Qualcosa di malsano era già stato annunciato dai vari demo-tape fatti circolare ad inizio anni '90 da questa band di giovani scalmanati che andava sotto il nome di Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, ma nessuno si aspettava un debut così prorompente da parte di una band emergente, soprattutto in un'America che lentamente assisteva agli ultimi respiri di un genere morente come il grunge.
Addio alla depressione, ciò che i Marilyn Manson hanno da offrirci è un lungo trip emozionale attraverso le nostre più recondite paure, le paure di una società che pian piano è uscita dall'incubo della Guerra Fredda e vede ora negli Stati Uniti i padroni incontrastati del mondo. Una società fortemente influenzata dai media, dove l'unica via di fuga sembra venire dall'assunzione di droghe: questo è il mondo narrato da Brian Warner in "Portrait of an American Family", un vomitevole quadretto familiare dove la Tv sembra prendere il sopravvento sulla mente di noi poveri esseri pensanti.
Musicalmente parlando si tratta di un'ottima commistione di garage, hard-rock e vaghi riferimenti al doom, il tutto sapientemente legato dal carisma e dalla teatralità di Marilyn Manson, il leader indiscusso di questa nuova creatura infernale. Riminiscenze di Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne e Iggy Pop aleggiano nei comportamenti provocatori di Mr. Manson, ma niente in passato è stato tanto virulento e diretto come un pugno nello stomaco quanto il rock di questo "Portrait of an American Family".
Dopo un intro angosciante quale "The Family Trip" veniamo scossi da "Cake and Sodomy", un inno di protesta nei confronti dell'America perbenista e doppiogiochista ("Cash in hand and dick on screen / Who said God was ever clear?"). Il bullismo delle scuole americane viene denunciato da Manson in "Lunchbox", un inno generazionale che ancora dopo 12 anni dalla sua registrazione fomenta alla ribellione contro le ingiustizie i fan del Reverendo.
L'album tra alti e bassi ci regala gemme di rara bellezza come la drogata "Dope Hat", nella quale le tastiere di Madonna Wayne Gacy disegnano tappeti carichi di LSD e anfetamine per giovani ragazzi in fuga da una realtà opprimente. Degno punto di rottura tra le due "componenti" dell'album è la successiva "Get Your Gunn", che con un riff semplice e un giro di basso martellante ci porta verso la parte più rock dell'album, una parte zeppa di brani piacevoli come "Dogma" e "Wrapped in Plastic" (dal vago sapore grunge). Chiudono l'album "My Monkey" (un omaggio al famosissimo serial killer
Charles Manson) e la sciapa "Misery Machine".
Siamo nel 1994 e ancora sono lontani i tempi dell'Anticristo, del Manson conosciuto e temuto nel mondo quale portatore di principi immorali e di ideali corrosivi per le giovani generazioni. Nonostante tutto, la carica violenta di Marilyn Manson è ben racchiusa in questi sessantuno minuti di ottima musica. Questo è stato l'inizio di tutto, l'inizio di una leggenda, di un capitolo importante per la storia musicale degli anni '90, non si può far finta di niente e snobbare la proposta dei Marilyn Manson, sarebbe un peccato mortale !
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Prelude (The Family Trip) (01:21)
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're going
Or which way the wind is blowing
Is it raining? Is it snowing
Is a hurricane a-blowing
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Oh, the fires of hell are glowing
Is the grisly reaper mowing
Yes! The danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing!
Stop the boat!
02 Cake and Sodomy (03:46)
I am the god of fuck, I am the god of fuck
virgins sold in quantity, herded by heredity
red-neck-burn-out-midwest-mind
who said date rape isn't kind
porno nation, evaluation
what's this, time for segregation
libido, libido fascination, too much oral defecation
(chorus)
white trash get down on your knees
time for cake and sodomy
white trash get down on your knees
time for cake and sodomy
time for cake and sodomy
time for cake and sodomy
I am the god of fuck, I am the god of fuck
vcr's and vaseline, tv-fucked by plastic queens
cash in hand and dick on screen
who said god was ever clean
bible belt 'round anglo waist, putting sinners in their place
yeah, right, great if you're so good explain the shit stains on your face
(chorus)
repeat
yeah
time for cake and sodomy
time for cake and sodomy
03 Lunchbox (04:33)
Bring me down
On we plow
The big bully try to stick his finger in my chest
Try to tell me, tell me he's the best
But I don't really give a good goddamn 'cause
I got my lunchbox and I'm armed real well
I got my lunchbox and I'm armed real well
I got my lunchbox and I'm armed real well
I wanna grow up
I wanna be a big rock and roll star
I wanna grow up
I wanna be
So no one fucks with me
I got my pencils in my pocket, try to put me down
Wanna go out, gotta get out to the playground
Gonna throw down at the playground
I wanna go out
Next motherfucker gonna get my metal
Next motherfucker gonna get my metal
Next motherfucker gonna get my metal
Next motherfucker
Pow, pow, pow
Pow, pow, pow
Pow, pow, pow
Pow, pow, pow
I wanna grow up
I wanna be a big rock and roll star
I wanna grow up
I wanna be
So no one fucks with me
Yeah
I wanna grow up
I wanna be a big rock and roll star
I wanna grow up
I wanna be
So no one fucks with me
I wanna grow up
I wanna be a big rock and roll star
I wanna grow up
I wanna be
So no one fucks with me
05 Cyclops (03:32)
cyclops woman got one eye in her head
mascera clotted vision she is fed
cyclops woman can't see nothing at all
she got a pin-prick-spiral hole
she can't see nothing, nothing at all
she can't see nothing, nothing at all
cyclopss woman dying in her shell
guilt got her trapped in nailed in well
cyclops woman is the eye of the world
who's reflection's in the retina
she can't see nothing, nothing at all
she can't see nothing, nothing at all
dialate, dialate
07 Get Your Gunn (03:18)
Goddamn your righteous hand
I eat innocent meat
The housewife I will beat
The prolife I will kill
What you won't do I will
I bash myself to sleep
What you sow I will reap
I scar myself you see
I wish I wasn't me
I am the little stick
You stir me into shit
I hate therefore I am
Goddamn your righteous hand
Goddamn ooh Lord, Goddamn ooh Lord
Goddamn ooh Lord, Goddamn ooh Lord
Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
But your Selective judgements and good guy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me
I throw a little fit
I slit my teenage wrist
The most that I can learn
Is in records that you burn
Get your gunn, get your gunn
Get your gunn, get your gunn
Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
But your selective judgements and good guy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me
Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
But your selective judgements and good guy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me
I am the VHS
Record me with your fist
You want me to save the world
I'm just a little girl
Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
But your selective judgements and good guy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me
Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
But your selective judgements and good guy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me
Get your gunn, get your gunn
Get your gunn, get your gunn...Get
08 Wrapped in Plastic (05:35)
guilt is a snake we beat with a rake
to grow in our kitchen in the pies we bake
feed it to us to squirm in our bellies
twisting our guts make our spines to jelly
stay, don't wanna go now
rob the children from their chores
handcrafted housewives into whores
fear of the beast is calling it near
creating what we're hating, it's only fear that is here
stay, don't wanna go now
come into our home, won't you stay
I know the steak is cold but it's wrapped in plastic
come into our home, won't you stay
i know the steak is cold but it's wrapped in plastic
I'm only as deep as the self that I dig
I'm only as sick as the stick in the pig
thin and so white, thin and so white
daddy tells the daughter
while mommy's sleeping at night
to wash away sin you must take off your skin
the righteous father wears the yellowest grin
don't wanna go now
stay, don't wanna go now
stay, don't wanna go now
come into our home, won't you stay
I know the steak is cold but it's wrapped in plastic
11 Snake Eyes and Sissies (04:07)
wrench is just a household god but I carry mine with pride
I don't work but I can work with it to split your smile
run you down without a twitch, your car's just not as big as mine
tear the son out of your bitch and sprinkle your remains with lime
I ain't no workin man, I do the best I can, I got the devil's hand
rollin sixes
I am the habit man, I use up all I can, I got the slacker's hand
my afternoon's remote control
daydream milk and genocide
tranquility with broken knees, silly putty enemies
butter knife in your side
what I got I got for free, middle finger technology
what's yours is mine, yours is mine, told you fucker, yours is mine
snake eyes for sissies
I ain't no workin man, I do the best I can, I got the devil's hand
rollin sixes
I am the habit man, I use up all I can, I got the slacker's hand
I am the pedophile's dream
a messianic peter pan
just a boy, just a boy, just a little fucking boy
I can never be a man
I ain't no workin man, I do the best I can, I got the devil's hand
rollin sixes
I am the habit man, I use up all I can, I got the slacker's hand
I ain't no workin man, I do the best I can, I got the devil's hand
I am the habit man, I use up all I can, I got the slacker's hand
(oh no, oh no)
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