Dark Side of the Spoon is the seventh studio album by American industrial metal band Ministry, released on June 8, 1999, by Warner Bros. Records. "Bad Blood" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2000.
Music and lyrics
Dark Side of the Spoon features less aggressive songs than Ministry's previous albums, and frontman Al Jourgensen had intended it to be the case. He wanted to branch out from the "drug-infused" records of The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste and Psalm 69 to more "unfamiliar territory".
In his autobiography, Jourgensen confirmed that the title has two meanings: one of which is a play on words referencing Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and the other is the blackened (or dark) side of a spoon heated to dissolve heroin, as several members of the band suffered from long-term addiction to said substance at the time.
The saxophone part of the song "10/10" is taken from the last 22 seconds of "Group Dancers" on the Charles Mingus album The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady. "Whip and Chain" and "Bad Blood" feature vocals from Ty Coon, Al Jourgensen's girlfriend at the time.
Artwork
The album's cover, which features a nude, obese woman sitting in front of a black board with "I will be god" written repeatedly on it; gained controversy and resulted in the album being pulled from Kmart. Jourgensen originally had the idea of having a child drawing on the blackboard, but Barker suggested to have a fat woman instead to evoke the image of "fattened Americans doing what they're told." Joe DaVita of Loudwire interpreted the artwork as depicting "the nightmare where you think you're naked in school."
Reception and legacy
AllMusic critic Steve Huey wrote: "While it is a better record than Filth Pig, that's largely because of a few strong moments propping up a number of surprisingly bland attempts at aggression." Huey further stated that the record "can't be considered the successful expansion of their sound that would bode well for the future."
In 2024, Joe DaVita of Loudwire included the album in his list of "60 Hilariously Awful Metal Album Covers".
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