Manson has referred to '' Born Villain '' as the band 's " grandest concept record " . He has said its title was inspired by the controversy which surrounded the band after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre , when elements of the mainstream media falsely accused the band of influencing its perpetrators . The title also references the nature versus nurture argument , with Manson elaborating to CNN : " In any story , the villain is the catalyst . The hero 's not a person who will bend the rules or show the cracks in his armor . He 's one-dimensional intentionally , but the villain is the person who owns up to what he is and stands by it . He 'll do things that are sometimes morally questionable , but he does it because it 's his nature to do it , and it never fluctuates . " When writing its lyrics , the vocalist found recurring themes of guns and flowers emerging throughout his work . He indicated that this stems from his father serving in the US Armed Forces during the Vietnam War , as well as the flower power movement . " Pistol Whipped " uses wordplay to liken phytotomy with sexual violence , while the title of " The Flowers of Evil " was inspired by Charles Baudelaire 's poetry collection '' Les Fleurs du mal '' . Numerous other works are also referenced , including Federico Fellini 's 1968 film '' Spirits of the Dead '' ( itself based on the short story " Never Bet the Devil Your Head " by Edgar Allan Poe ) and Greek mythology . " Overneath the Path of Misery " begins with the vocalist reciting part of the " Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow " soliloquy from William Shakespeare 's '' Macbeth '' . Manson indicated that he reinterpreted the soliloquy 's intent to being a statement of empowerment , as opposed to one of desolation . Its lyrics go on to allude to various aspects found in Roman Polanski 's 1971 film version of the play
Columbine High School massacre
Columbine High School massacre
Born Villain