Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids were formed in December 1989 after vocalist Marilyn Manson met guitarist Daisy Berkowitz at the Reunion Room nightclub, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The pair, along with various other musicians, recorded several EPs of original demos over the next three years, with Berkowitz composing the majority of the music and Manson writing lyrics. The band's highly visualized live shows, which routinely featured naked women nailed to a crucifix, young children locked in cages, and an assortment of butchered animal remains, quickly earned them a loyal fanbase among the South Florida punk and hardcore music scene, and within six months of forming, the band was playing sold-out shows in 300-capacity nightclubs throughout Florida. While working as a journalist for 25th Parallel in February 1990, Manson interviewed Nine Inch Nails vocalist Trent Reznor, and the two remained friends, with Manson eventually presenting Reznor with a compilation of demos. Impressed by the material, Reznor offered the group a spot opening for Nine Inch Nails and Meat Beat Manifesto at Club Nu in Miami in July 1990. The band, which now included Gidget Gein on bass guitar, Madonna Wayne Gacy on keyboards, and Sara Lee Lucas on drums, continued touring and recording independently for two years, using the proceeds from a record deal signed with Sony in early 1991 to fund the recording of more demo tapes. In November 1992, Manson was invited by Reznor to attend unspecified "strategic talks" in Los Angeles, and by the end of the year, Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids became the first act to be signed to Reznor's Nothing Records vanity label, shortening their name to Marilyn Manson by the beginning of 1993.
Recording sessions for their first album, 'The Mason Family Album', began in July 1993 at Criteria Studios in Miami with producer Roli Mosimann, and concluded several months later in the autumn. Mosimann's production aimed for a "sleazy, groove-laden" sound", and the band made heavy use of tape loops, sound effects, and samples during recording, but in the end the band was unhappy with the results, believing it to be poorly representative of their live performances, with Manson complaining that Mosimann's production made the songs sound too smoothed and polished, and they lost their bite and edge. At the beginning of 1994, the band relocated to the Record Plant in Los Angeles, but without bassist Gidget Gein, who had been fired from the band a few days before Christmas 1993, due to his ongoing addiction to heroin. The whole album was re-recorded over seven weeks at the Record Plant, and despite Berkowitz's initial reluctance to re-record the album, worrying that it would make them look like a Nine Inch Nails/Reznor spin-off, the final result was a very high-quality piece of work. After re-recording, the the record was renamed 'Portrait Of An American Family', and was released in 1994 to limited commercial success, but mostly positive reviews, and by 2017 Rolling Stone had deemed it to be one of the greatest albums in the history of heavy metal music. Although 'The Manson Family Album' was never released, Manson said in his 1998 autobiography 'The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell' that he intended to use a painting by serial killer John Wayne Gacy as the album cover, and so that's what I've done for this post.
Track listing
01 Snakes Eyes And Sissies
02 Lunchbox
03 Get Your Gunn
04 Cyclops
05 Citronella
06 Cake And Sodomy
07 Filth
08 Sweet Tooth
09 Organ Grinder
10 My Monkey
11 Misery Machine
12 Dope Hat
Many of these tracks were re-recorded for the band's official debut album, but these versions differ in the following ways:
'Filth' is exclusive to this album, and has never been commercially released.
'Snake Eyes and Sissies' features an extra verse, resulting in it being 62 seconds longer than the version which appeared on 'Portrait...'
'Lunchbox' lacks the opening sample of Robert Pierce saying "Next motherfucker's gonna get my metal", and the opening guitar line contributed by Reznor.
'Get Your Gunn' repeats the chorus and bridge more than the released version, and is 50 seconds longer.
'Citronella' was later renamed 'Dogma' for its official release, though the two versions are almost identical.
'Sweet Tooth' lacks the 59 seconds of introductory ambient noise found on 'Portrait...'
This version of 'My Monkey' lacks a conventional chorus, and contains significantly more audio samples taken from television interviews by Charles Manson than the 'Portrait...' version, which appear where the chorus was later inserted. Robert Pierce's vocals are also much clearer and placed higher in the mix.
'Filth' is exclusive to this album, and has never been commercially released.
'Snake Eyes and Sissies' features an extra verse, resulting in it being 62 seconds longer than the version which appeared on 'Portrait...'
'Lunchbox' lacks the opening sample of Robert Pierce saying "Next motherfucker's gonna get my metal", and the opening guitar line contributed by Reznor.
'Get Your Gunn' repeats the chorus and bridge more than the released version, and is 50 seconds longer.
'Citronella' was later renamed 'Dogma' for its official release, though the two versions are almost identical.
'Sweet Tooth' lacks the 59 seconds of introductory ambient noise found on 'Portrait...'
This version of 'My Monkey' lacks a conventional chorus, and contains significantly more audio samples taken from television interviews by Charles Manson than the 'Portrait...' version, which appear where the chorus was later inserted. Robert Pierce's vocals are also much clearer and placed higher in the mix.
