halloween has same structure as lava? well, i mean, if you have your standard verse/chorus/bridge, of course it all would be “samey” in structure, no?
there’s a theory that barker had alot to contribute to the ‘ugly’ sound of filth pig and dark side. his bass sound was never “clean” until some tracks on animositisomina - it was always fx’d with various forms of distortions, which just added the “venom” to the sound.
as for al being pushed over the top, etc in the arista era, i think even in that 1983 interview with richard skinner - even then he actually states that “here we go” was a song about him wanting to defeat his record company, so i guess he quickly realised that it’s not so great?
all that talk from al that they made him into this faggy cheesy new wave pop guy and that they changed the music - well yea ok, if you are in new wave/synth pop band or whatever it was, image is kind of important, that’s the rules, he looked no more faggy in that special affect live video too. i guess arista “wussified” him or some shit.
as for changing the music, yeah maybe. listening to a few of 1982 boots, before they signed to arista and got the record deal for an album, they played like half of that album that wasnt even released yet.
at the same time they had some darker songs for sure (“never asked for nothing”), but also some completely cheesy (“love change”, “so-so life” anyone?) - i don’t think those were written “by arista staff with producers”. and yeah even “with sympathy” songs sounded more raw and ‘edgier’ live - because they were polished for the album.
and anyway… main argument - you are all familiar with the original 1982 same old madness video and song, right? yeah it doesn’t have that specific sugar coat of with sympathy, but it’s still freakin’ gay as fuck!!!
ok one video aint much to base judgement on, but that was going to be their next single, on wax trax no less - not arista.
i thnk the most prominent period where al was applying all the stuff he learned at arista from making with sympathy was 1984-1987, shame some songs still arent released in a good quality (if the studio versions even exist, we don’t know that).
As for ‘Psalm 69’ being a catchy record? I don’t hear that so much. “N.W.O” completely lacks a chorus, and seriously, “Corrosion” and “Grace?” I’ll admit 'Hotrod" and ‘Just One Fix’ leaning toward “catchy.” But, the overall album, I have difficulty subscribing to the idea that it’s “catchy.”
NWO’s great because it just one riff basicaly on a halftone interval - it just hypnotizes you. same thing for Scarecrow - and it drags on so long, it works. alot of ministry songs are very repetetive with not much variation or stuff goin’ on apart from all the sfx and samples - i think best example of that would be the CD version of Revco’s “Get Down” - it just puts you in a trance for 13 minutes and then whooooop its suddenly over and you’re like “whoaaa” and wake up.
i guess psalm69 was released at the right time. similarly reznor had mega success 2 years later with downward spiral, clearly it was time for the “industrial metal” to completely enter the mainstream. i can hear so much psalm69 and so much tiny ministry elements in nin’s “broken” and “tds”.