Throbbing Gristle
The wreckers of civilization themselves! Throbbing Gristle started out as a performance art group known as COUM Transmissions and consisted of core members Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti. The two would terrorize their Hull, Yorkshire neighborhood and all of England with their confrontational (and at times criminal!) "actions". These performances were bent on pushing the limits of good taste with extreme glee and were meant to make the viewer feel uneasy if not down right assaulted. I won't describe these actions in detail, suffice to say there are tons of archive images out there on the net to document these early years and even a book if you are interested in seeing just how far these two would go. Cosey Fanni Tutti also had a side-career as a pornographic actress/model during these very same years. The performance troupe would sometimes be joined by a few accolades, but it's with the addition of Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter that COUM Transmissions eventually morphed into the musical outfit known as Throbbing Gristle (which is a slang word for an erection). TG have pretty much gone on to be the godfathers of industrial music for there primitive use of electronic equipment and dejected outlook on society. Their music and live shows continued the tradition they had started as COUM Transmission, using shocking imagery such as the juxtaposition of pornography and the Holocaust. TG grew alongside the burgeoning anarchistic, anti-Thatcher UK punk scene of the late seventies and early eighties. Even if their music was legions away from the punk sound, the attitude and the values were the same: mirroring the hypocrisy and base ethics of the era. And this disgust was perfectly embodied in the bands sound. I use the word sound because TG don't exactly sound like the industrial music we are used to today. This music isn't some candy-coated, PC-version of the cleaned up sounds we have today, TG were one ugly beast. More noise than music, the band is renowned to make their compositions as unpleasing to the ears as possible through atmosphere and imagery.
It's this very imagery that had me fascinated from the start. Just looking at the artwork for their classic "20 Jazz Funk Greats" album, I knew this was going to be something right up my alley; the twisted sense of humor, the unique take on experimental noise, I needed this. But it was the song Hamburger Lady (about a nasty burn victim accident), which I heard by chance, that made me want to know more. That song has gone on to represent the whole TG sound to these ears; using only a few limited noises and disturbing sing-songy vocals, the atmosphere was set for one of the most disturbing tunes ever committed to tape. Unfortunately, my TG collection disappeared along with my Residents records that were lost in the mail when I moved back to Quebec a few years back. I knew I would eventually get them back, but it did take a few years before I had the money to get one used CD to get the ball rolling again. Keep en eye on the patch as there is more to come.
Journey Through A BodyLabel: Mute Records Release: 1982 Format: CD Cat. no: TGCD8 |
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