I think the stress of these days-whether stemming from management at work, seeing complete moronic citizens in public who believe they are invincible from the pandemic (or that it has passed them), to, of course, having a President who embarasses the country on a daily basis. I have worked at home for over three months straight, and do not turn on the television while on duty. Instead, I listen to jazz or classical music.
Lately, depending on the nature of the work and especially in the last hour, I have been playing rock such as Alice in Chains/Jerry Cantrell, Kyuss, and Slayer. Slayer and Ministry have been in heavy rotation the last few weekends. I have gained a fonder appreciation of Rio Grande Blood (2006) by a Ministry lineup that included Paul Raven and Tommy Victor from Prong. I have heard exactly one Prong song on FM radio, i.e., “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck.” Regarding Rio, it was the middle release of the “Bush Trilogy.” While frontman Alan Jourgensen used some sampling on this awesome album, it is as close to the thrash genre that Ministry gets. Taste the title track and “Ass Clown” – the latter of which is prescient under today’s leadership and has Jello Biafra as a guest vocalist.
Feels so good cranked to 11 in the car. Here are the lyrics to “Ass Clown.”
Ladies and gentlemen
Welcome to Washington DC
Home of the Ass Clown
Step right up into the 3,000 ring circus of The Beltway
And witness the impossible
See them grovel, see them lie, see them crawl on their bellies
See real live white collar terrorists in their own natural habitat
See the Department of Homeland Security perfecting new ways of drowning black people
While our health care is subsidizing corporate drug dealers aiding big government and
Spying on everybody
I want to go to the circus
The circus of power
The circus they call Washington
A circle of dishonor
I want to round up the senators
Just like they did in Rome
Feed these Ass Clowns to the lions
Then I can go home
I wanna see it go up in flames
Ass Clown
You’re going down
I want to blow up the circus
Bring down the circus of lies
The ultimate goal and purpose
Is no Ass Clown survives
I want to line up the congressmen
And strap them to their missiles
Then I’ll point them at their temples
Then I’ll wave goodbye!
I wanna see it go up in flames
Ass Clown
You’re going down
See them stroke each other with bribes as they try on new shades of brown lipstick
See them circle jerk to the latest photos of torture victims
Ass Clown
I hate the three-ring circus
Under the bigtop of deceit
The circus maximus of arrogance
The circus maximus of greed
I want to line up all the judges
And take a gavel to their heads
Only then will there be justice
When all these Ass Clowns are dead
I wanna see it go up in flames
Ass Clown
You’re going down
See how it’s really done
Enjoy!
– Mark Erickson
