Book Description
Publication Date: July 9, 2013
Hardcover: 288 pages
Ministry is a memoir both ugly and captivating, revealing Al Jourgensen as a man who lived a hard life his own way without making compromises. He survived prolonged drug addiction—twenty-two years of chronic heroin, cocaine, and alcohol abuse, to be more precise—before cleaning up, straightening out, and finding new reasons to live.
During his career, Jourgensen has engaged in all of the rock ’n’ roll clichés regarding decadence and debauchery and invented new forms of previously unachieved nihilism. Despite this and his addictions, he created seven seminal albums, including the bonafide, hugely influential classic The Land of Rape and Honey, 1989’s The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste, and 1992’s blockbuster Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed.
Ministry imparts the epic life of Al Jourgensen, a survivor who tempted fate, beat the odds, persevered, and put the pieces back together after unraveling completely.
I have the feeling it’ll be the most self-indulgent piece of rubbish i’ll ever read… Yet, i’m mildly curious to see his spin on things. and very curious to see how he spins things differently from what Connelly wrote. I’m thinking the two won’t match up at all.
But hey, maybe we’ll get to read more about the guy raping an ostrich.
But hey, maybe we’ll get to read more about the guy raping an ostrich.
Haha!!! Yeah, that was a deal breaker for me. And it was sad, to me, because Al’s got plenty of materials and stories of wild badassery and insanity on the road (the best ones are usually told about him by someone else) that I felt this epic shark jumping was so unneccessary.
That being said, I’m still excited about the book. I think it’ll consist of a bunch of stuff that happened (as interpreted from AJ’s POV) a bunch of stuff that might have happened, and a bunch of stuff that certainly never happened. I’m a huge fan of Rock autobiographies, so this is a must-buy for me.
I really wish a Ministry autobiography could be done in the style of Motley Crue’s “Dirt” whereby you’d have multiple takes on the same incidents relayed by different sources.
I’m imagining he’ll skip everything up to 1989 or so, or maybe only say a few dissmissive things. And then dote on the last 10 years or so for 3/4 of the book. But then, maybe I’ll be surprised.
Very unlikely this will be a good book, or near match its potential if Al’s brain wasn’t fried/drowned. It will likely be ghost written by some Cleopatra staff member and, of course, the wife. Expect a twisted account of everything and yes, as said before, it will likely be disproportionately focused on nu-Ministry era.
Also who do they think they’re fooling with that description about him cleaning up his act? As if he’s a bastion of wisdom and clarity.
Al’s book should be called the Drugs Do Work, For a While.
It will likely be ghost written by some Cleopatra staff member and, of course, the wife.
Or Jon Wiederhorn, like it says on the cover.
Anyway, I’ll buy it. I’ll also pick up a new copy of Chris’s book while I’m at it, since mine seems to have vanished.
There’s a catch-22 also because Al has gone on record saying that he has no memory of certain 2-4 year patches of his life . . . The years, typically, that most of us would probably find most interesting.
It’s funny because I was actually thinking the other day about how I’d lost Connelly’s book and needed to replace it, and then got to thinking “Why hasn’t Al written a book? He’s done basically everything else he can to cash in on Ministry” And lo and behold here it is!
I agree with others I think this will be totally slanted and half fictional. I’m most interested in hearing about the period surrounding ‘Filth Pig’ through ‘Animositisomina’ but we’ll see…Either way yes I’m definitely buying this!!
How did Al go from a good looking young man to a bad-ass looking man to such a hideous looking old idiot? He looks like how I imagined Marilyn Manson to look at that age. That sequence of Al image over the years kind of mirrored Ministry’s musical output over the years to a tee as well?! Hahaha
I also sadly think the book will be 95% Nu-Ministry and 5% Classic-Ministry.
[reply] It will likely be ghost written by some Cleopatra staff member and, of course, the wife.
Or Jon Wiederhorn, like it says on the cover.
Anyway, I’ll buy it. I’ll also pick up a new copy of Chris’s book while I’m at it, since mine seems to have vanished.[/reply]
Ha ha, should have looked closer!
I was going to say that for every cent prongers spent on this book I’d match it and give it to a charity of Paul Barker’s choice but knowing ye fuckers ye’ll probably go mad and I’ll be broke. If it’s under $100 I’ll do it though.
More importantly I just clicked on that amazon link and saw a related item of a Ministry Filth Pig poster which is cool looking.
If this indeed is more nu ministry oriented I think I’ll pass. Not interested in anything post Barker. 88-99 would make my day fingers crossed. Doubtful though.
Then again, once it’s out, guess I’ll wait and see what you prongers thought about it,
I am interested in hearing about the earlier years.
He’s probably gonna rush through WS. I’m interested in some Special Affect stories since it’s gonna be awhile before My Life Without The Thrill Kill Kult comes out.
I’m guessing if ‘Dark Side of the Spoon’ is mentioned at all, it will be in the context of “this is where I hit rock bottom. don’t remember recording it” and the whole ‘Animositisomina’ phase will likely be glossed over except to say that he "kicked out “the bassist”…
