Filth Pig | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | January 30, 1996 | |||
Recorded | 1994–95 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 54:24 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Producer | ||||
Ministry chronology | ||||
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Singles from Filth Pig | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Cash Box | favourable [4] |
Christgau's Consumer Guide | C [5] |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 5/10 [6] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
NME | 7/10 [8] |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Spin | 6/10 [11] |
Wall of Sound | 79/100 [12] |
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. [13]
Despite being the band's highest-charting album in the US, it was negatively received by reviewers, [14] [15] sharply divided the band's fanbase, and did not live up to the platinum-selling success of Psalm 69. [16] Despite poor sales, the album entered several charts, peaking at the highest positions Ministry has ever achieved. This would be the last Ministry album with Mike Scaccia on guitar until 2004's Houses of the Molé .
Filth Pig marked a major shift artistically for the band from their previous album. Jourgensen said everyone around him wanted him to continue making music similar to Psalm 69. However, he wanted to move away from using samples and focus on a slower, heavier sound. [17] Jourgensen rejected any songs that sounded like their previous work. [18]
"Everyone hated [Filth Pig]. They all wanted Psalm 70, and I gave them an electronic-free record full of gun-in-mouth dirges of nothing but pain. Aside from the cover art, the humour was gone. All that was left was misery. And I still had to tour the fucking thing - which went down in history as the interminable, intolerable, absolutely depraved Sphinctour ."
— Al Jourgensen (2013) [19]
The 2002 live album Sphinctour was generally well received by critics. [20] [21]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Reload" | Al Jourgensen, Paul Barker | 2:26 |
2. | "Filth Pig" | Jourgensen, Barker | 6:20 |
3. | "Lava" | Jourgensen, Barker | 6:30 |
4. | "Crumbs" | Jourgensen, Barker, Mike Scaccia, Louis Svitek, Rey Washam | 4:15 |
5. | "Useless" | Jourgensen, Barker, William Rieflin, Scaccia | 5:55 |
6. | "Dead Guy" | Jourgensen, Barker, Washam | 5:15 |
7. | "Game Show" | Jourgensen, Barker, Scaccia, Svitek, Washam | 7:46 |
8. | "The Fall" | Jourgensen, Michael Balch | 4:55 |
9. | "Lay Lady Lay" (Bob Dylan cover) | Bob Dylan | 5:44 |
10. | "Brick Windows" | Jourgensen, Barker | 5:23 |
Total length: | 54:24 |
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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 and Tommy Victor, guitarist 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.
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.
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Alain David Jourgensen is a Cuban-American singer, musician and music producer. Closely related with the independent record label Wax Trax! Records, his musical career spans four decades. He is the frontman and lyricist of the industrial metal band Ministry, which he founded in 1981 and of which he remains the only constant member. He was the primary musician of several Ministry-related projects, such as Revolting Cocks, Lard, and Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters. Jourgensen is a prominent figure in industrial music, influencing numerous other groups and musicians, both in alternative and industrial-associated acts.
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.
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"Lay Lady Lay", sometimes rendered "Lay, Lady, Lay", is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released in 1969 on his Nashville Skyline album. Like many of the tracks on the album, Dylan sings the song in a low croon, rather than in the high nasal singing style associated with his earlier recordings. The song has become a standard and has been covered by numerous bands and artists over the years.
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Rantology is a compilation album by American industrial metal band Ministry. The album is made up of remixes of the band's singles and best known songs - with the exception of track 2 which was first released here and became a live staple.
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"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 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.
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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.
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