Product Description

While Marilyn Manson's approach was hardly original (in fact, many of the band's gimmicks could be directly linked to bands past), few rock groups on a major label had been so unashamedly confrontational and unapologetic. In fact, all the members went by aliases that combined a movie star's name with a serial killer's. While such future releases as 1995's SMELLS LIKE CHILDREN and 1996's ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR would place the band at the top of the heavy metal/alternative heap,it was the group's debut from 1994, PORTRAIT OF AN AMERICANFAMILY, that got the ball rolling.
The band received a major break right off the bat by becoming good friends with Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor. Signed to his new record label, Nothing, Reznor helped co-produce the debut withsinger Manson, and gave the band the opening slot on NIN's inaugural 1994-1995 arena tour. Manson's music was more straightforward and more metallic than Nine Inch Nails (it was based more around distorted guitar riffs than electronics), as evidenced by the debut's best tracks, "Cake and Sodomy", "Lunchbox", "Dope Hat", and "Get Your Gunn".

Track Listing

1. Prelude (The Family Trip)
2. Cake And Sodomy
3. Lunchbox
4. Organ Grinder
5. Cyclops
6. Dope Hat
7. Get Your Gunn
8. Wrapped In Plastic
9. Dogma
10. Sweet Tooth
11. Snake Eyes And Sissies
12. My Monkey
13. Misery Machine/ Hidden Track

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11875 in Music
• Released on: 2003-05-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Running time: 61 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Every parent's nightmare and every teenager's dream band, Marilyn Manson take no prisoners on their blistering and brutal Trent Reznor-produced debut. Aiming to shock and rock simultaneously, Portrait scores high marks in both arenas. Manson and his grand grimoire take Alice Cooper's tongue-in-cheek mix of glam and death rock to the nth degree with their vision of youth gone wild, personified on cuts like "Cake and Sodomy" and "Lunchbox", a schoolyard revenge fantasy gone horribly awry. One of the most original, hardest rocking albums recorded in the 1990s, Portrait of an American Family is a hallmark of the industrial/metal genre, but not for those who are easily offended. --Gail Worley

Customer Reviews

Classic for MM fans!
First of all I would like to say if you are getting your first Marilyn Manson album then this isn't the one for you, I would recomend Lest We Forget with the bonus DVD. Make sure with the DVD but if you have that then this or White Trash is the one for you. It is Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kid style but has some of my favourite tracks on it. Get Your Gunn is a classic metal style song, Dope Hat is very catchy and amzing aswell as Lunchbox. My Monkey is so whacky you have to love it and it also has tracks like Cyclpos and Cake and Sodomey, if thats how you spell them. I will admit that there alot of fillers but still for any true MM fan. I only borrowed this but it has still grown on me quickly. Buy it!

you must own this
Manson's first studio album and hence I was expecting it to have some rough edges having heard Antichrist superstar. On first listen, it was better than I expected and on further listens it didn't dissapoint either, showing that it wasn't just my slightly low expectations in the first place. This album is a masterpiece. It's an incredibly flowing album with some great songs on it, in fact none of the songs are bad. In my opinion this is Manson's best album - it's his most original and unlike some of his later material contains no filler. This is a must have album in my reckoning

Portrait
Fantastic, this album is full of wit and just takes the mickey out of american society and their hypocracy in the government, church etc. This was when Manson was really switched on and didn't give a damn about offending. If you can see past the image you can really identify with the lyrics and the music is great, catchy but not cheesy with some great riffs and baselines. I love the rawness and the grubbiness of it all. If your a Manson fan buy it! If your a rock fan buy it!