Summary: The sequel to the astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl has Kyra(aka Goth Girl) returning home after six months in a hospital. Her father sent her there for helping fearing for her life after the events in the aforementioned novel.
Now back she finds herself in a weird position. Things with her father is rocky, school is going to be a big problem with news of her being sent for psychiatric help, oh, and she must destroy Fanboy. His intent to try and help her went wrong and caused this problem and now, after returning to bury the hatchet, she sees he's changed. more confident, the book she helped him with is being published in the school paper, and he didn't contact her at all in the months she was gone.
Kyra also has to deal with odd feelings towards her friend Jecca and biters jacking her new style of course. Amongst painful memories of her mothers fight with cancer.
Thoughts: I paused The Moon is a Harsh Mistress(hard sci-fi book right there) and tore through this one in a night.
Its easy to read and good. Its nice to see Fanboy not be the punk he came off as, at times, in the previous book. But seeing as that was Fanboys first person and this time Kyras doing the narration you kind of wondered what happened to him in that time. Still, Kyra was and still is the most interesting of the two characters.
Kyras friends are... meh. Her father obviously cares but has a hard time dealing with Kyra and she doesn't make too much of an effort herself.
Also, this and the previous book make me realize Young Adult books have changed much since I was a teen. But when I was a teen i was reading other novels so maybe I just didn't notice...
I don't have much to say about this. Its a damn fine book and so was the first one. Though the lack of Bendis references(I don't like his writing so I've gotten annoyed by all the references in non comic mediums) might make me like this one slightly better in the long run. I'll let you know.
Notes KMFDM's new stuff does indeed suck and their old shit was indeed better. In fact, better than the best and harder then the rest. So take off that damned Attak shirt Thorn Evergoth!
Brief History Take some Atari driven electronics, mix in rap and new wave influences, and add the punk rock style you more or less get what Mindless Self Indulgence is. MSI(for short) is the bastard child of one James Euringer who likes to go by the name of Little Jimmy Urine.
I can't really give you too much of a background on Jimmy and his cohorts of Steve(aka Righ?), Kitty, and Lyn-z but it all started when Jimmy produced a demo EP Mindless Self-Indulgence with a little help from Righ? A little later Jimmy and his pals released their debut album Tight on their own record label after Roadrunner Records decided not to release the album. The band quickly gained cult status with their look, outrageous live performances, and musical and lyrical content. Not meant to be taken seriously but could easily be deemed offensive.
In 2000 they signed to Elektra records. they released the album Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy with album art from Tank Girl and Gorillaz co-creator Jaime Hewlett. The 30 song albums track listing was put in alphabetical order due to some labels need to rearrange track listings from bands. As well as the overuse of asteriks on the back cover as a form of protest against censorship. MSI and Elektra had a falling out which lead or MSI going back underground and releasing a live album and an EP. They signed to electro/goth label Metropolis in 2005 and released their first real follow up to Frankenstein Girls entitled You'll Rebel to Anything featuring a music video directed by Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Invader ZimJhonen Vasquez. The band has since released a few remix and EPs to date.
MSI has went on to tour with the likes of popular groups like Rammstein, Insane Clown Posse, KoRn as well as having now mainstream groups like My Chemical Romance or Kill Hannah open for them. Their live performances are notorious and in at least one case had Jimmy Urine arrested and charged with public obscenity.
The band has scored some semblance of mainstream success as two singles, Straight to Video and Shut Me Up, both debuted #1 on Billboards dance charts over the likes of popualr artists like Justin Timberlake and Beyonce.
My Interest in Mindless Self Indulgence So the first time I heard MSI was at the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The one I had went to a few times had a little dance club environment going until people got in and situated. I was on the floor, you know keeping raw, when a song came on and got the attention of me and my friend. It had this simple beep-beep-beep keyboard and catchy pseudo-industrial punk feel. I asked the "DJ" and he told me the song was Faggot by Mindless Self Indulgence. Next morning my friend had the song downloaded and loved it enough to buy the album an hour later and burn me a copy. 30 songs(more or less) none over 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Just fun, sing-a-long music with Jimmy doing a simple verse over a sampled Siouxsie & the Banshees beat for Bitches, rapping random nonsense on I Hate Jimmy Page, or going quick polished punk number like Seven-Eleven. Most the songs are just silly fun for the Ritalin generation.
For me MSI is just the kind of band I can put it and just nod my head to. Laugh at the silliness (If your so smart explain this Clarissa/pow!-Clarissa, about the Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains it All), sarcasm (I'd like to thank god for all my dopest rhymes-Thank God, about Music Award Acceptance speeches), or occasionally serious content of certain lyrics. That, and at times I am just amazed at the range vocally and musically. Songs like Pussy All Night has Jimmy switching from singing mock-up reggae to R&B to hip-hop with the beat accompanying it. It's just music unlike any I had heard at the time.
My fascination and interest for the band jumped when I eventually got my hands on a burnt copy of their out of print first record, Tight, and was mesmerized. Not just the before mentioned Pussy All night but their dynamic cover of Method Mans Bring the Pain, somewhat haunting Molly, or just adrenaline pumping Tornado. I've picked up all their albums since becoming a fan and just the other day got to check out their latest EP, Another Mindless Rip Off, which harkens back to back to their Tight/Frankenstein Girls sound. Pre-Teen Violence may not make much sense and at first listen be a pretty stupid song, but it just puts a smile on my face as I listen and sing with urine.
Now I just need to find a copy of their demo. Back when Jimmy was a little more goth with his lyrics.
Brief History In part one of a multi-part series looking at bands I love, or loved, and giving you my opinion on why I like their music and what it means to me I decided to start with a band that I am, as of right now, making a special three part Mix CD compilation to: Ministry.
Brief history tells the story of Al Jourgensen, a Cuban born American musician. In Chicago, Illinois, which was to be the spot where industrial music was to explode in the counter culture scene, he began Ministry as a New Wave band. First on the Wax Trax! label which was the top indy label for industrial music acts for a period of time and eventually he ended up at Arista records. Around this same time Al, along with members of EBM forefathers Front 242 were in a project called Revolting Cocks. But internal problems left Al by himself. Al hooked up with Paul Barker of a group called the Black Outs and the two, along with Bill Rieflin and Fini Tribes Chris Connelly took over the mantle. Revolting Cocks(RevCo for short) was hard industrial band with a tongue in cheek country music flair. Al invited Paul to be his chief co-writer for Ministry.
Ministry went from a new wave group to becoming the fathers of American industrial music. Mechanical drum beats, precision metal guitar, pulsating bass, and loud screams. Their first album from Warner Bros. owned Sire records was an album that rolling Stone included on its list of the top 500 albums of all time, "The Land of Rape & Honey." The two and their collaborators including Bill Rieflin, Chris Connelly, Duane Buford, and others would go on to work on both Ministry and RevCo. In 1992 Ministry achieved some level of mainstream success with "Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the way to Suck Eggs" thanks in part to their single Jesus Built My Hotrod with Butthole Surfers Gibby Haynes and a series of music videos that made it onto Mtv. The group also made an appearance into the Steven Spielberg movie AI in the Flesh Fest scene.
The band released a few more albums and Paul Barker left Ministry in 2003 leaving Jourgensen to develop an almost more hardcore/speed metal outfit.
My Interest In Ministry I had heard of Ministry as I began my interest in industrial music. Growing up black I had R&B and some rap around but I wasn't able to connect as, I guess, I was an angst filled teenager. but Metal for the most part didn't work but industrial grabbed my attention. The factory sounds and ability to experiment without ever losing that distinguishable quality in their own sound helped.
Though I heard of Ministry it wasn't until a VH-1 program entitled Top 100 Bands of Hard Rock that I really heard them. Listening to the members of Green Day and Living Colour speak on the band, the images, and the clips of the music which were able to combiend heaviness and catchy rhythms without an element of pop caught my ear. My friend burnt me a CD including Jesus Built My Hotord and I was taken away by the tongue-in-cheek humor of the lyrics as well the aggression and craft that the song included. The entire album of Psalm 69 was brutal but lacked what I hated about Metal: the bloated pretentiousness. The excess darkness and humorless attitude. Ministry was band about the darker side but weren't afraid to throw in the dancier drum beats, keyboards, horns, and southern vocals.
Though I am a newer fan I feel a little sadden by Jourgensens current work. More straight forward but too hardcore for me. Still, as my friend says, bad Ministry is better then most music. If you're interested, check out Greatest Fits. A collection of singles including a song with NIN Trent Reznor from the 1000 Homo DJs side project. Al and Paul had many other projects besides Ministry and RevCo. Though I liked RevCo the best.
Favorite Albums from Ministry & RevCo Ministry-Psalm 69
Born in the mystical land of Zaragossa, Spain and raised mostly on the concrete jungles of Cali. Westside Goth is half black, half white, all geek. A straight edge-lite, pseudo-rivethead just trying to keep it real in a world gone terribly wrong.
Also uses the alias' Groovie Mann, Dangerous C and the Crown Jewel.
