Ministry’s frontman Al Jourgensen was asked bu CoS what would be the line-up forn a hypothetical Big 4 of Industrial Metal besides his band and Nine Inch Nails. Take a look on what he said:
“Well, you gotta throw Skinny Puppy in there. So that pretty much covers three out of the four [including Ministry and Nine Inch Nails]. After that, it gets kind of dicey.
“Is Rammstein industrial? Because you’d have to put them in there. Laibach? Einstürzende Neubauten, of course, who were the pioneers. You’d have to consider KMFDM. There’s just so many bands that are really good that I’m not even sure there is a Big 4.
“I just think that it’s a genre of music that’s just been largely forgotten, but it’s funny, on this last record ‘AmeriKKKant,’ I had some turntable work on the record, and one of the DJs was Arabian Prince from N.W.A.
“It was quite an honor to work with him, and he said, ‘No, no, no, sir, the honor is on me, because your early industrial stuff got a lot of the hip-hop scratchers to recreate noises that you were making on your records.’
“That was interesting to hear, right from the horse’s mouth. Like I said, we all just gotta work together, and just try to keep making music fresh, and more exciting, instead of formulaic.”
“You know what’s funny, I had actual meetings with a major promoter about that very thing. You know what they told me? “’here’s no market for it. Nobody’d want to see that.’
“The entire budget for the festival would be $100,000. And that includes renting the space, the crews, the bands, everything.
“It may sound like a lot of money to you but trust me, in this day and age, $100,000 is about one-quarter of what Nine Inch Nails gets paid for one show on their own.
“So, they absolutely think there’s no market, and that people don’t like this music, and there’s no use for it. They want to promote rap and pop music, and that’s all there is to it.
“Don’t hold your breath. That’s what I’m saying. The corporate powers that be don’t think that’s a good idea, for whatever reason. But, just like they say write your congressman, write your promoter, and say, you know what, that’s bs, dude.
“There’s a lot of people who would love to see the exact concert that you just mentioned.”
“Listen, man, I never thought I’d see where I’d see the day where I opened up my f**king mail and the only thing in the mail was AARP benefits for a senior’s discount for an early buffet at Golden Corral, OK?
“I couldn’t f* believe it. I remember when I turned 50, and I said, ‘Wow, that’s intense, you made it to 50, that’s half a century!’ But I never used to get senior citizen mail at 50 or at 40.
“That is blowing my s* away. These f**king people are relentless. They will not stop sending me s*.
“Do you know that I get half off of any movie I wanna go see, just ’cause I’m 60? I think that’s f**king depressing, man! I haven’t done it, yet. At least I should I wait until I’m 65 before taking advantage of these bad-ass deals they give old folks.
“I just feel like I’m shooting my wad too early if I start cashing in these coupons now. So, I’m gonna keep living like I’m under 60 until I’m about 65. Then I’ll start cashing in these old-folk coupons.”
