1. Rapidgator has been added to our approved mandatory hosts while Uploaded as been removed. These hosts are not to be used in combination with each other unless a second approved mandatory is used. See our file host rules for more information.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Guest - Remember that Thread Prefixes are a search tool! Click on a Thread Prefix and all threads with the same Prefix in that forum will be offered to you. To dismiss click on X >>>
    Dismiss Notice
  3. Our gif only content threads have a rule where all thumbs must be posted as a static thumbnail that does not play. Currently imagebam made a change where they no longer produce static thumbs. Therefore, please do not use imagebam, or any host, that provides live playing gifs in those specific threads. If you see your gif playing once you post, try to use a smaller thumbnail and if that does not work use a different approved host.
    Dismiss Notice
  4. Can't Log-in?. If your password is no longer accepted but the email address registered in your profile is working, use the "Forgot Your Password?" routine. However, if your registered email address is unusable, create a new temporary phun account and contact S-type.
    Dismiss Notice
  5. ATTN: Imagehost picpie is infected with the "internet security warning" redirect that tries to take users hostage with an inescapable redirect. Avoid using picpie as an imagehost.
    Dismiss Notice
  6. Too many Alerts? Why not adjust your "Alert Preferences" in your Profile Page?
    Dismiss Notice

My 1000th post - A Toolz tribute to Ministry

Discussion in 'Hall of Fame' started by toolz, Dec 9, 2007.

  1. toolz

    toolz Hater ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

    Joined:
    Jul 14, 2007
    Messages:
    11,887
    Likes Received:
    17,466
    [​IMG]

    Early years
    Al Jourgensen began Ministry in Chicago, Illinois in 1981. His first band prior to Ministry was Special Affect with Groovie Mann (of My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult). The original line-up of Ministry consisted mainly of Jourgensen (vocals and keyboards) and Stephen George (drums), and Ministry's original sound was essentially New Wave synth-pop that was more melodic than the aggressive music for which Jourgensen would become known. In the incarnation of Jourgensen/George, Ministry created four 12" singles on Wax Trax! Records through 1984 (anthologized on Twelve Inch Singles). Their first LP, With Sympathy, was issued on Arista Records in 1983, and sold slowly but hit the upper 90's in the Billboard Top 100. The music in With Sympathy, and the various singles that Arista issued in association with it, was melodic pop; critic Dean Carlson describes the album as "Human League's surly little brother. Jourgensen has always expressed disappointment with Ministry's music during those early years, reportedly referring to With Sympathy as an "abortion of an album." According to him, after signing the record contract, all artistic control of Ministry was "handed" over to other writers and producers.Some of his preferred recordings from that era were collected into the CD Early Trax (Rykodisc Records, 2004).




    The Land of Rape and Honey
    After Twitch, Jourgensen made the most significant change in Ministry's history when he became re-enchanted with the instrument he had taken up years earlier: the electric guitar. Jourgensen also brought bass guitarist Paul Barker of the Seattle band the Blackouts into the Ministry camp; Barker would remain Jourgensen's bandmate for many years when he was the only person credited as a member of the band other than Jourgensen. With the addition of The Blackouts drummer William Rieflin, Ministry recorded The Land of Rape and Honey (1988). The LP continued their success in the underground music scene and is now considered a classic and one of the most important albums in the subgenre of industrial metal[citation needed]. The Land of Rape and Honey is an excellent example of Ministry's sound, making use of synthesizers, keyboards, EBM sequences, tapes, jackhammering drum machines, obscure samples, dialogue excerpted from movies, unconventional electronic processing, and, in parts, heavy distorted electric guitar and bass. The album was supported by a tour in 1988 and the singles and music videos for Stigmata, Flashback, and The Land of Rape and Honey. Stigmata was also used in a key scene in Richard Stanley's 1990 film Hardware, although the images of the band shown performing was Gwar.




    The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste
    The follow-up, The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste was just as acclaimed, if not more, than The Land of Rape and Honey. Both albums included similar tight, thick soundscapes, but The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste was slightly harder with Jourgensen's heavy metal-influenced guitar more emphasized. The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste was supported by the "RollerBall" tour through 1990. Due to the complex nature of the album's drumming, a second drummer, Martin Atkins, was used. This tour was documented on In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up. Three singles were released from the album, Burning Inside (for which a video was made), Thieves and So What (a composition inspired by the movie The Violent Years).


    "Just one Fix"
    [youtubevid]T2UA-7Q3ncU[/youtubevid]



    "Burning Inside"
    [youtubevid]TJWW2Ml5iZU[/youtubevid]



    Side projects
    Throughout the late 1980s Jourgensen and Barker expanded their ideas beyond Ministry into a seemingly endless parade of side projects and collaborations. Many of these bore Ministry's signature sound and the duo's "Hypo Luxa/Hermes Pan" production imprint. (These side-projects were also responsible for the delayed release of Ministry's next album.) Foremost of these was Ministry's alter ego, the Revolting Cocks. "RevCo", as it is often referred to, was essentially the same band plus Belgian vocalist Luc Van Acker & Richard 23 of Front 242. Jourgensen and Barker also formed Lard with Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, Acid Horse with Cabaret Voltaire, 1000 Homo DJs with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, PTP with Chris Connelly and Pailhead with Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi. Barker released his own material as Lead Into Gold and Jourgensen produced and played electric guitar on Skinny Puppy's Rabies LP. Atkins and Rieflin also formed the band Pigface, which featured Barker on several tracks, as well. The smaller of these projects were later collected on the CD Side Trax (Rykodisc Records, 2004), while the discographies of Lard and RevCo were remastered and reissued.




    Psalm 69
    Ministry broke into the mainstream in 1991 with "Jesus Built My Hotrod" (co-authored by Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers and Michael Balch). The music video was a hit on MTV, and the band scored second billing on the Lollapalooza tour and managed, by some accounts, to steal the show. As the single would have indicated, the sound of the following LP, Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (1992), was the most metal-oriented Ministry had put to record at that point, the focal point of the sound shifting almost entirely from synths to Jourgensen's and new members Mike Scaccia's and Louis Svitek's electric guitars. ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ, which is printed on the record, is Greek for "head" or "leader". The title was borrowed from Aleister Crowley's work: The Book of Lies (Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs). Psalm 69 became Ministry's biggest hit, including in addition to "Jesus Built My Hotrod" the singles "N.W.O." (a protest of the Persian Gulf War and attack directed at then-President George H.W. Bush) and "Just One Fix" (a collaboration with poet/novelist William S. Burroughs).


    "Jesus Built My Hotrod"
    [youtubevid]3RBKTo5K14M[/youtubevid]




    Filth Pig
    In spite of their growing success, Ministry was nearly derailed by a series of arrests and drug problems. The band didn't issue their next album, Filth Pig, until 1996. For Filth Pig, Ministry stripped all synthesizers and most samples from their style and made the music almost entirely with ultra-noisy guitars, heavy bass, and real drums. The songs were played mostly at slower tempos than the very fast ones that were used for the compositions on their previous three LPs, giving it an almost doom metal feel. Filth Pig was supported with the singles/videos Reload, The Fall, Lay Lady Lay (an unusual and unexpected cover of Bob Dylan's old country-tinged hit) and Brick Windows and with a tour in 1996 (the live performances were later anthologized on the Sphinctour album and DVD in 2002), but was unenthusiastically received[citation needed]. Jourgensen would later consider Filth Pig one of Ministry's best records[citation needed]. He commented in RIP Magazine saying that record companies are "enablers", because they won't pay him in crack, they make him go buy it on the street[citation needed]. The album has been considered by Jourgensen to be his response to fan expectations of where Ministry's sound was heading, and it's also been speculated that it was an attempt to move away from the "industrial" label of the band's music.


    "Lay Lady Lay "
    [youtubevid]8FbdxIkJ9jI[/youtubevid]




    Dark Side of the Spoon
    The members of Ministry experienced greater devastation when former guitarist William Tucker committed suicide in 1999 by cutting his own throat. Ministry then recorded their final studio album for Warner Bros. Records, entitled Dark Side of the Spoon (1999), which they dedicated to Tucker. For Dark Side of the Spoon, Ministry tried to diversify their sound by adding some melodic and synthetic touches, similar to the Jourgensen/George sound, to their usual electro-metal sound, but the album wasn't well received. However, the single "Bad Blood" appeared on the soundtrack album of The Matrix and was nominated for a 2000 Grammy award. The band would record another song, What About Us? for the Steven Spielberg film AI: Artificial Intelligence and make a cameo appearance in the film.

    In the summer of 2000, Ministry was invited to that year's Ozzfest. They would fill in the co-headliner position left vacant by a failed-reuniting of the original Judas Priest. Ministry was later dropped from the bill after a management changeover, although Al's drug habits may have actually played the culprit in this. They were replaced by Pantera.



    Present
    Jourgensen has expressed on multiple occasions an intent to disassemble the project after concluding the current "MasturbaTour", and at least one final "C-U-LaTour". Ministry's "final" album, The Last Sucker, was released on September 18th 2007. In July 2007, the band released Rio Grande Dub, an album featuring remixes from the band's 2006 Rio Grande Blood album. The band's next U.S. tour in support of The Last Sucker, is tentatively scheduled to start in March 2008 and will run until May 2008.


    Paul Raven passed away on the 20th of October 2007, he suffered an apparent heart attack after just arriving in Europe to commence recording for another band.

    The "C-U-LaTour" will start its North American leg on March 26th, 2008 with Meshuggah and Hemlock serving as opening acts.









     
    smi, Jammsbro, Spökes and 3 others like this.
  2. Funkyboyroy

    Funkyboyroy PG and Yayboobies Bitch ! Ten Years of Phun

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2005
    Messages:
    18,854
    Likes Received:
    6,251
    Congrats Toolz on the 1k posts, Your a top man. - I love your posts, Even though Im not a massive Ministry fan I do like Jesus Built My Hotrod.

    Look forward to the next thousand posts
     
    toolz likes this.
  3. TKA1

    TKA1 has erectile dysphunction

    Joined:
    May 5, 2005
    Messages:
    14,434
    Likes Received:
    4,567
    congrats on 1,000 posts toolz! you are the man.

    [​IMG]
     
    toolz likes this.
  4. didoboy

    didoboy

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2007
    Messages:
    1,073
    Likes Received:
    5,814
    congrats!!
     
    toolz likes this.
  5. Kieks

    Kieks Getting away with it, all messed up. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Original Phun Crew

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2004
    Messages:
    68,705
    Likes Received:
    249,717
    Same comments as Funky. I don't know much of Minsitry but that song fucking rocks. Next time I crank it out, I'll dedicate it to you.

    Congrats on the 1,000. Looking forward to many more.
     
    toolz likes this.
  6. TKA1

    TKA1 has erectile dysphunction

    Joined:
    May 5, 2005
    Messages:
    14,434
    Likes Received:
    4,567
    same here. ::fap fap fap::
     
    toolz likes this.
  7. TheRiver

    TheRiver temporarily a little out of order. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 15 Year Member Original Phun Crew Movers & Shakers

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2005
    Messages:
    27,711
    Likes Received:
    106,437
    never too late to check out new music.

    thanks - and congrats! ;)
     
    toolz likes this.
  8. goaldernit

    goaldernit love my gas guzzlin dodge

    Joined:
    May 31, 2007
    Messages:
    2,268
    Likes Received:
    752
    grats Toolz on 1k
     
    toolz likes this.
  9. Billy Sastard

    Billy Sastard One thousand brown M&Ms ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ Ten Years of Phun

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2006
    Messages:
    34,814
    Likes Received:
    43,038
    Nice one Toolz, Congrats mate.
     
    toolz likes this.
  10. Captain Caveman

    Captain Caveman Coochieness

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2005
    Messages:
    20,013
    Likes Received:
    4,409
    Congrats! really cool milestone post Toolz! I enjoyed reading it.
     
    toolz likes this.
  11. Spökes

    Spökes

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2007
    Messages:
    1,770
    Likes Received:
    1,572
    Congratulations toolz to your 1k post!
     
    toolz likes this.
  12. Taipan

    Taipan Never made it as a wise man Staff Member ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 15 Year Member Original Phun Crew Phun Award Holder

    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2006
    Messages:
    45,057
    Likes Received:
    163,481
    Congratulations On 1.000 Posts!

    [​IMG]
     
    toolz likes this.
  13. Jammsbro

    Jammsbro ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 15 Year Member

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2007
    Messages:
    38,019
    Likes Received:
    76,795
    WHERES THE BURDS!!!???
     
    toolz likes this.
  14. SilentB

    SilentB ---------------

    Joined:
    May 9, 2007
    Messages:
    4,123
    Likes Received:
    6,758
    Congrats, toolz
     
    toolz likes this.
  15. Melonabe

    Melonabe Guest

    Wikipedia ftw :D haha, congrats toolz ^^
     
    toolz likes this.
  16. rapids_x

    rapids_x firebrigade

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2007
    Messages:
    2,836
    Likes Received:
    687
    Congrats and welcome to the club of 1000th posts :D
     
    toolz likes this.
  17. ItPutsTheLotionOnItsSkin

    ItPutsTheLotionOnItsSkin It's So Moist

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2005
    Messages:
    8,181
    Likes Received:
    2,443
    Congrats on the 1,000 toolz.

    Not a huge Ministry fan but they do have some good songs.
     
    toolz likes this.
  18. mrfreeze

    mrfreeze Exec E's KinkE Consultant

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2006
    Messages:
    10,581
    Likes Received:
    13,535
    Congrats Toolz

    [​IMG]

    See you on the next milestone :D
     
    toolz likes this.
  19. wtfazzhole

    wtfazzhole Munchin on Pussy ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ 15 Year Member Original Phun Crew

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2004
    Messages:
    55,657
    Likes Received:
    11,858
    congrats but what kinda thread is this? :-?
     
    toolz likes this.
  20. toolz

    toolz Hater ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

    Joined:
    Jul 14, 2007
    Messages:
    11,887
    Likes Received:
    17,466
    A tribute to my favorite band. I dont expect everyone to like Ministry, but this thread is informational,and maybe some young kids will get turned on to them by this.:D
     

Share This Page