“Stigmata” by Ministry

"Stigmata" slams open Ministry's third album, The Land of Rape and Honey, released on Sire in 1988, and it was the only single the record produced. Al Jourgensen wrote it in a hurry after realizing the album was one song short, and he produced it with Paul Barker, who also played bass, with Roland Barker on keyboards. The result is a meat grinder: distorted vocals, distorted guitars and drum machine loops compressed until they hit like pistons.

It became an underground hit, helped by a black-and-white video full of machinery, gears, the band playing live, Barker on a motorcycle and kids shaving their heads, with flashes of eyes as the only color. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later counted it among the Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. Jourgensen, contrary to the end, has written that he hates it: too simple, and built on sampled guitars instead of real ones.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.