One of my all time favorite music transformations. Ministry from synth-pop darling to aggresive industrial metal. Hell... teh father of industrial metal (next to Skinny Puppy, Pigface and later NIN)

It's like Depeche Modes transition from a poppy boy band to dark and sinister rock. But ministry is an even more extreme example. I happen to love both eras and i love the early work AL's faux british accent

From this

To this


This


To This

Wow, Guns, you never cease to surprise me with bringing out the music of my youth! This was another group that leaves me scratching my head. I have to share this story with you! I fell in love with Ministry when they were the dance/synth pop band that made "Everyday is Halloween," from 'With Sympathy.' I then followed them with the 'Twitch' release and realized the music was getting darker. Later on, I was excited to attend a concert featuring Ministry and Danielle Dax. I was really excited to see her because - by the early 90's Ministry was really getting almost "too heavy metal" for me, but I thought the double-bill would be fantastic. I guess I'm a wuss, but I like their new wave synth sounds better than the shouting anger put behind beats that sounded like a jackhammer. Anyway, so after the set by Danielle Dax - Al Jourgensen took the stage and was clearly on something. He mumbled through most of the songs, cried (yes, sobbed - and was clearly upset by something), then it turned into a fit of anger. The music volume went up and it was just one pounding song after another - and not necessarily in a good way. It was hard to watch, but then the next surprise was when he started cutting on himself onstage. Now, granted, I was likely drunk myself and probably feeling the affects of the contact high that filled the auditorium, but I remember leaving there thinking that was perhaps the strangest concert experience I ever had in my life. Danielle Dax, by the way, was fantastic (if you aren't familiar with her, look her up)! From there, luckily, Ministry had influenced a bunch of other acts who initially started with the more "dancey" sound. I really liked Skinny Puppy ("Rabies" especially) and they kinda filled my Ministry void for a while -- then they too went to industrial heavy metal. But I do think that Ministry clearly influenced many of my favorite bands from that era and afterwards.

Gunsnhalen said:

One of my all time favorite music transformations. Ministry from synth-pop darling to aggresive industrial metal. Hell... teh father of industrial metal (next to Skinny Puppy, Pigface and later NIN)

It's like Depeche Modes transition from a poppy boy band to dark and sinister rock. But ministry is an even more extreme example. I happen to love both eras and i love the early work AL's faux british accent

I agree.

In some circles ministry's early work is disregarded but personally i happen 2 like it .

It(earlier stuff)had a funky, new wave, dance sound that a person could groove 2. And ain't nothing wrong with that.

[Edited 1/16/15 16:03pm]

FormerlyKnownAs said:

Wow, Guns, you never cease to surprise me with bringing out the music of my youth! This was another group that leaves me scratching my head. I have to share this story with you! I fell in love with Ministry when they were the dance/synth pop band that made "Everyday is Halloween," from 'With Sympathy.' I then followed them with the 'Twitch' release and realized the music was getting darker. Later on, I was excited to attend a concert featuring Ministry and Danielle Dax. I was really excited to see her because - by the early 90's Ministry was really getting almost "too heavy metal" for me, but I thought the double-bill would be fantastic. I guess I'm a wuss, but I like their new wave synth sounds better than the shouting anger put behind beats that sounded like a jackhammer. Anyway, so after the set by Danielle Dax - Al Jourgensen took the stage and was clearly on something. He mumbled through most of the songs, cried (yes, sobbed - and was clearly upset by something), then it turned into a fit of anger. The music volume went up and it was just one pounding song after another - and not necessarily in a good way. It was hard to watch, but then the next surprise was when he started cutting on himself onstage. Now, granted, I was likely drunk myself and probably feeling the affects of the contact high that filled the auditorium, but I remember leaving there thinking that was perhaps the strangest concert experience I ever had in my life. Danielle Dax, by the way, was fantastic (if you aren't familiar with her, look her up)! From there, luckily, Ministry had influenced a bunch of other acts who initially started with the more "dancey" sound. I really liked Skinny Puppy ("Rabies" especially) and they kinda filled my Ministry void for a while -- then they too went to industrial heavy metal. But I do think that Ministry clearly influenced many of my favorite bands from that era and afterwards.

Industrial is like my favorite right now industrial metal and industrial hip-hop. I was introduced to Ministry from the Psalm 69 record (regarded as their best)

I was shocked to see the video for Revenge. Al Jourgenson looked so... normal and i could see his face haha. I liked the song! it had an early 80's Depeche Mode/The Cure vibe.

What your was this? i actually just watched Fix: A Ministry Movie. About their 1996 tour at the time. And Al was incredibly fucked up on heroin. And Filth Pig was their ''drug record'' and one they don't think fondly of.

Honestly Twitch & Land Of Rape & Honey are amazing. I love the dark, gothic, spacey vibes. It's ear candy for me

I always wondered if AL was self conscious about his vocals. He started with that faux British accent then to that weird somber vocal on Twitch. To the more aggressive and eventually heavily produced metal vocals.

JoeyC said:

Gunsnhalen said:

One of my all time favorite music transformations. Ministry from synth-pop darling to aggresive industrial metal. Hell... teh father of industrial metal (next to Skinny Puppy, Pigface and later NIN)

It's like Depeche Modes transition from a poppy boy band to dark and sinister rock. But ministry is an even more extreme example. I happen to love both eras and i love the early work AL's faux british accent

I agree.

In some circles ministry's early work is disregarded but personally i happen 2 like it .

It(earlier stuff)had a funky, new wave, dance sound that a person could groove 2. And ain't nothing wrong with that.

[Edited 1/16/15 16:03pm]

Even AL said he hated his early work. But recently on his youtube page released demos from his early 80's albums. So i feel he maybe has come to peace with it. I think his whole thing was. He became the ''scariest guy in rock'' and didn't want to look back on when he was wimpy

I discovered them in their Psalm 69 days, and later when I worked at a radio station and they had their first album and played something from it for a second I thought I'd put in the wrong album, the whole thing sounded so not "ministry" like (or what I knew them to sound like). I admittedly have never given their early stuff another listen since then.

hes the sickest F**K....read his book