Revision as of 00:44, 16 July 2011

This article is about the album. For the tour, see Portrait of an American Family (tour).

Portrait of an American Family
Studio album by Marilyn Manson
Released	July 19, 1994
Recorded	August–December 1993 at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California, The Village Recorder and Pig
Genre	Alternative metal, heavy metal, industrial metal
Length	61:05
Label	Nothing, Interscope
Producer	Marilyn Manson, Trent Reznor
Professional reviews
Allmusic Template:Rating 3.5 link
Marilyn Manson chronology
The Manson Family Album (N/A) Portrait of an American Family (1994) Smells Like Children (1995)

Portrait of an American Family is the debut full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on July 19, 1994 in the US through Nothing and Interscope Records. It was produced by the band's frontman and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The album was initially known as The Manson Family Album—a direct reference to serial killer Charles Manson's own band—but was retitled prior to release.

It is the first and only Marilyn Manson studio album that bassist Gidget Gein plays on. Gein was fired from the band after its production following a very public and destructive heroin addiction and Twiggy Ramirez, the band's groupie and friend of Gein and Manson, was put as a temporary replacement while Gein got clean and sober. He eventually took over Gein's place, becoming a Gein clone. Contrary to popular belief, Ramirez did not play bass on the album. Though Sara Lee Lucas was the featured drummer on the album, Nine Inch Nails live keyboardist Charlie Clouser used a drum machine to replace the work Lucas did. Daisy Berkowitz helped compose music for all of the songs except "Prelude (The Family Trip)" and "Sweet Tooth."

The album has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide and was certified Gold on May 29, 2003 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of over 500,000 copies in the United States.^[1] It spawned three singles ("Get Your Gunn", "Lunchbox" and "Dope Hat").

In late 2009, it was re-released by Interscope and sold through Hot Topic stores as a special edition boxset combination of a T-shirt bearing the album artwork and colored vinyl 2xLP record of the album. The color of the disc is green, matching most of the bands fonts at the time of the albums original 1994 release, however this reissue featured some imagery from The High End of Low on its label, much to the dismay of fans.^[2]

Background

The Manson Family Album

Main article: The Manson Family Album

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Recording sessions for its national debut, Portrait of an American Family, began in July 1993. Working with producer Roli Mosimann at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida,^[3] the band recorded a selection of new songs along with reworked material from their Spooky Kids repertoire and, by the end of Autumn 1993, had completed the first version of their debut, a full album's worth of material collectively known as The Manson Family Album.^[4] At the time, "Snake Eyes and Sissies" was on track to be the band's first single, with a single edit having already been made. However the band was simply not satisfied with the output of these recording sessions and shelved the album for a short time.^[5]

Within a few months, the band would convince rising star Trent Reznor to produce the album instead.^[6] The abrasive sonic "rawness" that Mosimann's production had brought to such groups as Swans had failed to materialize on The Manson Family Album; Reznor and all the band's members thought it "sucked", and was poorly representative of Marilyn Manson's dynamic live performances.^[3][7] In October 1993, Reznor agreed to fully commit to the project, taking them and their tapes to various studios in Los Angeles. With the help of Reznor and numerous live members of his band, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson re-recorded and reworked their old material until they were satisfied and released it under the name Portrait of an American Family.^[8] "Snake Eyes and Sissies" would never see a single release and in the album's credits Mosimann is credited as an engineer with no mention of his production work.

Years later, former guitarist Daisy Berkowitz was asked about these original recordings in an interview and gave the interviewer a cassette tape featuring the unused recordings. The interviewer then released them to the Internet where they are now widely available, usually labeled as Portrait of an American Family (Pre-Reznor Mix) or Portrait of an American Family Demos.

Themes

The band's frontman has discussed his thoughts in retrospect on Portrait of an American Family with Empyrean Magazine, circa May/June 1995:

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Music

Songs

"Cake and Sodomy" is the second track on the album. In 1990, Manson met a woman at a McDonald's restaurant in Fort Lauderdale and invited him to spend a weekend with her in New York City. Upon discovering that the girl was using her sister's ID because she was too young to work, Manson abandoned her, shortly after which he ran into two clubbers from South Florida. Manson spent the remainder of his stay in New York at the clubbers' hotel room, where he stumbled on Public-access television cable TV channels, which were "a completely new phenomenon" to him. Manson "spent hours flipping through the station, watching Pat Robertson preach about society's evils and then ask people to call him with their credit card number," while "on the other channel, a guy was greasing up his cock with Vaseline and asking people to call and give him their credit card number." This inspired Manson to grab the hotel notepad and begin penning the song's lyrics. Manson explains in his autobiography The Long Hard Road Out of Hell that "I had written other songs I thought were good, but "Cake and Sodomy" was more than just a good song. As an anthem for the hypocritical America slobbering on the tit of Christianity, it was a blueprint for our future message."^[9]

"Lunchbox" is the second single and the third track of the album. It was inspired by a piece of legislation dating back to 1972, which makes it illegal to have metal lunchboxes in schools. The song tells the story of a school age child who is bullied and uses his own lunchbox as a weapon in retaliation, waiting for the day he can "grow up to be a big rock and roll star" who is never intimidated by others. The earliest recording of this song dates back to the band's After School Special cassette tape, released in January 1991. The album version of "Lunchbox" samples The Crazy World of Arthur Brown song "Fire".

"Dope Hat" is the third and final single and the sixth track of the album. The earliest recording of this song dates back to the band's The Family Jams cassette, released in 1992. Whilst the band's keyboardist Madonna Wayne Gacy was given a music credit for the song on Portrait of an American Family, curiously his name is absent from the credits of The Family Jams and Refrigerator, two cassettes a demo of "Dope Hat" had appeared on beforehand. The single's release was accompanied by a music video which featured Manson in the role of Willy Wonka in a shock-horror version of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

"Get Your Gunn" is the first single and the seventh track of the album. The song was inspired by the murder of OB/GYN doctor David Gunn who was killed in Florida by an anti-choice activist. The frontman later described his murder as "the ultimate hypocrisy I witnessed growing up: that these people killed someone in the name of being 'pro-life'".^[10]

"Wrapped in Plastic" is the eighth track on the album. The earliest recording of this song dates back to the band's Refrigerator cassette tape, released in 1993. It recycles lyrics from an earlier Spooky Kids song, "I.V.-T.V.". The frontman has stated that "Wrapped in Plastic" is about his past at his grandfather's basement. The version on The Family Jams cassette gives the listener better detail of this fact.

"Sweet Tooth" is the tenth song on the album, and the only song that former bassist Gidget Gein wrote both guitar and bass parts for. However, of all the album tracks, "Sweet Tooth" was the only one not regularly played live.

"Snake Eyes and Sissies" is the eleventh track on the album. Though "Snake Eyes and Sissies" was once considered important enough to be a potential single, it was never given a proper release and has not been played by the band since the Smells Like Children tour in 1995/1996.

"My Monkey" is the twelfth track on the album. Several verses were taken from "Mechanical Man" written and performed by Charles Manson in 1968; the lyrics of "My Monkey" are credited simply to "Manson". The earliest recording of this song dates back to the band's The Beaver Meat Cleaver Beat cassette tape, released in 1990.

"Misery Machine" is the thirteenth and final track on the album, and is a direct reference to the Mystery Machine from the animated television series Scooby-Doo. Imagery from the cartoon was prevalent in the early years of the band, having been used in various flyers among other similar cartoon characters.

Samples

The Portrait of an American Family album has an especially wide array of American cultural references. The words "Go on and smile, you cunt" at the beginning of "Cake and Sodomy" are spoken by Marlon Brando in the film Last Tango in Paris. In the song "Dogma", there is a sample from the John Waters film Pink Flamingos, when Mink Stole's character says "Burn, you fucker!" before setting fire to a trailer. Although the clip from Desperate Living is credited in the liner notes, this audio clip is not. Furthermore, John Waters was thanked in the liner notes. The phrase "We're gonna ride to the Abbey of Thelema" in the song "Misery Machine" is a reference to Aleister Crowley's Abbey of Thelema, which was used as the Headquarters from which the doctrines of Thelema would be spread throughout the world.

The track "My Monkey" borrows certain lyrics from a Charles Manson song called "Mechanical Man;" the lyrics of "My Monkey" are credited simply to "Manson". At 02:29 of "Get Your Gunn", there is a sample of a crowd murmuring and a gun shot. This is the audio from the press conference in which Budd Dwyer committed suicide in front of an audience. The words to "Prelude (The Family Trip)" come from Roald Dahl's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Also, the printing of Marilyn Manson on various promos during this time and on the remix album Smells Like Children resemble the printing of the title to the 1971 film version of the novel.

"Killing is killing, whether done for duty, profit or fun" is a quote by Richard Ramirez that is an audio clip at the start of "Snake Eyes and Sissies". "Organ Grinder" features the sample "Lollipops for the kiddie winkies," spoken by the Child Catcher from the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. At the start of "Cyclops" there is a very slowed down and distorted sample of the preacher from Poltergeist II singing "God Is In His Holy Temple". "Dope Hat" contains the samples "the great Hoodoo!" and "Prepare to meet your doom" taken from the Sid and Marty Krofft cult TV show Lidsville. These words are spoken by the actor Charles Nelson Reilly. "Lunchbox" contains the sample "I bring you fire!" from the song "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. "Misery Machine" contains a sample from "Beep Beep" by The Playmates. "Wrapped in Plastic" is influenced by Twin Peaks, referencing the image of character Laura Palmer wrapped in plastic, which was one of the show's most enduring images. It also featured the distorted words "Hallelujah" and "Meanwhile" from the Twin Peaks scene in the Black Lodge. This is followed by the distinctive scream of Laura Palmer.

In Marilyn Manson book, The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, he describes that Wrapped In Plastic is a song that's about his past at his grandfather's basement and the scream in the end of the song is Manson's voice distorted and backwards. The family jams version of the song gives the listener better detail of this fact.

Track listing

1. "Prelude (The Family Trip)" – 1:20

2. "Cake and Sodomy" – 3:46

3. "Lunchbox" – 4:32

4. "Organ Grinder" – 4:22

5. "Cyclops" – 3:32

6. "Dope Hat" – 4:21

7. "Get Your Gunn" – 3:18

8. "Wrapped in Plastic" – 5:35

9. "Dogma" – 3:22

10. "Sweet Tooth" – 5:03

11. "Snake Eyes and Sissies" – 4:07

12. "My Monkey" – 4:31

13. "Misery Machine" – 13:11

Bonus tracks

14. "Down in the Park" (Argentina bonus track) – 5:00

15. "Brown Bag" (Argentina bonus track) – 6:19

Album credits

Cover gallery

Charts and certifications

Album charts

Singles

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Trivia

• 
  "Snake Eyes and Sissies" was originally planned as the lead single but never released; "Get Your Gunn" was released instead. It also was originally 5:09, and had extra lyrics.
• Marilyn Manson created the clay sculpture on the cover of the album.
• Manson had initially wanted to put a nude photo of himself as a child for the album artwork. The record company deemed it would be seen as child pornography, so Manson created the album artwork with the clay figures.
• Although there are technically no hidden tracks on the album, there is some additional audio a few seconds after the end of last track, "Misery Machine". The sample, "Go home to your mother! Doesn't she ever watch you!? Tell her this isn't some Communist day-care center! Tell your mother I hate her! Tell your mother I hate you!" is spoken by Mink Stole from the John Waters 1977 film "Desperate Living". After this, a telephone can be heard ringing very quietly for several minutes, which is then followed an irate answering machine message, presumably from a parent of a Manson fan.
• Bassist Gidget Gein was fired after the production of this album.
• Daisy Berkowitz helped compose music for all of the songs except "Prelude (The Family Trip)" and "Sweet Tooth".
• Roli Mosimann was the original producer of the album, however due to the direction the album was taking the band felt his production was not what they were looking for and Trent Reznor took over the producer role while Mossiman was credited as the engineer.
• The album's original title was The Manson Family Album.
• The song "Filth" was planned to be officially released on Portrait of an American Family but was replaced by "Wrapped in Plastic" instead, and this Reznor-produced version has never been officially released.
• The track "My Monkey" is different from the one on Big Black Bus.
• One of the release parties for the album was held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on June 29th, 1994.
• One of the release parties for the album was held in Plantation, Florida on July 18th, 1994.
• In late 2009, Hot Topic stores began selling a combination set of a t-shirt baring the album artwork and colored vinyl of the album. The color of the vinyl is green, matching most fonts from the time.

Credits and personnel

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Marilyn Manson^[13]

• Mr. Manson – vocals, producer, brass, loops, artwork, adaptation, composer, logo (credited as "accusations, child manipulations, backwards masking, polaroids")
• Daisy Berkowitz – guitars, acoustic guitars, composer (credited as "psychoacoustical guitars")
• Madonna Wayne Gacy – calliope, hammond organ, saxophone, theremin, brass, overdubs, loops, composer, sound effects (credited as "hammond organ, theremin, saxophone, calliopenis, brass, babies, distorted muzette, loops")
• Sara Lee Lucas – drums, sound effects (credited as "hitting")
• Gidget Gein – bass, composer
• Twiggy Ramirez – "base tendencies" (an often misunderstood pun, which of course, would be different from the bass guitar)

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Production^[13]

• Trent Reznor – executive producer, digital editing, editing, pandora, programming, mixing, brass, guitar
• Robin Finck – synthesis, keyboards (uncredited on album, however Manson has confirmed his involvement)
• Roli Mosimann – engineer
• Sean Beavan – assistant, assistant producer, programming, digital editing, editing, mixing, brass
• Alan Moulder – assistant, assistant producer, engineer, mixing
• Charlie Clouser – drums, African drums, drum programming, digital editing, editing
• Chris Vrenna – percussion, programming, assistant engineer
• Tom Baker – mastering
• Chris Meyer – engineer
• Barry Goldberg – assistant, assistant engineer
• Brian Pollack – assistant, assistant engineer
• Brian Scheuble – assistant, assistant engineer
• Mark Gruber – assistant, assistant engineer
• Hope Nichols – saxophone, vocals
• Robert Pierce – vocals
• Robin Perine – photography
• Jeffrey Weiss – photography
• Gary Talpas – packaging
• Marc Freegard – mixing
• Wade Wright – mood lighting
• Albert Sgambati – tattoos
• Donovan Stringer – tattoos
• Frank Callari – management
• John Tovar – management
• Sioux Z. – publicity
• Melissa Romero – performance

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References

Footnotes

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Bibliography

• Manson, Marilyn; Strauss, Neil (February 14, 1998). The Long Hard Road Out of Hell. New York: HarperCollins division ReganBooks. ISBN 0-06-039258-4. 

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