Synopsis

Marilyn Manson and the band perform "Rock Is Dead" in a dark, theatrical setting, with Manson appearing as his Mechanical Animals alter ego, Omēga. The performance is cut with rapid edits, dramatic lighting, and close-ups that emphasize the song's confrontational glam-industrial energy. An alternate version incorporates footage from The Matrix, connecting the band's futuristic imagery with the film's cyberpunk atmosphere. Rather than following a narrative, the video functions as an intense stage performance built around attitude, spectacle, and visual excess.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Rock Is Dead" was released on September 14, 1998, as part of Marilyn Manson's album Mechanical Animals.

• The song was included on the soundtrack to The Matrix, released in 1999. A second version of the video combines the band's performance with clips from the film.

• Manson's appearance as Omēga links the video to the broader Mechanical Animals era, in which the band adopted a deliberately artificial, glam-rock-inspired visual identity.

• The video was later included among Marilyn Manson's music videos on the 1999 VHS release God Is in the TV, which documented the band's work and touring activity from the mid-1990s through 1999.

• Although the song declares that rock is dead, its placement on The Matrix soundtrack helped give it a lasting association with the late-1990s blend of industrial rock, electronic production, and science-fiction imagery.