I love Ministry, one of my favorite bands and I don't care what anyone says about it.

gcbv wrote:I don't think there was one other human being who was treated with more disdain at Waterloo Records In Austin as Mr. Al Jourgensen.

Well, Waterloo records is a contemptuous store hardly worth acknowledging so that doesn't seem like much of an insult to Mr. Jourgensen or anyone else who may have the misfortune of needing to go there (Do they pay the London Underground to use that tube symbol? If not I dare say someone should open a mock rival to them named "Elephant & Castle Records").

Sorry, I digress, in my opinion Ministry cannot counter-balance the amount of crap they've put out.

John W. wrote:Sorry, it's just that being around during the 80s in Chicago when Ministry/Wax Trax/Lincoln Park/Lakeview/expensive leather jacket 'industrial'-goth chic was in full bloom can really make a guy hate Al J. Is he still on crack?

I believe so. I work with a guy who is friends with Paul Barker, and apparently Al and his woman have financially fucked the rest of the band, mostly due to their habits.

stewie wrote:

John W. wrote:Sorry, it's just that being around during the 80s in Chicago when Ministry/Wax Trax/Lincoln Park/Lakeview/expensive leather jacket 'industrial'-goth chic was in full bloom can really make a guy hate Al J. Is he still on crack?

I believe so. I work with a guy who is friends with Paul Barker, and apparently Al and his woman have financially fucked the rest of the band, mostly due to their habits.

I don't think this is true, I have a few friends who have worked with Ministry in various aspects and they all say the money is very good and never late.

Crap, crappity, crap, crap, crap.

the major mistake in Al's career is that he should have never been a frontman.. his band should have always backed someone else.

The results were always better...

Ministry + Ian MacKaye = Pailhead >>>> Ministry
Ministry + Jello Biafra = Lard >>>> Ministry
Ministry + Gibby Haynes = well, Ministry feat. Gibby Haynes >>>> Ministry
Ministry + Chris Connelly and others = Revolting Cocks > Ministry (but not by much)
Ministry + Trent Reznor at one time = 1000 Homo DJs >> Ministry... (you have to admit that their cover of "Supernaut" was pretty stellar)

Point being: you could tell that their playing was far looser and, well, better! You could tell they could actually play, instead of just loop something for six minutes and make an attempt to scowl into a distortion box over it. Compare that to "The Power Of Lard".

Ministry were also good at the very beginning, when they were basically a funk band with a laughably goth/faux-brit singer on their first EP "Cold Life". Check out the slap bass! "Cold *synth clap* *SAX* LOIF! *SAX*"

I ultimately voted "Crap", but it doesn't change the fact that Twitch was a cornerstone album for me. Then again, that was more because of the genius of the dance/percussive production of Adrian Sherwood and his friends in African Head Charge, Tack>>Head, On-U Sound System, Mark Stewart + Maffia, etc. moreso than Al. I heard an outtake circa 1984 from that new Ministry comp Early Trax, and it was basically the Tackhead song "M.O.V.E." with Al trying to sing funkily over it. I guess it got dumped, so Tackhead later beefed it up as a solid instrumental and released it on drummer Keith LeBlanc's solo album Major Malfuction.

So, aside from Al helping me to discover Adrian Sherwood/On-U Sound, crap.

I'll also rep for some of the "throwaways" on Wax Trax like Acid Horse or PTP or what not, which were always a little more interesting than the actual Ministry releases.

ultimately this band is pretty much crap. i think they deserve waffles for "thieves", "so what", "just one fix", etc. but yeah they are too repetitive, their lyrics are dumb, their riffs aren't awesome enough to warrant being beat into the ground, etc.

i wouldn't say they sound quite like big black -- i mean i can see why people say that but big black was more into being trying to be smartass and punky and ministry was more repetitive etc.

haven't heard "houses of the mole", supposed to be best in a while, it's all bush-bashing, if i saw it for like $3 maybe it'd grab it.

btw jesus built my hotrod is CRAP!!!!! TOTAL CRAP. why are you folks into that song?

lard is ok but doesn't blow me away.

Looks like Al's been unloading some gear:

1991 Fairlight Series III
1984 Fairlight Series II X
Publison Infernal Machine 90

(courtesy of MusicThing)

I like how the seller says, "Al Jourgensen alone has pioneered modern electronic music as we know it today." Um, huh?

Check out the Sharpie-on-the-keys method of keeping track of the samples. And remember, kids, duct tape == punk rock.

Something tells me you can spend about 200 bucks and buy a new sampler that is about the size of a shoebox and it will do everything those things do, and more probably