the way MINISTRY ended was different?
What if the order of events was more like…
With Sympathy
12" Singles
Twitch
Rape + Honey
MIND
Psalm 69
Mole
RGB
TLS
Animositisomina
Filth Pig
Dark Side of Spoon
What if Paul split after PSALM 69?
Al goes on a repetative, speed metal bonanza…
Al goes on ANOTHER repetative, speed metal bonanza…
Al YET AGAIN goes on ANOTHER repetitive, speed metal
bonanza…
Paul comes back, MINISTRY makes progressively more interesting, experimental music…
Anyone ever think of that?
To have something like the '99 tour be the last tour?
I was listening to some of the “older” records
Shit, it was a whole different band
I could live without everything after 1992. Had they broken up after Psalm, I’d have better memories of the ‘end of Ministry’, have more respect for Al, and probably have some of my hearing back. I like plenty of songs post-Psalm, but I’m not missing out on anything crucial to their legacy if they end it all in '92. I was actually expecting a break-up around the Filth Pig era.
And those albums COULDN’T have come out in that order. There’s more to the history of Ministry than just who was in the band at the time. FP and DSotS are fueled by the nadir of Al’s drug use and the collapse of his personal life. The Bush trilogy came about after Al got his act (relatively) together and became obsessed with politics.
I suspect that had Paul left in '93 Ministry would have ended entirely. Al might have, at that point, been able to pull together a Buck Satan record that maybe would have sounded like the Bridge School set, but I doubt he had it together enough to produce a Ministry album on his own. Paul might have produced some noisy post-punk, which seems to be what he likes best. It probably would have gotten a lot of college radio play in the mid-90s, but not much crossover success.
ACK! FP and DsotS have some of the best ministry songs on them imho. i could live without anything after paul left, but houses does have some good stuff on there.
i couldn’t imagine a world with out AT LEAST those two records. shudders
Ministry should’ve stopped right after Animosity. That I consider Ministry’s final TRUE album. Animosity, to me, was serious Ministry. No games Ministry. Just get right to it Ministry.
I’m surprised people slog that album. Just as much as I’m surprised that DSOTS gets good reviews. That was piece of shit album if you ask me.
I only listened to DSOTS maybe twice, the second time just last years nine years after I first listened to it.
While I do like the Bush trilogy, I’d prefer to have the Ministry legacy stop at the Animosity album.
I agree with TinkyWinkyAtkins, dsop was complete boredom except for Supermanic Soul and Eureka Pile. I was cool with the post Barker stuff until al just started over doing the whole Bush bashing thing, that shit gets old pretty fast he’s trying to hard to show people he can do it on his own “lauphs hysterically”. I didnt even bother listening to TLS i would’ve been fine if he called it quits after Rio. I guess al has run out of things to say since he’s no longer on the junk.
Oh Yeah! Al Has openely said many times that “I write my best stuff when a Republican is in office!” So I’m sure his trilogy is based on NWO
Late,
grmpysmrf
Speculating is pointless. Yes, I wish ‘Animositisomina’ had been Ministry’s last album. It was a perfect condensation of the experimenting they did with ‘Filth Pig’ and ‘Dark Side of the Spoon’ and the bombast of ‘Psalm 69’.
‘Houses of the Mole’ was decent as a follow up, but the next 2 were just god awful and only half the tracks on ‘Houses…’ really did it for me. Stuff like “Waiting” was just too low brow and stupid to be taken seriously.
That song “Worm” really would have been great as Ministry’s last song though. Maybe if these songs had remained on ‘Houses…’ and the rest replaced with better songs or if ‘Houses…’ had been an EP, it could have worked as the last Ministry album:
“No W” (‘Rock Against Bush’ version; fuck Carmina Burana)
“Wrong”
“WTV”
“World”
“Worm”
The rest of the songs on that album were too shitty lyrically and/or musically to merit inclusion. What do people think about this?
i love worm, i thinks it’s an awesome track about acceptance.
although i like more of what you mentioned on houses, i see your point and agree for the most part. i really think alot of the songs on houses were possibly written and/or in al’s head when paul was still around, because that record still sees like a ministry record, whereas RGB and TLS end up sounding more and more like … weak slayer?
the riffs got was too busy, they noodled all over the place, almost unnecessarily. the relentless, “simplistic” mechano-automated-driving sound we all knew and loved was pushed to the wayside for “metal RAWWWWRRRR! LOOK HOW HEAVY AND FAST W ARE NOW!!!111!”
Really fond of Worm off Houses as well. Im not so much in to Animosity, I’m always kind of baffled when people despise Dsots but love Animosity, Animosity sounds to me like mediocre outtakes from Dsots. When Houses came out I thought it was a welcome change of pace but each following release got less interesting.
With that said Dsots also has the worst Ministry cover. It makes me cry out for Brian Shanley to come in and save the day. Easy solution though, flip the booklet around and you have a pic of Al and Paul to stare at instead of, ermmm, that.
Interesting thoughts on Filth Pig’s lyrics. I could see the break up influencing that album. I think I read an interview or maybe a review once that mentioned the song Filth Pig being about OJ simpson, not too sure about that though.
“Worm” is indeed the best track off HotM, only narrowly being beat out by “WKYJ” as my favorite.
I personally love the album art for DSOTS. It just captures the heroin-inspired dementia of the music so well. “I wil be God”? Doubleyew-tee-eff. [cool]