Easily one of the most groundbreaking and influential bands of the past 20 years, Ministry are somewhat like an industrial metal Stooges, with their underwhelming record sales being unable to reflect the band's tremendous impact. Bandleader Al Jourgensen and his ever-changing team of miscreants almost single-handedly introduced metal to goth and industrial fans, building a previously never-conceived-of link between Slayer and Depeche Mode and becoming the most obvious harbinger for bands like Nine Inch Nails, White Zombie and (unfortunately) Static-X.
In addition to their sonic innovations, Ministry were thematically unlike any other industrial band. While KMFDM and Skinny Puppy kept their lyrics faceless and robotic, Ministry addressed the darkest political, social and personal issues with scathing nastiness. The closest that Ministry came to mainstream success was in 1992, the year that Nine Inch Nails reached the Billboard Top Ten and Ministry scored a main stage spot on Lollapalooza, which was then cutting-edge. Ministry released their most metal and most successful album that year, Psalm 69, and they annihilated eardrums with the blistering opening track, "N.W.O."
Attacking President George Bush and the Iraq War was not a popular stance when Psalm 69 dropped, but Ministry did just that by using the President's words against him. The lyrics to N.W.O., which showed America's original intentions of helping Iraq backfiring ("Open fire 'cuz I love you to death...I'm in love with this malicious intent") are effective, but not nearly so much as soundbites of the nation's leader painting the situation black and white. The song's title is taken from one of the sampled quotes: "What we are looking at is good and evil, right and wrong...a New World Order!" All this over wailing guitar samples that resemble police sirens and a drum machine that expresses the sound of rapid gunfire.
There are also samples from Apocalypse Now ("It's alright!") and Senator Joseph McCarthy ("I'm not setting myself above any law"), but the scariest, clearest-sounding quotes are from the President. Sound clips of Bush Sr. declaring "We're not about to make that same mistake twice," "I believe in freedom," and, to roaring applause, "God bless America!" became even more potent during the second Bush Administration and the second war in Iraq. By then, Ministry was recording new songs about the current situation, but 'N.W.O.' was still as relevant as any of those.
The song's video, complete with rioters, Rodney King references and a scary guy in a Bush mask, is as blunt and as creepy as the song itself.
Jourgensen did enough terrible things to his body to put him in a league with Keith Richards. Years of hard living, lineup changes, and arrests took their toll on the band's music, which declined over the second half of the '90s. Jourgensen had other thoughts on his downfall, telling reporters, "Everyone seems to think I write real shitty music when a Democrat's in office." Proving his point, Ministry rebounded in the 21st century with some of their best music to date, including a trilogy of albums entirely dedicated to indicting the current Administration. Houses of the Molé, Rio Grande Blood, and The Last Sucker all serve as great documentation of a tumultuous era in US history, with some kickass music to boot. But they build on a legacy that Ministry created with 'N.W.O.'
No comments:
Post a Comment