Tag Archives: Ministry

Jun 13 2013

[Video] Goin’ Old School: Spandau Ballet, Karla DeVito & Ministry

 

Goin’ Old School isn’t a trip down music memory lane, it’s a mugging in the dark alleyway of nostalgia:

Let’s begin todays journey with a bright SynthPop from Spandau Ballet’s 1982 single; Lifeline.

OK, this isn’t strictly a music video, because there isn’t one. But c’mon, what’s Karla DeVito’s 1985 track We Are Not Alone most famous for?

Before Ministry were shite Metal Ministry they were good, SynthPop Ministry, and even before that they were the Ministry who recorded this unreleased track, Same Old Madness, from 1982.

You can buy most of this  music from:

Dec 14 2011

Holy Ghost!’s ‘I Wanted To Tell Her’ video

Here’s the video for Holy Ghost!’s awesome cover of Ministry’s ‘I Wanted To Tell Her’.

Nancy Whang and Juan MacLean pop up in the video for their parts as well, which is pure ‘80’s Disco amazingness!

‘I Wanted To Tell Her’ is out now.

Buy Holy Ghost!’s music from:

Nov 11 2011

Holy Ghost!’s Ministry cover

Holy Ghost!

Long time reader will be fully aware of my feelings about Ministry (i.e. they used to be awesome, then went Industrial and were pretty good, then went Metal and were utter shit and laughably tried to disavow their SynthPop past), now one of my favourite acts of recent years, Holy Ghost!, has covered Ministry…good Ministry!

‘I Wanted To Tell Her’ was originally on Ministry’s 1983 awesome album ‘With Sympathy’ and Holy Ghost! have brought it kicking and screaming into the 21st century covered in their New York DiscoPop sound. With a little help from The Juan MacLean and Nancy Whang the duo give early Ministry some raw Funk. It will amuse ne no end if such a relevant band covering this era Ministry sees a resurgence of popular interest in the album Ministry disowned.

♫ Holy Ghost! (Feat. Nancy Whang & The Juan MacLean) – I Wanted To Tell Her (Ministry Cover)

Buy Holy Ghost!’s music from:

   

Aug 30 2011

Goin’ Old School: Ministry – Revenge

Oh look! Ministry, before they were shit. You’ve got to go all the way back to 1983 to find it, but it’s there. Here’s ‘Revenge’. (P.S. Yes, that is chugging metal guitars and growling distorted vocals Ministry!)

Buy Ministry’s music from:

   

Oct 31 2009

The Vault: Creaking open to bring you some Halloween Ministry!

The Vault: The classics of Electronic Music. The influential and the groundbreaking. The pioneering and the music we grew up on…

Ministry

Happy Halloween readers!

Just a quick one today, but we couldn’t really let Halloween slip by without posting this gem could we?

You may know who Ministry are; black dreads, long beards, Metal guitars, shouty vocals, skulls on mic stands etc…,  basically a walking Metal cliché. Things weren’t always the case!

1981 to 1984 Ministry were actually a really good SynthPop band, probably one of the best the US has ever produced Releasing a handful of 12”s on Wax Trax! Records culminating with the album ‘With Sympathy’ on Arista Records, Al Jourgensen (above; later to sport black dreads, a cowboy hat and a heroin addiction) produced some fantastic, emotional and groove laden New Wave music. With 1986’s ‘Twitch’ album Ministry discovered Industrial music, and it was still all good. ‘Twitch’ is a well crafted, harsh, electronic record. Even 1998’s ‘Land Of Rape And Honey’ has some good tracks on it, although it’s standing at the top of (if not actually sliding down) the slippery slope of mediocre rock music.

Ministry’s career, from1989 onwards, is just a decent into stereotypical Heavy Metal with any originality or innovation stripped from the mix. In a laughable attempt to sound ‘hard’ Al Jourgensen has disowned his early recordings as “…an abortion”.

Such a pity…such talent gone to waste…

Anyway, it’s the ‘season of the witch’ and all that, so get your listening gear ‘round Ministry’s classic ‘Everyday (Is Halloween)’, a brilliant poppy disco track, and imagine the band that could have been…

♫ Ministry – Everyday (Is Halloween) (zShare) (MediaFire)

Ministry’s early works are still available on CD:

Ministry @ 7Digital

Ministry @ Amazon