Al Jourgensen of Ministry’s “Buck Satan & 666 Shooters”
So Al Jourgensen, the Cuban-born front man and founder of the Industrial band Ministry has made himself a country album under the pseudonym “Buck Satan & The 666 Shooters”. Normally, I wouldn’t give a project like this more than a good sniff, but there has been a curiously-strident call from the Saving Country Music readership for my take, so here we go.
The first thing you need to know about this album is that it is not country. I would call it an industrial album with a country flavor. There are no live drums; they are all generated through the magic of 1’s and 0’s, as is other elements of the music. These aren’t necessarily criticisms, just observations.
An overall take on this album would be that it is a rushed, tracked-out, wank off, studio vanity electronico side-project with little heart. Now don’t get me wrong, that is not necessarily and awful thing. If Al’s approach was to make a silly and fun album for folks with a bong in one hand and a video game controller in the other to drool on themselves to, then believe it or not, I can respect that. And make no mistake, that is exactly the essence he has captured in Bikers Welcome! Ladies Drink Free. But it’s hard to take an artist’s music seriously, when it appears they’re not taking it seriously themselves.
Just a few songs in and I knew I was going to have to employ a whole new set of parameters with which to critique this album. Even though I run a site called Saving Country Music, I have an appreciation for Industrial music, and electronic music in general. I think Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral is one of the most underrated masterpieces of American music, and it’s no wonder why Johnny Cash pulled “Hurt” from it’s lineup. One of the things I enjoy about Industrial music is the precision, just like one of the reasons I enjoy country is it’s imperfection.
But what you have here is a mess, a wall of sound that comes at you from a lazy, rushed approach whose finished product is frustrating to the ear. The album was made by Jourgensen, with help from Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Tony Campos (Static-X), and Mike Scaccia (Rigor Mortis), and two violin girls from the Houston symphony that new nothing about country.
Al tries to sing his own harmonies, a cardinal sin I only give Neil Young a pass on, or has a computer generate them for him, which is even worse. The fiddle lines are unimaginative. The guitar solos are dumb, including one stupid guitar effect where a finger is slid up the neck in a failed effort to channel a pedal steel (or maybe it’s electronically generated, I don’t know), that is used over and over on various tracks. All of this is then garbled together in post-production into a shit stew where no element is discernible from the others until an unattractive hiss coats everything like the morning breath biofilm on the interior of your mouth.
Despite some of the gross production issues, some of the songs are decent. And some are not. The opening track “Quicker Than Liquor” I thought really channeled what this project could have been with a better approach, and the song is not bad at all. But my life would have been better off without hearing his version of The Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil”. My eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets when I saw he’d covered Poison’s “I Hate Every Bone In Your Body Except Mine” to find he changed one word in the title and reworked the tune. Some songs like “Medication Nation” aren’t really country at all; it’s a simple industrial song built from the drum machine out that overuses that dumb fake pedal steel guitar/electronic effect with stultifying vapidity.
I understand if Al, having recently suffered health problems and almost dying, wanted to check mark making a country album off of his bucket list, but just because you fly to West Virginia and drop acid in a rural cabin doesn’t mean you’ve hiked the Appalachian Trail. I really don’t have an opinion one way or another on Al Jourgensen or Ministry, but I know he could have done better, and that is the bigger issue above the fact that this album is just not very good.
But the thing is, for all the negative stuff I’ve said, I can see where he was trying to go with this, and I think if he had given the approach a little more heart and time, it could have worked. And don’t think I see the farcity of the whole thing, with the immature pseudonym and wild-assed approach. Furthermore, I wouldn’t argue with anyone who for whatever reason really enjoys this album, because despite all it’s hardships, I can certainly hear how some would find it “fun”. Unfortunately most of those folks will be 14-years-old boys with eyeliner and thumb holes cut into the ends of their long black sleeves.
There is a history of silly “country” albums done by folks outside the genre that have become outright iconic, like Ween’s 12 Golden Country Greats, or even the Jon Wayne Texas Funeral project. Whether the potential for this project was ever at that caliber or not, the execution was just not very good.
1 1/2 of 2 guns down.
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Purchase Bikers Welcome, Ladies Drink Free
If you dare give it a try:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6typdN4wdc
January 17, 2012 @ 9:46 am
This album is weird to me. It’s definitely something fun and stupid Al did as a side project, and I got that the first time I listened to it. It actually wasn’t bad. But as you listen to it a little bit more, it kinda is a bad mix of what Ministry usually does with country elements. That song you linked, Medication Nation even has typical Ministry shouting vocals. What really gets me though, people not familiar with this scene are going to listen to this and think Al “invented” industrial country or some form of that. Whether we like it or not, he is a bigger name mixing metal/industrial elements with country.
January 17, 2012 @ 10:23 am
I can see how this album could be a little “dangerous” on how it is perceived by the public, as I also think it can be dangerous for detractors to take it too seriously.
The thing that really disappoints me about this album is that there can be something cool when people mix country elements like banjos and steel guitars with electronic beats and such. I think Restavrant, who I recently did a review for, has a history of doing that and it coming out really cool. But Al just used a drum machine to replace a live player with really unimaginative, and unmistakeably-electronic drums. You’re Al Jourgensen. Throw some weight around and get some real players in there. They will compliment the silliness of some of the songs, not take away from it. Use your creativity with electronic music to be creative, not for convenience of not wanting to involve human beings.
January 17, 2012 @ 10:00 am
Jesus. That song is just absolutely, downright fucking awful. I’m dissapointed in the 1/2 a gun down you withheld… Ha!
January 17, 2012 @ 10:13 am
The half gun was for two things: a not very well executed, but nonetheless creative idea or approach, and for the fact that we can’t lose touch that this album was made for fun, and should be taken that way. I don’t think it would be fair to judge it as we would a regular country release. If we did that, negative guns would be involved.
January 17, 2012 @ 10:23 am
Oh, I know. I was mostly kidding. If you look at it from that viewpoint, and if you like industrial music, then I can see where there’s some folks out there who may enjoy the album, or at least aspects of it. I mean, I had a few Ministry records many years ago that I dug. It was fast, loud, and angry- just right for an angst-ridden teenager, and went side-by-side with the punk, hardcore, and Oi I was into back then. But… to my 36 year old honky tonkin ears, this just sounds terrible!
January 17, 2012 @ 10:12 am
the only thing i have to say is i won’t be buying this CD and thanks for the heads up.
January 17, 2012 @ 10:38 am
It’s one thing, when you’re 3 years old, to glue glitter and macaroni to construction paper. But for Jourgensen, with 25 years (give or take) in the biz, I don’t understand WHY this is necessary. Surely a person could get stoned and drool on themselves WITHOUT this album. Idiocracy? We just have to have SOMETHING to click on.
January 17, 2012 @ 10:43 am
Al probably found it necessary cause he’s been talking about doing it for 10+ years. It probably would have been good if he would have buckled down and did it back in the Wax Trax heydays….now, it, like him, is old and tired.
January 17, 2012 @ 11:23 am
If this album had to be made, I don’t know why he couldn’t run the Goddamn Gallows thru the industrial machinery. The result might still suck but it might produce a relationship like Bob Dylan had with The Band. they kept Dylan relevent while they were launched into Rock n Roll history. If it’s a side project (aside from what?) they could do a 20 date tour of small/midsize venues and maybe make some waves. I don’t know, it just seems a better use of time and effort.
January 17, 2012 @ 12:28 pm
I’d be willing to bet that Al Jourgensen has never heard of The Goddamn Gallows. Any number of groups he has probably never heard of would have worked well for this collaboration.
January 17, 2012 @ 12:58 pm
at one point it was supposed to be made with The Butthole Surfers….or at least, that was one of the rumors. Like that “great album” III was sitting on until he was out from under Curb, I always assumed the Buck Satan album would never actually materialize.
January 17, 2012 @ 2:37 pm
That’s probably true, which kinda leads to another problem. Why the disconnect? Has an underground punk country band ever asked Al (or anyone else) if he’d like to work on an album? Would Al have any reason to surf Facebook and Reverbnation for unsigned bands? What if a label contacted Trent Reznor and asked what he thought about producing a Goddamn Gallows type group? It’s just an extension of what we know already works for Muddy Roots. They employ legendary talent along with indie acts. Just apply it in the studio and in promotion.
Rick Rubin contacted Johhny Cash when Nashville dropped him as a has-been. That went very well. The terms “punk” and “underground” seem to subconsciously imply that we can’t do cool stuff like that. Many of us seem to agree that we’re approaching some kind of breaking point. Why would we wait for CMT to catch on to the underground? Blow it up!
January 17, 2012 @ 12:31 pm
I think I remember reading that he was once a country music dj. Probably irrelevant to this album, much less this post. I just thought it was interesting. I liked his stuff with Ministry, but I don’t much care for this project
January 17, 2012 @ 12:44 pm
If this album reaches some 19 year old fan of industrial and they realize they like the “country” sound of it and does some searching on the net and starts listening to other metal/country acts and slowly grows into loving real country, is this album a good thing?
January 17, 2012 @ 1:00 pm
19 year old industrial fans listen to VNV Nation and Haujobb these days. Not Ministry.
It’s kind of sad really.
January 17, 2012 @ 9:49 pm
I’ve seen that same hypothetical used for Taylor Swift for years now. Have still yet to see it in action.
January 17, 2012 @ 1:46 pm
This record could’ve been real trend setting 10 or 15 years ago. I’ll still play Stigmata and Psalm 69 once in while, but not this.
January 17, 2012 @ 1:55 pm
i listened to the youtube clip there….and luckily…it was not only lame…but utterly forgettable (except maybe the sh*tty wannabe steel guitar sound)
January 17, 2012 @ 4:09 pm
that song you linked, wow…..
January 17, 2012 @ 5:18 pm
Haha I’m surprised nobody has commented on the Ween reference. Every time I hear about Ween I always just think about that movie It’s Pat?
On a side-note when I think about vanity style studio projects gone bad I can’t help but think of Cattle Callin’. Billed as a look at what I invented kind of project (hence the vanity part of it) it was just so bad and still he released that stinker. I like Hank III but geez that is on my list of worst albums I’ve ever heard in my life. Same goes for the Metallica & Lou Reed project. Terrible vanity project. I always think when the artist listens to the final version of a hyped vanity project they must admit to at least some portion of themselves (if they have any dignity at all) that hey I’m about to release a turd to my fan base.
What’d you think about Cattle Callin’?
January 17, 2012 @ 5:39 pm
Cattle calling was just plain stupid…….I don’t get it. I don’t get the concept album or whatever ghost town was supposes to be either…..quality over stupidity and novelty Al and III…..COME ON NOW!!!!!
January 17, 2012 @ 9:52 pm
To be honest with you, I have only listened to Cattle Callin’ one time through right after I got it. I still need to spend more time with it before giving an honest take. What I will say though is that music should always be measured against the potential of the artist making it. As dumb or good as Cattle Callin’ may or may not be, I think Hank3 gave it his best effort. If it fails, it’s because of the concept. Buck Satan failed in the execution, and it’s made worse because with a little more effort it could have been so much better.
January 17, 2012 @ 10:40 pm
Maybe so. At the end of the day though if a project turns out terrible the artist should really take a long hard look at it and decide: Is this something my fans should buy with my name attached to it? Judging from the amazon reviews many sad people bought Cattle Callin’ because it was listed as a Hank III album and got a terrible album in return. At least with this Buck Satan project Jourgensen titled it something to were no casual Ministry listener would link it directly to Ministry.
I think Hank III might have given Cattle Callin’ his best effort but I think he definitely failed in the execution of the project. I mean the final product (the album) is the overall execution and man that one is just so bad to me. I also agree the concept might have been flawed from the start as well.
The four Hank albums are so odd because in them you find greatness in spots, mediocrity, and failure. The digital age is so weird because the b-side era is dead. Those odd tracks are no longer left on the cutting room floor and instead just released (I say that because Cattle Callin’ seems like an album that would be released years later on some b-sides album).
January 17, 2012 @ 7:21 pm
As I scroll down the SCM homepage I see this side by side…
2011 Artist of the Year ”“ Justin Townes Earle
January 5, 2012 – *13 COMMENTS*
Josh ”˜Jashie P”™ Nutting of Outlaw Radio Threatens Assault
January 5, 2012 – *114 COMMENTS*
…and I have to think that maybe we’re bringing these bullshit albums on ourselves.
Are we rewarding good music? It’s human nature. We’re attracted to drama and bored by things like positive reviews. If we expect this situation to get any better, we may actually have to work at it.
January 17, 2012 @ 9:54 pm
Of course we are Chad. When I look at the traffic to certain articles as opposed to others, it is even more dramatic. BUt I’ll keep pushing the good stuff even if it means my demise.
January 18, 2012 @ 10:18 am
That is an interesting theory you have. Perhaps an article about someone that is well respected, like JTE, gets less comments and therefore less views (as people will go back to read what is responded to) as we all know he is going to have a great album/great show. Alot of that has been said before and discussed while a review on something that might be hedging the fence between original and just bad idea will get some comments going. I do agree that we need to make the good come out though. A great artist wont always rise to the top just because they are great, they need a vocal fanbase to help them move up. Call the stations asking for requests, hit up websites to promote new albums. I would be interested in an article on how to really help this scene become stronger and see the talent really grow.
January 17, 2012 @ 9:31 pm
I am a big Ministry, NIN and Ween fan, but like we all have or will .. we grow and move on. Today in fact we were listening to Ministry while turning wrenches. but we weren’t listening to any of the last 3 ministry albums. Why? cuz they were tired rants about Bush and Al had run out of ideas. This could have been a good idea from Al but I listened to it and was left feeling nothing. What few mild Al-isms there were, were neutralized by the boring uninvented music. Sorry Al I love ya but this is crap.
Lou Reed with Metallica was terrible,Cattle Callin unlistenable. They can’t all be winners I know understand and often artists move in directions that us common folk are not privileged enough to follow. Sometimes shitty albums are the result. So Hank, Al, Met and Trent Reznor have made some losers. Thats okay. I am not mad at’em. still I won’t drop my standards of what I put into my speakers. To much other good options out there. I think I’ll try that Restavrant again and then who knows what.
January 18, 2012 @ 9:31 am
And they thought Alice Cooper was wild and crazy! This reminds of the British invasion gone techno and off the rails….. “medication nation always sets me free”…..mesmerizing repetitive lyrics…ummmmm
January 18, 2012 @ 6:57 pm
When all is said and done, I’ll probably still be in the minority, but I’m having a great time with this one. Love it a lot and still respect your take on it. Thanks for reviewing it.
January 18, 2012 @ 10:19 pm
And you know what, I can’t argue with that at all, because I can totally see how folks could have a “great time” with this album. If you told be it was a creative masterpiece, then we’d have an argument. 🙂
February 3, 2012 @ 9:58 pm
Well, after listening to this album for quite a bit now, I can definitely say that there is some real creative genius going on here. Whether or not you agree with me is neither here nor there. This could VERY WELL BE a “creative masterpiece”. Time will tell, I guess.
January 19, 2012 @ 10:43 am
wow, so he finally recorded this thing, huh?
too bad what I heard up there was atrocious. but then again i haven’t liked anything from ministry in a long time either
January 20, 2012 @ 2:41 pm
If you want to hear what this is supposed to sound like listen to Phantom of the Black Hills, nuff said.
January 21, 2012 @ 12:35 am
Phantom of the black hills is awesome. That’s really the first time I’ve heard anyone else mention them, but they’re definitely worth a listen. Raisin’ hell again is a good starting point.
January 21, 2012 @ 3:37 pm
Yeah, they’re totally underground, that the way I like it. Raising Hell Again is great, they got a new one on youtube Pain n Misery
January 23, 2012 @ 6:16 pm
I am an old Ministry fan. I asked Al for an autograph in 1989 and he wrote “Buck Satan” on my miserable piece of paper has an answer. Asking who that was, he said it was his “country alter ego” and that an album would see the day soon enough.
Well, it took what, 23 years?
Too bad it’s god awful. Al hasn’t done anything good for eons.
January 25, 2012 @ 10:40 am
I was a big Ministry fan back in the day but I can’t really get into this record.In the years since I was into the whole industrial scene I have seen many different bands and now I am into a whole different scene.That being said I kinda like the song What’s Wrong With Me though. Not country,unless it’s from Venus.
March 15, 2014 @ 8:59 pm
I saw buck satan 666 shooters in austin mid 90s with flaming lips poisen 13 loved little red corvette country style bad ass show didn’t care for this album