Mikey's Middle Finger
September 22, 2013 3:29 PM   Subscribe

"If I'm going to die, if Al Jourgensen is going to die, I don't want it to be from recalled yogurt." On the eve of Ministry's newest release, From Beer to Eternity, and in the wake of Mike Scaccia's passing, Al seems to find a tremendous amount of peace with putting Ministry to rest.

Vice has a more detailed account of the conception of the album, along with some studio footage.
posted by mannequito (18 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Is that your voice reading the poem?
Nope. That is Sargent Major. That's his name; he even makes his wife call him Sargent Major. He was a drill instructor at Paris Island on the East coast and he was R. Lee Ermey's drill instructor.


That's like... wow.

Also... 30 years of Ministry!
posted by Artw at 3:35 PM on September 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also they've released half a dozen albums since I last bought one... I really ought to check into that.
posted by Artw at 3:37 PM on September 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


In college I played the entire song Stigmata from the disc "Live in Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up." Needless to say this isn't the same as it was on the studio version. I lived in fear of the FCC for months.

There is a statute of limitations on FCC fines, right?
posted by cjorgensen at 3:47 PM on September 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Nothing will ever top "With Sympathy".
posted by Cosine at 4:41 PM on September 22, 2013


30 Beers Of Ministry
posted by mannequito at 5:11 PM on September 22, 2013


There's been a floodtide of books I've wanted to read lately, but I've had the chance to read the first couple chapters of Al's autobiography, and it is as terrifying and hilarious as one might imagine. I was more surprised to learn about the gruesome extent of his injury from stomach ulcerations than I was to read his casual mention of having been visited by gray aliens.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 5:20 PM on September 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


"So What" tops 'em all. Especially that live version on "In Case" with the two drum sets. Ah here it is. But for some reason this all now makes me think of the recent Mondo 2000 FPP!
posted by Mid at 5:24 PM on September 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


It saddens me that you're calling this your last one though.
Well ya. Thanks to fucking yogurt!

The first half of this interview is awesome.

The second half isn't bad either.
posted by biscotti at 6:24 PM on September 22, 2013


The last Ministry album I bought was Dark Side of the Spoon. I did it, I think, solely out of a sense of obligation -- and I've never listened to the whole thing through.

Land of Rape and Honey is genius and I need to listen to it again now.
posted by Slothrup at 7:55 PM on September 22, 2013


It would be a fitting end, though...
posted by littlejohnnyjewel at 8:59 PM on September 22, 2013


Killed by a yogurt launching SRL robot gone bezerk...
posted by Artw at 9:06 PM on September 22, 2013


I listened to a few tracks off the new one, kind of in a vain hope that Al would've returned to the style of his earlier, pre-Psalm albums, but of course he didn't. Ministry, whom I absolutely loved, was the first band where I really encountered an artist growing in a different direction than I could follow. It has since happened many times--usually bands who used to have an edge to them suddenly sinking into safer bleepy-bloopy waters, which thankfully Al and co. did not do--but they were the first. It's weird to be all, "I'm not a fan of your work anymore but I'm glad you're doing stuff that still interests you," but there ya go.
posted by mittens at 5:12 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


"This one's the last one! Ministry's OVER after this one! Promise! I'm not kidding you this time! You might actually be able to remember the name of a song off this one!"
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 9:02 AM on September 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


I think Psalm was probably one of the last ones that I really enjoyed unconditionally. Relapse had a solid title track, but I don't think of it as Ministry so much as that one song that comes on my iPod every now and again that has a pretty good hook.

Rape and Honey was nearly perfect, but Mind is a Terrible thing to Taste, was perfect. Between those two, I'll forgive Al anything else he ever did. Because for a brief time, he was putting out the soundtrack to my life.

::puts on Burning Inside, remembers the good times::
posted by quin at 12:55 PM on September 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


I really ought to check into that

I suggest that you spare yourself the disappointment. For added comfort, skip the concert.
posted by snottydick at 9:50 AM on September 24, 2013


/retreats to pile of old Front Line Assembly and Front 242 albums.
posted by Artw at 10:01 AM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]


Considering that Front 242 seem to be funding their retirement by selling an endless stream of remix and compilation albums, retreating to the old stuff does make sense! (also, is it just me, or does new FLA sound an awful lot like new Skinny Puppy? Maybe my ears have grown elderly.)
posted by mittens at 11:20 AM on September 24, 2013


Just under the wire! Factmag has some of the crazier stories from Al's biography.


THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO TASTE: THE INSANE LIFE OF MINISTRY’S AL JOURGENSEN


personal favorite:
Finding a fan in Stanley Kubrick and naming pornos with Steven Spielberg

While developing what would become Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence, legendary director Stanley Kubrick sought out Ministry to write music for and appear in the film. Although Jourgensen initially took the call from Kubrick’s office to be a prank, the two eventually connected. Jourgensen was floored that Kubrick was a fan of the band, who allegedly heard a Ministry album on the set of Eyes Wide Shut and appreciated Ministry’s sample of Full Metal Jacket on ‘Thieves’.

When Spielberg took over on the film after Kubrick’s death, Jourgensen did not make a great first impression. Likening meeting Spielberg to “meeting the Queen,” Jourgensen joked to the director that he thought A.I. stood for “Anal Intruder,” and that the film was to be porn. Spielberg was not amused, but Jourgensen eventually smoothed things over. “So every day [after that] he’d come up and he’d name a new porn title,” Jourgensen says. “And then he finally started wearing my cowboy hat and started jamming with us on stage.”
posted by mannequito at 7:10 PM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


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