Ministry (band)
Ministry is an
American industrial metal band of the
1980s,
1990s and
2000s.
Alain Jourgensen was born 1958 in Havana, Cuba. He began Ministry in
Chicago,
Illinois in
1981. The original line-up consisted mainly of Jourgensen (vocals and keyboards) and
Stephen George (drums), and Ministry's original sound was essentially synth-pop that was more melodic than the music for which Jourgensen would become known. In the incarnation of Jourgensen/George, Ministry created four 12" singles on
Wax Trax! Records through 1984 (anthologized on
Twelve Inch Singles). Their first LP,
With Sympathy, was issued on Arista Records in
1983, and sold slowly. The music in
With Sympathy, and the various singles that Arista issued in association with it, was melodic pop, unlike anything Ministry would record afterwards; critic Dean Carlson describes the album as "
Human League's surly little brother."[
1] Jourgensen has always expressed disappointment with Ministry's music during those early years, reportedly referring to
With Sympathy as an "abortion of an album". According to him, after signing the record contract, all artistic control of Ministry was "handed" over to other writers and producers. Some of his preferred recordings from that era were collected into the CD
Early Trax (
Rykodisc Records, 2004).
By the mid-1980s, Jourgensen parted ways with George and the record-company, continuing the direction and sound of Ministry of pre-Arista period. Signing to Sire, Jourgensen performed mostly solo for Ministry's next LP,
Twitch (
1986), which didn't sell well. The music was danceable electronic music, but wasn't pop music, and the sound was harsher and more aggressive than what Ministry had recorded before. This would prove a pivotal move in the course of Ministry. Much of the new sound was created with the use of
digital sampling and the input of producer
Adrian Sherwood.
After
Twitch, Jourgensen made the most pivotal change in Ministry's history when he became re-enchanted with the instrument he had taken up years earlier: the electric guitar. He also brought
Paul Barker of the Seattle band the Blackouts into the Ministry fold to play electric bass in accompaniment; Barker would remain Jourgensen's bandmate through what are considered Ministry's golden years. With the addition of drummer
William Rieflin, Ministry recorded
The Land of Rape and Honey (
1988). The LP was a smash success in the underground music scene and is now considered a classic and one of the most important albums in the subgenre of "industrial metal".
The Land of Rape and Honey is arguably the best example of Ministry's sound, constructed of synthesizers, keyboards,
EBM sequences, tapes, jackhammering drum machines, obscure samples, dialogue excerpted from movies, unconventional electronic processing, and, occasionally, heavy distorted electric guitar and bass. The album was supported by a tour in 1988, the
music videos for
Stigmata (remix) (issued as a single) and the title song of the album.
Stigmata was also used in a key scene in
Richard Stanley's 1990 film
Hardware, although the band shown apparently performing the song was actually
Gwar.
The follow-up,
The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste was as, if not more, acclaimed than
The Land of Rape and Honey. Both albums included similar tight, thick soundscapes, but
The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste was slightly harder with Jourgensen's guitar more heavily emphasized.
The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste was supported by a tour through 1990, and by the singles
Burning Inside (for which a video was made) and
So What (a composition inspired by the movie
The Violent Years).
Throughout the late 1980s Jourgensen and Barker expanded their ideas beyond Ministry into a seemingly endless parade of side projects and collaborations. Many of these bore Ministry's signature sound and the duo's "Hypo Luxa/Hermes Pan" production imprint. (These side-projects were also responsible for the delayed release of Ministry's next album.) Foremost of these was Ministry's alter ego, the
Revolting Cocks. "RevCo", as it was fondly referred to, was essentially the same band plus Belgian vocalist
Luc Van Acker. Jourgensen and Barker also formed
Lard with
Dead Kennedys frontman
Jello Biafra,
Acid Horse with
Cabaret Voltaire,
1000 Homo DJs with
Nine Inch Nails'
Trent Reznor,
PTP with
Chris Connelly and
Pailhead with
Ian MacKaye of
Minor Threat and
Fugazi. Barker released his own material as
Lead Into Gold and Jourgensen produced and played electric guitar on
Skinny Puppy's
Rabies LP. Ministry would also inspire the industrial
supergroups of the
1990s such as
Pigface and
KMFDM. The rarest recordings from these projects were later collected on the CD
Side Trax (Rykodisc Records, 2004).
Ministry broke into the mainstream in
1991 with "Jesus Built My Hotrod" (co-authored by
Gibby Haynes of
the Butthole Surfers and
Michael Balch). The
music video was a hit on
MTV, and the band scored second billing on the Lollapalooza tour. As the single would have indicated, the sound of the following LP,
Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (
1992), was the heaviest and harshest Ministry had put to record at that point, the focal point of the sound being Jourgensen's and new members
Mike Scaccia's and
Louis Svitek's electric guitars. KΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ, which is printed on the record, is the Greek word for "head" followed by 69 in Greek numerals. The title was borrowed from
Aleister Crowley's work: The Book of Lies (Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs).
Psalm 69 became Ministry's biggest hit, including in addition to "Jesus Built My Hotrod" the singles "N.W.O." (a protest of the
Persian Gulf War and attack directed at then-
Pres. George Bush) and "Just One Fix" (a collaboration with poet/novelist
William S. Burroughs).
In spite of their growing success, Ministry was nearly derailed by a series of arrests and drug problems. The band didn't issue their next album,
Filth Pig, until
1996. For
Filth Pig, Ministry stripped all synthesizers and most samples from their style and made the music almost entirely with ultra-noisey guitars and real drums. The songs were played mostly at slower tempos than the very fast ones that were used for the compositions on their previous three LPs.
Filth Pig was supported with the singles/videos
Reload,
The Fall,
Lay Lady Lay (an unusual and unexpected cover of Bob Dylan's old hit) and
Brick Windows and with a tour in 1996 (the live performances were later anthologized on the
Sphinctour album and DVD in
2002), but was unenthusiastically received and was thought by some to be a lazy effort. Jourgensen would later consider
Filth Pig one of Ministry's best records, even though the sessions were remembered as a time marred by his habitual use of heroin (including one event resulting in an arrest of possession of heroin). He commented in RIP Magazine saying that record companies are "enablers", because they won't pay him in crack, they make him go buy it on the street. The album has been considered by Jourgensen to be his response to fan expectations of where Ministry's sound was heading.
The members of Ministry experienced greater devastation when former guitarist William Tucker committed suicide in 1999 by cutting his own throat. Ministry then recorded their final studio album for Warner Brothers, entitled
Dark Side of the Spoon (
1999), which they dedicated to Tucker. For
Dark Side of the Spoon, Ministry tried to diversify their sound by adding some melodic and synthetic touches, similar to the Jourgensen/George sound, to their usual electro-metal sound, but the album wasn't well received. To this day, it is the one album Jourgensen barely remembers recording due to his overwhelming drug addictions. "It felt like I was operating on Dealer Standard Time," he later confided. However, the single "Bad Blood" appeared on the soundtrack album of
The Matrix and was nominated for a
2000 Grammy award. The band would record another song,
What About Us? for the Steven Spielberg film
and make a cameo appearance in the film.
Parting with their longtime record imprint, Warner Brothers issued the collection
Greatest Fits in 2001. During 2000-2002, record-company (Warner) disputes resulted in the planned albums
Live Psalm 69,
Sphinctour and
ClittourUS on
Ipecac Recordings from being cancelled (although its contents had been compiled), resulting instead in
Sphinctour appearing on
Sanctuary Records.
With Ministry somewhat active once again, Jourgensen and Barker focused on developing songs for a new record during 2001 and 2002. Ministry issued
Animositisomina on Sanctuary Records in
2003. The sound was pure heavy metal laden with voice effects, and matched the ferocity (if not upped the ante, with the song "Animosity") of
Psalm 69 (though it featured an almost-pop cover of
Magazine's "The Light Pours out of Me").
Barker left the Ministry camp for somewhat cryptic reasons in 2003, but stated in early 2004 that his family life was his main focus at that particular time. Jourgensen then freely continued Ministry with Scaccia and a roundtable of fellow musicians. For Ministry's next album, Jourgensen remade "N.W.O." as "No 'W'", turning the composition into an attack on ex-Pres. Bush's son, Pres.
George W. Bush; an alternate version of the track was placed on the multi-performer compilation
Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1. Ministry's new LP,
Houses of the Molé (
2004), contained the most explicitly political lyrics Jourgensen had yet to author, with songs in Ministry's classic
punky electro-metallic sound played messier, more crudely and more freely than ever before. For Ministry's
Evil Doer Tour in 2004, Jourgensen teamed up with PunkVoter and Music For America (MFA) to encourage more youth to register to vote in the upcoming national election. The use of the word
molé in the title is quite significant; molé is a fine Mexican sauce made from chocolate. Jourgensen chose the word because the delicacy is nearly black and resembles oil, a mainstay of the economy in Texas, George W. Bush's home state. The title was also said to inspired by their surroundings in
El Paso, Texas, where they recorded the album. The band's
2006 album
Rio Grande Blood continued in much the same vein, featuring many Bush samples and accusing the
George W. Bush administration of complicity in the
9/11 attacks on "Lieslieslies".
In May 2006, Jourgensen told
Billboard.com that the next Ministry album -
The Last Sucker - would be the band's swansong:
"...it's also about this corrupt administration. That seems to be my muse; everyone seems to think I write real shitty music when a Democrat's in office. So we'll do that one, and then me and George Bush go riding off hand-in-hand, into the sunset." [
2]
Continuing the frequent lineup changes, Ministry's current MasturbaTOUR featuring Paul Raven from
Killing Joke, Tommy Victor from
Prong, and the newly confirmed drummer
Joey Jordison of
Slipknot.
In 2004, Jourgensen started his own label, "
13th Planet Records".See also:
Revolting CocksStudio albums
Compilations/Remix Albums
Twelve Inch Singles (
1985)
Greatest Fits (
2001)
Early Trax (2004)
Side Trax (2004)
Rantology (
2005)
Live albums
In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (
1990)
Sphinctour (
2002)
Certifications
*
Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs - Gold (January 1993)
*
The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste - Gold (December 1995)
*
Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs - Platinum (December 1995)
*
The Land of Rape and Honey - Gold (January 1996)
Singles
Cold Life (
1981)
I Wanted to Tell Her (
1983)
Revenge (1983)
Work for Love (1983)
All Day (
1985)
The Nature of Love (1985)
Over the Shoulder (1985)
(Everyday Is) Halloween (1985)
Stigmata (
1988)
Burning Inside (1989)
So What (1989)
Jesus Built My Hotrod (
1991)
N.W.O. (
1992)
Just One Fix (
1992)
The Fall (
1995)
Lay Lady Lay (
1996)
Brick Windows (1996)
Bad Blood (
1999)
No W (2003)
The Great Satan (2006)
Lieslieslies (2006)
Charting
Box sets
Box (
1993)
Just Another Fix (
1995)
3 for One Box (
2000)
Videos
In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (
1990)
Jesus Built My Hotrod (
1991)
Tapes of Wrath (
2000)
What About Us? - Promo (
2001)
Sphinctour (
2002)
Tribute albums
An Industrial Tribute to Ministry (
Industrial)
Wish You Were Queer: A Tribute to Ministry (
Industrial and
Electronica)
Another Prick In the Wall: A Tribute to Ministry - Volume 2 (
Industrial and
Electronica)
Devilswork: Tribute to Ministry (
Metal)
*
Al Jourgensen (voices & various instruments; always a member)
* Stephen George (drums, 1981-1985; tours from 1981-1984)
* Lamont Welton (bass; 1981)
* Marty Sorenson (bass; 1981-1982)
* John Davis (keyboards; 1981-1983)
* Robert Roberts (keyboards; live, 1981-1983)
* Brad Hallen (bass, 1982-1986; live, 1984)
* Mark Pothier (keyboards; live, 1983)
* Patty Jourgensen (keyboards, voices; 1983-1986)
* Doug Chamberlin (keyboards, backing vocals: Oct. 1983-Oct. 1984)
*
Paul Barker (bass, keyboards, programming, voices; 1986-Aug. 2003)
*
Bill Rieflin (drums, programming; 1986-Feb. 1995)
* Roland Barker (keyboards, saxophone; tours of 1986 and 1992-1993)
*
Chris Connelly (vocals & various songwriting credits; 1988-1990)
*
Kevin Ogilvie (guitar, keyboards, voices; tours of 1988-1990)
* Mike Scaccia (guitar; 1989-1995, 2003-)
*
Martin Atkins (drums; tour in 1990)
* Terry Roberts (guitar; tour in 1990)
* William Tucker (guitar; tour in 1990)
* Michael Balch (keyboards, programming; 1991-1993)
*
Louis Svitek (guitar; 1992-2003)
*
Rey Washam (drums/percussion, programming; 1995-1999, 2003-2004)
* Adam Grossman (guitar; 2003)
* Tia Sprocket (drums; live from Feb. 2003-Apr. 2003)
* Mark Baker (drums; 2003-)
* Kol Marshall (keyboards; 2003-Mar. 2004)
* Max Brody (drums/percussion, programming, saxophone; 2001-2004)
* Darrell James (keyboards; tours in 2003 and 2004)
* John Monte (bass; Jan. 2004-Sep. 2004)
* Eddy Garcia (bass; Sep. 2004-Dec. 2004)
* Bryan Kehoe (guitar; May 2004-Sep. 2004)
* Rick Valles (guitar; Sep. 2004-Dec. 2004)
*
Tommy Victor (guitar; 2005-)
*
Paul Raven (bass; 2005-)
*
Joey Jordison (drums; Feb. 2006-)
*
John Bechdel (keyboards; Feb. 2006-)
*
Revolting Cocks*
Pailhead*
Lard*
1000 Homo DJs*
PTP*
Acid Horse*
Lead Into Gold*
Pigface*
Skinny Puppy*
Skrew*
KMFDM*
Official site*
Ministry @
Encyclopaedia Metallum*
Ministry @ prongs.org*
Piss Army, official fan site*Jon Wiederhorn,
MTV News, 10:11 p.m. EDT May 6th 2004,
"In President Bush, Ministry Find Both A Monster And A Muse".
*Kirk Miller,
Rolling Stone, Jun. 21st 2004,
"Ministry's War on Bush".
*Steve Huey,
All Music Guide,
biography of Ministry, (P) AEC One Stop Group.
*
Music For America (MFA)*
Ministry's Profile on Altsounds.com
