History Music / Ministry

Ministry was the TropeMaker for the genre of IndustrialMetal back in TheEighties and helped popularise it along fellow {{Trope Codifier}}s NineInchNails. Both bands also have something else in common, [[IAmTheBand having just one mastermind and constant member]]. In Ministry's case, this is a man named Al Jourgensen.

The band was formed in [[TheWindyCity Chicago]] in 1981. Their initial material was largely Music/NewWave SynthPop, as shown on their first album ''With Sympathy''. Jourgenson considers the album as OldShame and CanonDisContinuity, referring to ''Sympathy'' as "an abortion of an album" and blaming ExecutiveMeddling for its existence. Fans largely follow the WordOfGod on this one, although it is notable that the follow up and somewhat looked down on album ''Twitch'' was a harsher-sounding industrial album with no traces of the "SynthPop" sound that was so prevalent on the previous album.

Also in TheEighties, Jourgensen and Barker [[{{ADCD}} formed a flurry of side projects]]. These included the more light-hearted, absurdist Revolting Cocks (which essentially has the same lineup as Ministry, plus Luc Van Acker and [[{{Front 242}} Richard 23]] at first), Lard (a collaboration with DeadKennedys frontman Jello Biafra), Acid Horse (with CabaretVoltaire), 1000 Homo [=DJs=] (where [[NineInchNails Trent Reznor]] contributed vocals to a cover of Music/BlackSabbath's "Supernaut"), PTP (with Chris Connelly), Pigface (an IndustrialMetal {{Supergroup}}) and Pailhead (with MinorThreat guitarist Ian [=MacKaye=]).

Jourgensen finally retired Ministry in 2008 after recording the covers album ''Cover Up''. He spent the next few years focusing on running his record label 13th Planet Records and concentrating on his side projects Revolting Cocks and Lard. However, as of late 2011 the band is active again (with old standbys Scaccia, Bechdel and Quirin, plus new guys Aaron Rossi and Casey Orr), and a new album is due in 2012.

* BlackSheepHit: The song "Everyday is Halloween" is probably the only evidence to younger fans that they ever played SynthPop, and one of few songs of that period that Al Jourgensen still keeps in print.
* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: The Revolting Cocks' covers of "Let's Get Physical" and "Do You Think I'm Sexy?"

* DarkIsNotEvil: Same as Trent Reznor, Al Jourgensen in RealLife's an okay dude. Well, to be fair, Ministry isn't as angsty as NineInchNails...

* IndustrialMetal: {{Trope Maker}}s

* OldShame: ''With Sympathy'' is pretty much this trope summed up for Ministry.

** Albums: ''[[Music/PinkFloyd Dark Side of the Spoon]]'', ''[[Music/LedZeppelin Houses of the Molé]]'' and ''[[ZZTop Rio Grande Blood]]''.

* [[ShroudedinMyth Shrouded In Mystery]]: The video for the unreleased song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGskkcIDdXg "Same Old Madness"]], an extremely rare song from 1982, predating the release of ''With Sympathy'' by one whole year. If it wasn't because the video appeared on Website/YouTube on 2006, the song and its video would've been largely forgotten by now. As a side note, its the only video with the original line-up.

* VocalDissonance: Ex-vocalist and keyboardist Chris Connelly was rail-thin and [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m08ylw94V41qjwxaio1_500.jpg almost effeminate in appearance]] with a baritone voice.

[[caption-width-right:350:Ministry, 1992]]

-->''So the only one thing that I could do was ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long''

** ''Rio Grande Blood'' and ''The Last Sucker'' cut and pasted together samples of speeches by George W. Bush, resulting in ridiculous StrawmanPolitical statements that make Bush sound like a CompleteMonster.

** From SynthPop to Industrial for ''Twitch'', and straightforward industrial to IndustrialMetal for ''The Land of Rape and Honey''.
** "Test" in "The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste" is a strangely upbeat rap-rock-metal song.

** When Jourgensen played the demos for what became the first 1,000 Homo DJ's release, Wax Trax! label owner Jim Nash said "No one's gonna buy this. It'll take one thousand homo [=DJs=] to play this for one person to buy it."

* IconicItem: Al Jourgensen always wears sunglasses and a bandanna or a hat. Always.

* VocalDissonance: Ex-vocalist and keyboardist Chris Connelly was rail-thin and almost effeminate in appearance with a baritone voice.

* vocaldissonance: Ex-vocalist and keyboardist Chris Connelly was rail-thin and almost effeminate in appearance with a baritone voice.

** Albums: ''[[Music/PinkFloyd Dark Side of the Spoon]]'', ''[[LedZeppelin Houses of the Molé]]'' and ''[[ZZTop Rio Grande Blood]]''.

* ToAbsentFriends: ''Animositisomina'' was dedicated to the memory of former touring guitarist, William Tucker, who committed suicide in 1999.

* Self-Deprecation: The middle of [[http://lyrics.wikia.com/Revolting_Cocks:Linger_Ficken%27_Good Linger Fickin Good]]".

** Check the "Fix: The Ministry Movie" trailer on [=YoTtube=]. That is all.

** Check the "Fix: The Ministry Movie" trailer on Youtube. That is all.

* ToAbsentFriends: "Animositisomina" was dedicated to the memory of former touring guitarist, William Tucker, who committed suicide in 1999.

* Al Jourgensen - vocals, guitar, keyboards, multiple instruments

* Michael Balch - keyboards, programming (1991-1992)

* Rey Washam - drums, percussion, programming (1995-1999, 2003)
* Max Brody - drums, percussion, programming, saxophone (1999-2004)
* Mark Baker - drums (2004-2005)
* John Monte - bass (January 2004-September 2004)
* Paul Raven - bass, keyboards, guitar, drums (2005-2007)
* Tommy Victor - guitars, bass (2005-2008)
* John Bechdel - keyboards (2006-2008)
* Sin Quirin - guitars, bass (2007-2008)

* AppropriatedAppellation:

* GenreShift:

* PunnyName:
** Albums: ''[[PinkFloyd Dark Side of the Spoon]]'', ''[[LedZeppelin Houses of the Molé]]'' and ''[[ZZTop Rio Grande Blood]]''.

** In 2010, they remade their old SynthPop single "Everyday Is Halloween" in a more IndustrialMetal style (although the result is still more melodic than much of their other recent material).
* {{Sampling}}: Mostly from old movies.

* [[ShroudedinMyth Shrouded In Mystery]]: The video for the unreleased song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGskkcIDdXg "Same Old Madness"]], an extremely rare song from 1982, predating the release of ''With Sympathy'' by one whole year. If it wasn't because the video appeared on YouTube on 2006, the song and its video would've been largely forgotten by now. As a side note, its the only video with the original line-up.

* TakeThat:

Jourgensen finally retired Ministry in 2008 after recording the covers album ''Cover Up''. He spent the next few years focusing on running his record label 13th Planet Records and concentrating on his side projects Revolting Cocks and Lard. However, as of late 2011 the band is active again, and a new album is due in 2012.

* EpicRiff

** A lot towards GeorgeWBush, especialyl with ''Rio Grande Blood''.

* GenreShift: From SynthPop to Industrial for ''Twitch'', and straightforward industrial to IndustrialMetal for ''The Land of Rape and Honey''.

** A lot towards GeorgeWBush, especialyl with Rio Grande Blood.

** A lot towards GeorgeWBush.

The band was formed in [[TheWindyCity Chicago]] in 1981. Their initial material was largely NewWave SynthPop, as shown on their first album ''With Sympathy''. Jourgenson considers the album as OldShame and CanonDisContinuity, referring to ''Sympathy'' as "an abortion of an album" and blaming ExecutiveMeddling for its existence. Fans largely follow the WordOfGod on this one, although it is notable that the follow up and somewhat looked down on album ''Twitch'' was a harsher-sounding industrial album with no traces of the "SynthPop" sound that was so prevalent on the previous album.

* Zlatko Hukic - electronics, guitar (1995-1999)[[hottip:*:Marz, from DarkLotus]]

Jourgensen finally retired Ministry in 2008 after recording the covers album ''Cover Up''. He has since focused on running his record label 13th Planet Records and now concentrates on his side projects Revolting Cocks and Lard.

Ministry as we know it began when Jourgensen decided to add aggressive HeavyMetal riffing and recruited who would become his main collaborators for a while, Paul Barker and Bill Rieflin. The resulting album, ''The Land of Rape and Honey'', proved to be a landmark recording, combining harsh, electronics-heavy production with loud metal guitars and lots of {{Sampling}} from old movies. Its follow-up, ''The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste'', refined this formula by hardening the sound even further and introducing a political slant. This period also saw the band adopt its now-famous [[HellBentForLeather leather-clad]] cowboy/biker appearance.

* Robert Roberts - keyboards (1981-1983

The band was formed in [[TheWindyCity Chicago]] in 1981. Their initial material was largely NewWave SynthPop, as shown on their first album ''With Sympathy''. Jourgenson considers the album as OldShame and DisContinuity, referring to ''Sympathy'' as "an abortion of an album" and blaming ExecutiveMeddling for its existence. Fans largely follow the WordOfGod on this one, although it is notable that the follow up and somewhat looked down on album ''Twitch'' was a harsher-sounding industrial album with no traces of the "SynthPop" sound that was so prevalent on the previous album.