Howdy all…First off I thought I’d introduce myself to the board. My name is Pete and I’ve been a ministry fan scince about age 10 when I found a 12" of “Everday Is Haloween” at a garage sale. That was the beginning, but seeing n.w.o., jbmhr, and just one fix on 120 minutes really warped my little 14yr old brain.
Anyhow, I apologize if this topic has been discussed before but has anyone else noticed that ministry’s “scarecrow” has pretty much the exact same groove as zepplins “when the levee breaks”. I defy anyone to disagree with me after listenening. I’m wondering how ministry got away with this…Did they find some legal music cheat?
Anyway…I still love scarecrow and think of the lift as more of a homage to zepplin rather than a ripoff. Just wondering if anyone else noticed this too.
when i saw melvin live last year, they played a tune that sounded just like ministry’s filth pig. well, part of it anyways - you know, the guitar riff from the intro of filth pig and when al’s screaming “filth pig”…a friend who was with me also commented on it.
No guys, scarecrow doesn’t just sound similar to levee, they sound like the exact same song, right down to the blues harp lick! It sounds as if ministry just covered the levee instrumentals, added the dark ministry touch and replaced the lyrics. Serous, download levee and listen, even the turnaround is the same!!!
I always thought the live version was even more so than the album version. If I remember correctly, the added harmonica part is dead on with a part in the Zep song.
when i saw melvin live last year, they played a tune that sounded just like ministry’s filth pig. well, part of it anyways - you know, the guitar riff from the intro of filth pig and when al’s screaming “filth pig”…a friend who was with me also commented on it.
yep, i noticed that too…i wonder which song came first?
speaking of which, fantomas live tommorow!!
I’m not %100 sure, more like %95, but Led Zeppelin got successfully sued by (I think) Willie Dixon for ripping off his shit on Led Zeppelin 1 and Led Zeppelin 2 and not giving credit - so Led Zeppelin hasn’t ever pursued any plagiarism (sp?) accusations since, in fear of looking kettly blacky…
Yep. I believe that I brought that up along time ago under a different persona. Evertime I listen to that song, I can’t help singing-‘If it keeps on rainin’…the levee’s goin’ to break.’ You want to talk about some irony, that song mentions “goin’ to Chicago” and didn’t Al live in Chicago at the time he wrote ‘Scarecrow’?
[reply]when i saw melvin live last year, they played a tune that sounded just like ministry’s filth pig. well, part of it anyways - you know, the guitar riff from the intro of filth pig and when al’s screaming “filth pig”…a friend who was with me also commented on it.
yep, i noticed that too…i wonder which song came first?
speaking of which, fantomas live tommorow!![/reply]
No idea…I’ve been trying to hunt down the song but couldn’t find any setlists from that tour…
Actually he did. He was playing the guitar throughout that track. Ogre took lyrics from Revco’s ATTACK SHIPS ON FIRE and Zep’s LEVEE… odd how it comes full circle.
As for the arrangement, yes it is uncanny how they are alike! That is also probably one of my favorite Zep songs, I have a fire in my heart for them even though to me they are embarrassing legends in classic rock (fuck Stairway!)
Also, Zep should never bother suing Ministry… they’ve made a great career stealing blues licks and claiming it as their own (at least back then they did).
try Never Land (A Fragment) from The Sisters of Mercy’s Floodland album.
Dude I love that song. If you can find it there is a demo version of it that is a full seven minutes or so and it’s even better than the album version. I found it on Kazaa back in the day but lost it a couple years ago when my hdd had some “issues”.
I can definitely hear the similarity, but I’m not sure that it’s a total rip-off. Never really thought about it before, though.
Personally, I thought Worm was a little bit of a rip-off of Scare Crow. I mean Crow backwards is Worc, which is kind of close, too. Plus they sound a bit similar. I still like Worm though.
A lot of Ministry riffs seem to be taken from somewhere else… I pretty much accepted this as an element of their style.
Filth Pig - “Night Goat” by Melvins
Lava - “Grind” by Alice In Chains
Supermanic Soul - “Knives” by Therapy?
Scarecrow - “When The Levee Breakes” by Led Zeppelin
etc.
“Dead Guy” sounds like a Helmet track, “Lockbox” sounds like Motorhead etc.
Sampling has always been a big part of Ministry’s music. I always thought these riffs were treated a bit like samples. Anyone else have similar thoughts?