MINISTRY Book Event with author Jason Pettigrew

It’s our great pleasure to welcome author Jason Pettigrew to the shop as we celebrate the release of his addition to the beloved 33 1/3 book series, wherein he explores Ministry’s landmark album The Land Of Rape And Honey. Jason will be on hand to read from his new book and to discuss the album, the band and the impact they had on music and how The Land Of Rape And Honey inspired an entire genre and a generation of musicians in its wake.

Here are some details directly from the publisher:

This is the definitive chronicle of Ministry's 1988 industrial rock release, The Land of Rape and Honey, that details the zeitgeist where post-punk, metal, funk and straight-up noise converge.

Ministry mainstay Al Jourgensen got a taste of bitter record-biz backwash early on with his first major label bow for Arista (1983's With Sympathy), and then vowed never to drink from that cup again. His pursuit of artistic freedom culminated in Ministry's 1988 release, the record that left an entry wound on the world's assorted underground scenes while helping to foment the industrial rock revolution that inspired a countless number of bands across all sonic frontiers.

Featuring interviews with Al Jourgensen, Paul Barker, Chris Connelly, Jello Biafra, Adrian Sherwood, deadmau5, Fear Factory, and many more famous fans and pundits, this deeply sourced book traces back the climate surrounding Ministry's first two full length releases before examining the vision, methods, and controversies that helped ascend The Land of Rape and Honey to its rightful legend status. The Land of Rape and Honey may be the one common album members of Nine Inch Nails, AFI, and ZZ Top have in their collections, be it phonograph or phone. And the story behind it remains fascinating.

Jason Pettigrew is a freelance journalist based in Pennsylvania. He is an occasional contributor to SPIN and annotator of the photo book Had To Be There: A Visual History of the Explosive Pittsburgh Underground (2023). He is former Editor-In-Chief of Alternative Press.