title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The process of creating the album was long and difficult, highlighted by experiments involving near-constant drug use and sleep deprivation in an effort to create a violent and hostile environment suited to the album's content. Manson has admitted to heavily experimenting with prescription painkillers—including forms of morphine sulphate and hydrocodone—during recording; he also claimed he regularly inserted sewing needles underneath his fingernails to test his pain threshold.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: Initial sessions were unproductive, and routinely culminated in the destruction of the studio, as well as the group's own equipment and instruments. There was also a high level of antagonism between band members, with most of this directed toward founding guitarist Daisy Berkowitz. He later claimed to have been "shut out" of recording sessions, and alleged that much of his equipment was destroyed, such as the four-track recorder which had been used to produce many of the band's early demos, along with his drum machine. The latter was subsequently revealed to have been thrown from a second-story window. This animosity resulted in Ramirez performing the majority of guitar work on the record.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: Berkowitz was highly critical of Reznor, who, he said, purposely destroyed a Fender Jaguar given as a gift to Berkowitz from his then-recently deceased father, explaining: "I was in the studio, and they were all in the control room, and I'm playing guitar. At the end, Trent says, 'Do it again, but do it more like this.' We went through this three times, and he says, 'Hold on. I'll come in there. Let me show you what I'm talking about.' So I take my guitar off, hand it to him—and he smashes it, just to fuck with me. Then he laughed and left the room." Berkowitz acrimoniously exited the group sometime after this incident. Reznor's relationship with the rest of the band—Manson in particular—also began to deteriorate during production, primarily as a result of creative differences. Manson and Reznor have not recorded material together since the release of "Antichrist Superstar".


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: Ogilvie was eventually blamed for the band's dysfunction, and was fired as co-producer. He was replaced by frequent Nine Inch Nails mixer Sean Beavan. Manson and Beavan then spent several weeks reworking and remixing the majority of the album in Nothing Records' auxiliary recording facility; Reznor had started production on the soundtrack to David Lynch's "Lost Highway" in the primary studio, and was often absent from these later sessions. Manson went on to praise Beavan's influence on both the album and band as a whole, describing him as being "like a magnet, drawing the band back in the studio and back together." The pair are the sole credited producers of three songs on the record: "Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World", "Kinderfeld" and "Minute of Decay". Berkowitz's replacement on lead guitar joined the band shortly after the album was completed. Timothy Linton adopted Zim Zum as his stage name, ending the seven-year tradition of naming members after female icons and male serial killers; his name was derived from the Lurianic Kabbalah concept of "tzimtzum".


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: "Antichrist Superstar" is a rock opera concept album, and its title is based on the 1971 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Jesus Christ Superstar". The central storyline of the album revolves around a supernatural being—a demagogic rockstar—who seizes all political power from humanity in order to initiate an apocalyptic end event. This underlying concept was both inspired by and a tribute to the work of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, specifically his philosophical concept of an "Übermensch". It was also influenced by "the idea of putting yourself through a transformation to become something superhuman", which Manson said he garnered from Nietzsche's "The Antichrist". The album is a social critique which utilizes this premise as a metaphor for the perceived fascist elements of the conservative political movement and the Christian right in North America. Manson also cited David Bowie's "We Are the Dead" (1974) as a major influence on the album lyrically, saying: "I remember hearing [that] song in the Nineties, when I first moved to L.A. It wouldn't have had the same impact on me if I'd heard it when I was a kid in Ohio—it felt like it was about the culture of Hollywood, the disgusting cannibalism."


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: "Antichrist Superstar" is primarily an industrial metal record, and contains material which has been described as industrial rock and death metal, as well as progressive metal, new wave and gothic rock. The record is separated into three sections: "The Heirophant", "Inauguration of the Worm", and "Disintegrator Rising". In the final section, the central character transforms into the "Antichrist Superstar": an populist demagogue whose motivations transcend any conceivable sense of morality. Nihilistic and disgusted by humankind, it initiates a genocidal extermination of the human race, eventually destroying the entire planet. The album is also cyclical, with both its opening and closing seconds consisting of the distorted phrase "When you are suffering, know that I have betrayed you".


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: Ramirez composed much of the music on the record, and regularly asked for input from Reznor, who he said was "the only other string musician" in the studio on a regular basis, elaborating: "Writing the songs was nothing, but going in and recording them we made some changes. It was nice to have [Trent] there, like another member of the band to help me have another outlook at some of the stuff, because Daisy had ran out of ideas and just did not contribute whatsoever." Reznor is credited with co-composing the music of three songs on the album. After the release of "Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)" in 2000, Manson revealed that "Antichrist Superstar" formed a conceptual trilogy alongside both the aforementioned album and 1998's "Mechanical Animals". He explained that the trilogy was an autobiographical story told in a reverse timeline (chronologically reverse from their release dates), with the storyline beginning on "Holy Wood", followed by "Mechanical Animals", and "Antichrist Superstar" acting as its conclusion. Furthermore, although "Antichrist Superstar" and "Mechanical Animals" made sense as individual concept albums, there was an overarching story running through each release.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: "Cryptorchid" is the shortest track on the album and the shortest song in the band's overall discography. As a result, the song has often been misconstrued as either an interlude or filler. The title is both a compound of the words "crypt" and "orchid" and a direct reference to the medical condition of cryptorchidism. "Stereogum" called the song a "uniquely beautiful track" and identified its roots in the avant-garde and ambient genus of industrial music comparing it favorably to the music of Coil, "albeit an unusually rock-centric one." The song is divided into two sections. In the first half, Manson's vocals are rendered deadpan using several layers of microphone filters while it is altered in the second with a vocoder to augment a Mellotron played over a pulsing sinus rhythm. On close listening, the phrase "I wish I had balls" is whispered repeatedly in the middle to bridge both sections. Crowning it the band's 6th best song in their top 10 list, "Stereogum" mused of "an alternative history" where the band explored the song's experimental direction further throughout the record.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The title song ends with Apple Inc.'s 1990's synthetic speech program PlainTalk (also known as MacinTalk) voices repeating, "When you are suffering, know that I have betrayed you". MacinTalk voices are used again in the music video. During live performances of the song, the MacinTalk voices repeat "You might as well kill yourself — you're already dead" at the end of the song.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The song "1996" was the subject of legal action brought against the band by former bassist Gidget Gein, over alleged similarities to a demo titled "She's Not My Girlfriend". The latter had first been recorded in 1990, four years before Ramirez had joined the group.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: "Antichrist Superstar" features elaborate artwork. Images in the booklet consist of various medical diagrams from "Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body", Kabbalah symbols, and a visual worm-to-angel metamorphosis, references to verses one through five of Revelation 12, as well as liner notes—a note found under the lyrics of "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" claim the song was recorded live on February 14, 1997, despite the album being released in October 1996.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: Artwork for the album was designed by P. R. Brown. It was the first of several albums Brown designed for the band. In an interview with "Revolver", Brown recounted that his working relationship with the band started on the recommendation a friend in 1996 while working in New York City. The band was recording the album at Nothing Studios at the time and were actively looking for a cover art designer. By Brown's admission, the extent of his experience designing album covers up to that point had been limited to jazz records. After researching into who Manson was, he realized it was "pointless" to send the band any of his prior work. Brown decided to spend a weekend "creating fictitious album covers for made-up bands" and sent those to New Orleans. After several months of hearing nothing back, Brown was invited to Nothing Studios to meet with Manson.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: During their meeting, Manson asked Brown to watch E. Elias Merhige's 1990 experimental art film "Begotten". According to Brown, Manson already had a strong idea of what he wanted the album cover to look like, drawing inspiration from the bleak cinematography of this "grainy, scratched nightmare of a film." After a listening session of the unfinished record and an explanation of the album's concept and three cycle structure, both agreed that the record needed two covers to portray the "evolution from a worm into the antichrist." Brown utilized Dean Karr's photographs of the band and mixed media for the packaging. He recalled "drawing some things and scanning in several layers of dirt" during the design process. The paperboard O-card slipcase depict Manson as "the worm" in the front with yellowed, scabrous wings and black superficial veins. A medical diagram of a rib cage can also be seen on the top left corner. On the back, Manson is shown as the Antichrist Superstar in suit and tie, along with the stylized high voltage symbol used by the band as the album's logo. The roman numerals IX, VI, III and VII round out the rear of the slipcase.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The words "Heart, Mind, Complacent, and Malice" are also featured on the front of the O-card and throughout the booklet. They were originally from one of the fictitious album covers Brown made. Brown explained that he conceived of them after he "picked opposing ideals and turned them into a symbolic compass of sorts: Heart is the opposite of mind, and complacency is the opposite of malice. Strangely enough, all of those things fit into the concept of the album. The exact graphic I used for the fake albums was used for the final package." Brown suspected it was the reason he was hired. The back of the tray insert depicts Manson standing between Ramirez and Gacy while the latter two wear oxygen masks connected to his codpiece. Senator Joseph Lieberman found the image particularly offensive. Mistaking the standing figure for a naked woman Lieberman denounced, "These records and their corporate sponsors are telling our children it's the season of senseless violence, hopelessness and the most awful ill will toward each other, particularly women."


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: "The Beautiful People" was released as the lead single, and both the song and its accompanying music video were critical and commercial successes. The track was a hit on alternative rock charts in the United States, reaching number 26 on "Billboard"s Modern Rock Tracks, and number 29 on Mainstream Rock. It was successful internationally as well, peaking within the top fifty in both Australia and New Zealand, and was their first top-20 entry on the UK Singles Chart. Floria Sigismondi directed the song's music video, which was included at number fifty-four on MTV's list of the "100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made", and at number 100 on MuchMusic's "100 Greatest Videos Ever". The video was nominated for Best Rock Video, Best Special Effects and Best Art Direction at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, where the band performed the song live. This performance was controversial, and has been listed as one of the most iconic in the shows' history. It was later credited with helping to establish the band in mainstream culture. VH1 included the song at number eighty-six on their list of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs". By the end of 1997, Manson appeared on the cover of "Rolling Stone", who awarded the band their "Best New Artist" accolade.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: "Antichrist Superstar" was released as a promotional single in 1996. Music videos for both that song and "Cryptorchid" were created by E. Elias Merhige. The video for "Cryptorchid" heavily incorporated imagery from Merhige's film "Begotten", while the video for "Antichrist Superstar" remained unreleased until 2010, when it was leaked on YouTube. The latter had been screened at the 1997 San Francisco International Film Festival, where it won a Golden Gate Certificate of Merit Award. However, its release was blocked by Interscope Records, whom Manson described as being "appalled by it." It combined performance footage and fascist iconography—namely the Nuremberg rallies—with footage of US nuclear weapons testing, and images of a Ku Klux Klan lynching.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: Numerous outtakes and previously unreleased recordings were issued on movie soundtracks throughout 1997. "Apple of Sodom" appeared on the Reznor-produced soundtrack to David Lynch's "Lost Highway" in February. A music video for the song was created in 1996, and also remained unreleased until its director, Joseph Cultice, uploaded it to YouTube in 2009. "The Suck for Your Solution" appeared on the to the Howard Stern biopic "Private Parts", which was also released in February. "Long Hard Road Out of Hell", featuring backing vocals from Sneaker Pimps vocalist Kelli Ali, was released on the soundtrack to "Spawn" in August. The following month, "Tourniquet" was issued as the album's second commercial single, and peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart. Its music video was also directed by Sigismondi. W.I.Z. directed the final music video created for "Antichrist Superstar": "Man That You Fear", whose concept was adapted from the plot of Shirley Jackson's 1948 short story "The Lottery", and contained aesthetic and symbolic references to the 1989 Alejandro Jodorowsky film "Santa Sangre".


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The album was promoted by the highly controversial year long "Dead to the World Tour." The tour was preceded by a performance on the second evening of "Nights of Nothing", the final leg of Nine Inch Nails' "Self Destruct Tour," on September 5, 1996, at the Irving Plaza. The band's set ended early after Manson sent his drummer to the hospital by hurling a weighted mic stand at the drumkit. The evening was documented on a special episode of the MTV series "120 Minutes" titled "120 Minutes of Nothing". The tour commenced a month later, on October 3, 1996, at the State Theatre in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and consisted of 175 concerts staged in several continents. The band's now-trademark theatricality was a cornerstone of the shows. By the frontman's own estimation, however, it was less extravagant than prior or succeeding outings. Manson still enraged conservatives and the Christian Right with near-nightly concerts wherein he wiped his buttocks with the flag of the United States, tore Bibles apart, and performed self-mutilation.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The tour mounted several set pieces. Depending on venue size, the backdrop consisted of a stained glass tableau that depicted Jesus flanked by figures impaled on spears or, alternatively, Saint Michael the Archangel slaying the dragon during the War in Heaven from the 9th verse of the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation. For smaller venues, the band used a crumbling mullioned and traceried Gothic cathedral window. The stage design also included a pipe organ and a set of stairs from which Manson descended to start the opening piece. Manson's costume changes were limited between his signature elastic back brace matched to a jockstrap over a G-string, a pair of thigh-high fishnet hosiery attached to a garter belt and calf-high leather boots used for most of the show alternating to a black suit and tie over a red dress shirt for performances of the title song.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: During the title song, the stage design was converted into a mock Nuremberg Rally. The backdrop was switched from the stained glass tableau to three oversized vertical banners unfurled from the rafters and emblazoned with the album's logo. Manson performed atop a similarly emblazoned lectern mimicking the exaggerated gyrations of dictators and televangelists, suggesting a similarity between the two. The rest of the band performed wearing chromed stahlhelms. In his autobiography "The Long Hard Road Out of Hell", Manson described that portion of the show as simultaneous critiques on both the inherent fascism in Christianity and "right-wing morality" as well as the thin line between celebrity and demagoguery, "because rock and roll can be just as blind as Christianity." A snow/ash-like confetti was used during performances of "Cake and Sodomy", "Cryptorchid" and "Apple of Sodom" while a microphone stand covered in orchids was used during the song "Man That You Fear."


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The tour was plagued by constant bomb and death threats, and nearly every North American venue the band visited was picketed by religious and civic organizations. Opponents of the band based their protests on a pair of affidavits circulated by the American Family Association and Empower America that made unfounded claims of onstage drug abuse, bestiality, and satanic rituals—namely animal and human sacrifice—and claims the band engaged in homosexual intercourse with each other in concert, and that underage concertgoers were violently raped by other audience members. In this context, Utah passed legislation which allowed state-operated venues to ban the group from performing. Similarly, the April 10, 1997, concert at the state-owned Carolina Coliseum in Columbia was cancelled after the South Carolina House of Representatives voted to ban Marilyn Manson from ever performing on state-owned property.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: During this time, schools in Florida threatened to expel students for attending the band's concerts, and over 5,500 residents contacted the mayor of Jacksonville, demanding the cancellation of their April 17, 1997, concert at the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum. The city council of Richmond, Virginia, also ordered the cancellation of their May 10, 1997, concert at the Richmond Coliseum. The July 22, 1997, concert at La Luna in Portland, Oregon, was cancelled when the venue was unable to obtain insurance for the event. Their concert at Calgary's Max Bell Arena three days later was cancelled by the owner of the venue who cited the band's reputation as justification for doing so. The New Jersey date of Ozzfest at Giants Stadium was cancelled by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, who cited Marilyn Manson's scheduled appearance as its reason. This prompted a lawsuit from Ozzy Osbourne.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: During the vocalist's appearance on ABC network's late-night political talk show "Politically Incorrect", host Bill Maher took the opportunity to discuss the controversy surrounding the tour. Maher noted the distinction between the rumors and the reality of what the band's concerts consisted of. However, he observed that what Manson actually did on stage—specifically his repeated flag desecration and destruction of the Bible—were still genuinely offensive. Manson replied:


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The tour was documented in several formats. The band's second EP, "Remix & Repent", released on November 25, 1997, contained live versions of "Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World" and "Antichrist Superstar" and an acoustic version of "Man That You Fear" taken during the tour. A VHS concert film entitled "Dead to the World" was released on February 10, 1998, and debuted at number one on "Billboard"s Top Music Videos, eventually spending a year on the chart. The album was reissued on cassette exclusively in Europe as part of Record Store Day 2016.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The album was released to acclaim from music critics, who praised its concept, production, and vocals. M. Tye Comer, in reviewing for "CMJ New Music Monthly", described the record as a "magnificent ... aural skull-fuck", writing that Marilyn Manson "[took] in all the angst, hellfire and damnation one band [could] ingest, then [released] it in a fierce scatological display of apocalyptic sound and fury." He went on to commend the vocals, which he said could "communicate pain, passion, fear, hate and euphoria in one mighty, ear-piercing roar." Greg Kot of the "Chicago Tribune" complimented the album's production, as did Jim Farber of "Entertainment Weekly", who also praised its "ambitious" concept, even as he criticized the band's sound as derivative of other industrial rock acts: "[E]ach riff could've fallen right off an old Skinny Puppy LP."


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: Writing for "Spin", Ann Powers applauded the album's concept and the quality of the songwriting, saying: "Until now, Manson's ideas carried more weight than his music, but "Antichrist Superstar"s sound matches the garish grandiosity of his arguments. Its 16 songs rock like '70s Sabbath-style metal, but harder; the arrangements echo Queen in operatic scope but are more intense; the mood owes its vampiric chill to Bauhaus, but [Marilyn Manson] actually bites the vein." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it "an unexpectedly cohesive album" that stands as Marilyn Manson's "definitive statement". However, he was critical of Reznor's production, saying: "Though the sonic details make [the album] an intriguing listen, it's not as extreme as it could have been—in particular, the guitars are surprisingly anemic, sounding like buzzing vacuums instead of unwieldy chainsaws." Even less impressed, Robert Christgau dismissed the record as a and later compared it to the music used by the United States military to psychologically harass Manuel Noriega during Operation Nifty Package.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: In "Rolling Stone", Lorraine Ali credited both the album and the band's associated rise within mainstream culture as "[marking] the end of the reign of punk realism in rock & roll", calling the record "a volatile reaction to five years of earnest, post-Nirvana rock."


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: She went on to hypothesize that: "Marilyn Manson offer total escapism as a true alternative, complete with carefully crafted gloom wear (no baggy shorts allowed), a frontman who blatantly begs to be in the spotlight and lyric imagery rivaling that of the best slasher movies." Similarly, a 2016 article from "The A.V. Club" called the record influential, suggesting that its success prompted a shift in rock music which resulted in other rock bands "trading grunge's bruised-heart jadedness for seething, self-flagellating nihilism."


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The release of "Antichrist Superstar" coincided with the band's commercial breakthrough, and much of the attention they received from mainstream media was not positive. In December 1996, the co-directors of Empower America Republican Secretary of Education William Bennett and Democrat Senator Joseph Lieberman, organized a bipartisan press conference, along with Secretary of Pennsylvania State C. Delores Tucker, wherein they questioned MCA—the owner of Interscope—president Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s ability to head the label competently whilst profiting from "profanity-laced" albums by artists such as Tupac Shakur, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Marilyn Manson. Tucker had previously called "Smells Like Children" the "dirtiest, nastiest porno record directed at children that has ever hit the market."


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: In November 1997, the band found itself the target of congressional hearings, led by Senator Joseph Lieberman and Representative Sam Brownback, to determine the effects, if any, of violent lyrics on young listeners. This hearing was held by the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and was titled "Music Violence: How Does It Affect Our Children". At this subcommittee, Lieberman once again criticized the band's music, calling it "vile, hateful, nihilistic and damaging", and repeated his request that Seagram—then-owner of MCA—"start ... disassociating itself from Marilyn Manson." Lieberman later called the band "perhaps the sickest group ever promoted by a mainstream record company." The subcommittee also heard from Raymond Kuntz, of Burlington, North Dakota, who blamed his son's suicide on "Antichrist Superstar"—specifically the song "The Reflecting God".


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: According to Acclaimed Music, "Antichrist Superstar" is the 19th most-renowned album of 1996 and the 206th most-renowned record of the 1990s. The record has been listed in books including Robert Dimery's "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", "1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die" and "Albums: 50 Years of Great Recordings". In 2008, Consequence of Sound identified "Antichrist Superstar" as a modern classic in their "Dusting 'Em Off" feature, due to its counter-cultural and social impact during the late '90s. "Rolling Stone" included it among their "Essential Recordings of the '90s" in 1999, and placed it at number 84 on their "100 Best Albums of the '90s" list, which was compiled in 2011. "Revolver" included "Antichrist Superstar" at number 49 on their "69 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The album has been featured in multiple lists compiled by several British rock magazines. "Kerrang!" dubbed it the 3rd best album of 1996, and placed it at number 14 on their list of "100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", as well as at number 88 on its "100 Greatest Rock Albums". In 2001, it featured on "Q"s list of the "50 Heaviest Albums Of All Time", while "NME" placed it at number 92 on their 2009-compiled list of the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums". It also appeared at number 92 on "Classic Rock"s list of the "100 Greatest Rock Albums Ever", and, in 2006, the magazine—as well as its sister publication, "Metal Hammer"—included it on their respective lists of "The 200 Greatest Albums of the '90s". "Record Collector" included "Antichrist Superstar" in their extensive list "10 Classic Albums from 21 Genres for the 21st Century", in the metal category.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: Multiple international publications included it in their respective lists of the best albums of 1996, including the French edition of British magazine "Rock Sound", who placed it at number 13, Dutch magazine "Muziekkrant OOR" ranked it at number 109 on their "Best Albums of 1996", while Alternative Nation included the album at number 8 on their list of the "Top Rock Albums of 1996". "Rock Sound" also featured the record at number 11 on their "Top 150 Albums of Our Lifetime (1992–2006)". German rock magazine "Visions" ranked the album at number 37 on their list of "The Most Important Records of the Nineties". Furthermore, French magazine "Rock & Folk" listed "Antichrist Superstar" as being one of "The Best Albums from 1963 to 1999", while retailer Fnac included it on their list of "The 1000 Best Albums of All Time".


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: "Antichrist Superstar" sold 132,000 copies in its first week to debut at number three on the "Billboard" 200 in the United States. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 11, 1996, and sold over 1.2 million copies within a year of its release. As of November 2010, the record had sold almost two million copies in the US alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It peaked at number two on the national "RPM" albums chart in Canada, where it has been certified double platinum by Music Canada (formerly the Canadian Recording Industry Association) for shipments in excess of 200,000 units. In Mexico, the record was certified gold by Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (AMPROFON), indicating shipments of over 100,000 copies.


title: Antichrist Superstar

text: The album's international commercial success was initially modest, however, peaking at number 13 on the Finnish Albums Chart, but failing to make an impact on the album charts in both France and Germany, peaking at numbers 116 and 100, respectively. In Spain's albums chart, the album peaked at number 43, despite its second single Tourniquet being a top-10 hit there. Despite peaking at number 73 on the UK Albums Chart and spending a sole week on the chart, "Antichrist Superstar" was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in July 2013 for shipments of over 100,000 copies. Similarly, the record spent six non-consecutive weeks on the ARIA Charts, peaking at number 41, and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Conversely, it became the band's commercial breakthrough in New Zealand, peaking within the top five and spending a total of 45 weeks on the New Zealand Albums Chart, where it was eventually certified platinum. "Antichrist Superstar" has sold in excess of seven million copies worldwide.


title: Le Tigre

text: Le Tigre (, ; French for "The Tiger") is an American electronic rock band formed by Kathleen Hanna (of Bikini Kill), Johanna Fateman and Sadie Benning in 1998 in New York City. Benning left in 2000 and was replaced by JD Samson for the rest of the group's existence. They mixed punk's directness and politics with playful samples, eclectic pop, and lo-fi electronics. The group also added multimedia and performance art elements to their live shows, which often featured support from like-minded acts such as The Need.


title: Le Tigre

text: Following the breakup of Bikini Kill in 1998, Kathleen Hanna released a solo album under the pseudonym "Julie Ruin" and moved to New York, where she wanted to perform "Julie Ruin" songs live. Not wanting to perform the material alone, she recruited Johanna Fateman, whom Hanna had known since meeting at a Bikini Kill concert several years prior. Sadie Benning, who had helped Hanna make a music video for the "Julie Ruin" song "Aerobicide", also joined in order to help with visuals and translating the music into performable material. These performances never happened.


title: Le Tigre

text: However, while Benning was still in Chicago, Hanna and Fateman began sharing cassettes between the three band members, with songs that would eventually become material for Le Tigre. They took their name from one of many hypothetical bands made up by Hanna circa 1994.


title: Le Tigre

text: The band signed with Mr. Lady Records, who owners Hanna and Fateman met while they were in Portland, Oregon. Hanna called the signing "a logical choice" because of the label's greater political commitment over their music releases.


title: Le Tigre

text: The band's first album, "Le Tigre", was in October 1999. The band's original live performances consisted of Hanna, Fateman and Sadie performing music, along with JD Samson, a roadie they had met in September 1999, who manually operated a slideshow as a visual component to their music, as the band could not afford a projector at the time.


title: Le Tigre

text: In 2000, Benning left the band. As the band was already into a month-long tour, they asked Samson to fill in for them during live performances. The band had already been considering increasing the involvement of Samson as possibly a backup singer or dancer, so asked her to become an official member. Hanna remarked that "JD added an undeniable flair and charisma to the live show and took to touring and recording like a fish to water."


title: Le Tigre

text: In 2003, Le Tigre collaborated with Chicks on Speed on their cover of Tom Tom Club's "Wordy Rappinghood" from their album "99 Cents" along with other artists such as Miss Kittin, Kevin Blechdom, ADULT.'s Nicola Kuperus, and Tina Weymouth of Tom Tom Club. The cover became a moderate dance hit in Europe, peaking at number five on the Belgian Dance Chart, and at number sixty-six on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Le Tigre

text: In March 2004, Le Tigre signed with Strummer, a subsidiary of major label Universal Records, a move described by Kathleen Hanna as a make-or-break for the band, who were considering breaking up due to exhaustion. In June 2004, Mr. Lady closed down, and the band began reissuing their back catalogue under their own label, Le Tigre Records, with distribution from Touch & Go Records.


title: Le Tigre

text: They released their debut major-label album, "This Island", in October 2004. The album was a moderate success, selling over 90,000 copies in the US.


title: Le Tigre

text: The band entered a "long hiatus" in August 2007, due to the band being burnt out from touring "This Island," and the band members wanting to "do their own thing".


title: Le Tigre

text: In 2010, Le Tigre briefly returned from a hiatus to produce Christina Aguilera's "My Girls", from her sixth studio album "Bionic". The track features Peaches.


title: Le Tigre

text: Le Tigre members JD Samson and Johanna Fateman collaborated with Russian activists Pussy Riot during a concert organised by Vice (magazine) in 2014, performing Le Tigre's “Deceptacon”. Later, in 2015, they reunited with Pussy Riot to record a song and video for Netflix series House of Cards.


title: Le Tigre

text: In September 2016, the band announced they were reuniting just to release a "special song". On October 19, 2016, Le Tigre released the song, titled "I'm With Her", and its accompanying video to voice their support of the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.


title: Le Tigre

text: In December 2021, the band announced they would be getting together to play at This Ain't No Picnic Festival in 2022.


title: Le Tigre

text: Le Tigre, along with several acts from Mr. Lady, played at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival in 2001 and 2005. This festival became controversial for its "womyn-born womyn" stance and exclusion of trans women from the festival, leading critics to believe that Mr. Lady and Le Tigre were transphobic. Several acts from the label, including Le Tigre and The Butchies, received verbal harassment and death threats as a result of playing at the 2001 festival.


title: Le Tigre

text: In 2014, amid a boycott of the festival led by Equality Michigan, a group of fans dropped a banner that read "Apologise For Michigan" at a Julie Ruin concert at the Mod Club, Toronto, calling for Hanna to apologise for their performances at the festival. JD Samson released a statement in response, announcing her boycott of the festival until all self-identified women were included. The festival shut down in 2015. Hanna has not directly addressed their participation in the festival, but in 2018 has said on Twitter that she supports trans rights.


title: Le Tigre

text: In October 2021, Hanna and Fateman countersued singer-songwriter Barry Mann, who sent the band cease-and-desist letters after claiming the song "Deceptacon" was copyright infringing on his song "Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)". Hanna and Fateman argued that the use of "bomp" was transformative of the song, as a critique of Mann's song. They settled the case in November 2021, with the dispute “amicably resolved by a confidential settlement agreement without any public admission of liability”, according to Pitchfork.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), or abrineurin, is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the "BDNF" gene. BDNF is a member of the neurotrophin family of growth factors, which are related to the canonical nerve growth factor (NGF), a family which also includes NT-3 and NT-4/NT-5. Neurotrophic factors are found in the brain and the periphery. BDNF was first isolated from a pig brain in 1982 by Yves-Alain Barde and Hans Thoenen.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF acts on certain neurons of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system expressing TrkB, helping to support survival of existing neurons, and encouraging growth and differentiation of new neurons and synapses. In the brain it is active in the hippocampus, cortex, and basal forebrain—areas vital to learning, memory, and higher thinking. BDNF is also expressed in the retina, kidneys, prostate, motor neurons, and skeletal muscle, and is also found in saliva.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Although the vast majority of neurons in the mammalian brain are formed prenatally, parts of the adult brain retain the ability to grow new neurons from neural stem cells in a process known as neurogenesis. Neurotrophins are proteins that help to stimulate and control neurogenesis, BDNF being one of the most active. Mice born without the ability to make BDNF have developmental defects in the brain and sensory nervous system, and usually die soon after birth, suggesting that BDNF plays an important role in normal neural development. Other important neurotrophins structurally related to BDNF include NT-3, NT-4, and NGF.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF is made in the endoplasmic reticulum and secreted from dense-core vesicles. It binds carboxypeptidase E (CPE), and disruption of this binding has been proposed to cause the loss of sorting BDNF into dense-core vesicles. The phenotype for BDNF knockout mice can be severe, including postnatal lethality. Other traits include sensory neuron losses that affect coordination, balance, hearing, taste, and breathing. Knockout mice also exhibit cerebellar abnormalities and an increase in the number of sympathetic neurons.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Certain types of physical exercise have been shown to markedly (threefold) increase BDNF synthesis in the human brain, a phenomenon which is partly responsible for exercise-induced neurogenesis and improvements in cognitive function. Niacin appears to upregulate BDNF and tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) expression as well.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF binds at least two receptors on the surface of cells that are capable of responding to this growth factor, TrkB (pronounced "Track B") and the LNGFR (for "low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor", also known as p75). It may also modulate the activity of various neurotransmitter receptors, including the Alpha-7 nicotinic receptor. BDNF has also been shown to interact with the reelin signaling chain. The expression of reelin by Cajal–Retzius cells goes down during development under the influence of BDNF. The latter also decreases reelin expression in neuronal culture.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: The TrkB receptor is encoded by the NTRK2 gene and is member of a receptor family of tyrosine kinases that includes TrkA and TrkC. TrkB autophosphorylation is dependent upon its ligand-specific association with BDNF, a widely expressed activity-dependent neurotrophic factor that regulates plasticity and is dysregulated following hypoxic injury. The activation of the BDNF-TrkB pathway is important in the development of short-term memory and the growth of neurons.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: The role of the other BDNF receptor, p75, is less clear. While the TrkB receptor interacts with BDNF in a ligand-specific manner, all neurotrophins can interact with the p75 receptor. When the p75 receptor is activated, it leads to activation of NFkB receptor. Thus, neurotrophic signaling may trigger apoptosis rather than survival pathways in cells expressing the p75 receptor in the absence of Trk receptors. Recent studies have revealed a truncated isoform of the TrkB receptor (t-TrkB) may act as a dominant negative to the p75 neurotrophin receptor, inhibiting the activity of p75, and preventing BDNF-mediated cell death.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: The BDNF protein is encoded by a gene that is also called BDNF, found in humans on chromosome 11. Structurally, BDNF transcription is controlled by 8 different promoters, each leading to different transcripts containing one of 8 untranslated 5' exons (I to VIII) spliced to the 3' encoding exon. Promoter IV activity, leading to the translation of exon IV-containing mRNA, is strongly stimulated by calcium and is primarily under the control of a Cre regulatory component, suggesting a putative role for the transcription factor CREB and the source of BDNF's activity-dependent effects .


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: There are multiple mechanisms through neuronal activity that can increase BDNF exon IV specific expression. Stimulus-mediated neuronal excitation can lead to NMDA receptor activation, triggering a calcium influx. Through a protein signaling cascade requiring Erk, CaM KII/IV, PI3K, and PLC, NMDA receptor activation is capable of triggering BDNF exon IV transcription. BDNF exon IV expression also seems capable of further stimulating its own expression through TrkB activation. BDNF is released from the post-synaptic membrane in an activity-dependent manner, allowing it to act on local TrkB receptors and mediate effects that can leading to signaling cascades also involving Erk and CaM KII/IV. Both of these pathways probably involve calcium-mediated phosphorylation of CREB at Ser133, thus allowing it to interact with BDNF's Cre regulatory domain and upregulate transcription. However, NMDA-mediated receptor signaling is probably necessary to trigger the upregulation of BDNF exon IV expression because normally CREB interaction with CRE and the subsequent translation of the BDNF transcript is blocked by of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor protein 2 (BHLHB2). NMDA receptor activation triggers the release of the regulatory inhibitor, allowing for BDNF exon IV upregulation to take place in response to the activity-initiated calcium influx. Activation of Dopamine receptor D5 also promotes expression of BDNF in prefrontal cortex neurons.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF has several known single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), including, but not limited to, rs6265, C270T, rs7103411, rs2030324, rs2203877, rs2049045 and rs7124442. As of 2008, rs6265 is the most investigated SNP of the "BDNF" gene


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: A common SNP in the BDNF gene is rs6265. This point mutation in the coding sequence, a guanine to adenine switch at position 196, results in an amino acid switch: valine to methionine exchange at codon 66, Val66Met, which is in the prodomain of BDNF. Val66Met is unique to humans.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: The mutation interferes with normal translation and intracellular trafficking of BDNF mRNA, as it destabilizes the mRNA and renders it prone to degradation. The proteins resulting from mRNA that does get translated, are not trafficked and secreted normally, as the amino acid change occurs on the portion of the prodomain where sortilin binds; and sortilin is essential for normal trafficking.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: The Val66Met mutation results in a reduction of hippocampal tissue and has since been reported in a high number of individuals with learning and memory disorders, anxiety disorders, major depression, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Glutamate is the brain's major excitatory neurotransmitter and its release can trigger the depolarization of postsynaptic neurons. AMPA and NMDA receptors are two ionotropic glutamate receptors involved in glutamatergic neurotransmission and essential to learning and memory via long-term potentiation. While AMPA receptor activation leads to depolarization via sodium influx, NMDA receptor activation by rapid successive firing allows calcium influx in addition to sodium. The calcium influx triggered through NMDA receptors can lead to expression of BDNF, as well as other genes thought to be involved in LTP, dendritogenesis, and synaptic stabilization.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: NMDA receptor activation is essential to producing the activity-dependent molecular changes involved in the formation of new memories. Following exposure to an enriched environment, BDNF and NR1 phosphorylation levels are upregulated simultaneously, probably because BDNF is capable of phosphorylating NR1 subunits, in addition to its many other effects. One of the primary ways BDNF can modulate NMDA receptor activity is through phosphorylation and activation of the NMDA receptor one subunit, particularly at the PKC Ser-897 site. The mechanism underlying this activity is dependent upon both ERK and PKC signaling pathways, each acting individually, and all NR1 phosphorylation activity is lost if the TrKB receptor is blocked. PI3 kinase and Akt are also essential in BDNF-induced potentiation of NMDA receptor function and inhibition of either molecule eliminated receptor acBDNF can also increase NMDA receptor activity through phosphorylation of the NR2B subunit. BDNF signaling leads to the autophosphorylation of the intracellular domain of the TrkB receptor (ICD-TrkB). Upon autophosphorylation, Fyn associates with the pICD-TrkB through its Src homology domain 2 (SH2) and is phosphorylated at its Y416 site. Once activated, Fyn can bind to NR2B through its SH2 domain and mediate phosphorylation of its Tyr-1472 site. Similar studies have suggested Fyn is also capable of activating NR2A although this was not found in the hippocampus. Thus, BDNF can increase NMDA receptor activity through Fyn activation. This has been shown to be important for processes such as spatial memory in the hippocampus, demonstrating the therapeutic and functional relevance of BDNF-mediated NMDA receptor activation.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: In addition to mediating transient effects on NMDAR activation to promote memory-related molecular changes, BDNF should also initiate more stable effects that could be maintained in its absence and not depend on its expression for long term synaptic support.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: It was previously mentioned that AMPA receptor expression is essential to learning and memory formation, as these are the components of the synapse that will communicate regularly and maintain the synapse structure and function long after the initial activation of NMDA channels. BDNF is capable of increasing the mRNA expression of GluR1 and GluR2 through its interaction with the TrkB receptor and promoting the synaptic localization of GluR1 via PKC- and CaMKII-mediated Ser-831 phosphorylation. It also appears that BDNF is able to influence Gl1 activity through its effects on NMDA receptor activity. BDNF significantly enhanced the activation of GluR1 through phosphorylation of tyrosine830, an effect that was abolished in either the presence of a specific NR2B antagonist or a trk receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Thus, it appears BDNF can upregulate the expression and synaptic localization of AMPA receptors, as well as enhance their activity through its postsynaptic interactions with the NR2B subunit. This suggests BDNF is not only capable of initiating synapse formation through its effects on NMDA receptor activity, but it can also support the regular every-day signaling necessary for stable memory function.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: One mechanism through which BDNF appears to maintain elevated levels of neuronal excitation is through preventing GABAergic signaling activities. While glutamate is the brain's major excitatory neurotransmitter and phosphorylation normally activates receptors, GABA is the brain's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter and phosphorylation of GABAA receptors tend to reduce their activity. Blockading BDNF signaling with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor or a PKC inhibitor in wild type mice produced significant reductions in spontaneous action potential frequencies that were mediated by an increase in the amplitude of GABAergic inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSC). Similar effects could be obtained in BDNF knockout mice, but these effects were reversed by local application of BDNF.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: This suggests BDNF increases excitatory synaptic signaling partly through the post-synaptic suppression of GABAergic signaling by activating PKC through its association with TrkB. Once activated, PKC can reduce the amplitude of IPSCs through to GABAA receptor phosphorylation and inhibition. In support of this putative mechanism, activation of PKCε leads to phosphorylation of N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) at serine 460 and threonine 461, increasing its ATPase activity which downregulates GABAA receptor surface expression and subsequently attenuates inhibitory currents.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF also enhances synaptogenesis. Synaptogenesis is dependent upon the assembly of new synapses and the disassembly of old synapses by β-adducin. Adducins are membrane-skeletal proteins that cap the growing ends of actin filaments and promote their association with spectrin, another cytoskeletal protein, to create stable and integrated cytoskeletal networks. Actins have a variety of roles in synaptic functioning. In pre-synaptic neurons, actins are involved in synaptic vesicle recruitment and vesicle recovery following neurotransmitter release. In post-synaptic neurons they can influence dendritic spine formation and retraction as well as AMPA receptor insertion and removal. At their C-terminus, adducins possess a myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS) domain which regulates their capping activity. BDNF can reduce capping activities by upregulating PKC, which can bind to the adducing MRCKS domain, inhibit capping activity, and promote synaptogenesis through dendritic spine growth and disassembly and other activities.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Local interaction of BDNF with the TrkB receptor on a single dendritic segment is able to stimulate an increase in PSD-95 trafficking to other separate dendrites as well as to the synapses of locally stimulated neurons. PSD-95 localizes the actin-remodeling GTPases, Rac and Rho, to synapses through the binding of its PDZ domain to kalirin, increasing the number and size of spines. Thus, BDNF-induced trafficking of PSD-95 to dendrites stimulates actin remodeling and causes dendritic growth in response to BDNF.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF plays a significant role in neurogenesis. BDNF can promote protective pathways and inhibit damaging pathways in the NSCs and NPCs that contribute to the brain's neurogenic response by enhancing cell survival. This becomes especially evident following suppression of TrkB activity. TrkB inhibition results in a 2–3 fold increase in cortical precursors displaying EGFP-positive condensed apoptotic nuclei and a 2–4 fold increase in cortical precursors that stained immunopositive for cleaved caspase-3. BDNF can also promote NSC and NPC proliferation through Akt activation and PTEN inactivation. There have been many in vivo studies demonstrating BDNF is a strong promoter of neuronal differentiation. Infusion of BDNF into the lateral ventricles doubled the population of newborn neurons in the adult rat olfactory bulb and viral overexpression of BDNF can similarly enhance SVZ neurogenesis. BDNF might also play a role in NSC/NPC migration. By stabilizing p35 (CDK5R1), in utero electroporation studies revealed BDNF was able to promote cortical radial migration by ~230% in embryonic rats, an effect which was dependent on the activity of the trkB receptor.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Enriched housing provides the opportunity for exercise and exposure to multimodal stimuli. The increased visual, physical, and cognitive stimulation all translates into more neuronal activity and synaptic communication, which can produce structural or molecular activity-dependent alterations. Sensory inputs from environmental stimuli are initially processed by the cortex before being transmitted to the hippocampus along an afferent pathway, suggesting the activity-mediated effects of enrichment can be far-reaching within the brain.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF expression is significantly enhanced by environmental enrichment and appears to be the primary source of the ability of environmental enrichments to enhance cognitive processes. Environmental enrichment enhances synaptogenesis, dendridogenesis, and neurogenesis, leading to improved performance on various learning and memory tasks. BDNF mediates more pathways involved in these enrichment-induced processes than any other molecule and is strongly regulated by calcium activity making it incredibly sensitive to neuronal activity.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Various studies have shown possible links between BDNF and conditions, such as depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, Rett syndrome, and dementia, as well as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Increased levels of BDNF can induce a change to an opiate-dependent-like reward state when expressed in the ventral tegmental area in rats.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: As of 2002 clinical trials in which BDNF was delivered into the central nervous system (CNS) of humans with various neurodegenerative disease had all failed.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: A plethora of recent evidence suggests the linkage between schizophrenia and BDNF. Given that BDNF is critical for the survival of central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) neurons and synaptogenesis during and even after development, BDNF alterations may play a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. BDNF has been found within many areas of the brain and plays an important role in supporting the formation of memories. It has been shown that BDNF mRNA levels are decreased in cortical layers IV and V of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of schizophrenic patients, an area that is known to be involved with working memory. Since patients with schizophrenia often have impairments in working memory, and BDNF mRNA levels have been shown to be decreased in the DLPFC of schizophrenic patients, it is highly likely that BDNF plays some role in the etiology of this neurodevelopmental disorder of the CNS.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: The neurotrophic hypothesis of depression states that depression is caused by a decrease in the levels of BDNF. Post-mortem studies of depressed individuals have shown significantly lower levels of serum BDNF. It is possible that antidepressants, mainly SSRIs, are able to alleviate depressive symptoms by increasing BDNF levels, leading to higher levels of neural plasticity through the maintenance of new neural branches and synaptic connections.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Exposure to stress and the stress hormone corticosterone has been shown to decrease the expression of BDNF in rats, and, if exposure is persistent, this leads to an eventual atrophy of the hippocampus. Atrophy of the hippocampus and other limbic structures has been shown to take place in humans with chronic depression. In addition, rats bred to be heterozygous for BDNF, therefore reducing its expression, have been observed to exhibit similar hippocampal atrophy. This suggests that an etiological link between the development of depression and BDNF exists. Supporting this, the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, voluntary exercise, caloric restriction, intellectual stimulation, and various treatments for depression such as antidepressants increase expression of BDNF in the brain. There is evidence that antidepressant drugs protect against or reverse hippocampal atrophy.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: A recent study shows that downregulation of Nrf2-BDNF-TrkB signaling contributes to the development of post-intracerebral hemorrhage depression and that Nrf2 inducer TP-500 improves depression-like behaviors in this experimental condition.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Post mortem analysis has shown lowered levels of BDNF in the brain tissues of people with Alzheimer's disease, although the nature of the connection remains unclear. Studies suggest that neurotrophic factors have a protective role against amyloid beta toxicity.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Epilepsy has also been linked with polymorphisms in BDNF. Given BDNF's vital role in the development of the landscape of the brain, there is quite a lot of room for influence on the development of neuropathologies from BDNF. Levels of both BDNF mRNA and BDNF protein are known to be up-regulated in epilepsy. BDNF modulates excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission by inhibiting GABAA-receptor-mediated post-synaptic currents. This provides a potential mechanism for the observed up-regulation.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF levels appear to be highly regulated throughout the lifetime both in the early developmental stages and in the later stages of life. For example, BDNF appears to be critical for the morphological development such as dendrite orientation and number along with soma size. This is important as neuron morphology is critical in behavioral processes like learning and motor skills development. Research has reported that the interaction between BDNF and TrkB (the receptor to BDNF) is highly important in inducing dendritic growth; some have noted that the phosphorylation of TrkB by another molecule, cdk5 is necessary for this interaction to occur. Thus, high BDNF and active TrkB interaction appears to be necessary during a critical developmental period as it is regulatory in neuron morphology. The inhibition of BDNF signaling has been shown to alter the epigenetic status in hippocampal cells, with a strength increased by age.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Although BDNF is needed in the developmental stages, BDNF levels have been shown to decrease in tissues with aging. Studies using human subjects have found that hippocampal volume decreases with decreasing plasma levels of BDNF. Although this does not mean BDNF necessarily impacts hippocampal volume, it does suggest there is a relationship that might explain some of the cognitive decline that occurs during aging.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF is a critical mediator of vulnerability to stress, memory of fear/trauma, and stress-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: Variants close to the BDNF gene were found to be associated with obesity in two very large genome-wide association studies of body mass index (BMI).


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF is a regulator of drug addiction and psychological dependence. Animals chronically exposed to drugs of abuse show increased levels of BDNF in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain, and when BDNF is injected directly into the VTA of rats, the animals act as if they are addicted to and psychologically dependent upon opiates.


title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

text: BDNF is a short-term promoter, but a long-term inhibitor of pain sensitivity, as a result of its effect as inducer of neuronal differentiation. The polymorphism Thr2Ile may be linked to congenital central hypoventilation syndrome. BDNF and IL-6 might be involved in the pathogenesis of post-chemotherapy cognitive impairment (PCCI, also known as chemo brain) and fatigue.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: Second Temple Judaism refers to the Jewish religion as it developed during the Second Temple period, which began with the construction of the Second Temple around 516 BCE and ended with the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: The Second Temple period was marked by the emergence of multiple religious currents as well as extensive cultural, religious, and political developments among Jews. It saw the progression of the Hebrew Bible canon, the synagogue, and Jewish eschatology. Additionally, the rise of Christianity began in the final years of the Second Temple period.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: According to Jewish tradition, authentic prophecy (, ) ceased during the early years of the Second Temple period; this left Jews without their version of divine guidance at a time when they felt most in need of support and direction. Under Hellenistic rule, the growing Hellenization of Judaism became a source of resentment among Jewish traditionalists, who clung to strict monotheistic beliefs. Opposition to Hellenistic influence on Jewish religious and cultural practices was a major catalyst for the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. Following the establishment of the Hasmonean dynasty, traditional Judaism was reasserted by the Maccabees across the Land of Israel as they expanded their independent territory. The later years of the Second Temple period saw the development of a number of Jewish messianic ideas. From to 30 CE, five successive generations of the "Zugot" headed the Jews' spiritual affairs; it was during this period that the sects of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, and early Christianity were formed.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: The period of the First Temple ended in 586 BCE when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple of Solomon, and deported the elite of the population to Babylon (the "Babylonian exile"). In 539 BCE Babylon itself fell to the Persian conqueror Cyrus, and in 538 BCE the exiles were permitted to return to Yehud medinata, as the Persian province of Judah was known. The Temple is commonly said to have been rebuilt in the period 520–515 BCE, but it seems probable that this is an artificial date chosen so that 70 years could be said to have passed between the destruction and the rebuilding, fulfilling a prophecy of Jeremiah.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: The end of the Persian period is conventionally dated from Alexander the Great's conquest of the Mediterranean coast in 333/332 BCE. His empire disintegrated after his death, and Judea, including Jerusalem, fell to the Ptolemies, the descendants of one of Alexander's generals who ruled Egypt. In 200 BCE Israel and Judea were captured by the Seleucids, the descendants of another Greek general ruling Syria. Around 167 BCE, for reasons that remain obscure, the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted to suppress Jewish worship; this provoked a Jewish revolt (the Maccabean Revolt) that eventually led to the effective end of Greek control over Jerusalem.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: Hasmonean Judea was a client kingdom of the Romans, and in the 1st century BCE the Romans first replaced them with their protege Herod the Great, and, on Herod's death in 6 CE, made Judea a province under Rome's direct rule. Heavy taxes under the Romans and insensitivity towards the Jewish religion led to revolt (the First Jewish–Roman War, 66–73 CE), and in 70 CE the Roman general (and later emperor) Titus captured Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, bringing an end to the Second Temple period.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: The Jewish exiles in Babylon were not slaves or prisoners, nor were they badly treated, and when the Persians gave permission for them to return to Jerusalem the majority elected to remain where they were. They and their descendants formed the diaspora, a large community of Jews living outside Judea, and the 1st century CE historian Josephus reported that there were more Jews in Syria (meaning the Seleucid empire) than in any other land. There was also a significant Egyptian diaspora, although the Jews of Egypt were immigrants, not deportees, "... attracted by Hellenistic culture, eager to win the respect of the Greeks and to adapt to their ways" (John J. Collins, "Between Athens and Jerusalem"). The Egyptian diaspora was slow to develop, but in the Hellenistic period it came to outstrip the Babylonian community in importance. In addition to these major centres there were Jewish communities throughout the Hellenistic and subsequently the Roman world, from North Africa to Asia Minor and Greece and in Rome itself.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: The separation between Jews of Jerusalem and those of Samaria was a long and protracted process. For most of the Second Temple period Samaria was larger, richer, and more populous than Judea—down to about 164 BCE there were probably more Samaritans than Judeans living in Palestine. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim near Shechem and regarded themselves as the only true Israel, the remnant left behind when Israel was deceived by the wicked priest Eli to leave Gerizim and worship at Jerusalem. Second Temple Judeans regarded them as foreign converts and the offspring of mixed marriages, and therefore of impure blood. Relations between the two communities were often strained, but the definitive break dates from the destruction of the Gerizim temple and of Shechem by a Hasmonean king in the late 2nd century BCE; before that the Samaritans seem to have regarded themselves as part of the wider Jewish community, but afterwards they denounced the Jerusalem temple as completely unacceptable to God.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: In recent decades it has become increasingly common among scholars to assume that much of the Hebrew Bible was assembled, revised and edited in the 5th century BCE to reflect the realities and challenges of the Persian era. The returnees had a particular interest in the history of Israel: the written Torah (the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), for example, may have existed in various forms during the Monarchy (the period of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah), but according to the documentary hypothesis, it was in the Second Temple that it was edited and revised into something like its current form, and the Chronicles, a new history written at this time, reflects the concerns of the Persian Yehud in its almost exclusive focus on Judah and the Temple.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: Prophetic works were also of particular interest to the Persian-era authors, with some works being composed at this time (the last ten chapters of Isaiah and the books of Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi and perhaps Joel) and the older prophets edited and reinterpreted. The corpus of Wisdom books saw the composition of Job, parts of Proverbs, and possibly Ecclesiastes, while the book of Psalms was possibly given its modern shape and division into five parts at this time (although the collection continued to be revised and expanded well into Hellenistic and even Roman times).


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: In the Hellenistic period, the scriptures were translated into Greek by the Jews of the Egyptian diaspora, who also produced a rich literature of their own covering epic poetry, philosophy, tragedy and other forms. Less is known of the Babylonian diaspora, but the Seleucid period produced works such as the court tales of the Book of Daniel (chapters 1-6 of Daniel - chapters 7-12 were a later addition), and the books of Tobit and Esther. The eastern Jews were also responsible for the adoption and transmission of the Babylonian and Persian apocalyptic tradition seen in Daniel.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: The Hebrew Bible represents the beliefs of only a small portion of the Israelite community, the members of a tradition that insisted on the exclusive worship of Yahweh, who collected, edited and transmitted the biblical texts, and who saw their mission in a return to Jerusalem where they could impose their vision of genealogical purity, orthodox worship, and codified law on the local population. In the earliest stages of the Persian period, the returnees insisted on a strict separation between themselves ("Israel") and the Judeans who had never gone into exile ("Canaanites"), to the extent of prohibiting intermarriage; this was presented in terms of religious purity, but there may have been a practical concern for land ownership. The concept of the Jewish people as a people chosen by God gave rise to innumerable break-away movements, each declaring that it alone represented Jewish holiness; the most extreme example was the Qumran sect (the Essenes), but Christianity too began as a Jewish sect that saw itself as the "true Israel".


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: Second Temple Judaism was centered not on synagogues, which began to appear only in the 3rd century BCE, but the reading and study of scripture, the Temple itself, and a cycle of continual animal sacrifice. Torah, or ritual law, was also important, and the Temple priests were responsible for teaching it, but the concept of scripture developed only slowly. While the written Torah (the Pentateuch) and the Prophets were accepted as authoritative by the 1st century CE, beyond this core the different Jewish groups continued to accept different groups of books as authoritative.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: The priesthood underwent profound changes with the Second Temple. Under the First Temple, the priesthood had been subordinate to the kings, but in the Second Temple, with the monarchy and even the state no longer available, they became independent. The priesthood under the High Priest (a position largely unknown in earlier times) became the governing authority, making the province of Yehud in a sense a theocracy, although it seems unlikely that it had any more autonomy than was typical of the empire as a whole. In the Hellenistic period, the High Priest continued to play a vital role with both cultic and civic obligations, and the office reached its height under the Hasmoneans, who made themselves priest-kings. Both Herod and the Romans severely reduced the importance of the office, appointing and deposing High Priests to suit their purposes.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: There was a sharp break between ancient Israelite religion and the Judaism of the Second Temple. Pre-exilic Israel was polytheistic; Asherah was probably worshiped as Yahweh's consort, within his temples in Jerusalem, Bethel, and Samaria, and a goddess called the Queen of Heaven, probably a fusion of Astarte and the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, was also worshiped. Baal and Yahweh coexisted in the early period but were considered irreconcilable after the 9th century. The worship of Yahweh alone, the concern of a small party in the monarchic period, only gained ascendancy in the exilic and early post-exilic period, and it was only then that the very existence of other gods was denied.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: The Persian period saw the development of expectation in a future human king who would rule purified Israel as God's representative at the end of time – that is, a messiah. The first to mention this were Haggai and Zechariah, both prophets of the early Persian period. They saw the messiah in Zerubbabel, a descendant of the House of David who seemed, briefly, to be about to re-establish the ancient royal line, or in Zerubbabel and the first High Priest, Joshua (Zechariah writes of two messiahs, one royal and the other priestly). These early hopes were dashed (Zerubabbel disappeared from the historical record, although the High Priests continued to be descended from Joshua), and thereafter there are merely general references to a Messiah of (meaning descended from) David.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: Wisdom, or "hokmah", implied the learning acquired by study and formal education: "those who can read and write, those who have engaged in study, and who know literature, are the wise "par excellence"" (Grabbe, 2010, p. 48). The literature associated with this tradition includes the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, the so-called Sapiential books.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: Early Christianity emerged within Second Temple Judaism during the 1st century, the key difference being the Christian belief that Jesus was the resurrected Jewish Messiah. Judaism is known to allow for multiple messiahs, the two most relevant being Messiah ben Joseph and the Messiah ben David. The idea of two messiahs — one suffering and the second fulfilling the traditional messianic role — was normal in ancient Judaism, and in fact predated Jesus.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: Alan Segal has written that "one can speak of a 'twin birth' of two new Judaisms, both markedly different from the religious systems that preceded them. Not only were rabbinic Judaism and Christianity religious twins, but, like Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca, they fought in the womb, setting the stage for life after the womb."


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: The first Christians (the disciples or followers of Jesus) were essentially all ethnically Jewish or Jewish proselytes. In other words, Jesus was Jewish, preached to the Jewish people and called from them his first disciples. Jewish Christians regarded "Christianity" as an affirmation of every aspect of contemporary Judaism, with the addition of one extra belief — that Jesus was the Messiah. The doctrines of the apostles of Jesus brought the Early Church into conflict with some Jewish religious authorities (Acts records dispute over the resurrection of the dead, which was rejected by the Sadducees, see also Persecution of Christians in the New Testament), and possibly later led to Christians' expulsion from synagogues (see Council of Jamnia for other theories).


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: While Marcionism rejected all Jewish influence on Christianity, Proto-orthodox Christianity instead retained some of the doctrines and practices of 1st-century Judaism while rejecting others, see the Historical background to the issue of Biblical law in Christianity and Early Christianity. They held the Jewish scriptures to be authoritative and sacred, employing mostly the Septuagint or Targum translations, and adding other texts as the New Testament canon developed. Christian baptism was another continuation of a Judaic practice.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: Recent work by historians paints a more complex portrait of late Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. Some historians have suggested that, before his death, Jesus created amongst his believers such certainty that the Kingdom of God and the resurrection of the dead was at hand, that with few exceptions (John ) when they saw him shortly after his execution, they had no doubt that he had been resurrected, and that the restoration of the Kingdom and resurrection of the dead was at hand. These specific beliefs were compatible with Second Temple Judaism. In the following years the restoration of the Kingdom, as Jews expected it, failed to occur. Some Christians began to believe instead that Christ, rather than simply being the Jewish messiah, was God made flesh, who died for the sins of humanity, marking the beginning of Christology.


title: Second Temple Judaism

text: While on one hand Jesus and the early Christians had all been ethnically Jewish, the Jews by and large continued to reject Jesus as the Messiah. This was a source of embarrassment for the Church and affected early Christianity's relationship with Judaism and the surrounding pagan traditions. The anti-Christian polemicist Celsus criticised Jews for deserting their Jewish heritage while they had claimed to hold on to it. To the Emperor Julian, Christianity was simply an apostasy from Judaism. These factors hardened Christian attitudes towards Jewry.


title: Majesty

text: Majesty (abbreviated HM for His Majesty or Her Majesty, oral address Your Majesty; from the Latin "maiestas", meaning "greatness") is used as a manner of address by many monarchs, usually kings or queens. Where used, the style outranks the style of "(Imperial/Royal) Highness", but is inferior to the style of "Imperial Majesty". It has cognates in many other languages, especially of Europe.


title: Majesty

text: Originally, during the Roman republic, the word "maiestas" was the legal term for the supreme status and dignity of the state, to be respected above everything else. This was crucially defined by the existence of a specific case, called "laesa maiestas" (in later French and English law, "lèse-majesté"), consisting of the violation of this supreme status. Various acts such as celebrating a party on a day of public mourning, contempt of the various rites of the state and disloyalty in word or act were punished as crimes against the majesty of the republic. However, later, under the Empire, it came to mean an offence against the dignity of the Emperor.


title: Majesty

text: The term was first assumed by Charles V, who believed that—following his election as Holy Roman Emperor in 1519—he deserved a style greater than "Highness", which preceding emperors and kings had used. Soon, Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England followed his example.


title: Majesty

text: After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, Majesty was used to describe a monarch of the very highest rank— it was generally applied to God. Variations, such as "Catholic Majesty" (Spain) or "Britannic Majesty" (United Kingdom) are often used in diplomatic settings where there otherwise may be ambiguity (see a list).


title: Majesty

text: A person with the title is usually addressed as "Your Majesty", and referred to as "His/Her Majesty", abbreviated "HM"; the plural "Their Majesties" is "TM". Emperors (and empresses) use "[His/Her/Their/Your] Imperial Majesty", "HIM" or "TIM".


title: Majesty

text: Princely and ducal heads usually use "His Highness" or some variation thereof (e.g., "His Serene Highness"). In British practice, heads of princely states in the British Empire were referred to as Highness.


title: Majesty

text: In monarchies that do not follow the European tradition, monarchs may be called "Majesty" whether or not they formally bear the title of "King" or "Queen", as is the case in certain countries and amongst certain peoples in Africa and Asia.


title: Majesty

text: In Europe, the monarchs of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium use the style. By contrast, the heads of state of Liechtenstein and Monaco, being principalities, use the inferior style of "Serene Highness". Luxembourg, a Grand Duchy, accords its monarch the style of "Royal Highness," as accorded to all other members of the Grand-Ducal Family, due to their descendance from Prince Félix of Bourbon-Parma. In the Holy See, the Pope – while ruling as "Sovereign of the Vatican City State" – uses the spiritual style of "Holiness." Moreover, while Andorra is formally a monarchy, its Co-Princes – the bishop of Urgell (appointed by the Pope) and President of France – use the republican and non-royal style of "Excellency." Andorra is the only non-hereditary, elective and appointive monarchy in Europe.


title: Majesty

text: In Saudi Arabia, King Fahd abolished the style of "Majesty" in 1975 in favour of "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques," a style adopted by historical Islamic rulers. However, the King by custom continues to be referred to as "Your Majesty" in conversation.


title: Majesty

text: In the United Kingdom, several derivatives of Majesty have been or are used, either to distinguish the British sovereign from continental kings and queens or as further exalted forms of address for the monarch in official documents or the most formal situations. Richard II, according to Robert Lacey in his book Great Tales from English history, was the first English King to demand the title of "Highness" or "Majesty". He also noted that, '...previous English Kings had been content to be addressed as "My Lord" '.


title: Majesty

text: "Most Gracious Majesty" is used only in the most formal of occasions. Around 1519 King Henry VIII decided Majesty should become the style of the sovereign of England. "Majesty", however, was not used exclusively; it arbitrarily alternated with both "Highness" and "Grace", even in official documents. For example, one legal judgement issued by Henry VIII uses all three indiscriminately; Article 15 begins with, "The Kinges Highness hath ordered," Article 16 with, "The Kinges Majestie" and Article 17 with, "The Kinges Grace."


title: Majesty

text: Pre-Union Scotland Sovereigns were only addressed as "Your Grace". During the reign of James VI and I, Majesty became the official style, to the exclusion of others. In full, the Sovereign is still referred to as "His (Her) Most Gracious Majesty", actually a merger of both the Scottish Grace and the English Majesty.


title: Majesty

text: "Britannic Majesty" is the style used for the monarch and the crown in diplomacy, the law of nations, and international relations. For example, in the Mandate for Palestine of the League of Nations, it was "His Britannic Majesty" who was designated as the Mandatory for Palestine. Britannic Majesty is famously used in all British passports, where the following sentence is used:


title: Majesty

text: "Most Excellent Majesty" is mainly used in Acts of Parliament, where the phrase "The King's (or Queen's) Most Excellent Majesty" is used in the enacting clause. The standard is as follows:


title: Majesty

text: In Burma, the full Burmese title for the King of Burma Proper was officially "Bhone Taw Kyi Hla Thaw Myanmar Min Myat Phya" (), shortened to "Bhone Taw Kyi Phaya" () or "Ashin Paya" ().


title: Majesty

text: In Brunei, a Malay title for the Sultan of Brunei is officially "Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda" (KDYMMPSB) or unofficial simply "Kebawah Duli". It literally means "Under the dust of the Most Exalted [God], The Victorious Sovereign".


title: Majesty

text: It reflects the title of "Zilullah-fil-Alam" ("Shadow of God on Earth"), referring to the Sultan as having a small bit of God's immense power. The title "paduka" means "victorious" from Old Malay while "seri" is an honorific from Sanskrit. The title "baginda" is a third-person noun for royals and prophets.


title: Majesty

text: In Malaysia, the Malay style for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Raja Permaisuri Agong is "Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda" or simply "Seri Paduka Baginda". The Sultan of Johor and the Permaisuri of Johor use the Malay style "Duli Yang Maha Mulia" (DYMM) which is equivalent to His/Her Majesty since 2017. Prior to that, they were addressed as "His/Her Royal Highness" in English, similar with the other eight royal state Malay rulers in Malaysia.


title: Dakimakura

text: A dakimakura (; from "daki" "embrace" and "makura" "pillow") is a type of large pillow from Japan. The word is often translated to English as body pillow or waifu pillow. In Japan, "dakimakura" are similar to Western orthopedic body pillows, and are commonly used by Japanese youth as "comfort objects".


title: Dakimakura

text: During the late '90s and early 2000s, "dakimakura" began to intertwine with otaku culture, leading to the production of pillow covers featuring printed images of "bishōjo" and "bishōnen" posed lying down from various anime or "bishōjo" games. Many of these early otaku "dakimakura" covers were released through Cospa, a character goods and apparel store which as of 2018 continues to release official "dakimakura" covers.


title: Dakimakura

text: Although "dakimakura" are sometimes called "Dutch wife", the original definition of this phrase is closer to the "chikufujin", or "bamboo wife".


title: Dakimakura

text: The year 2015 saw some of the first talking body pillows with "Ita-Supo" and its mascot, Rina Makuraba. It was invented by former Kyushu Institute of Technology researcher, Koichi Uchimura.


title: Dakimakura

text: Prior to the mid-2000s, "dakimakura" were available in one size; . Since the late 2000s, "dakimakura" became available and increasingly popular due to shipping cost savings from being under the airmail weight limit.


title: Dakimakura

text: Due to the increase in popularity, new sizes have been created to adapt to all heights and ages, and although there are other sizes available, the 5 most popular sizes are: 180x60, 170x60, 160x60, 150x50 and 140x40 cm.


title: Dakimakura

text: Love pillows are a subset of "dakimakura" usually portraying life-size pictures of characters in suggestive poses. They may portray anime characters, furry characters, or pornographic film actors.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: HMS "Repulse" was one of two s built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Originally laid down as an improved version of the , her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war because she would not be ready in time. Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord, gained approval for her to resume construction as a battlecruiser that could be built and enter service quickly. The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, quickly produced an entirely new design to meet Admiral Lord Fisher's requirements and the builders agreed to deliver the ship in 15 months. They did not quite meet that ambitious goal, but the ship was delivered a few months after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. "Repulse" and her sister ship , were the world's fastest capital ships upon completion.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: "Repulse" participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917, the only combat she saw during the war. She was reconstructed twice between the wars; a reconstruction in the 1920s increased her armour protection and made lesser improvements, while another in the 1930s was much more thorough. "Repulse" accompanied the battlecruiser during the Cruise of the Special Service Squadron on a round-the-world cruise in 1923 to 1924 and protected international shipping during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 to 1939.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: The ship spent the first months of the Second World War hunting for German raiders and blockade runners. She participated in the Norwegian Campaign of April to June 1940 and searched for the in 1941. "Repulse" escorted a troop convoy around the Cape of Good Hope from August to October 1941 and was transferred to the East Indies Command. She was assigned in November to Force Z which was supposed to deter Japanese aggression against British possessions in the Far East. "Repulse" and her consort, the battleship , were sunk by Japanese aircraft on 10 December 1941 when they attempted to intercept landings in British Malaya.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: Admiral Lord Fisher first presented his requirements for the new ships to the Director of Naval Construction (DNC) on 18 December 1914, before the ships had even been approved. He wanted a long, flared bow, like that on the pre-dreadnought but higher, four 15-inch guns in two twin-gun turrets, an anti-torpedo boat armament of twenty guns mounted high up and protected by gun shields only, a speed of 32 knots using oil fuel and armour on the scale of the battlecruiser . Within a few days Fisher increased the number of guns to six and added two torpedo tubes. Minor revisions in the initial estimate were made until 26 December and a preliminary design was completed on 30 December.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: During the following week the DNC's department examined the material delivered for the two battleships and decided what could be used in the new design. The usable material was transferred to the builders who had received enough information from the DNC's department to lay the keels of both ships on 25 January 1915, well before the altered contracts were completed on 10 March.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: "Repulse" had an overall length of , a beam of and a maximum draught of . She displaced at normal load and at deep load. The Brown-Curtis direct-drive steam turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ship at . During trials in 1916, "Repulse"s turbines provided , allowing her to reach a speed of . The ship normally carried of fuel oil but had a maximum capacity of . At full capacity, she could steam at a speed of for .


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: The ship mounted six 42-calibre BL 15-inch Mk I guns in three twin hydraulically powered gun turrets, 'A', 'B' and 'Y' from front to rear. Her secondary armament consisted of 17 BL 4-inch Mark IX guns, fitted in five triple and two single mounts. "Repulse" mounted a pair of QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns mounted on the shelter deck abreast the rear funnel. She mounted two submerged tubes for torpedoes, one on each side forward of 'A' barbette.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: "Repulse"s waterline belt of Krupp cemented armour measured thick amidships. Her gun turrets were thick with roofs thick. As designed the high-tensile-steel decks ranged from in thickness. After the Battle of Jutland in 1916, while the ship was still completing, an extra inch of high-tensile steel was added on the main deck over the magazines. "Repulse" was fitted with a shallow anti-torpedo bulge integral to the hull which was intended to explode the torpedo before it hit the hull proper and vent the underwater explosion to the surface rather than into the ship.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: Despite these additions, the ship was still felt to be too vulnerable to plunging fire and "Repulse" was refitted in Rosyth between 10 November 1916 and 29 January 1917 with additional horizontal armour, weighing approximately , added to the decks over the magazines and over the steering gear. "Repulse" was the first capital ship fitted with a flying-off platform when an experimental one was fitted on 'B' turret in the autumn of 1917. Squadron Leader Frederick Rutland took off in a Sopwith Pup on 1 October. Another platform was built on 'Y' turret and Rutland took off from it on 8 October. One fighter and a reconnaissance aircraft were normally carried.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: "Repulse" was laid down by John Brown, Clydebank, Scotland on 25 January 1915. The ship was launched on 8 January 1916 and completed on 18 August 1916, after the Battle of Jutland. Her construction cost £2,829,087 (£ in 2022). She served with the Grand Fleet in the North Sea during the remaining two years of the First World War. "Repulse" relieved as flagship of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron for the duration of the war.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: Over the course of 1917 the Admiralty became more concerned about German efforts in the North Sea to sweep paths through the British-laid minefields intended to restrict the actions of the High Seas Fleet and German submarines. A preliminary raid on German minesweeping forces on 31 October by light forces destroyed ten small ships and the Admiralty decided on a larger operation to destroy the minesweepers and their escorting light cruisers. Based on intelligence reports the Admiralty decided on 17 November 1917 to allocate two light cruiser squadrons, the 1st Cruiser Squadron covered by the reinforced 1st BCS (less "Renown") and, more distantly, the battleships of the 1st Battle Squadron to the operation.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: The German ships, four light cruisers of II Scouting Force, eight destroyers, three divisions of minesweepers, eight Sperrbrechers (cork-filled trawlers, used to detonate mines without sinking) and two trawlers to mark the swept route, were spotted at 7:30 a.m., silhouetted by the rising sun. The light battlecruiser and the light cruiser opened fire with their forward guns seven minutes later. The Germans responded by laying an effective smoke screen. The British continued in pursuit, but lost track of most of the smaller ships in the smoke and concentrated fire on the light cruisers as opportunity permitted. "Repulse" was detached not long after and raced forward at full speed to engage the enemy ships. She opened fire at about 9:00, scoring a single hit on the light cruiser during the battle. When the German battleships and were spotted about 9:50 the British broke off their pursuit and "Repulse" covered their retreat, aided by a heavy fog that came down around 10:40. The ship fired a total of 54 15-inch shells during the battle and scored one hit on the light cruiser "Königsberg" that temporarily reduced her speed.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: On 12 December 1917, "Repulse" was damaged in a collision with the battlecruiser . The ship was present at the surrender of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow on 21 November 1918.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: "Repulse" began a major refit at Portsmouth on 17 December 1918 intended to drastically improve her armour protection. Her existing six-inch armour belt was replaced by armour plates made surplus by the conversion of the battleship (originally ordered by Chile and purchased after the war began) to the aircraft carrier . The original armour was fitted between the main and upper decks, above the new armour. Additional high-tensile plating was added to the decks over the magazines. The ship's anti-torpedo bulge was deepened and reworked along the lines of that installed on the battleship . The bulge covered her hull from the submerged torpedo room to 'Y' magazine, the inner compartments of which were filled with crushing tubes. The bulges added to her beam and to her draught. The refit added about to her displacement and raised her metacentric height to at deep load. Three rangefinders were also added as well as eight torpedo tubes in twin mounts on the upper deck. Both flying-off platforms were removed. This refit cost £860,684.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: "Repulse" was recommissioned on 1 January 1921 and joined the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet. In November 1923, "Hood", accompanied by "Repulse" and a number of s of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, set out on a world cruise from west to east via the Panama Canal. They returned home ten months later in September 1924. Shortly after her return the ship's two three-inch AA guns and her two single four-inch gun mounts were removed and replaced with four QF four-inch Mark V AA guns. The Battlecruiser Squadron visited Lisbon in February 1925 to participate in the Vasco da Gama celebrations before continuing on to the Mediterranean for exercises. A squash court was added on the starboard side between the funnels, and a sauna and bubble bath on the quarterdeck for the Prince of Wales' tour of Africa and South America that lasted from March to October. Upon her return, she was refitted from November 1925 to July 1926 and had a high-angle control position (HACP) added to her fore-top.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: After "Repulse" completed her 1926 refit, she remained in commission, aside from a brief refit from July to September 1927, with the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet until she was paid off in June 1932 prior to beginning her reconstruction in April 1933. Most of the existing layers of high-tensile steel that constituted the ship's horizontal armour were replaced by non-cemented armour plates in thickness and the torpedo control tower was removed from the aft superstructure. A fixed catapult replaced the midships 4-inch triple mount and a hangar was built on each side of the rear funnel to house two of the ship's Fairey III aircraft. One additional aircraft could be carried on the deck and another on the catapult itself.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: Electric cranes were mounted above each hangar to handle the aircraft. The four 4-inch AA guns were moved, one pair abreast the rear funnel at the level of the hangar roof and the other pair abreast the fore funnel on the forecastle deck. Four prototype QF 4-inch Mark XV dual-purpose guns were added in twin-gun Mark XVIII mounts abreast the mainmast. Two octuple Mark VI 2-pounder mounts were fitted on extensions of the conning-tower platform abreast the fore funnel. Above these a pair of quadruple Mark II* mountings for the 0.5-inch Vickers Mark III machine gun were added. These mounts could depress to −10° and elevate to a maximum of 70°. The machine guns fired a bullet at a muzzle velocity of . This gave the gun a maximum range of about , although its effective range was only "Repulse" received two High-Angle Control System anti-aircraft directors, one Mark II on the fore-top and a Mark I* mounted on a pedestal above the rear superstructure. The two submerged torpedo tubes were removed and the vacant spaces sub-divided and turned into store-rooms.


title: HMS Repulse (1916)

text: "Repulse" was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet when she recommissioned in April 1936. She transported 500 refugees from Valencia and Palma, Majorca to Marseilles, France in late 1936 after the start of the Spanish Civil War. The ship was present at the Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead on 20 May 1937 for King George VI. "Repulse" was sent to Haifa in July 1938 to maintain order during the Arab Revolt. She was selected to convey the King and Queen during their May 1939 Canadian Tour and she was refitted between October 1938 and March 1939 for this role. The twin 4-inch AA guns were replaced by two more Mark V guns and two additional quadruple .50-calibre mounts were added. The King and Queen ultimately travelled aboard the liner while "Repulse" escorted them on the first half of the journey.