1. Background and recording

2. Etymology

3. Reception

4. Accolades

5. Legacy

6. Track listing

7. Chart positions and certifications

8. Personnel

9. Notes

10. References
     Citations  Bibliography 

11. External links

• Hypo Luxa
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ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ (commonly known as Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs or simply Psalm 69) is the fifth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on July 14, 1992 by Sire Records. It was produced by the band's official members, frontman Al Jourgensen and bassist Paul Barker, and was recorded from March 1991 to May 1992 in Chicago and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The album's title, initially intended to be The Tapes of Wrath, ended up being derived from Alister Crowley's The Book of Lies.

Psalm 69 features elements of speed metal, rockabilly, and psychobilly, with lyrics exploring with social, political, and religious topics. With much anticipation following the success of Ministry's previous album The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste (1989), pressures on the band were said to be high, in addition to the growing substance abuse of several members and worsening relationships between them. It was also the first time Mike Scaccia had been significantly involved in a Ministry album, after appearing on tours in support of The Mind....

Preceded by lead single "Jesus Built My Hotrod", Psalm 69 was a critical and commercial success upon its release, peaking at number 27 on the US Billboard 200 and number 33 on the UK Albums Chart. It was supported with two more singles: "N.W.O." and "Just One Fix", with accompanying music videos directed by Peter Christopherson. Psalm 69 is considered to be Ministry's most successful album, having been certified gold in the United States, Canada, and Australia, and platinum in the US. Following its release, Ministry joined the second annual Lollapalooza tour before commencing a tour through Europe and the US; "N.W.O.", "Just One Fix", and the title track have become permanent features of the band's live setlist. "N.W.O." was nominated for the Best Metal Performance at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards.

Background and recording

In March 1991, following the conclusion of the year-long tour in support of Revolting Cocks album Beers, Steers, and Queers, Al Jourgensen returned with his bandmates at Chicago Trax! studios, to work on Ministry's next major release.^[1][2]{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=220|postscript=: "[Mike Scaccia]: I came in right after the Mind was recorded, and after the tour we went to work on Psalm 69."}} Jourgensen claimed that the record company Warner Bros. Records (to which Ministry were signed via their subsidiary, Sire Records) initially gave the band an enormous budget{{efn|In 2013, Jourgensen claimed that Psalm 69’s initial budget costed $750,000, with $750,000 added during further production.^[3]{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|pp=129–130, 132}} Contemporary 1990’s articles on Ministry estimated Psalm 69’s overall bill being three times over budget, with $329,000 being spent.^[3]{{rp|53}}{{sfn|Greene|1993|p=40}}^[4]}} expecting The Mind...' follow-up to become a big hit compared with Michael Jackson's album Thriller; actually, Jourgensen, as he claimed in 2013, with his then-wife Patty (née Marsh) and guitarist Mike Scaccia spent most of budget on drugs, paying $1,000 per day.^[3]{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|pp=129–130}}^[5] Meanwhile, the first Lollapalooza tour had arrived in Chicago in early August 1991. Jourgensen went backstage attending a show by the band Butthole Surfers. After the gig, he had invited Butthole Surfers' singer Gibby Haynes at Chicago Trax! to record what became the vocals and spoken word parts for the song “Jesus Built My Hotrod”.^[3]{{rp|55}}^[1]{{sfn|Greene|1993|p=40}}^[6]{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|pp=131, 159–160}} While finishing “Jesus Built My Hotrod”, Jourgensen was contacted by Sire/Warner Bros. executives, who asked if he had any completed material. Jourgensen sent them “Jesus Built My Hotrod” since it was the only song recorded by this time. While the label was not happy with just having “Jesus Built My Hotrod”, Jourgensen told them either to give another advance for further work or sign the band off. The label was doubtful if the band would record anything else, but decided to release “Jesus Built My Hotrod”; following its success, they gave the band necessary budget, with the condition that the band would eventually finish the record.^[6]{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=132}}

Besides drug problems, there was also growing animosity between the band's members, divided into two groups: while one group included Jourgensen and Scaccia, another—dubbed “the Book Club” by Jourgensen—included bassist Paul Barker, drummer Bill Rieflin and guest/live singer Chris Connelly.{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|pp=130, 132}} Jourgensen claimed that he and Scaccia added their parts separately from Barker, Rieflin and Connelly; once Jourgensen and Scaccia would come in, they erased about 80 percent of what the Book Club associates did.{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=133|postscript=: “[...] The routine was the same as before. Mikey and I would go into the studio and record stuff all night, and then we’d leave. Then the Book Club would come in and add their parts. The next day we’d come in and erase 80 percent of what they’d done and continue what we were doing. It got really tense.”}}

The last songs included for the album, the instrumental tracks “Corrosion” and “Grace”, were written mainly by Barker and recorded in February–March 1992;^[7] the album’s last session was held on May 7, 1992.^[1] Over fifteen months were spent on the recording, however, only nine of about thirty songs made its way onto the final cut, with the rest being distributed to side projects.^[3]{{rp|53}}{{sfn|Greene|p=40}}

Etymology

The title of the album is directly linked to chapter 69 of The Book of Lies, a written work of Aleister Crowley, where he uses the expression "The way to succeed and the way to suck eggs" as a pun for the 69 sex position ("suck seed" and "suck eggs"). Moreover, Crowley titled the chapter ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ, Greek κεφαλη or "head" and ΞΘ or "69" (both slang in English for oral sex - but not the original ancient Greek words).

Subsequent to the album's release, Ministry put multiple references to the number 69 in future albums. For example, the albums Dark Side of the Spoon and Houses of the Molé both have hidden tracks at track #69.

Reception

Accolades

"N.W.O." was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1993, but lost to Nine Inch Nails' "Wish".^[20]

Legacy

Video game composer Frank Klepacki cited Psalm 69 album as a primary influence in creating the soundtrack for the 1995 video game Command & Conquer.^[21]

Track listing

All songs credited to Ministry, except noted.^[29] Writing credits taken from ASCAP and BMI databases.^[22][23]

Chart positions and certifications

Album

Singles

Music certifications

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the album.^[33]

Ministry

• Al Jourgensen – vocals {{small|(all tracks, except “Jesus Built My Hotrod” and instrumentals)}}, guitars, keyboards, production
• Paul Barker – bass, programming, vocals, production

Additional musicians

• Bill Rieflin – drums
• Mike Scaccia – guitar
• Louis Svitek – guitar
• Michael Balch – keyboards, programming
• Howie Beno – programming
• Gibby Haynes – vocals and lyrics {{small|(on “Jesus Built My Hotrod”)}}

Production

• Jeff "Critter" Newell – engineer
• Paul Manno – engineer
• Tom Baker – mastering
• Paul Elledge – artwork
• "Thirst" – artwork assistant

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

• {{cite book|last=Fontenoy|first=Richard|chapter=Ministry|year=2003|editor-last=Buckley|editor-first=Peter|title=The Rough Guide to Rock|publisher=Rough Guides|pages=675-676|ref=harv|isbn=9781843531050|via=Google Books}}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Jo-Ann |date=April 2, 1993 |title=Ministry|url=http://www.prongs.org/~bisquitodoom/Interviews/1993-04_Goldmine/1993-04-02_Goldmine_pg5.jpg|format=scans |magazine=Goldmine|volume=19 |issue=7 (331)|pages=26, 28, 32, 38, 40|ref=harv|issn=1055-2685|via=Prongs.org archive}}
• {{cite book|last1=Jourgensen|first1=Al|last2=Wiederhorn|first2=Jon|lastauthoramp=yes|title=Ministry: The Lost Gospels According To Al Jourgensen|date=July 9, 2013|location=Boston, MA|publisher=Da Capo Press|ref=harv|isbn=978-0306822186|via=the Internet Archive}}

External links

• [https://books.google.ru/books?id=hxAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&hl=ru&pg=RA1-PT1#v=onepage&q&f=false ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ’s promotion] at the July 25, 1992 [Vol. 104 no. 30] issue of Billboard via Google Books.
• {{Discogs master|7376}}.

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