I am so tired of hearing Al bash “With Sympathy” and wish that he would quit being such a pussy and own up to it! He’s acting like an 80’s teenager that went “metal” over summer vacation and is trying way too hard to impress the metal stoners who are smoking ditchweed in the park across the street from the Junior High.
Come on Al, just own up to it! I think it would be way more “hardcore” of you to own up to your past and just say “yeah, I did some synth-fag music for some $ back in the day, what of it?” than to keep playing the role of the musician victimized by his record label. Or are you too afraid you’ll lose your legions of hot topic faux-punks if they knew the truth?
Believe it or not Al, some of your fans like your synth-fag music, or at least find it to be an interesting chapter of Ministry’s musical evolution. I for one can’t stand most of “With Sympaty” but to tell you the truth the crap you’ve put out lately (Rantology, Last Sucker, Cover-Up) is WAY more embarassing to me as a fan than WS ever was!!!
I swear, Al is more of a bullshitter than David Allan Coe these days!
He’s been bashing WS since '88 (if not earlier), so he probably just believes it at this point. I would certainly respect him more if he did acknowledge that era, only because it sounds like bitter BS. There’s enough evidence on this forum alone to suggest that he was really into that music at the time. Were his business dealings with Arista so bad that he is completely blind with bitterness over that album? Did a major label really have so much control over him to evoke such hatred?
I guess after so many years, it really isn’t too odd that an artist might not like the beginning of their career (e.g. Depeche Mode isn’t really proud of Speak and Spell, but it’s also 90% Vince Clark; however they do acknowledge that album in concert to this day). Al was already hating his early work after only a few years, so he must’ve been pissed about something. Has anyone actually asked him, “What about Cold Life?” It was a DIY record, so he couldn’t bitter towards that EP, unless he just flat-out hates the music he made then.
I’m guessing that anything with Patty J. on it is on his ‘least favorite’ list, too.
However, Al has been talking dirt about WS for as long as I can remember in interviews. Back in the days of “Mind” he called the album a corporate mandated abortion. Maybe you don’t like him saying it but after 15 years of saying pretty much the same thing I think you can expect that his opinion is fixed on the subject.
Go back and read interviews as early as you want; Al has never had anything nice to say about With Sympathy.
That said, I also wish he’d own up to the rest of his synthpop days which he clearly wasn’t “forced into” by any label.
I don’t think he was forced to do anything. He probably needed the money and figured to sell out a little. He’s a metal-guy now so even if he had a change of heart, figure out it would depress his sheep. Either way, what’s done is done. It’s stupid to completely block that album out. It’s a ministry album! But whatever, there’s people who like it or they don’t. I’m one of those who do.
But as someone already said, it wouldn’t be the first time a band bashed previous material and such. KMFDM, being another on that list. Sascha hates some of the older albums with a passion, mainly symbols.
But as someone already said, it wouldn’t be the first time a band bashed previous material and such. KMFDM, being another on that list. Sascha hates some of the older albums with a passion, mainly symbols.
Really? That’s the last good album they released, imo.
But as someone already said, it wouldn’t be the first time a band bashed previous material and such. KMFDM, being another on that list. Sascha hates some of the older albums with a passion, mainly symbols.
Really? I thought they only had one album that they released 20 different times.
well, if you’re any good you divorce yourself from the past.or try.
sascha knows that because he’s a survivor and good for him. i always look forward to what they do. maybe not as meaningful, original, whatever, but it still has meaning.still works for me.
But as someone already said, it wouldn’t be the first time a band bashed previous material and such. KMFDM, being another on that list. Sascha hates some of the older albums with a passion, mainly symbols.
Really? That’s the last good album they released, imo.[/reply]
He claims not to like most of those songs, but I think it’s mainly bitterness over the production process: this was a time when almost neither of them gone along AT ALL. But this isn’t the only album he’s bashed either. But with that, I can understand his logic some. KMFDM in the 90s was a little dysfunctional. The process for Nihil is said to be very interesting as well.
Just goes to show that conflict can bring great results. Symbols and Nihil are really the only two KMFDM albums I’d bother with these days (well Naive’s decent). XTORT which Sascha loves is the one that even back when I was a fanboy I couldn’t get into.
I’ve always kinda noticed that sometimes if a band doesn’t get along, there’s some good stuff to come out of that: Jane’s Addiction being a perfect example of that also. They recorded Ritual de lo Habitual in two different parties, all separate. Hell, stone temple pilots were great and that was a lot of dyfunction there as well.
[reply] XTORT which Sascha loves is the one that even back when I was a fanboy I couldn’t get into.
Same here. KMFDM by the numbers. Totally uninspired sounding.[/reply]
I think xtort is a great album, never got that “uninspired” vibe with that album at all. The newer stuff by kmfdm on the other hand…I think the only reason sascha likes that album so much is because there was no esch and any turmoil (at least, not much) in it’s production.
Don’t forget the biggest oversite - the Beatles self-titled “white album”. Man, those guys could barely even LOOK at each other without being irritated…