Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs

In March 1991, following the conclusion of the year-long tour in support of Revolting Cocks album Beers, Steers, and Queers, Al Jourgensen returned with his bandmates at Chicago Trax! studios, to work on Ministry's next major release.[1][2][3] Jourgensen claimed that the record company Warner Bros. Records (to which Ministry were signed via their subsidiary, Sire Records) initially gave the band an enormous budget[lower-alpha 1] expecting a follow-up to The Mind... to become a big hit compared with Michael Jackson's album Thriller; actually, Jourgensen, as he claimed in 2013, with his then wife Patty (née Marsh) and guitarist Mike Scaccia spent most of the budget on drugs, paying $1,000 per day.[4][9][10] Meanwhile, the first Lollapalooza tour had arrived in Chicago in early August 1991. Jourgensen went backstage attending a show by the band Butthole Surfers. After the gig, he had invited Butthole Surfers' singer Gibby Haynes to Chicago Trax! to record what became the vocals and spoken word parts for the song "Jesus Built My Hotrod".[6]^: 55[1][7][4][11] While finishing "Jesus Built My Hotrod", Jourgensen was contacted by Sire/Warner Bros. executives, who asked if he had any completed material. Jourgensen sent them "Jesus Built My Hotrod" since it was the only song recorded by this time. While the label was not happy with just having "Jesus Built My Hotrod", Jourgensen told them either to give another advance for further work or sign the band off. The label was doubtful if the band would record anything else, but decided to release "Jesus Built My Hotrod"; following its success, they gave the band necessary budget, with the condition that the band would eventually finish the record.[4][12]

Besides drug problems, there was also growing animosity between the band's members, divided into two groups: while one group included Jourgensen and Scaccia, another—dubbed "the Book Club" by Jourgensen—included bassist Paul Barker, drummer Bill Rieflin and guest/live singer Chris Connelly.[13] Jourgensen claimed that he and Scaccia added their parts separately from Barker, Rieflin and Connelly; once Jourgensen and Scaccia would come in, they erased about 80 percent of what the Book Club associates did.[14]

The last songs included for the album, the instrumental tracks "Corrosion" and "Grace", were written mainly by Barker and recorded in February–March 1992;[15] the album's last session was held on May 7, 1992.[1] Over 15 months were spent on the recording, however, only nine of about 30 songs made its way onto the final cut, with the rest being distributed to side projects.[6]^: 53[7]

The title of the album is linked to chapter 69 of The Book of Lies, a written work of Aleister Crowley, where he uses the expression "The way to succeed and the way to suck eggs" as a pun for the 69 sex position ("suck seed" and "suck eggs"). Moreover, Crowley titled the chapter ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ (which translates literally as "shrugged" and contains the sound ΛΗΞ "licks") but has a second meaning as a compound of Greek κεφαλη ("head") and Ξ Θ (an encoded alphabetic reference to "69") which both have slang meanings in English for sexual acts.

Subsequent to the album's release, Ministry put multiple references to the number 69 in future albums. For example, the albums Dark Side of the Spoon and Houses of the Molé both have hidden tracks at track #69. A further reference to the number was exhibited on Houses of the Mole with a hidden track at #23 titled "Psalm 23", one third of 69.

The cover art depicts a silhouette of an angel surrounded by clocks and other miscellaneous objects as border icons. It was designed by photographer Paul Elledge who conceived the layout after Jourgensen handed him a copy of Aleister Crowley's 1918 The Book of Lies. The final cover image was a triple exposure of three images on one piece of film. The angel was a model from Chicago's Art Institute, who was wearing angel wings crafted by the artist's wife at the time. It took Elledge a week to complete the cover art.[16]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[17]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[18]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[19]
Kerrang!	[20]
Los Angeles Times	[21]
Q	[22]
Rolling Stone	[23]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[24]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	8/10[25]
The Village Voice	A−[26]

Psalm 69 was ranked No. 80 on the Rolling Stone's "Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" list, with author Suzy Exposito concluding that "the result of the album was a manic drag race into a swampy hellmouth of thrash Americana – and it worked".[27] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[28]

"N.W.O." was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1993, but lost to Nine Inch Nails' "Wish".[29]

Video game composer Frank Klepacki cited Psalm 69 album as a primary influence in creating the soundtrack for the 1995 video game Command & Conquer.[30]

All songs credited to Ministry, except noted.[31] Writing credits taken from ASCAP and BMI databases.[32][33]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the album.[31]

• ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ's promotion at the July 25, 1992 [Vol. 104, No. 30] issue of Billboard via Google Books.
• Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs at Discogs (list of releases).