Ministry (band)

See also: Revolting Cocks. Lead singer Gwen Stefani has taken time to record a solo album, Love Angel Music Baby, which was released November 23, 2004. Ministry's latest album, The Houses of the Molé, was released in 2004. Rock Steady Live, a DVD of one of the band's Long Beach concert, has also been released. Longtime bassist Barker left the band in 2003. No Doubt also released a 2-CD 2-DVD box set titled Boombox. Ministry's single "Bad Blood" appeared on the soundtrack album of The Matrix and was nominated for a 2000 Grammy award, but for the next several years, label problems prevented much recorded material from being released, except the Sphinctour album and DVD in 2002. It included their first cover version, "It's My Life" which had originally been a hit for Talk Talk.

In spite of their growing success, Ministry was derailed by a series of drug problems and arrests, and finally, the suicide of guitarist William Tucker. An album featuring all their singles was released in 2003. The three other albums were Filth Pig (1995), Dark Side of the Spoon (1999) and Animositisomina (2003). Gwen's hairstyle and clothing have been copied by teenage girls worldwide, who are sometimes called "gwenabees". The music video was a hit on MTV, and the full-length Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs was another hit. Publicity for the group was mainly focused on platinum-blonde Gwen and her image which took inspiration from 1940s Hollywood and punk rock. After several years of touring and recording, Ministry broke into the mainstream in 1991 with "Jesus Built My Hotrod" (co-written by Michael Balch, and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers). No Doubt's most recent studio album, Rock Steady, produced two hit Grammy winning singles, "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All", with a notably more studio-influenced flavour.

Ministry would also inspire and inform the industrial collectives of the 1990s such as Pigface and KMFDM. Consequently, they have excluded many fan-favorite songs in post-2000 concerts such as "Home Now", "Comforting Lie", "Dark Blue" and "Artificial Sweetner". Barker released his own material as Lead Into Gold and Jourgensen lent his heavy hand to treating Skinny Puppy's Rabies LP. The band has spoken unkindly of the album in more recent interviews for various reasons. Jourgensen and Barker also formed Lard with Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, Acid Horse with Cabaret Voltaire, 1000 Homo Djs with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, PTP with Chris Connelly and Pailhead with Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi. The album featured a darker tone and was more lyrically advanced than No Doubt's previous works. "Revco," as it was fondly referred to, was essentially the same band plus Belgian vocalist Luc Van Acker. In 2000, the band released Return of Saturn, their highly anticipated followup to Tragic Kingdom.

Foremost of these was Ministry's alter ego, the Revolting Cocks. No Doubt included its song "New" on the soundtrack to the movie Go in 1999. Many of these bore Ministry's signature sound and the duo's "Hypo Luxa/Hermes Pan" production imprint. Tragic Kingdom has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Throughout the late 1980s Jourgensen and Barker expanded their ideas beyond Ministry into a seemingly endless parade of side projects and collaborations. The release of 1995's Tragic Kingdom and the single "Just a Girl" allowed the group to achieve mainstream commercial success. A second single, "Spiderwebs", was also successful, and their third single, "Don't Speak" (1996), which was written about the dissolution of Gwen and Tony Kanal's romantic relationship, was a number one hit for 21 weeks on the airplay chart of the Billboard Hot 100. Both albums stretched the definition of industrial to include the tight, thick soundscapes formerly occupied by thrash metal, albeit with jackhammer drums, obscure samples and unconventional electronic processing. Their second album, The Beacon Street Collection, was released independently.

The follow-up, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste was just as acclaimed. No Doubt's self-titled first album was released in 1992 through Interscope, and featured the single "Trapped in a Box". The album was a smash success in the underground music scene. In 1994, Eric left because he didn't like the direction the band was headed and pursued an animating career on the cartoon TV series The Simpsons. With Paul Barker, William Rieflin, Mike Scaccia and Chris Connelly, Jourgensen recorded The Land of Rape and Honey (1988). The band developed a live following, mainly in the band's home state of California. Though Twitch did not sell well, it set the stage for Ministry's move into industrial music. The group was first formed by Eric Stefani in Orange County, California in the city of Anaheim in December 1986 with John Spence as lead singer. Spence committed suicide in 1987, leaving Eric's younger sister Gwen Stefani as lead vocalist.

Jourgensen parted ways with bandmate Stephen George and took the band in a new, more hardcore direction for Twitch (1985). No Doubt is an American alternative rock group whose music was initially influenced heavily by ska, punk and New Wave. The debut album was With Sympathy (1983), but sales were sluggish. Everything in Time (2004). The band was formed in 1981 by Alain Jourgensen. Boom Box (2003). Ministry is an industrial rock band of the 1980s and 90s. The Singles 1992-2003 (2003).

Sphinctour (2002). Rock Steady (2001). What About Us? - Promo (2001). Return of Saturn (2000). Tapes of Wrath (2000). Tragic Kingdom (1995). In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up - Live! (1990). Beacon Street Collection (1995).

3 for One box (2000). No Doubt (1992). Just Another Fix (1995). Gabriel Mc Nair – Keyboard, horns. Box (1983). Stephen Bradley – Keyboard, horns. No "W" (2004). Adrian Young – Drums.

Bad Blood (1999). Tony Kanal – Bass. Brick Windows (1996). Tom Dumont – Guitar. Lay Lady Lay (1995). Gwen Stefani – Vocals. The Fall (1995).

Just One Fix (1992). N.W.O. (1992). Jesus Built My Hotrod (1991). Burning Inside (1989).

Stigmata (1988). Halloween Remix (1987). Over the Shoulder (1985). The Nature of Love (1984).

All Day (1984). Work for Love (1983). Revenge (1983). I Wanted to Tell Her (1983).

Cold Life (1981). Side Trax (2004). Early Trax (2004). The Houses of the Molé (2004).

Animositisomina (2003). Sphinctour (2002). Greatest Fits (2001). Dark Side of the Spoon (1999).

Filth Pig (1995). Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (1992). In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (live) (1990). The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste (1989).

The Land of Rape and Honey (1988). Twelve Inch Singles (1987). Twitch (1985). With Sympathy (1983).