Ministry is an American group formed in 1981 in Chicago by Al Jourgensen, Stephen George, Robert Roberts and John Davis.
They released their first album "With Sympathy" in 1983. Album which is very successful. Album from which will be extracted the Dance hits "I wanted to tell her" and "Work for love".
We had to wait 3 years and the year 1986 to see the release of the album "Twitch", with its more aggressive sound. The album is selling well but remains fairly confidential.
The year 1988 saw the release of the album "The land of rape and honey", which mixes electronic sounds as well as overdriven bass and electric guitar sounds. Much greater success than the previous one (nearly 500,000 copies were sold) but success limited to the Underground scene. Album which will mainly produce the single "Stigmata".
A year later in 1989, the album "The mind is a terrible thing to taste" was released, which did even better than the previous one in terms of sales. Three singles will be extracted but only “Burning inside” will stand out.
The sound of the band at the start with a very marked New-Wave tendency is now very marked Metal. It was in this vein that the album "Psalm 69: the way to succeed and the way to suck eggs" was released in 1992. Album which will exceed one million copies sold and which remains to this day their highest score in sales. "N.W.O. "Will be the flagship single, and to a lesser extent "Jesus built my hotrod" which will also have a good run in the Charts.
Drug issues and summary arrests began to plague the group in earnest, forcing album releases to be postponed. The album "Filth pig" did not come out until 1996, an album mainly based on extreme guitar sounds. And it works ! The album is rated in a number of countries where Ministry had never been rated before such as Australia, Norway, Switzerland ... Thanks in particular to titles like "The fall".
Last notable success because the albums which will be released thereafter will not be able to compete with their predecessors.
To discover or rediscover...
Discography (among others ...) :
80s Decade :
Cold life 1981
I wanted to tell her 1983
Work for love 1983
Revenge 1983
All day 1985
Nature of love 1985
Everyday is Halloween 1985
Over the shoulder 1985
Just like you 1986
We believe 1986
Stigmata 1988
Golden dawn 1988
Flashback 1988
Burning inside 1989
Breath 1989
So what 1989
90s Decade :
Thieves 1990
Jesus built my hotrod 1991
N.W.O. 1992
Scare crow 1992
The fall 1995
Reload 1996
Lay lady lay 1996
Bad blood 1999
Nursing home 1999
Vex and siolence 1999
2000s Decade :
Piss 2003
The light pours out of me 2003
Broken 2003
Waiting 2004
World 2004
Worm 2004
Fear (Is big business) 2006
Lies lies lies 2006
Watch yourself 2007
The dick song 2007
End of days (Pt. 2) 2007
2010s Decade :
Ghouldiggers 2012
99 Percenters 2012
Bloodlust 2012
Permawar 2013
Perfact storm 2013
Thanx but no thanx 2013
Twilight zone 2018
Victims of a clown 2018
Wargasm 2018
2020s Decade :
Good trouble 2021
Search and destroy 2021
Believe me 2021
Just stop oil 2023
It's always Christmas time 2023
Tracks :
1981 ... the first title classified at the dawn of the 1980s. An obvious potential that only asks to explode ...
1983 ... nothing in 1982, so we find them a year later in 1983 with this title which will give them their first big planetary success. An obvious rise in power !
1983 ... a BIG 1983 with a 2nd hit in the wake. The group has found its marks, like its style, it's obvious !
1983 ... and to end the year on a high note, a third title which also holds up well. Certainly, the style is quite dark but the quality is certain
1985 ... what is very paradoxical is that the group is at cruising speed, with an assertive style. And yet, he fails to regain success. Too bad, too bad ...
1985...a year 1985 which will not remain as their reference year on the Charts side, that's for sure and this despite the release of titles of certain quality...
1985...another title with certain inspiration. A truly astonishing group, whose sound fits perfectly with the times but which struggles to establish himself definitively...
1985...a change in sound that begins slowly but surely. For good or bad, the future will tell us...
1986...for the big turning point it won't be right away fortunately. Because when they take it the metamorphosis will be complete to say the least...
1986...we are therefore going to make the most of these last moments of normal sound. Because afterwards it's a very different sound that you have to expect...
1988...nothing in 1987 and return in 1988 with a radical change in sound. The metamorphosis is complete. The group deliberately moves away from standards...
1988...they have not yet completely switched to their new style but we are going there in any case and in an irremediable way, to say the least...
1988...the tipping point. The group will take a very extreme musical direction and therefore radically cut himself off from the general public as a result...
1989 ... the group falls radically into the trash and the dark side of the force. A total metamorphosis that will isolate them even more ...
1989...we really wonder if we are dealing with the same group as the difference is so obvious between the beginning and the end of the decade...
1989...and again it's nothing compared to what they will offer in the years to come as things will change in a way that is radical to say the least...
1990 ... a decade of 90 placed under the sign of pure and hard Industrial Metal. Well, melody side, obviously, it has nothing to do with their beginnings ...
1991 ... well, wacky side, it does not get better, it's clear. It is extremely rare for a group to switch at this point from one tone to another ...
1992 ... the more it goes, the more it beats. A sound violence that disconcerts and which only concerns a very small audience ...
1992...we're going to have to hang on because it's going to last like this for decades. A radical change that only them can explain at this stage...
1995 ... and as paradoxical as it may seem, they return to success with this kind of title. Either way, this will be the last notorious hit ...
1996...last notable hit but certainly not the end of the adventure far from it. Because it is far, very far from being finished...
1996...because on the albums charts the group will even record its best sales score with this new opus. Incredible but true !
1999...which de facto demonstrates that there is indeed a clientele for this type of extreme music. Certainly limited but still...
1999...this end of the 90s will be significantly less favorable than its middle but the group is now cruising on its new musical niche...
1999...it now remains to be seen in what state of mind they will return next time : by calming down the game or on the contrary by amplifying it ? Good question...
2003...it is the second proposition which will win, it is clear. We are getting closer and closer to the inaudible and only the basic fans are there now..
2003...in any case the group fully embraces this extremism and claims it loud and clear. An extremism that they inevitably pay a high price for...
2003...because provocation and radicalism necessarily marginalized them to the highest degree. And even album sales are seriously starting to suffer...
2004...which does not prevent them from having a level of productivity which does not decrease. Producing is good but producing too much kills production in the long term...
2004...they want to send messages in their titles but this open forum is not necessarily the most appropriate to really make things happen...
2004...especially as they lose more and more fans year after year. Album sales are in free fall and things are not going to get better...
2006...which does not slow them down in any way at first glance. They will go to the end no matter what and it doesn't matter whether there is success or not...
2006...a die-hard attitude that is necessarily counterproductive, but that doesn't bother them in the slightest. The main thing for them is to continue to want to send messages...
2007...not sure that this is the best channel to reach as many people as possible when we see the very low level of success achieved by this new opus...
2007...afterwards everyone leads their career as they wish. But in their case on certain titles we hardly hear anything anymore...
2007...a decade of the 2000s where they will have pushed the madness to the maximum of what it is possible to do. We won't remake them again as they say...
2012...unstoppable little guys ! Here they are again and nothing and no one is able to tell them to calm down at first glance...
2012...the only positive point in the matter is that they are still there. The big negative point is that they have more than certainly reached the point of no return...
2012...how long will they manage to hold out in these conditions, good question. In any case for the moment it holds a minimum...
2013...yet another new opus, one more ! They really impress with this irrepressible frenzy to produce, produce, produce...
2013...title after title, year after year, decade after decade, nothing changes about them. A desire for provocation that nothing and no one can stop...
2013...difficult, if not impossible, in these conditions to capture any new audience. Afterwards, is it their goal to increase their audience, good question...
2018...we will lose sight of them for almost 5 years but here they are again regardless. And always in the same state of mind...
2018...and given how the global geopolitical climate will evolve in the years to come, they are not likely to calm down, that's for sure...
2018...it is certain in any case that we are not ready to see them produce any 'emotional' title. Besides, do they know this feeling...?
2021...we suspected that they were not going to stop there. They are starting their 5th decade of career here, just that...
2021... on the Charts side, no comeback obviously. As always, only fans from the very beginning still continue to follow them...
2021...yet in terms of sound there is something better. All it would take is for them to calm down a little style-wise and the miracle could perhaps happen...
2023...it now remains to be seen whether they will continue like this indefinitely or end up questioning themselves ? The future will tell us...
2023...it's really hard to imagine that it's really the same group. So when they want, they can. Finally !
Wiki :
Official Website :
Greatest Hits :
Discography :