Ministry have unveiled a cover of The Stooges‘ “Search and Destroy” as the latest single from their upcoming album, Moral Hygiene. Frontman Al Jourgensen and company put an industrial stamp on the proto-punk classic.
The track features a guest spot by Billy Idol guitarist Billy Morrison, and the decision to cover the tune was inspired by a performance at a benefit show in 2019.
“We rehearsed it and the song was perfect but the show was running late and by the time we got onstage, I was in half time and singing the lyrics twice as slow,” explained Jourgensen in a press release. “Fortunately Billy and Dave Navarro are professionals and they realized what was going on and sort of covered for me but I felt horrible. Billy thought it actually sounded really good in half-time so he came to me with the idea of going into the studio and recording it that way. And I figured I owed him one.”
In Heavy Consequence‘s own recent interview with Jourgensen, the Ministry mastermind further told us he received Stooges singer Iggy Pop’s stamp of approval on the cover. “I didn’t want to put it on the record until I sent it to Iggy and got his thumb’s up,” Jourgensen revealed to us. “And he listened to it, and he doesn’t understand how we came up with it that way, but he gave us the thumb’s up.”
Moral Hygiene is scheduled to arrive October 1st. Ministry are slated to embark on a US tour with Helmet and Frontline Assembly beginning October 3rd in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
Pre-order Moral Hygiene here, and check out the Dean Karr-directed video for “Search and Destroy” below, followed by our recent Zoom interview with Al Jourgensen.
