However, the band and its eponymous vocalist were unhappy with Mosimann's production, claiming it to be poorly representative of their established sound and calling it too "smoothed and polished".

[1] The majority of songs on The Manson Family Album were later re-recorded or remixed by Nine Inch Nails personnel Trent Reznor, Sean Beaven and Alan Moulder at the Record Plant in Los Angeles.

[3] The pair, invariably joined by numerous 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.

[2] 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[1] – quickly earned them a loyal fanbase among the South Florida punk and hardcore music scene.

[3] While working as a journalist for 25th Parallel in February 1990, Manson interviewed Nine Inch Nails vocalist Trent Reznor,[3] during that band's stint opening for The Jesus and Mary Chain.

"[5] Impressed by the material, Reznor offered the group a spot opening for Nine Inch Nails and Meat Beat Manifesto at Club Nu in Miami on July 3, 1990.

Berkowitz later recalled that the president of A&R at Sony, Richard Griffin, "personally rejected us within minutes, saying he liked the show and the idea but 'didn't like the singer.

[8] Recording sessions for The Manson Family Album began in July 1993 at Criteria Studios in Miami with producer Roli Mosimann,[9] and concluded several months later in the autumn.

Two songs on the record, "My Monkey" and "Citronella (Dogma)", date back to their first commercially-sold cassette album, 1990's Big Black Bus.

[12] Manson also complained that Mosimann's production eventuated in the songs sounding "smoothed and polished, losing [their] bite and edge.

[1] After re-recording, the record was renamed Portrait of an American Family,[9] with Mosimann listed as an engineer, and no mention of his original production role.

[7] Former bassist Gidget Gein also settled his lawsuit against the band that same year, for an amount similar to the one received by Berkowitz: "I'm not allowed to discuss the specifics of the case.

[17] Although the record was never released, Manson said in his 1998 autobiography The Long Hard Road Out of Hell that he intended to use a painting by John Wayne Gacy as the album cover.

Also set to be included as an interior photograph was an image of Manson sitting naked on his living room couch when he was 6 years old.