JOIN THE MINISTRY
CHICAGO—It was in January of 1984, a scant two weeks after his local-phenomenon technofunk duo Ministry had signed to Arista Records, that Al Jourgensen found out the rainbow’s-end Big Recording Contract he’d coveted so long more resembles the business end of a barnyard animal.
JOIN THE MINISTRY
CHICAGO—It was in January of 1984, a scant two weeks after his local-phenomenon technofunk duo Ministry had signed to Arista Records, that Al Jourgensen found out the rainbow’s-end Big Recording Contract he’d coveted so long more resembles the business end of a barnyard animal.
No sooner did Al settle down to produce his debut album than record company flacks—“Whose main concern was figures and tax charts”—began making “suggestions”.
Well, several volumes of legalese later, which freed him at last from the leg-irons of that Big Recording Contract, our pal Al now finds himself as one of three top dogs at intrepid Chicago-based independent Wax Trax! Records.
“Ministry’s always been my baby,” Jourgensen elaborates. “I do all the writing, and I know what I want. But I’m not a tyrant; I take input from the others [who each pursue separate projects when they’re not Ministering]. We all think along the same lines, musically.”