We Shall Cleanse the World (Ministry in general)

Member Name: Ian Proudfoot

Product:	Ministry in general
Date:	05/02/02 (114 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Infleuntial , Fantastic, Best Side project names ever

Disadvantages: Early album, Becoming inactive

For some artists the road to stardom is a straight forward journey from obscurity to stardom, from the underground fringes to the dizzy heights of commercial success , from being cult heroes to sell outs. However if your name is Al Jourgensen and your band is called Ministry then the road to stardom involves selling in, going underground, controlling your own destiny and achieving fame by sticking to your guns and then throwing it all away again. You will also become one of the main players and groundbreakers in alternative music and then be forget about as a wave of new bands reap the benefits that your pioneering musical groundwork helped to form.

The story of Ministry begins way back in the decade that time wishes it could forget the 1980s. The year is 1981 and ex Special Effect member Al Jourgensen has formed a new band going by the name of Ministry, who also is responsible for co-founding the legendary Wax Trax Label with Jim Nash. At this time Ministry are a synthpop band closest in sound to the likes of early Depeche Mode, Spandu Ballet or a non sleazy Soft Cell. In fact leagues away from the hard rocking mothers that they become in the 1990s. Early promotion pictures of Al exist, with he looking like a clean cut pop idol wearing a top hat and tails. After releasing the lite funky pop of “Cold Life” (1982) on Wax Trax. Jourgensen and the other members of the fledgling Ministry (Who shall remain nameless in order to protect their identities) are signed by Arista records where they release the limp wrested synthpop of “With Sympathy” (1983) (Named “Work For Love” in Europe). “With Sympathy” is a wretched collection of drippy love songs and cheesy synth workouts that should only be purchased if you are a) A sadomasochist with a preference for bad 80’s music or b) A Ministry junkie who has too much money and very little sense.

“With Sympathy” has a mild amount of success in Ame
rica and is now only seen by many as a scam pulled by Jourgensen to get money to float Wax Trax records. However Ministry’s next release began to show the promise the Al Jourgensen was to later show . Taking a break from the world of pop , Jourgensen began to hang around with the movers and shakers in the European Electro Industrial underground . At the same time Jourgensen ditches the other members of Ministry and decides to go it alone . The product was the harder European electro sounding “Twitch “ (1986) which saw Al combined the weighty tectonic rhythms of bands like Front 242 and a;Grumph to the pop sensibilities of his earlier work. The result is a hard hitting album that can be seen as a benchmark in the early days of Industrial Electro music. It is around this time that we see the emergence of the first of the Ministry side projects, the Revolting Cocks. Initially a collaboration between Jourgensen , Richard 23 (Front 242) and Luc Van Acker (Shreikback) they release an album called “Big Sexy Land (1987) which was described by Al as “Disco for Psychopaths”. A fair description of the hard funk and solid beats that would become the trademark of Revco. A live album and video by Revco was released in 1988, named “You Goddamn Son Of A Bitch” it introduced ex Fini Tribe singer Chris Connelly to the Ministry family and captures the Revco experience it all it’s sleazy prime.

If “Twitch” had been an evolution of the Ministry sound the “The Land Of Rape and Honey “(1989) was a revolution. Joined by Paul Barker (Ex The Blackouts) for the first time, a partnership was formed that would change the direction and destiny of Ministry and Industrial rock. The opening track of “The Land Of Rape And Honey” Stigmata immediately states the purpose of the new Ministry. A combination of sledgehammer beats, slashing and buzzing guitars and Al’s Distorted vocals clearly st
ated Ministry’s new beliefs. They we’re angry, pissed off and taking no prisoners. The first three tracks (Stigmata, The Missing and Deity) hit with such force that the rest of the album’ dense techno funk sounds sedated in context. The new partnership of Jourgensen and Barker when into overdrive producing under the pseudonyms Hypo Luxa and Hermes Pan a whole portfolio of side projects such as Acid Horse (With Cabaret Voltaire) PTP (Programming The Psychodrill), Pailhead (With Ian Mackaye of Fugazi) as well as the infamous 1000 Homo DJ’s (named after the projected audience for the project)

Following the Big Bang like evolution of “The Land Of Rape And Honey”, Jourgensen and Barker took Ministry closer to the mainstream with their next album “The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste” (1990) . Heavier on the guitars than it’s processor “The Mind..” was an album that would fix Ministry’s musical approach and also lay the foundations for what would later become Industrial Metal and further down the line help to shape the sound of Nu Metal. Where as most heavy rock music was still dominated by bombast and guitar soloing, Ministry stripped rock down it’s mechanical basics, guitar solos were replaced with weird electronic sounds and buzzes and all the superficial cut to the bone to create a slick new machine powered by controlled aggression. Ministry tour at this time is captured on the excellent album and video “In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up” (1990) where Barker and Jourgensen are joint by a roll call of the alternative underground including Martin Atkins (P.I.L, Later Pigface) and Nivek Ogre (Skinny Puppy). Not just content with touring Jourgensen and Barker also recorded with Ex Dead Kennedy’s man Jello Biafra as Lard. The 1990 Lard Album “The Last Temptation Of Reid” is a worthy counterpart to “The Mind..”. Paul Barker als
o recorded a solo album under the name Lead Into Gold called “Age Of Reason” (1990) that was patchy at best.

A year later and things have really began to move on for Jourgensen and Barker, however success begins to arrive in the form of the Revolting Cock’s “Beers, Steers & Queers” (1991) album a combination of the earlier Revco disco funk sleaze and a harder groovy lead guitar sound. “Beers, Steers and Queers” sees Revco’s profile rocket. Things are helped along nicely along by the scandal and rumour surrounding the coinciding tour. Urban myths of live cattle mutilation and electric fences nearly end with Revco being banned from travelling to the UK by backbench Tory Terry Thomas. Tied into this is club success o f the second 1000 Homo DJ’s record a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut” (1991) which features a someone called Trent Reznor on guitar and vocals. The hype and furore over the Revco tour only helps increase the profile of the band and paths the way for Ministry’s next album to break into the UK and US top 40’s.

1992 was the year that Alternative music finally broke into the mainstream. If Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album spearheaded the attack then Ministry’s “Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed And The Way To Sucks Eggs” was amongst the ground troops over running the beachheads. “Psalm 69” was really a consolidation of what Ministry had been heading for over the two previous albums. Led by the two killer singles “Jesus Built My Hotrod” (featuring Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers) and “N.W.O, “Psalm 69” was an out of control juggernaut of an album that steamrolled the opposition and proved that heavy music had a future. The success of “Psalm 69” lead to Ministry playing second on bill on the 1992 Lollapalooza tour. Finally Ministry had made it big and this time it was
on the own grounds.

Now an almost house hold name Ministry then return in 1993 with another Revco album “Linger Fickin Good … And Other Barnyard Oddities”. Many had high hopes for the album and wondered if it would send Ministry into the realm of the mega famous. Initially things looked good, the first single from the album was a tongue in cheek deconstruction of Rod’s Stewart’s Narcissi “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” However “Linger Fickin” was a massive disappointment. Sludgy production and a lack of great songs made the album run of the mile rather than the promised mindblower. With rumours of Al’s drug habit getting out of hand , peoples started to point at the excesses of the Ministry family as leading to their possible failure.

Suddenly the amazingly productive collaboration of Jourgensen and Barker goes quiet. The band retreat to the Texas and we have to wait three years for the next release. Again people are putting a lot of hope in Ministry’s return hoping that “Linger Fickin” was a minor hiccup. Then “Filth Pig” (1996) arrives at people are bemused once again. Gone is the adrenaline fuelled thrash of “Psalm 69” to be replaced by the cybernetic Sabbathisms of “Filth Pig”. It seemed to many that Jourgensen and Barker had committed commercial suicide by releasing an deliberately obtuse and different album to enrage the critics and distance themselves from their new found audience. Truth is that Jourgensen and Barker were bored of the cyber thrash of their previous albums and wanted to take Ministry in a direction. A direction that works if you open your ears and mind.

After another 3 years wait and more rumour and speculation. Including rumours of Al releasing a country album (A long running rumour that pops up , now and again) as Buck Satan and the 666 shooters and his death by heroin overdose. Both of which are pr
oven false with the arrival of “Dark Side Of The Spoon” (1999). “Dark Side” sees Ministry combined the weight of “Filth Pig” with the thrash of “Psalm 69” as well as new sounds and musical approaches to create a monster of an album that along with the use of the track “Bad Blood” in the Matrix soundtrack helps again raise the bands profile. To wrap things up a best of album is released in 2001. It goes by the name of “Greatest Fits” and includes one new track “What About Us” which features on the soundtrack to the movie AI. The band also make a guest appearance in the film. The best of album acts as a superb collection as well as a history of a great band that has influenced music way beyond their sells. Next time you listen to Rob Zombie, Static X or Fear Factory remember they wouldn’t exist without the influence of Ministry.

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