What was the best of Ministry?

Discussion
1

Okay, I know people are super critical and love to bitch, but what was it that attracted you to Ministry?

I’ll start:

  1. their LP twitch was something that took multiple listenings to get

  2. I’ve never seen a bad live show

  3. People in the pissarmy have been really nice to me

  4. The band --even if I bothered them-- were kind and nice (like don’t bother them walking your dog at 8AM). I had no real need fro rock star adulation, but they were nice enough to say “hello” when the gov’t was following me in Chicago.

  5. Reaching 50 in a few years gives me hope that l can do what he does without being too washed up.

I still listen to their music and find it refreshingly different than most other shit. And if AL does go retro–like with cheesy '80’s style electronic drums in Revco–it’s still fun to listen to.

1 Like
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Since we’re so super-critical and love to bitch. Perhaps you already have it all figured out? Thus, the point of asking that question following an insult is pointless?

I’ll play along though.

Ballsy music that would kick you in the face, but still have some weird sense of humor about it. Tongue in cheek, I guess? Where one album you have N.W.O. which was the obvious shot at the pres at the time, then later you have this outlandish song about a hotrod. The cover art was usual evident on the senor of humor behind the music too. I still laugh at the DSOTS cover. Wonder wtf at the Filth Pig cover, but for whatever reason, it works.

Even after Paul left, that humor still remained, but ended up sort of degenerating and just becoming a joke of the joke. Nothing was really funny or clever anymore (still isn’t), and you would swear it’s welcome was already worn out by the time they walked through the door. Anything post-2004 doesn’t feel like Ministry albums. The humor became cheap and repetitive, and the wit isn’t really witty anymore.

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my favorite ministry was “land of…” album - “ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ”.

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"Since we’re so super-critical and love to bitch. Perhaps you already have it all figured out? Thus, the point of asking that question following an insult is pointless?

I’ll play along though. "

I don’t have anything figured out–except it was told to me that their were two disparate forums previously, one having more “knowledgeable, detailed and questioning” members; and another who certainly acted and posted outlandishly–with an anything-goes-attitude, refusing to be “fan club” cheerleaders. Ranting about whatever and finding humor in arcane places.

It’s not that I’m insulting you or members of this forum. My descriptions are soft-core characterizations which people can’t deny. My question applies to anyone. However, given two very different forums, one has to think of the attractions of a band that ceases to exist.

We got the same BS at PA about slavishly loving anything AL did/said/produced–or worse–being inbred idiots who acted out in a mob mentality. In life , differences will always exist, the interesting part is finding out what brings people together.
that draw people to a band that ceases to exist

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I got into them by seeing the video for “What About Us” on FUSE. I still love that song.

After that I went on some stupid wrestling-related forum I was posting on at the time (it was actually a Gangrel fan forum if anyone remembers who he is or wants to know how much of a dork I actually am) and I asked them what was this music called.

So Ministry basically became my gateway to Industrial music which is still ultimately my favorite genre.

I then bought ‘Animositisomina’ and while I didn’t quite “get” most of the album at the time, the drums on “Shove” absolutely floored and twisted my teenage mind.

Looking back on their catalog, I found a lot of great music. I was sad after ‘Houses of the Mole’ was released and it began to dawn on me that I had caught the band just at the last moment before they started to decline heavily, but I’m glad I was there for it and for most of the music made under the name “Ministry”.

I will be a fan for life and Ministry is certainly one of my biggest influences and inspirations as a musician.

EDIT-Also, I’ve been posting on this forum for probably 6 or so years (thanks Afra!) so prongs is a big part of what Ministry means to me as well and I love this forum!

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There used to be a little independent TV station out of Orange County called KDOC. There was a daily or weekly (I can’t remember) music video show. I think it was called “Request Video”. It mostly played modern rock and so-called “Alternative” stuff and for the poor kids like me whose parents wouldn’t pony up for cable (and MTV) we’d get our videos where we could. Besides, this show had potential for some cool stuff . . . Red Hot Chili Peppers, Devo, Duran Duran . . . whatever.

One day I was watching the show and the host introduced the video for “Burning Inside” by Ministry. I was absolutely transfixed. I had never heard and seen anything like it. It blew my mind. This one video had everything awesome . . . fire, a spinning wheel of death, badass music that sounded like nothing else, a fence that seemed to protect the audience from the band just as much as it protected the band from the audience, people throwing themselves off the fence, a moshpit that seemed to absorb the entire venue, giant robot dinosaurs . . . . and a lead singer that looked absolutely insane.

How could I not fall in love? I immediately bought “In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up”, first the tape album, then the VHS video concert. I cannot count how many times I watched that video tape. It was something sacred to me. I was fully sold. It was another two years, I think, before I got my first chance to see the band live, which was another pivotal experience for me.

It was Summer 1992 on the Lollapalooza tour that I caught Ministry live for the first time. I had a lawn ticket and was getting restless waiting for the band and decided it would be a good idea to start a fire and was inciting others to join me. “Ministry’s gonna play! Let’s burn stuff!” People started joining in and everyone started throwing garbage and old shirts and stuff on the fire and it started turning into a respectable blaze. Then I felt a hard Vulcan pinch on my neck, followed by both arms being held by two security guards who proceeded to march me up the hill to leave the premise (and God only knows what else).

I couldn’t believe it. I’d been counting the days to this moment and I was about to miss it before it even started. This couldn’t be happening. I needed to do something. I walked agreeably with them and I guess they trusted that we’d get to where we were heading without incident. However, when I felt both of the guards grip had loosened I ducked and spun around, breaking free, and ran like Hell. I crouched low and started ducking and weaving through the crowd until finally diving into a tight pocket of people who all thought I was out of my mind. Just then the stage lights flashed and the whole place exploded to NWO.

The pit at Irvine Meadows (I think it is called Verizon Wireless now) is treacherous murder. It’s on a hill and you have to climb uphill for part of it and sometimes end up falling down the other side. Plus the grass soon gets torn up and it becomes a bit of a dirt slide. To make things more deadly, at the bottom of the hill is a six foot drop to the concrete below (a sidewalk at the top of the reserved seating area). There is a steel railing, though, so you might not fall to your death. You might just get mangled on the railing instead.

The show was immense. So loud. So violent. So everything that I ever wanted from a band. I hitched a ride home, laying flat in the back of a pickup truck (it’s illegal) and knew that my life would never be the same.

I’ve seen Ministry about 10 times since and it was ALWAYS an epic adventure. Other highlights include . . .

Partying on Al’s bus with Al and the band, and meeting my hero Mike Scaccia.

Getting to dress up as George Bush in Anaheim and open the show by taunting the crowd at the beginning of NoW, and getting beat up and (theatrically) butt-raped by Al on stage.

Going to Dublin, Ireland to meet up with a bunch of other fans to party and rock out for the final 2 shows.

Ministry was so much more than just a band or just music to me. It was a symbol of rebellion and freedom. A middle finger in the face of authority and conformity. Al was a fireball of creativity and mayhem.

And now he’s a joke. A goofy little puppet for his wife to play with to try and milk out every last cent possible. It makes me sad. A guy that was so caustic and fiercely independent and unpredictable has become a cartoon of a parody of a retard.

I get irritated when people tell me I take this stuff too seriously. It was just a band, they tell me. Well, to me it wasn’t. For about 20 years of my life Ministry has been a HUGE part of my life.

Musically, my “Best of” would be “In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up”. I love those songs and they just capture the live energy of the band so well. I don’t think someone who hasn’t experienced the band live can really appreciate the band completely.

Oh well . . . I’m still looking forward to “Fix” to rekindle the fires of nostalgia.

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great memories. you have a way with words

One area of disagreement, I’m not looking forward to FIX. I’m reading Rock 'n roll Babylon and Please Kill Me–two books that deal with the wretchedness of sex, drugs and death.

all that shit is old news. It was prerequisite for bands in the '70’s/'80s and, I guess, with the Nirvana generation.

But now, those subjects are like old '70’s Holiday Inn shag carpeting that is permeated with smelly unmentionable crap. It just needs to be thrown out and have new shit replaced.

I don’t want to watch a movie with '70’s Holiday Inn shagging

Remember I’m the new iatrogenicsteveand have to be exceedingly explicit for all the cement heads–so no one gets the wrong idea.

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That’s fucking awesome, Gunnar!

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great memories. you have a way with words

One area of disagreement, I’m not looking forward to FIX. I’m reading Rock 'n roll Babylon and Please Kill Me–two books that deal with the wretchedness of sex, drugs and death.

all that shit is old news. It was prerequisite for bands in the '70’s/'80s and, I guess, with the Nirvana generation.

But now, those subjects are like old '70’s Holiday Inn shag carpeting that is permeated with smelly unmentionable crap. It just needs to be thrown out and have new shit replaced.

I don’t want to watch a movie with '70’s Holiday Inn shagging

Remember I’m the new iatrogenicsteveand have to be exceedingly explicit for all the cement heads–so no one gets the wrong idea.

I agree about FIX. I think the connection between art (especially music) and drugs/alcohol/promiscuous sex has been examined to death.

At the same time I think it is still very real and relevant. It is something I am struggling with right now, and many of the people I know.

And it’s obvious they would take that angle to sell the film because the music and integrity of the band alone isn’t going to cut it. They need something more sensationalist.

Also the train wreck factor was part of what Ministry was all about. Reading Chris Connelly’s book only confirms that even more.

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I can’t speak for everyone else, but to me “FIX” is not about the drugs (though, obviously, that’s a significant element to the story). It’s about the chaos and unpredictability. When we went to Ministry shows we didn’t know what was going to happen. This was a band and movement which, for most of us, required sacrifice to be part of.

We endangered or forsook relationships with friends and family. We stepped off the easy path through school and life. We stopped making safe decisions and instead made choices that challenged ourselves and those around us. We got labeled troublemakers, miscontents, rebels, and outcasts. And many of us found it quite gratifying.

Even at the concert level, we put much on the line for what we pledged our new allegiance to. We weren’t going to see U2. We weren’t going to sit on the bleachers and sip white wine while smiling orgasmically as Bono sang about life and love. Nope. We were going to throw ourselves head first into a vortex of swirling fists, leather, and angst. And our heros not only talked the talk, they walked the walk. Al stood up and screamed. He truly didn’t give a shit about the record companies, the police, the government, anything. It didn’t matter whether we agreed with every one of his political positions or personal choices of chemical recreation. What mattered was that we all shared something. An anger, a skepticism, a hatred, and somehow, a desire for something both better and worse. We wanted to teeter on the edge of total anhiliation in order to feel life at maximum velocity.

That’s what I’m hoping will be captured by the film, FIX. Not just another “Look at how crazy we were and how much drugs we did”. Because, honestly, if that’s all it is, we may as well be watching the Motley Crue Story, and that’s not what we want. We hated that “Nothin’ But A Good Time” 80’s glamrock bullcrap and wanted something different. Something more.

Please, Al. Just this one time. Give us something more, AGAIN!!!

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After that I went on some stupid wrestling-related forum I was posting on at the time (it was actually a Gangrel fan forum if anyone remembers who he is or wants to know how much of a dork I actually am)

Ur not alone. Gangrel was a boss with some of the best entrance music ever

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Yes the entrance music was fucking awesome. And the ring of fire and how he rose up from under the stage. And the goblet…

He basically had the best entrance in WWF along with maybe Goldust who I was also a big fan of.

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HA! I remember Gangrel he was awesome.

Dont think he lasted long he wasn’t really a fan favorite. I remember he came out with a glass of wine (or blood?) but he made it look so cool. If you follow wrestling today you’re in for a laugh!

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I would say the 80s Ministry was the best of Ministry. The Land of Rape and Honey was the album that got me hooked.

The four albums in the 80s each sound like a completely different band. I love With Sympathy, Twitch, Land of Rape and Honey and Mind above all the other albums. The 12" and unreleased material from this decade is also awesome.

To me Psalm 69 is a catchier version of TMIATTTT. Filth Pig and Dark Side are weird albums that are quite good. The Ministry after Dark Side is good, but only as a shadow of its former self.

80s Ministry all the way!

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I got into them by seeing the video for “What About Us” on FUSE. I still love that song.

You were first exposed to Ministry through What About Us ? What are you…like…only 12 or something? What About Us was only a few years ago!

After that I went on some stupid wrestling-related forum I was posting on at the time (it was actually a Gangrel fan forum if anyone remembers who he is or wants to know how much of a dork I actually am) and I asked them what was this music called.

You were posting on a wrestling forum? That’s cred right there. How old are you? 12?

I then bought ‘Animositisomina’ and while I didn’t quite “get” most of the album at the time, the drums on “Shove” absolutely floored and twisted my teenage mind.

You didn’t ‘get’ the music on Animositisomina? What are you, like, 12?

I was 29 when that fucker dropped.

[laugh]

Just kidding btw. I don’t care how old you are. I think it’s cool that kids dig this shit. Better this than…Green Day.

My first exposure to Ministry? 1991 - Buying drugs at some local techno-hippy den. I was about 18 give or take. I remember the guy that ran the joint reminded me a lot like Chris Cornell (when he still had long hair and before he reinvented himself as Justin Timberlake). Too cool for school this guy was, with his rock star long hair, nose ring, tanned, muscled, shirtless chest and burgundy suede flares. He was playing Butthole Surfers’ Locust Abortion Technician on the stereo really loud and was looking at me like I was a bug crawling up the wall. I asked him for some weed and he just smirked and continued rolling his joint. I say to him ‘Hey this music is fucking doing my head in, man. It’s brilliant!’ He starts to loosen up toward me a bit and we start discussing music. He says to me, ‘If you like Butthole Surfers, then you’ll probably dig this too, pal’. He picks a purplish looking album cover off the rack, takes the record out and gently places the needle on the groove.

Ten seconds later I am picking myself off the floor in astonishment. The song was Hizbollah. The album was The Land Of Rape And Honey. I was hooked.

By the end of 1992, I had their entire back catalogue as well as a Psalm 69 poster on my wall.

!!!

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the video for “Burning Inside” by Ministry. I was absolutely transfixed. I had never heard and seen anything like it. It blew my mind. This one video had everything awesome . . . fire, a spinning wheel of death, badass music that sounded like nothing else, a fence that seemed to protect the audience from the band just as much as it protected the band from the audience, people throwing themselves off the fence, a moshpit that seemed to absorb the entire venue, giant robot dinosaurs . . . . and a lead singer that looked absolutely insane.

You’re smoking crack. The video reminds me of what a bunch of hill billy Motorhead fans would come up with if they were given $300, a game show wheel and some dry ice and asked to recreate a scene from Mad Max: The Road Warrior for some shitty cable tv video competition.

The chicken wire is there neither to protect the band from the crowd nor to protect the crowd from the band. It’s there to keep the chickens from running away. If you look hard enough you can see them running around.

p.s Al Jourgenson was about as threatening back then as Simon Le Bon would be if he’d just eaten a bowl of lamb vindaloo and had to keep running for the bathroom every ten minutes.

p.p.s I wanted to reply to the rest of yr post but it was just TOO DAMN LONG!

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I was pretty lucky as my older Brother was right into stuff like Brian Eno, Talking Heads, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Art Of Noise as well as African music and Reggae/Dub etc so I was exposed to all sorts of different music growing up. My Mum was and still is bananas about Van Morrison. I know all his stuff off by heart.

The first music I really started to “like” and buy from my own money was Gangster Rap such as Ice-T, NWA, Geto Boys etc…at that time (87-88?) my Brother was taping pirate radio shows with all the new Acid House & Hip Hop/Industrial that was coming out at the time. Not long after that Body Count came out which Im loved.

A mysterious “metalhead” type of dude lived a few doors down from me at the time and heard me playing Body Count so invited me to his to smoke weed and listen t some of his music. He was into Morbid Angel mostly as I remember and a lot of obscure shit which I guess ended up developing into Black Metal.
Anyway one day he just came back after picking up two new promos that had just dropped…one was Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name and the other was Ministry’s NWO which featured NWO, Just One Fix & TVII. We didn’t give a crap about the RATM one but went bananas over the Ministry one. A few years after that I saw Ministry live and went bananas yet again.

I’d say the first real Heavy Metal record I heard and thought was awesome was AC/DC’s Let There Be Rock.

Heavy Metal as we know it is indeed dead now though. It’s over. Thankfully the music has been recorded so we can always blast that shit when needs be.

Filth Pig & Darkside are where it’s at for me.

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Heard ‘Thieves’ late at night on a local indie/metal/industrial radio show back in 1989. Pretty much got into them straight away. Used to wear that Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste t-shirt everywhere. That was back in the days when I wore army pants and had a mohawk. The band’s image, style, aggression and intellect seemed to suit where I was at at the time.

Was into them pretty heavily for the next ten years. Kinda lost interest around 2000.

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[reply]
You’re smoking crack. The video reminds me of what a bunch of hill billy Motorhead fans would come up with if they were given $300, a game show wheel and some dry ice and asked to recreate a scene from Mad Max: The Road Warrior for some shitty cable tv video competition.

You write that as if it’s a bad thing.

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Like a few other bands I like I got into them thru Beavis & Butthead. They flipped it onto NWO and said it sucked. I remember thinking the riff was fucking awesome and I was at the tender age of 9. I also saw RevCo on there too. Anyways I also heard NWO on a local high school run radio station along with Just 1 Fix and JBMH. Honestly I’ve never liked JBMH. What sealed the deal was when I saw Ministry in A.I… That movie kinda hit me on an emotional level at the time but seeing them got me hooked. A friend then gave me a mix cd with a good chunk of Psalm 69 and LORAH on it along with some FLA. Then when I got on my whole industrial kick in '06 I actually started buying Ministry albums. Prior to this I had missed an opportunity to catch them on the FornicaTour. I remember loving the song Piss and getting Pissed that I missed out. I think actually the ppl I wanted to go with kinda gave me the cold shoulder on getting me down there. Eventually DSOTS became my favorite album and here we are. Now I’m just another Ministry fan who knows that Al’s best days are put behind him