MUSIC / Riffs: Anthrax's Scott Ian discusses Ministry's free-form sexfest 'So What'

'I saw Ministry eight or nine times last year; I'd go down in the pit and just lose my mind to this song.

It's seven or eight minutes long, with big Al (Jourgensen) talking about sex and stuff and then saying 'So what?' Most of the time it just flows along, it's very free-form; it has a kind of spacy feel, everyone's going off in their own direction. There are samples of voices saying strange things all the way through. He says 'I only kill to know I'm alive.' .

Then the chorus comes slamming together, hits you like a hammer. The vocalist starts going 'Hey]', using his voice like percussion, in time with the drums, the guitar's feeding back and the sample man's going crazy. Then it goes back to the spacy bit again. It has no real structure. It just fades out the way it faded in, with Al screaming 'So what?' over and over.'

'So What' is on Ministry's album 'Live - In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up' (WEA CD 7599262662)

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