Filth Pig

Filth Pig is the sixth studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on January 30, 1996, by Warner Bros. Records. The title was allegedly derived from a statement made in the British Houses of Parliament, in which the band's leader Al Jourgensen was described as a "filthy pig" for his onstage theatrics by MP Teddy Taylor.^[12]

Filth Pig
Studio album by Ministry
Released	January 30, 1996 (1996-01-30)
Recorded	1994–1995
Genre	Industrial metal sludge metal[1]
Length	54:24
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Hypo Luxa Hermes Pan
Ministry chronology
ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ (1992) Filth Pig (1996) Dark Side of the Spoon (1999)
Singles from Filth Pig
"The Fall" Released: December 1995 "Lay Lady Lay" Released: February 1996 "Reload" Released: July 1996 "Brick Windows" Released: January 1997

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Cash Box	favourable[3]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	C[4]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	5/10[5]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[6]
NME	7/10[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[9]
Spin	6/10[10]
Wall of Sound	79/100[11]

Despite being the band's highest-charting album in the US, it was negatively received by reviewers,^[13][14] sharply divided the band's fanbase, and did not live up to the platinum-selling success of Psalm 69.^[15] Despite poor sales, the album entered several charts, peaking at the highest positions Ministry has ever achieved. This would be the last Ministry album with Mike Scaccia on guitar until 2004's Houses of the Molé.

Background

Filth Pig marked a major shift artistically for the band from their previous album. Jourgensen said everyone around him wanted him to continue making music similar to Psalm 69. However, he wanted to move away from using samples and focus on a slower, heavier sound.^[16] Jourgensen rejected any songs that sounded like their previous work.^[17]

"Everyone hated [Filth Pig]. They all wanted Psalm 70, and I gave them an electronic-free record full of gun-in-mouth dirges of nothing but pain. Aside from the cover art, the humour was gone. All that was left was misery. And I still had to tour the fucking thing - which went down in history as the interminable, intolerable, absolutely depraved Sphinctour."

— Al Jourgensen (2013)^[18]

The 2002 live album Sphinctour was generally well received by critics.^[19][20]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Reload"	Al Jourgensen, Paul Barker	2:26
2.	"Filth Pig"	Jourgensen, Barker	6:20
3.	"Lava"	Jourgensen, Barker	6:30
4.	"Crumbs"	Jourgensen, Barker, Mike Scaccia, Louis Svitek, Rey Washam	4:15
5.	"Useless"	Jourgensen, Barker, William Rieflin, Scaccia	5:55
6.	"Dead Guy"	Jourgensen, Barker, Washam	5:15
7.	"Game Show"	Jourgensen, Barker, Scaccia, Svitek, Washam	7:46
8.	"The Fall"	Jourgensen, Michael Balch	4:55
9.	"Lay Lady Lay" (Bob Dylan cover)	Bob Dylan	5:44
10.	"Brick Windows"	Jourgensen, Barker	5:23
Total length:			54:24

Personnel

Ministry

• Al Jourgensen – vocals, keyboards, mandolin, harmonica, pedal steel, piano, production
• Paul Barker – bass, vocals (5), programming, production

Additional personnel

• Esther Nevarez, Stella Katsoudas – backing vocals (5)
• Louis Svitek, Mike Scaccia – guitars
• William Rieflin, Rey Washam – drums
• Duane Buford – programming (uncredited)
• Michael Balch – programming (8, uncredited)

Technicial personnel

• Zlatko Hukic – engineer
• Brad Kopplin – engineer
• Bill Garcelon – assistant engineer
• Jamie Duffy – assistant engineer
• Matt Gibson – assistant engineer
• Ed Tinley – assistant engineer
• Whitney O'Keefe – assistant engineer
• Paul Elledge – art & design

Chart positions

Album Chart (1996) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[21] 9 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[22] 47 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[23] 17 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[24] 28 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[25] 16 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[26] 38 Scottish Albums (OCC)[27] 63 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan0[28] 7 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[29] 50 UK Albums (OCC)[30] 43 US Billboard 200[31] 19

Singles Year Song US Dance [32] SWE [28] UK [30] 1995 "The Fall" 18 46 53 1996 "Lay Lady Lay" — — 128