Ministry revives early live track ‘Dancing Alone’ with Jurgen Engler remix
Ministry has released “Dancing Alone” via Cleopatra Records, alongside an official music video. The new Ministry “Dancing Alone” single is actually a remix by Die Krupps founder Jurgen Engler of an old track that predates the debut album “With Sympathy” (1983) by Ministry.
A live recording from Chicago in March 1982 already appeared on the 2015 “Trax! Box” set and later on “Chicago / Detroit 1982”. The release is part of a series of releases where Cleopatra Records return to the early Ministry material. The 2025 archival set “The Squirrely Years Revisited” and the first official video for “Everyday Is Halloween” is part of that ‘treasure’ hunt.
About Ministry
Ministry was founded in Chicago in 1981 by Al Jourgensen. The project emerged from the same local scene that connected him to Wax Trax! founders Jim Nash and Danny Flesher.At first Ministry worked with synthesizers, drum machines, and a rotating early lineup built around Jourgensen. Drummer Stephen George for instance was among the early members, while Jourgensen remains the only original member still in the band. The group released a series of early 12-inch singles through Wax Trax! before issuing its debut album, “With Sympathy”, on Arista in May 1983.
After the Arista period, Ministry shifted course. The 1984 Wax Trax! single “All Day” / “(Every Day Is) Halloween” and the 1985 single “Over the Shoulder” dropped the synth-pop sound of the debut and an industrial sound entered. That shift became fully visible on “Twitch” in 1986, followed by the albums “The Land of Rape and Honey” (1988), “The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste” (1989), and “Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs” (1992). Paul Barker became a central collaborator from this period onward, contributing to the band’s studio identity across the late 1980s and 1990s.
The later catalogue includes “Filth Pig” (1996), “Dark Side of the Spoon” (1999), “Animositisomina” (2003), “Houses of the Molé” (2004), “Rio Grande Blood” (2006), and “The Last Sucker” (2007). After a breakup, Ministry re-formed in 2011 and released “Relapse” (2012) and “From Beer to Eternity” (2013), then continued with “AmeriKKKant” (2018), “Moral Hygiene” (2021), and “Hopiumforthemasses” (2024).
The band signed with Cleopatra Records in late 2024 and followed that move with “The Squirrely Years Revisited” in 2025, a studio return to material from the band’s starting years..
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
