing Powderfinger twice, how shallow it could be if the advertising dollar ruled editorial content. My subsequent stint in political activism was also eye-opening about True Believers.

Despite the departure of vocalist Zack de la Rocha and problems with Q-Prime, their new management company, Rage Against The Machine had an eventful year. They toured Mexico, protested at the Los Angeles Democratic Convention 2000, and raised awareness of Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal. America's press gave their attention to, then condemned the band for openly advocating Marxist principles while being signed to a major label. What the band has learned, and proven with this album, is that fiery political rhetoric is always more effective if delivered as music. The tracks weren't theirs, but they "own" them now.

Never mind the Noam Chomsky references, here's the "sell-out" allegations.

Radiohead
Kid A
EMI/Capitol, 2000

"What the hell is a Radiohead dossier doing on your site?"

Well, not since Robert Fripp released his solo album Exposure (EG Records/Virgin, 1979) and then staged a guerilla tour, has a band forced the establishment to play by their rules.

Radiohead showed that you could survive without a conceptual video on MTV rotation (who were still happy to publish Thom Yorke's emails). The band's "Media Blips" harnessed the power of memetic engineering when most marketers were still grappling with derivative "idea viruses."

For the fan who could look past the critical adulation, there is plenty of subversiveness going on with Radiohead. The band openly supported the anti-globalist S26 protests, held in Prague (Czechoslovakia) on September 26, 2000. Thom Yorke became fascinated with ancient civilizations.