Preaching to the choir:Ministry's Greatest Fits

A friend of mine once explained the popular, yet baffling, appeal of a band like Ministry among the youth: In order to have a vibrant appeal to teenagers and 20- and 30-somethings who should know better (but don't), one must constantly write biting, abrasive songs about the four entities the kids loathe the most: church, government, school and parents.

Hence Ministry's success.

Ministry was a very different animal when it started back in 1983. It wasn't until 1988, when The Land of Rape and Honey was released, that Ministry got its appeal among metalheads and the like who were previously unaware of their unthreatening and miserable existence as a dance band. I still steadfastly cling to the theory that Al Jourgensen heard Big Black's Songs About Fucking (which came out the year before The Land of Rape and Honey was released, ahem) and decided that maybe he should make music in that vein as well.

Ministry's main talent seems to lie in taking cliched phrases and changing a word so that there's some implied "hidden meaning" to its ignorant, avid listeners, and perhaps to themselves. In any case, it's enough to make people want to fork over $17 because the title sounds interesting. For example, Psalm 69's unofficial title was The Way to Succeed and The Way To Suck Eggs, a quote that may or may not be attributed to infamous debauchee and cultist Aleister Crowley. This noisome trend goes all the way back to The Land of Rape and Honey, the album on which Ministry was reinvented by founding member Al Jourgenson, and continues with The Mind is A Terrible Thing To Taste in 1989, and up to Psalm 69 in 1992. Granted, it appeared to cease with Filth Pig, which came out in 1996. But it was right back at it again, with the Dark Side of The Spoon. And now, in 2001, we have Greatest Fits.

Ministry seems to be running out of ideas. But that's what you get for biting off of Big Black to begin with. Not even a proper release, Greatest Fits should have been titled The Songs that made Ministry Famous. Why not? They're all here, including the hit songs from the album that broke them, Psalm 69: "N.W.O.," "Just One Fix" and "Jesus Built My Hotrod" (featuring Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers on vocals). Songs from The Mind Is a Terrible Things to Taste, Filth Pig, The Dark Side of The Spoon and yes, The Land of Rape and Honey, are also here.

Also featured here is the song "What About Us?" which is on the soundtrack to the new Steven Spielberg movie, A.I.

For those who have wanted to check out Ministry, Greatest Fits is a composite of its body of work, and allows the listener an overview of its history. Note, however, that nothing from their embarrassing dance era is present.