Ministry (band)
Ministry is an
industrial rock band of the
1980s and
90s. The band was formed in
1981 (
1981 in music) by Alain Jourgensen. The debut album was
With Sympathy (
1983 in music), but sales were sluggish. Jourgensen, then the only band member, decided to take the band in a new, more hardcore direction for
Twitch (
1985 in music).
Though
Twitch did not sell well, it set the stage for Ministry's move into industrial music. With Paul Barker, William Rieflin, Mike Scaccia and Chris Connelly, Jourgensen recorded
The Land of Rape and Honey (
1988 in music). The album was a smash success in the underground music scene. The follow-up,
The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste was just as acclaimed.
After several years of touring and recording, Ministry broke into the mainstream in
1991 (
1991 in music) with "Jesus Built My Hotrod" (co-written by Michael Balch, and Gibby Haynes of
the Butthole Surfers). The
music video was a hit on
MTV, and the full-length
Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs was another hit. The three other albums were
Filth Pig (
1995),
Dark Side of the Spoon (
1999) and
Animositisomina (
2003). In spite of their growing success, Ministry was derailed by a series of drug problems and arrests, and finally, the suicide of guitarist William Tucker. In
2000 (
2000 in music), Ministry's "Bad Blood" was nominated for a Grammy, though it lost. Label problems have prevented much recorded material being released in recent years, except the
Sphinctour album and DVD in
2002 (
2002 in music). Longtime bassist Barker left the band in 2003.
\nSee also:
Revolting Cocks
Discography
Singles
- Cold Life (1981)
- I Wanted to Tell Her (1983)
- Revenge (1983)
- Work for Love (1983)
- All Day (1984)
- The Nature of Love (1984)
- Over the Shoulder (1985)
- Halloween Remix (1987)
- Stigmata (1988)
- Burning Inside (1989)
- Jesus Built My Hotrod (1991)
- N.W.O. (1992)
- Just One Fix (1992)
- The Fall (1995)
- Lay Lady Lay (1995)
- Brick Windows (1996)
- Bad Blood (1999)
- No "W" (2004)
Box sets
- Box (1983)
- Just Another Fix (1995)
- 3 for One box (2000)
Videos
- In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up - Live! (1990)
- Tapes of Wrath (2000)
- What About Us? - Promo (2001)
- Sphinctour (2002) \n
Category:Industrial music groups
