It's #ninetiesfriday so let's take a look at the godfathers of industrial music, Ministry.
This band was born in the 80s but really hit their stride in the 90s. Then they got on heroin and lost it for a bit, but lead singer and brain-trust, Al Jorgensen, got his shit together and is still kicking ass today
Lemme just fire up the new Ministry record, Hopiumforthemasses, while I write this #90sfriday post 🤘
As I said, Al started Ministry in 1982, but it was a whole lot of nothing but cutting chops until 1988/1989 when they released two records, The Land of Rape and Honey with the single Stigmata, and, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste.
So, in early 1990 Ministry went on an extensive tour, where they recorded a concert video they released on CD and on video (VHS 😃) in September 1990, In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up.
I've always been a big music lover, probably due to my dad always having oldies on, or singing if there was no radio around. I really started listening with intent and learning about music and musicians in the mid 1980s when we moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. At fist it was pop music, then by the late 1980s I was really into classic rock as well.
I also had a friend that was a professional drummer in high school and he got me into jazz and my girlfriend at the time was a cellist who was in the Cal State University Fullerton orchestra, so I was getting into classical as well.
I remember the day I went over to my buddy's house and he played this video for me.
The video fades into a wide view of a stage, there's fire and smoke, then you hear a solid drum jam. When the camera finally shows the drums, there are TWO drummers 😳
After about three minutes of that the rest of the band appears on stage and they break into the first song, Breathe.
At the beginning of the song the camera angle changes and we see the band behind a fucking chain link fence, wearing the most evil cowboy hats I've ever seen! I was hooked!! The fence left enough on the front of the stage for concertgoers to jump up dance across.
Here's the full video. Highly recommend.
If you don't have time for that shit then maybe watch them perform one of their more well known songs, Thieves.
At least hang to the 1:19 mark, when the tempo quadruples :D
Ministry released three studio albums in the 90s:
ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ (known as Psalm 69) (1992)
Filth Pig (1996)
Dark Side of the Spoon (1999)
And I did not miss a tour 🤘
The '92 tour was called the Psalm 69 tour, the '96 was called the Sphictour, and the '99 was called the ClitourUS 😂🤣
I was at the second show and was fortunate to see Sepultura and Helmet as well. Also saw Helmet at the Roxy earlier that year.
One of Al's signature stage props are his custom mic stands. It usually changed from tour to tour, and still does!
From Psalm 69:
My favorite tune from the Filth Pig album:
And the opening tune from the commercial flop, Dark Side of the Spoon:
'Nuff said
