| Dark Side of the Spoon | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 8, 1999 | |||
| Recorded | 1998–1999 | |||
| Genre | Industrial metal, industrial rock | |||
| Length | 57:08 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Ministry chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Dark Side of the Spoon | ||||
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Dark Side of the Spoon is the seventh studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on June 8, 1999, by Warner Bros. Records. "Bad Blood" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2000. [1]
Dark Side of the Spoon features less aggressive songs than Ministry's previous albums, and frontman Al Jourgensen had intended it to be the case. He wanted to branch out from the "drug-infused" records of The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste and Psalm 69 to more "unfamiliar territory".
In his autobiography, Jourgensen confirmed that the title has two meanings: one of which is a play on words referencing Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and the other is the blackened (or dark side) of a spoon heated to dissolve heroin, as several members of the band suffered from long-term addiction to said substance at the time.
The saxophone part of the song "10/10" is taken from the last 22 seconds of "Group Dancers" on the Charles Mingus album The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady . "Whip and Chain" and "Bad Blood" feature vocals from Ty Coon, Al Jourgensen's girlfriend at the time. [2]
In 2021, Jourgensen listed "Nursing Home" and "Supermanic Soul" in his top ten favorite Ministry songs. [3]
The album's cover, which features a nude, obese woman sitting in front of a black board with "I will be god" written repeatedly on it; gained controversy and resulted in the album being pulled from Kmart. [4] [5] Jourgensen originally had the idea of having a child drawing on the blackboard, but Barker suggested to have a fat woman instead to evoke the image of 'fattened Americans doing what they're told.' [6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [7] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 6/10 [8] |
| Entertainment Weekly | C+ [9] |
| Kerrang! | [10] |
| NME | 6/10 [11] |
| Q | [12] |
| Rolling Stone | [13] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [14] |
| Spin | 6/10 [15] |
AllMusic critic Steve Huey wrote: "While it is a better record than Filth Pig , that's largely because of a few strong moments propping up a number of surprisingly bland attempts at aggression." Huey further stated that the record "can't be considered the successful expansion of their sound that would bode well for the future." [7] Elisabeth Vincentelli of Entertainment Weekly thought that "time may have finally caught up with these thrash-industrial veterans", remarking that the record "doesn't get that fast or heavy again" after the first track, "Supermanic Soul". [9] Describing the record as "a contrary beast", NME wrote that the record "amounts to an uneven, frequently unfunny knot of confusion" and further stated: "It's as though Jourgensen's swapped his black humour for a black dog that won't stop howling, however much he beats it." [11] In a five-star review for Kerrang! , Steffan Chirazi called the album "a deliciously realised composite of Ministry's finest characteristics. It's fast enough to satisfy the Psalm 69... fans and perverse enough for the more bitter and twisted freaks amongst their audience." [10]
Reviewing for Rolling Stone , Neva Chonin thought that the record "sinks into the same complacent rut" as Filth Pig, further explaining: "From the stentorian rhythms and predictably ghoulish vocal samples to the bellowed doomsday incantations and chugging wall of guitars, everything here feels like a reflex." [13] Spin critic Mark Lepage wrote that Dark Side of the Spoon does not achieve the standards that the band set on Psalm 69 , "not delivering enough of the medicine." [15]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Supermanic Soul" | Jourgensen, Barker, Svitek, Washam, Hukic | 3:13 |
| 2. | "Whip and Chain" | Jourgensen, Barker, Coon, Svitek | 4:23 |
| 3. | "Bad Blood" | Jourgensen, Barker, Coon, Washam | 4:59 |
| 4. | "Eureka Pile" | Jourgensen, Barker, Svitek, Washam | 6:22 |
| 5. | "Step" | Jourgensen, Barker, Washam | 4:06 |
| 6. | "Nursing Home" | Jourgensen, Barker, Washam | 7:02 |
| 7. | "Kaif" | Jourgensen, Barker, Svitek, Washam | 5:25 |
| 8. | "Vex & Siolence" | Jourgensen, Barker, Svitek, Washam, Hukic | 5:24 |
| 9. | "10/10" (instrumental) | Jourgensen, Barker, Svitek, Washam | 3:53 |
| 68. | "Everybody (Summertime)" (hidden track) | 1:55 |
After the end of track 9, are 58 tracks of silence totaling 10:26. "Everybody" is track 68 (track 69 on the Japanese edition). Houses of the Molé , another Ministry album, features a hidden track called "Walrus" which is also track 69. According to BMI, track 68 is called "Summertime". AllMusic and the official website of the band refer to this track as "Everybody". ITunes lists this track as "Dialogue".
| Chart (1999) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) [16] | 98 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [17] | 57 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [18] | 51 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [19] | 85 |
| US Billboard 200 [20] | 92 |
Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1981 by producer, singer, and instrumentalist Al Jourgensen. Originally a synth-pop outfit, Ministry evolved into one of the pioneers of industrial rock and industrial metal in the late 1980s. The band's lineup has changed frequently, leaving Jourgensen as the sole remaining original member. Musicians who have contributed to the band's studio or live activities include vocalists Nivek Ogre, Chris Connelly, Gibby Haynes, Burton C. Bell and Jello Biafra, guitarists Mike Scaccia, Tommy Victor and Cesar Soto, bassists Paul Barker, Paul Raven, Jason Christopher, Tony Campos and Paul D'Amour, drummers Jimmy DeGrasso, Bill Rieflin, Martin Atkins, Rey Washam, Max Brody, Joey Jordison and Roy Mayorga, keyboardist John Bechdel, and rappers and producers DJ Swamp and Arabian Prince.
The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste is the fourth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on November 14, 1989, by Sire Records. The music took a more hardcore, aggressively guitar-driven direction, with Jourgensen inspired by Stormtroopers of Death and Rigor Mortis to add thrash metal guitars to the album and subsequent Ministry releases. As with most of Ministry's work, the album's lyrics deal mainly with political corruption, cultural violence, environmental degradation, nuclear war, drug addiction, and insanity.
ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ is the fifth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on July 14, 1992, by Sire Records. It was produced by frontman Al Jourgensen and bassist Paul Barker, and was recorded from March 1991 to May 1992 in Chicago, Illinois and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The album's title, initially intended to be The Tapes of Wrath, ended up being derived from Aleister Crowley's The Book of Lies.
The Land of Rape and Honey is the third studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on October 11, 1988, by Sire Records. This is the first Ministry album to include bassist Paul Barker and marks a departure from the band's previous two synthpop and EBM records. It incorporates heavy metal guitars and industrial music influences, and Al Jourgensen uses distorted vocals in his natural accent, rather than the faux British accent of previous albums. The resulting sound was influential in the industrial metal genre and is Jourgensen's favorite Ministry album. The album was certified gold by the RIAA in January 1996.
Filth Pig is the sixth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on January 30, 1996, by Warner Bros. Records. The title was allegedly derived from a statement made in the British Houses of Parliament, in which the band's leader Al Jourgensen was described as a "filthy pig" for his onstage theatrics by MP Teddy Taylor.
Houses of the Molé is the ninth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on June 21, 2004 by Sanctuary Records. It is noteworthy for being the first Ministry album not to feature bassist and longtime collaborator Paul Barker since Twitch (1986). It was also the first album to feature Mike Scaccia on guitar since 1996's Filth Pig.
Paul Gordon Barker, also referred to as Hermes Pan, is an American musician, best known as the former bass guitarist, producer and engineer for industrial metal band Ministry from 1986 to 2003. Prior to Ministry, he provided bass for the Seattle post-punk ensemble The Blackouts alongside future Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin and his brother, one-time Ministry touring keyboardist/saxophonist Roland Barker, from 1979 until 1985.
From the Cradle to Enslave is the second EP by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth, released on 30 October 1999 by Music for Nations (Europe) and Metal Blade (US).
Marz, born Zlatko Bobby Hukic, also known as Bobby Marz, is a Croatian rapper and singer based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He spent several years with Ministry before launching a solo career as a rapper. After touring with Insane Clown Posse and contributing to the band Dark Lotus, he set up his own record label, Billion Dollar Ballers.
Rio Grande Blood is the tenth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released in 2006. It is their first release through 13th Planet and Megaforce Records.
"N.W.O." is a song by American industrial metal band Ministry, released as the opening track and second single from their fifth studio album Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (1992). An industrial metal song, it was co-written and co-produced by the band’s frontman Al Jourgensen and bassist Paul Barker, and is widely regarded as a protest against then-President George H. W. Bush, featuring samples from his speeches. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award under the Best Metal Performance category in 1993, and was featured in the soundtrack album of Ralph Bakshi’s 1992 film Cool World. In 1994, the song was used in a Spin Magazine commercial which featured Jourgensen, among others. In 2015, "N.W.O." was ranked #10 in the VH1 "Top 10 Hardest Hitting Heavy Metal Political Anthems" list.
"Jesus Built My Hotrod" is a song by American industrial metal band Ministry, released as the first single from their fifth studio album, Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs. It was written by the band's frontman Al Jourgensen, bassist Paul Barker, drummer Bill Rieflin, session keyboardist Michael Balch, and guest vocalist Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers, and was co-produced by Jourgensen and Barker. An industrial metal track with a polyrhythmic structure, the song also features elements of rockabilly and psychobilly, and is influenced by the Trashmen 1963 hit "Surfin' Bird", and Flannery O'Connor's novel Wise Blood.
Michael Ralph Scaccia was an American musician, best known as a guitarist for several heavy metal and alternative rock acts, including Rigor Mortis, Ministry and Revolting Cocks.
"Bad Blood" is a song by industrial metal band Ministry.
As of 2024, the discography of American industrial metal band Ministry, which was founded and is fronted by Al Jourgensen, consists of sixteen studio albums, eight live albums, fourteen compilation and remix albums, thirty singles, five video albums and twenty music videos. Several tracks spanning from 1981 to 1994 in studio, live and cover formats have remained unreleased by the band.
Adios... Puta Madres is a live album by Ministry, released on March 31, 2009 on 13th Planet Records. The album was recorded at various locations on Ministry's farewell tour, dubbed the "C U LaTouR". In 2009, "Señor Peligro" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Metal Performance for the 52nd Grammy Awards.
"Supernaut" is the fifth song from the album Vol. 4 by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath.
From Beer to Eternity is the thirteenth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on September 6, 2013 by 13th Planet Records. Although frontman Al Jourgensen had previously stated that this was going to be Ministry's final album, a follow-up album, AmeriKKKant, was released in 2018. From Beer to Eternity was also the first Ministry album since Houses of the Molé (2004) not to feature Tommy Victor on guitars or bass.
AmeriKKKant is the fourteenth studio album by industrial metal band Ministry, which was released on March 9, 2018. It is their first release on Nuclear Blast, and marked the longest gap between studio albums in the group's entire career; at five years, following From Beer to Eternity (2013). AmeriKKKant is also the first Ministry album without guitarist Mike Scaccia since The Last Sucker (2007); Scaccia died in 2012 but appeared posthumously on From Beer to Eternity.
Moral Hygiene is the fifteenth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on October 1, 2021. In production for about three years, following the release of AmeriKKKant (2018), this album marks the band's first collaboration with bassist Paul D'Amour, who joined Ministry in 2019, and the first to include a cover song since Relapse (2012). Moral Hygiene also includes guest appearances from guitarist Billy Morrison, former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, former N.W.A member Arabian Prince and Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen's former bandmate in Lard, Jello Biafra. It also marks the first album since Rio Grande Blood (2006) to not feature guitarist Sin Quirin, who quit the band in March 2021 following the previous year's allegations of underage sexual relations.
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