Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen

374 Pages·2013·7.4 MB·English

by  Al Jourgensen

Dedication

For my two angels, Angelina and Carmen

In memory of Michael Ralph Scaccia
June 14, 1965, to December 22, 2012
Epigraph

“If you remember the nineties, you weren’t there.”
—AL JOURGENSEN
Contents

Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
So What? The Significance of Ministry
Foreword
Prologue
Chapter 1: Resurrecting the Beast
Chapter 2: From Cuba to Oblivion
INTERVENTION 1: Ministry Frontman’s Stepfather
Chapter 3: Teenage Wasteland
Chapter 4: Symphony for the Devil
INTERVENTION 2: Pick Your Poison
Chapter 5: Twitch of the Death Nerve
INTERVENTION 3: Luc Van Acker
Chapter 6: The Land of Rape and Honey
INTERVENTION 4: Sascha Konietzko
Chapter 7: The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste
INTERVENTION 5: Dead Kennedys and Lard FrontmanJello Biafra
Chapter 8: Truly Revolting
PHOTO SECTION
INTERVENTION 6: Revolting Cocks Vocalist Phildo Owen
Chapter 9: Psalm 69
Chapter 10: Welcome to the Lone Star State
INTERVENTION 7: Butthole Surfing with Gibby Haynes
Chapter 11: Filth Pig—Dirt, Degradation, and the DEA
Chapter 12: The Psychedelic Evolution of Leary
Chapter 13: Dark Side of the Spoon
INTERVENTION 8: Salvation—Angelina Lukacin-Jourgensen
Chapter 14: Animositisomin
INTERVENTION 9: Mike Scaccia: The Final Interview
Chapter 15: Houses of the Molé
Chapter 16: Rio Grande Blood and Other Cocky Shit
INTERVENTION 10: Tour Manager Holger Brandes
Chapter 17: The Last Sucker
INTERVENTION 11 Al Jourgensen
Chapter 18: From Beer to Eternity
Acknowledgments
Discography
Copyright
So What?
The Significance of Ministry TRENT REZNOR (Nine Inch
Nails): Ministry was the single-most important influence
in the sound and concept of Nine Inch Nails. When I
heard Twitch I was intrigued. When I heard The Land of
Rape and Honey it blew my mind. The production,
presentation, and the aggression broke all the rules and
was truly inspiring.
COREY TAYLOR (Slipknot): The Land of Rape and Honey is still one of my favorite
albums—it’s sick. One of the reasons I’ve been so over the top in Slipknot is
because of Ministry. Al was the progenitor of so many kinds of chaotic music. If
there was no Al Jourgensen, there would have been no reason for artists to
become completely unhinged. He took everything that extra step. His music is so
fucking visceral and sick and dark. I have total respect for Al. He has used
everything at his disposal to make a really dark soundtrack for people to listen to
and lose their minds.
JOEY JORDISON (Slipknot): Ministry is not as much a band or a movement as it is a
culture. They have probably inspired me more as a songwriter than as a drummer
or guitarist. They have the ability to throw you into a trance with a single riff for
minutes on end and still retain a verse/chorus structure that actually means
something. This is a band that makes you stand up and pay attention, causes you
to expand your record collection, makes you open to new endeavors and ideas—
not to mention take mind-altering substances! They’re not an industrial band, a
metal band, or an alternative band. Simply put, they are one of the greatest rock
bands ever. They are the premiere leaders of the scene that followed them, even
though they had no intention of starting it.
JONATHAN DAVIS (Korn): I loved Ministry because they were so original. They did
a complete 180 from “(Every Day Is) Halloween,” to the softer stuff, to when
they started doing hard industrial with Twitch and then the heavier albums after
that. Ministry has influenced every band, whether it’s the tones of the guitars or
how the music is done. Ministry is like Black Sabbath or Pantera—those bands
that made their mark and have their own sound. And Al Jourgensen is a
performer and an epitome of a true rock star. He lived life way beyond anything,
and I think he’s a genius. I’ll never forget meeting Al for the first time because
when he shook my hand he had a needle in his arm.
JAMEY JASTA (Hatebreed): I saw one of their videos on Headbanger’s Ball so I
went to see them on Lollapalooza. That was one of the first times I saw super-
heavy, aggressive music cross over into the mainstream and beyond. There
weren’t a lot of melodic vocals, the riffs were so hard, and the pit was violent.
But everyone was loving it. It was crazy to see a band that aggressive get that
much mainstream exposure and success. It gave me hope for what I wanted to
do.
LUC VAN ACKER (ex-Revolting Cocks, ex-Front 242): I was pogo dancing to Ministry’s
“Cold Life” back in 1981! I am slam dancing to “No W” right now. Ministry at
Lollapalooza is the greatest live act I ever saw in my entire life. Al Jourgensen is
not ready for a lifetime achievement award but rather “Kick-Me-in-the-Teeth!”
honors, as he has done with his music over the past twenty-five years.
CHESTER BENNINGTON (Linkin Park): Ministry made me want to play music. I was
home screaming “Deity” because I wanted to sound like Al Jourgensen. I had no
idea how he did it. I didn’t know they used effects on their voices, but I would
do everything I could to make my natural voice sound like Al. There was
something about Ministry that was heavy but it wasn’t metal, and I couldn’t
figure out how they did it. It was so different from anything else I had heard, but
it was so heavy and hard.
BURTON C. BELL (Fear Factory): Al Jourgensen perfected industrial music to the
point where it appealed to a metal audience but was still rooted in electronic
music with really cool, heavy melodies. Ministry’s The Land of Rape and Honey
is like Sex Pistols’ groundbreaking Nevermind the Bollocks for industrial music.
It’s just vicious, aggressive, and intense, but it’s real and it influenced so many
people, including myself, to follow suit with their own blend of metal and
industrial.
DAVID DRAIMAN (Disturbed): The very first show we did after we were signed was
on a bill opening for Ministry. As a heavy Chicago band, Ministry were local
heroes of ours. So we were honored and excited to play with them. I go in to
meet them during sound check, and Al’s doing hits off of a crack pipe. He was
doing the same thing between verses onstage in front of everybody. I was like,
“Goddamn dude. That’s some hardcore shit.” It was like, “Welcome to the music
industry.”
CHAD GRAY (Mudvayne): He’s the godfather of industrial music, and his influence
in unbelievable. He gave it that darkness that maybe only drugs could do. And
that rhythmic repetition . . . oh, my God! He treated the guitar like the gearhead
electronic geeks treated their loops and samples. To hear a guitar playing at that
tone in a way that felt like it never ended was like getting a jackhammer in your
forehead.
TOMMY VICTOR (Prong): Ministry created an entirely new genre. They reinvented it
all—electronic, punk, postpunk, goth, industrial, metal. No other artist can make
that claim.
SCOTT IAN (Anthrax): I am not a religious man, but I have been a faithful follower
and member of Al’s Ministry for more than twenty years. Thank you for the
guidance.
JELLO BIAFRA (Dead Kennedys, Lard): One thing that doesn’t come across in
Ministry is that [Al]’s got one of the most razor-sharp and quick wits about him
of anybody I’ve ever known. He has a great sense of humor.
BEN WEINMAN (Dillinger Escape Plan): When I was just getting into music they were
one of those bands that was not part of the mainstream, and that got me into
really extreme music. I would listen to regular radio rock and then I’d hear
Ministry and go, “Wow, there’s something different about this. This defies the
typical rules of what’s popular right now.” To me, they seemed like the biggest
band in the world. Their sound was massive, their message was
massive, and their delivery was massive. Psalm 69 was such a huge record for
me because that came out in 1992 when I started getting into punk and hardcore.
Dillinger was one of the first bands I was in that was combining metal, hardcore,
and punk together and trying to bring it into the same platform. Ministry
influenced me to say fuck everything. It doesn’t matter. Just combine everything
you’re into and make sure the message is really clear and in your face.
BLAKE JUDD (Nachtmystium): I was only thirteen when Filth Pig came out, but it
blew my mind and it remains, hands down, my favorite album ever recorded.
And after I discovered that, I explored everything else. I absolutely adore the
entire Ministry catalog. I’m the dude who likes Twitch and I even found
something to like in With Sympathy. But from The Land of Rape and Honey up
through Filth Pig, those are some of the best records ever recorded and were
way ahead of their time.