Al Jourgensen Quotes

Al Jourgensen is an American musician and music producer, best known as the founder and frontman of the industrial metal band Ministry. His aggressive and groundbreaking sound, combined with his provocative stage presence, has made him a significant figure in the industrial music genre and an influential force in alternative music.

I scare the neighbors, the kids... They don't come to my house for trick-or-treating, trust me. I had to buy exactly zero amount of dollars worth of candy for the past couple of years.

I'm envious of people that can handle the press. No matter what I say or how articulately I say it, it always comes back to the same issues. And it's getting kind of old.

I'm a very firm believer in karma, and put it this... -Al Jourgensen

I'm a very firm believer in karma, and put it this way: I get a lot of good parking spots.

The very first pharmaceutical commercial I ever heard was 15 seconds of the product and 45 seconds of side effects, so I know that this cannot be good for you.

It's typical of record companies. They sign you because you're unique, and then they want to put you in a mold so they can sell records.

Everything shapes you to be the person you are tod... -Al Jourgensen

Everything shapes you to be the person you are today. Sometimes hard lessons pay off dividends.

Ministry is just ZZ Top with technology.... -Al Jourgensen

Ministry is just ZZ Top with technology.

Punk rock really influenced me, the basic metal bands, Zeppelin, Stones and Floyd, and Southern rock bands. I think I was pretty well-rounded.

I'm an all-or-nothing guy. When I'm working, I work, work, work, work, work, and when I'm not, I'm the laziest sloth this planet has ever provided us.

'Rock n' Roll Animal,' the live album, is one of the greatest live albums out there. It was a huge influence on me.

There was one theory put forth by a journalist recently. I have a lot of friends that have died prematurely and a lot of friends that have died of natural causes. I've lost a lot of people over the years. This journalist basically recommended to me that God keeps me around because I amuse him.

Listen, man: I am not the industrial godfather, king, whatever. I don't relish that title. I don't like it. I think it's limiting. I do country, I do blues. I don't just go straight.

I think we were colonized by aliens 250,000 years ago, and they genetically altered our DNA to be primates into homo erectus and humans. I'm very interested in how we evolved so suddenly, which obviously ties in with the alien thing.

Let's get with it, guys: You don't need to hear a Ministry song to get political. You should be political on your own. We're just a side project to society. So do I care what people think about me personally? No. I just do what I do.

I was a pretty delinquent little kid. My folks and I didn't get along, so I basically moved out... put myself through high school and then college by working. I'm only a half-year short of a degree in history.

If you remember the '90s, you weren't there.... -Al Jourgensen

If you remember the '90s, you weren't there.

I'm still a recluse. I still hate everyone. I'm st... -Al Jourgensen

I'm still a recluse. I still hate everyone. I'm still a misanthrope.

Nothing exceeds like excess.... -Al Jourgensen

Nothing exceeds like excess.

I never read comic books as a kid.... -Al Jourgensen

I never read comic books as a kid.

I'm not a real Halloween kind of guy, because Hall... -Al Jourgensen

I'm not a real Halloween kind of guy, because Halloween is every day.

In Ministry, we've only had one message: Think for... -Al Jourgensen

In Ministry, we've only had one message: Think for yourself.

It's such a stupid thing to sign a band and then demand a hit right away to instantly recoup the money. The point is, you have to do it by building your own following, and that is not necessarily done by writing instant hits.

There's a famous artist, Ron English, in New York, that just, or Andy Warhol for that matter, that did pop art that terrorized society. And that's, for the last like 10, 15 years, that's all I wanted to do, is terrorize society and make them look into a mirror and see what the hell we have wrought.

You're never quite prepared for the inundation of ... -Al Jourgensen

You're never quite prepared for the inundation of stardom, or whatever you want to call it.

I never want to be in that stage where a band ends up playing state fairs and casinos. I am not willing to go out shooting up Botox and eating corn dogs while judging pig contests.

I love doing film soundtracks and working with directors on how they want the scene to be portrayed on audio as opposed to visual. I like the collaborative effort of working with people.

The main thing in measuring integrity is someone's motive and intent, not how many records they sell. Our intent in Ministry was never to be big. We just wanted to make enough money to live and to buy a studio, which we have done in Austin.

I got my influences from '70s bands - Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, blah blah blah. When I was growing up, we had all these crazy bands on the Top 40. Today, if Pink Floyd released 'Money,' it wouldn't even get played.

I'm done with industrial. Seriously, my iPod collection at home has no industrial music on it; it's strictly jazz, blues and country.

When I'm done with something, I'm done. I don't go back and listen to and pine for my old albums, or the Lollapalooza days, or 'Psalm 69' selling millions of records. Maybe I'm really just getting old and mellow.

Popular Topic