Message in Blood - 2010 Remaster

Lead singer Phil Anselmo wrote this song from the perspective of Charles Manson, whose followers left messages in blood after killing their victims. Manson built up a group of followers in the late '60s that were known as his "Family." His cult grew to about 100 people, with a few ardent followers willing to kill on his behalf. On August 9, 1969, four members of this group brutally murdered four people (including the actress Sharon Tate) at a home in Beverly Hills, California. The following night, they killed again, murdering a wealthy couple: Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. After the Tate murders, one of the killers scrawled the word "pig" on the front door in Tate's blood; various messages, including the phrase "Healter Skelter," were written in blood at the LaBianca home.

Phil Anselmo has pointed out that Charles Manson never actually killed anybody. He often makes the point that while Manson is notorious for the crimes, everyone has free will, and the actual killers deserve the blame. This belief in personal accountability is a core precept in metal: if Pantera's listeners did everything their songs told them to, they would all be in jail and Anselmo would get the blame just like Manson.

Pantera made another Charles Manson reference in their 2000 song "Uplift" - the first line of the song is a quote by Manson: "No sense makes sense." Phil Anselmo's band Superjoint Ritual also has a song about Manson called "Creepy Crawl," which is on their 2002 album Use Once and Destroy.