Until Nine Inch Nails
crossed over to the mainstream, Ministry did more than
any other band to popularize industrial dance music, injecting
large doses of punky, over-the-top aggression and roaring
heavy metal guitar riffs that helped their music find
favor with metal and alternative audiences outside of
industrial's cult fan base. That's not to say Ministry
had a commercial or generally accessible sound: they were
unremittingly intense, abrasive, pounding, and repetitive,
and not always guitar-oriented (samples, synthesizers,
and tape effects were a primary focus just as often as
guitars and distorted vocals). However, both live and
in the studio, they achieved a huge, crushing sound that
put most of their contemporaries in aggressive musical
genres to shame; plus, founder and frontman Al Jourgensen
gave the group a greater aura of style and theater than
other industrial bands, who seemed rather faceless when
compared with Jourgensen's leather-clad cowboy/biker look
and the edgy shock tactics of such videos as "N.W.O."
and "Just One Fix." After 1992's Psalm 69, which
represented the peak of their popularity, Ministry's recorded
output dwindled, partially because of myriad side projects
and partially due to heroin abuse within the band, but
continued to resurface through the rest of the decade.
Ministry was formed in 1981 by
Alain Jourgensen (born Oct. 8, 1958, Havana, Cuba);
he had moved to the U.S. with his mother while very
young and lived in a succession of cities, eventually
working as a radio DJ and joining a new wave band called
Special Affect (fronted by future My Life With the Thrill
Kill Kult leader Frankie Nardiello, aka Groovie Mann).
Featuring drummer Stephen George, Ministry debuted with
the Wax Trax! single "Cold Life," which --
typical of their early output -- was more in the synth
pop/dance style of new wavers like the Human League
or Thompson Twins. The album With Sympathy appeared
on the major label Arista in 1983 and followed a similar
musical direction, one that Jourgensen was dissatisfied
with; he returned to Wax Trax! and recorded several
singles while rethinking the band's style and forming
his notorious side project the Revolting Cocks.
In 1985, with Jourgensen the
only official member of Ministry, the Adrian Sherwood-produced
Twitch was released by Sire Records; while not as aggressive
as the group's later, more popular material, it found
Jourgensen taking definite steps in that direction.
Following a 1987 single with Skinny Puppy's Kevin Ogilvie
(aka Nivek Ogre) as PTP, Jourgensen once again revamped
Ministry, with former Blackouts bassist Paul Barker
officially joining the lineup to complement Jourgensen's
rediscovery of the guitar; fellow ex-Blackouts William
Rieflin (drums) and Mike Scaccia (guitar), as well as
vocalist Chris Connelly, were heavily showcased as collaborators
for the first of several times on 1988's The Land of
Rape and Honey. With Jourgensen and Barker credited
as Hypo Luxa and Hermes Pan, respectively, this album
proved to be Ministry's stylistic breakthrough, a taut,
explosive fusion of heavy metal, industrial dance beats
and samples, and punk aggression. 1989's The Mind Is
a Terrible Thing to Taste built on its predecessor's
artistic success, and In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing
Up was recorded on its supporting tour, introducing
other frequent Ministry contributors like drummer Martin
Atkins (later of Pigface) and guitarist William Tucker
(as well as featuring a guest shot from Jello Biafra).
Jourgensen next embarked on a flurry of side projects,
including the aforementioned Revolting Cocks (with Barker,
Barker's brother Roland, Front 242 members Luc Van Acker
and Richard 23, and many more), 1000 Homo DJs (with
Biafra, Rieflin, and Trent Reznor), Acid Horse, Pailhead
(with Ian MacKaye), and Lard (again with Biafra, Paul
Barker, Rieflin, and drummer Jeff Ward).
In late 1991, Ministry issued
the single "Jesus Built My Hotrod," a driving
rocker featuring manic nonsense vocals by co-writer
Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers; its exposure on
MTV helped build anticipation for the following year's
full-length Psalm 69 (subtitled The Way to Succeed &
the Way to Suck Eggs, although the only title that appears
on the album consists of a few Greek letters and symbols).
The record reached the Top 30 and went platinum, producing
two further MTV hits with "N.W.O." and "Just
One Fix," and Ministry consolidated its following
with a spot on the inaugural Lollapalooza tour that
summer (joined by new guitarist Louis Svitek). However,
drug and legal problems sidelined the band in the wake
of its newfound popularity, resulting in the clouded
Filth Pig being released in 1995, too late to capitalize
on their prior success. More problems with drugs and
arrests followed, and Jourgensen returned to some of
his side projects, recording a new album with Lard,
among others. In 1999, the new single "Bad Blood"
was featured prominently in the sci-fi special-effects
blockbuster film The Matrix, setting the stage for the
release of Dark Side of the Spoon (the title a reference
to the band's heroin problems) later that summer. Guitarist
William Tucker committed suicide in May 1999. The band
was nominated for a Grammy in 2000 for "Bad Blood,"
but they lost to Black Sabbath and were dropped from
Warner Bros. around the same time. They were also added
to the Ozzfest tour, but they were kicked off before
it even began because of a management change. To compound
their sorrows, Ipecac Records announced three live albums
to be released with material from the Psalm 69 tour
being the main focus, but they only had a verbal agreement
and when Warner Bros. caught wind of the project they
stamped it out despite already having the CDs ready
for printing. In 2001, the band filmed a scene for Steven
Spielberg's A.I. and released the song from the film
on a greatest-hits album, appropriately titled Greatest
Fits. The song received a decent amount of promotion,
but the single went nowhere and the group signed to
Sanctuary Records later in the year. While recording
new material, they released the Sphinctour album and
DVD in the spring of 2002 to satisfy rabid fans who
were disappointed by the Ipecac situation. The next
spring, Animositisomina was released, advertised as
a return to the Psalm 69 style of songwriting and featuring
a cover of Magazine's "The Light Pours Out of Me."
Houses of the Molé followed in June 2004. ~ Steve
Huey, All Music Guide
Band description courtesy of
Luckymanonline.com
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