In the most popular era of industrial music, the late 80s, it was the style to form side projects and super groups. All too often, collaborators would come together and form other groups for one off projects, or outlets for what they couldn't do with their main groups, due to pressure from record labels or the dynamics within their own groups. cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy was famous for this forming groups like Hilt, Download, Doubting Thomas and the Tear Garden. Bill Leeb had Intermix, Conjure One and Delerium. And Al Jorgenson of Ministry had 1000 Homo DJs, along with PTP, Pailhead, Acid Horse and Lard.
1000 Homo DJs just put out one EP, Supernaut, in 1990 on the powerhouse Wax Trax Records. The band was Jorgenson along with other Ministry cohorts like Bill Reiflin and Paul Barker. The album was recorded under pseudonyms, so it's difficult to tell who was playing on the album. The album had four songs and the best on the album was their cover of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut"
The original version appeared on Black Sabbath's 1972 album Vol. 4. The song was typical of Sabbath's style of metal at the time: loud, sludgy, drugged out psychedelic metal:
Jorgenson's version was much more bombastic and aggressive. Using samples to introduce the song turned it into a potent statement on counter culture. Jorgenson's own daliances with drugs only enhanced the other-worldly feel of the song. The 1000 Homo DJs version is industrial metal swagger, brutal, rhythmic and confrontrational.
The song got a lot of attention after appearing on the 1994 Nativity in Black compilation, featuring covers of Black Sabbath songs, featuring a nice selection of the days alt-metal bands paying tribute to Black Sabbath. Since then, the song has often been credited to Ministry themselves, adding some confusion to the mix.
One of industrial's enduring mysteries was a rumoured version of the song featuring Trent Reznor on vocals instead of Jorgenson. The rumour was that Reznor's label, TVT, had heard about the collaboration and refused to let Reznor's version be released, forcing a re-recording of the song. This was one of the many reasons Reznor broke his contract with TVT Records and went on to form Nothing Records, in order to have more creative control over his musical career. The Reznor version languished for years, only heard on obscure bootlegs, before being formally released in the massive Black Box box set put out by Wax Trax in 1994.
PS if any enterprising fan of this blog would like to get me a copy of Black Box as a gift, I would appreciate much! It's a highly sought after collector's item now!
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