With Sympathy, the debut album by Ministry ( the record was also known in Europe as Work for Love), was released on May 10th, 1983. The only full-time members of the band at the time were singer Al Jourgensen and drummer Stephen George ( George would later go to join the band Colortone, before settling on a career as a music producer).
A promotion video was made for “Revenge” (above), which was one of three singles from the album, with the others being “Work for Love” and “I Wanted to Tell Her”.
Despite being a fan favorite, Jourgensen had been known to disown “With Sympathy” up until recently—he allegedly was pressured into making the album more new wave or “synthpop” by management at Arista records.
Last month, however, Uncle Al warmed up to his past through a special Record Store Day release titled Trax! Box, a seven-disc boxset which included a demo for the new-wave styled track “The Game Is Over” and the video version of “Same Old Madness“.
Additionally, art gallery Lethal Amounts in Los Angeles also celebrated “With Sympathy” era Ministry through an exhibition called “Without Sympathy: The Visceral Journey of Al Jourgensen.”
