Age of Disinformation
M
y apologies , Dear Readers . And I ’ m not joking here . I really believed that – after an adventurous , always enlightening , occasionally drug-blurred fourdecade career in rock journalism that kicked off in the Midwest fresh out of high school back in halcyon 1977 – I had nothing left to offer , no moving words left to conjure , no opinion on music , in general . It would all carry on quite adequately without me . So , in the immortal words of the Great Leonard Cohen in his prescient farewell album You Want It Darker , I was leaving the table ; I was out of the game . So I simply shut down my Gmail account and disappeared overnight , placating myself with the plateau that America , possibly humanity itself , seemed to have reached via our last presidential election . Surely , we were all heading in the right climate-change-conscious direction since time was of the most urgent essence , right ?
I was wrong . Horribly , horribly wrong . Every species-saving lesson we should have learned was quickly forgotten , often simply because some disbeliever shouted it down as untrue with a bigger , louder bullhorn . As if just repeating a sketchy conspiracy theory over and over could make it magically come true . I was moved to take action . I had to somehow get involved in writing again , to jump back into this disinformation-spattered fray and remind folks of exactly what ’ s at stake in this Annis Horribilis , the Year of Our Lord 2024
Then I heard the hard-hitting new Ministry album ; its sixteenth . And not only was HOPI- UMFORTHEMASSES bracing musically , shaking its industrial-strength , metal-gloved fist at current predictable chart-savvy conventions ,
20 illinoisentertainer . com march 2024 but longtime bandleader Al Jourgensen was also shaking his shrewd , politically-fomented lyrical fist at a World Gone Numb With Ennui , a World on the brink of knuckle-headed self-annihilation , a World he – like a lot of equally uneasy observers – no longer clearly recognized . The last time the man and I spoke , for an IE cover in August of 2021 , he was equally concerned and venting through a tirade-testy longplayer dubbed “ Moral Hygiene ” and sniping at fact deniers – right-wing and otherwise – in gutpunching anthems like “ Disinformation ,” “ Death Toll ,” “ Broken System ,” “ We Shall Resist ,” and even an oddly-appropriate reading of Iggy and the Stooges classic “ Search and Destroy .” At the time , neither of us could have predicted the grave course changes civilization would take in the ensuing months and years . Such as Vladimir Putin ’ s ongoing Borg-assimilating assault on Ukraine ; Israel ’ s stark , initiallyjustified War on Hamas , which – now reframed under the figure of 29,000 + dead Palestinians – is starting to tilt toward genocide ; the advent of autocratic leaders all over the world , from Hungary to South and Central America ; and the inexplicable Stateside resurgence of someone that Jourgensen and I both agree , at interview ’ s outset , to dub He Who Shall Not Be Named , promises a vengeance-minded , NATO-snubbing dictatorship on Day One if re-elected . Throw in the insidious advent of AI , the recent mysterious death of Putin ’ s primary Russian political opponent Alexei Navalny , and the state of the Earth , in general , where accelerating fires , floods , tornados , city-leveling quakes , and rising temperatures hold deadly sway , and we ’ ve drifted into dire straits , indeed .
Can Ministry ease us back from the Chinavs-Taiwan Doomsday Clock brink of Armageddon with HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES ? And blunt-force traumatic tunes like “ B . D . E ,” “ New Religion ,” “ Just Stop Oil ,” and ” It ’ s Not Pretty ”? Alongside aides de camp Monte Pittman Cesar Soto and Bill Morrison on guitars , and Michael Rozon programming drums ( Jourgensen himself handles lead vocals , guitars , and keyboards ), fellow incensed musical guests like Jello Biafra ( on “ Aryan Embarrassment ”) and Gogol Bordello ’ s Eugene Hutz (“ Cult of Suffering ”) and Corrosion of Conformity ’ s Pepper Keenan (“ Goddamn White Trash ”)? At 65 , Jourgensen knows he has s limited audience for his work , so it ’ s not like he ’ s tilting at Quixotic windmills . But he doesn ’ t have dreams of singlehandedly launching a peaceful new era , either . Personally , he explains , the now-California-based former Chicago native isn ’ t feeling too bad . “ But do I have hope for humanity ?’ he asks rhetorically before prefacing his answer with a protracted sigh . “ Not a lot , really . “ I ’ m not Nostrafuckingdamus , so we ’ ll see what happens . But me , personally ? I ’ m content . I ’ ve been off drugs for over two decades , and I have a nice life here in California . But with previous albums , like when Bush got into office , I was still angry about Bush / Cheney and this and that . And now , it ’ s just like par for the course , so I just make fun of it and hope that somebody realizes the ridiculous situation that we ’ re all in , from climate change to right-wing politics , all over the world . Because it ’ s not just America , for God ’ s sake !” And he ’ s got proof , as documented in the following candid Q & A …
By Tom Lanham photo by Derick Smith
IE : In the two years since we last talked , so many post-9 / 11 dates have been etched into our collective consciousness – January 6 , October 7 . And for you , personally , last October 9 , when you turned 65 and got Medicaid and Social Security , right ? AL JOURGENSEN : I was about as surprised I turned 65 as when Stanley Kubrick called me out of the blue – I didn ’ t think I ’ d make it this far . But here we are . So the first thing I did when I turned 65 was I decided to become a fucking adult . I took all my piercings out , and I took my dreads out , and now I ’ m ( pause for cackling laughter ) an adult ! A tax-paying , lawabiding adult who gets his jollies by making fun of society through my music .
IE : So you , uhh , look like Patrick Bateman now ? AJ : Nooo …. I wouldn ’ t go THAT far . But you can still point me out in a crowd – let me put it that way . But I just decided it was time to get rid of all the piercings and all that shit and just age naturally . Or gracefully , if you will . Tongue-in-cheek sarcasm noted , of course . And I don ’ t know now where all those piercings are – I have no sentimental attachment to them at all , and I hope they end up on eBay or something . I don ’ t give a fuck . And that whole piercing thing came about just on a dare from my daughter – she was like , “ Dad , you ’ re a pussy because you don ’ t have any piercings !” And I said , “ Well , you ’ re a pussy because you have no tats !” And so we both went down to a tattoo / piercing place , and I got a full facial makeover , and she got a sleeve ( tattoo ). So we were even , you know ? So now I was just feelcontinues on page 22