Editing Nothing Records (section)

=== Marilyn Manson (Portrait era) ===
In the months following the momentum of ''The Downward Spiral'', the next release from the label came from [[Marilyn Manson (band)|Marilyn Manson]]. One of the earliest signings to the label, [[Marilyn Manson]] first met Reznor in 1990, while enrolled as a student at [[Broward College|Broward Community College]] in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida]]. Warner was working towards a degree in journalism and gaining experience in the field by writing articles for a music magazine, ''[[25th Parallel (magazine)|25th Parallel]]''. One of his interviews for the magazine was with Reznor. Manson also performed as a local opener for Nine Inch Nails in July 1990 with his band, then known as Marilyn Manson and The Spooky Kids, at Club Nu in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (a show which also included future Nothing Records act [[Meat Beat Manifesto]]). Manson wound up giving Reznor a tape of his material.

Upon forming the Nothing Records imprint, Reznor called Manson and offered to sign him to the label, alongside an opening slot supporting Nine Inch Nails on their upcoming "[[Self Destruct Tour]]". At the time, Manson's band had been fielding offers from numerous record companies, including Madonna's Maverick label. Given the promise of total artistic freedom, the band opted to sign to Nothing Records.

Recording sessions for their debut studio album began in July 1993 with producer (and former [[Swans (band)|Swans]] drummer) [[Roli Mosimann]] at [[Criteria Studios]] in [[Miami, Florida]]. Recording a selection of new songs, along with material from their Spooky Kids repertoire, the first version of their debut, titled ''[[The Manson Family Album]]'', was completed by the end of September. However, it was not well received.<ref name="LoudwirePortrait">{{cite web |url=http://loudwire.com/marilyn-manson-portrait-of-an-american-family-album-anniversary/ |title=21 Years Ago: Marilyn Manson Issues 'Portrait of an American Family' |author=Wiederhorn, Jon |work=[[Loudwire]] |publisher=[[Townsquare Media]] |access-date=March 24, 2016}}</ref> The band's members, along with Reznor, felt Mosimann's production was flat, lifeless and poorly representative of the band's live performances. Seeking a more raw sound, Reznor agreed to rework production of ''The Manson Family Album'' in October 1993 at [[Record Plant#Los Angeles|Record Plant Studios]] in [[Los Angeles]]. After seven weeks of mixing and re-recording, the album, retitled ''[[Portrait of an American Family]]'', was presented to Nothing's parent label [[Interscope Records|Interscope]]. The song "Filth" was dropped from the revised album, while the songs "Prelude (The Family Trip)" and "Wrapped In Plastic" were added. The song "Citronella" was renamed "Dogma". Several other minor musical and lyrical differences exist throughout the two versions, such as fewer Charles Manson samples being included in the song "My Monkey".

Upon delivery of the album, Interscope was receiving a lot of negative press for the content of artists on another label they were housing at the time, [[Death Row Records]], and expressed some reservations about releasing the album, which they anticipated could be controversial.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.axs.com/welcome-to-death-row-the-story-of-notorious-death-row-records-64361| title = Welcome to Death Row: The Story Of The Notorious Death Row Records| author = Gantt, Kareem| work = AXS| date = August 22, 2015| access-date = August 28, 2016}}</ref> Reznor threatened to take the album to another label if necessary, at which time Interscope agreed to release it, on the condition that the band remove some photos from the album sleeve. The album's original cover art featured no text, simply a painting of a clown by [[John Wayne Gacy]] (the Gacy painting was later used as album art by the band [[Acid Bath]] for the album ''[[When the Kite String Pops]]'' in 1994). The sleeve photography included Polaroid pictures (faked by Manson and friends) of a mutilated female body, and a photo of what Manson described as "one of those dolls from the 60s and you pull a string on the back of it and the eyes get really big and they change colors." Manson also intended to use a picture of himself as a child sitting nude on a couch in the album's interior artwork. Though no genitalia was shown in the picture and it was taken by his own parents with no vulgar intent, the record label feared it would be misunderstood as child pornography. The ideas of using the Gacy artwork and the nude photos were ultimately dropped and, after a few months delay, the album was released on Nothing Records on July 19, 1994 and peaked at number thirty-five on ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''{{'}}s [[Top Heatseekers]] album chart,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/portrait-of-an-american-family-mw0000115824/awards |title=Portrait of an American Family |work=[[AllMusic]] |publisher=[[Rovi]] |access-date=March 28, 2016}}</ref> establishing the band as rising stars and a commercial success.

Originally, their song "Snake Eyes And Sissies" from Mosimann's ''The Manson Family Album'' sessions was intended to be the band's first single, with a single edit having been created. However, after the Reznor sessions, the album was instead led by the single "[[Get Your Gunn]]", followed by "[[Lunchbox (song)|Lunchbox]]" and "[[Dope Hat]]". The album was certified [[Music recording sales certification|Gold]] on May 29, 2003 by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA) in the United States.<ref name="riaa">{{cite web |url=http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=Portrait%20Of%20An%20American%20Family&artist=Marilyn%20Manson&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2010&sort=Artist&perPage=25 |title=RIAA Database Search for Marilyn Manson |publisher=Recording Industry Association of America |access-date=2008-08-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924151606/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1 |archive-date=2015-09-24 }}</ref>