Ministry was an American industrial band formed in 1981. The current members are Al Jourgensen (founder member), Tommy Victor, David Ellefson, Jimmy DeGrasso, John Bechdel and Sin Quirin, though there have been many former members throughout the life of the band.
In the early days the sound of Ministry was more synth-pop, epitomized by their first release, 1983’s With Sympathy. The second album, 1986’s Twitch was virtually a solo effort by Jourgensen and while still identifiable as pop music, had a rougher, darker feel, a foreshadow of the Ministry to come.
For the third album, 1988’s The Land of Rape and Honey Jourgensen brought in Paul Barker. The album was considered a Ministry classic and an important album within the industrial genre. They followed it with another well received album The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste (1989) which was harder still, with the percussion augmented by the addition of a second drummer.
The next release was delayed by Jourgensen and Barker’s involvement in a series of side projects which included Revolting Cocks, Lard, 1000 Homo DJs and PTP. Finally, in 1992 ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ better known as Psalm 69: The Way to Success and the Way to Suck Eggs hit the mainstream with its breakneck “Jesus Built My Hotrod” single.
The band was beginning to achieve success which they almost threw away as a result of drug arrests in the early 90s. The slower but noisy, guitar drenched Filth Pig was not released until 1996, but the move from the industrial style of their previous albums was not particularly popular.
In 1999 they released Dark Side of the Spoon, dedicated to former guitarist William Tucker who had committed suicide earlier that year. The sound was more melodic and again, it failed to perform well.
2003’s Animositisomina was a return to the ferocity of Psalm, but sales were poor and the singles “Animosity” and “Piss” were pulled before they could be released. Ministry’s return to success was not until two albums later when Rio Grande Blood (2006) featured the single “Lieslieslies” which was nominated for a Grammy.
Their most recent album The Last Sucker (2007) is mooted to be their last.
