Portrait of an American Family

by

Marilyn Manson

Edit

Before "Antichrist Superstar" made Marilyn Manson a household name, this 1994 major label debut album was the beginning of he and his band invading mainstream America. After shortening the name of the band from Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids to just Marilyn Manson, they signed with Interscope Records and Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor produced this brilliant album; which showcases the social and moral decay of average Amercian family life. Song like "Organ Grinder", "Cake & Sodomy", "Dogma", "Get Your Gunn", "Sweet Tooth", "My Monkey", "Misery Machine", and the chilling "Lunchbox" are all thought provoking songs that really do make the listener think. Forget "Antichrist Superstar", "Mechanical Animals", and "Holy Wood", if there is one Marilyn Manson album to get, make it "Portrait of An American Family", and you will hear that the reason he is the man so many die hard Christian fanatics love to hate, is because he could be right about what he is saying.

I have been listening to all of Marilyn Manson's albums in the weeks awaiting his newest release "The High End of Low" which was just released May 26th, 2009. I spent much of my teen years listening to Marilyn Manson and consider myself a big fan of his work. But this does not make me biased in any way towards the high and lows (no pun intended) of his career. So this is my review series of all his albums. Hope you get to check them all out.

I really rate this album 3 1/2 stars. Its a decent album. For this review I will state the good followed by the bad.

THE GOOD:

This album is raw. It is full of angst ridden rock n roll! I can't think of any 16 year old kid who wouldn't like listening to this kind of music besides today's idiotic teens who only seem to listen to hip hop (and not even the good kind). It has a good amount of singles and it shows the beginning of a great musical act. For a debut album it is pretty good.

THE BAD:

This album is lacking in the quality of music. That is common with a debut album. Yes it has some really great tracks, but those tracks are also few and far between. They are overshadowed by some not so good tracks. Many that just seem like filler. You can tell that the band is still trying to find itself and it shows.

This album is pretty much the standard debut. It is raw, in your face, aggressive, and all over the place. The other problem with this album is that the angst feel to it is the kind that most people grow out of. It is a very "Teen angst" oriented album. If I had wrote this review back when I was 16, I would have given it a much higher rating. In other words it hasn't stood the test of time in my opinion. I am much older now and I find that I prefer Mechanical Animals and Holywood much more than this album. That is not saying the album is bad. For a debut it is great. But I am glad that the band evolved onto bigger and better things. There are many people out there with what I call "Debut album syndrome" in which they like the first album and the first album only of many bands. So much in fact that they will not listen to any of the other albums and they would definitely disagree on my review on this album. However I am not one of those people. I cannot stand it when a band does not evolve. For better or worse it is a band's duty to evolve and make every album different in my opinion and Marilyn Manson definitely does not fail on that aspect! Anyways, here is a 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" (with bonus track. actual song is 5:08)13:09

This album is not a bad album by any means. I like it alot and will listen to it from time to time. Especially those days when I am full of alot of angst. Angst doesn't go away over time... you just have alot less of it! I sort of grew out of this album. And in terms of music that is not a great thing. That is why I am reviewing it in such a way. I will note that Wrapped in Plastic is my favorite song on the album and should have been a single. It is a great song that shows the direction Manson and co. were heading. Its like a preview of everything after it. If you haven't listened to this album yet, definitely check it out. If you only check out one song, definitely check out "Wrapped in Plastic". It is not an essential album and all of the best songs are easily on "Lest we forget: The best of" Except of course "Wrapped in Plastic" So get all the songs that are on Best of plus "wrapped in plastic" and you have the best this album has to offer!