Portrait of an American Family

Untitled

Portrait of an American Family is Marilyn Manson's debut album, released in 1994. As with the band's next two releases, this album was co-produced by Trent Reznor.

Cultural references

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.

CD tracklisting

All lyrics are written by Manson (except track one, "Prelude (The Family trip)", taken from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory)

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Prelude (The Family Trip)"	Manson, Gacy	1:20
2.	"Cake and Sodomy"	Berkowitz	3:46
3.	"Lunchbox"	Berkowitz, Gein	4:32
4.	"Organ Grinder"	Gein, Berkowitz	4:22
5.	"Cyclops"	Berkowitz, Gein, Gacy	3:32
6.	"Dope Hat"	Manson, Berkowitz, Gacy	4:20
7.	"Get Your Gunn"	Berkowitz, Gein	3:18
8.	"Wrapped in Plastic"	Berkowitz	5:35
9.	"Dogma"	Berkowitz	3:22
10.	"Sweet Tooth"	Gacy, Gein	5:03
11.	"Snake Eyes and Sissies"	Gacy, Berkowitz, Gein	4:07
12.	"My Monkey"	Berkowitz	4:31
13.	"Misery Machine" (with bonus track. actual song is 5:08)	Gein, Berkowitz, Gacy	13:09

Additional Song Information

• The song "Filth" was deleted from the album prior to release, and has never been officially released.

• 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 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.

• The song "My Monkey" is different to the version on Big Black Bus.

• "Wrapped in Plastic" recycles lyrics from another Manson song, "IV-TV"

• "Snake Eyes and Sissies" was originally 5:09, and had extra lyrics.

Album Artwork Conflict

Manson has stated in his auto-biography The Long Hard Road Out of Hell that he originally wanted to use a nude photograph of himself as a child as artwork for the album jacket, but the label rejected the idea on the grounds that it could constitute child pornography. This made it the only Marilyn Manson studio album not to feature an image of Manson on the cover. However, Manson did use a nude photo of himself as an adult for the inside flap photo for the CD Single for Lunchbox The photo did not expose his genitals.

Credits

• Marilyn Manson
  • Marilyn Manson - vocals, producer, brass, loops, artwork (credited as "accusations, child manipulations, backwards masking, polaroids")
  • Daisy Berkowitz - guitars (credited as "psychoacoustical guitars")
  • Madonna Wayne Gacy - calliope, hammond organ, saxophone, theremin, brass, overdubs, loops (credited as "hammond organ, theremin, saxophone, calliopenis, brass, babies, distorted muzette, loops")
  • Sara Lee Lucas - drums, sound effects (credited as "hitting")
  • Gidget Gein - bass
  • Twiggy Ramirez - "base tendencies" (an often misunderstood pun, which of course, would be different from the bass guitar)
• Trent Reznor - producer, executive producer, digital editing, programming, mixing, brass, guitar
• Robin Finck - synthesis, keyboards (uncredited on album, however Manson has confirmed his involvement)
• Roli Mosimann - engineer
• Sean Beavan - assistant producer, programming, digital editing
• Alan Moulder - assistant producer, engineer, mixing
• Charlie Clouser - drums, drum programming, editing
• Chris Vrenna - percussion, programming, assistant engineer
• Tom Baker - mastering
• Chris Meyer - engineer
• Barry Goldberg - assistant engineer
• Brian Pollack - assistant engineer
• Brian Scheuble - assistant engineer
• Mark Gruber - assistant engineer
• Hope Nichols - saxophone, vocals
• Robin Perine - photography
• Jeffrey Weiss - photography
• Gary Talpas - packaging

NOTE:

• 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."

Charting positions

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1995	Top Heatseekers	#35