Throbbing Gristle | |
|---|---|
 Throbbing Gristle performing in 2009. From left to right: Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, Chris Carter, Genesis P-Orridge. | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | X-TG |
| Origin | Kingston upon Hull, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active |
|
| Labels | Industrial |
| Spinoffs | |
| Past members | Peter Christopherson Cosey Fanni Tutti Chris Carter Genesis P-Orridge |
Throbbing Gristle were an English music andvisual arts group formed inKingston upon Hull byGenesis P-Orridge andCosey Fanni Tutti, later joined byPeter "Sleazy" Christopherson andChris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers ofindustrial music. Evolving from the experimentalperformance art groupCOUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle made their public debut in October 1976 in the COUM exhibitionProstitution, and released their debut single "United/Zyklon B Zombie" and debut albumThe Second Annual Report the following year. P-Orridge's lyrics mainly revolved aroundmysticism, extremist political ideologies, sexuality, dark or underground aspects of society, and idiosyncratic manipulation of language inspired by the techniques ofWilliam S. Burroughs.
The band released several subsequent studio and live albums – includingD.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle (1978),20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979), andHeathen Earth (1980) – on their own record labelIndustrial Records, building a reputation with theirtransgressive and confrontational aesthetics; they included the extensive use of disturbing visual imagery, such as ironicfascist andNazi symbolism andpornography, as well as that of noise and sound manipulation influenced by the works of Burroughs andBrion Gysin.
Throbbing Gristle dissolved in 1981 due to interpersonal differences; the individual members went on to participate in other projects, such asPsychic TV,Coil, andChris & Cosey. The band was reformed in 2004, and released three more studio albums –TG Now (2004),Part Two (2007), andThe Third Mind Movements (2009) – before disbanding again after P-Orridge's departure in October 2010 and Christopherson's death the following month. The band's final studio project, a cover version of the 1970Nico albumDesertshore entitledDesertshore/The Final Report [fr], was released in 2012 under the moniker X-TG.
Throbbing Gristle evolved from the performance art groupCOUM Transmissions, formed inKingston upon Hull by a group of performers includingGenesis P-Orridge andCosey Fanni Tutti. The name Throbbing Gristle derives from the Yorkshire slang word for a male erection. In 1973 COUM moved from Hull toHackney, London, where P-Orridge and Tutti metChris Carter, then working as a sound recordist in television, andPeter Christopherson, then a member of the graphic design collectiveHipgnosis; the four built a recording studio in Hackney which they dubbed "The Death Factory" and began performing music together.[7][8] The last known performance of COUM Transmissions –Prostitution, an exhibition held in October 1976 at theInstitute of Contemporary Arts in London – was also the public debut of Throbbing Gristle.[9] The provocative sexual content of the exhibition ledConservative Member of ParliamentNicholas Fairbairn to dub the group "wreckers of civilisation".[10][11]
Throbbing Gristle's confrontational live performances and use of often disturbing imagery, including pornography and photographs of Naziconcentration camps, earned the group a notorious reputation, but they maintained that their mission was to challenge and explore the darker and obsessive sides of the human condition rather than to make attractive music. Throbbing Gristle made extensive use of pre-recorded tapesamples[12] and effects units, some of which they had designed or modified themselves, to produce a distinctive, highly distorted sound, usually accompanied by lyrics or spoken-word performances by Tutti or P-Orridge.[8] Though they asserted that they wanted to provoke their audience into thinking for themselves rather than promote any specific political agenda, Throbbing Gristle frequently associated with theanarcho-punk scene. They appeared in thefanzineToxic Grafity with a condensation of their own propaganda parody series, Industrial News.[13]
In November 1977, they released their debut live/studio albumThe Second Annual Report. First pressed in a limited run of 786 copies on the band'sIndustrial Records label, it was rereleased onMute Records following high demand; however, this later release was reversed, with all tracks playing backwards and in reverse order. This was followed by the single "United / Zyklon B Zombie", and by the albumsD.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle (1978),20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979), andHeathen Earth (1980), along with a number of non-album singles. In 1980, the band composed a soundtrack for Neil Ruttenberg's horror movie Mask of Sarnath.
In 1981 concert promoter andTransparency Records founder Michael Sheppard brought Throbbing Gristle to Los Angeles.[14] On 29 May 1981 Throbbing Gristle performed at theKezar Pavilion in San Francisco in what would be the group's final performance until reuniting in 2004. Throbbing Gristle announced their dissolution on 23 June 1981, mailing out postcards declaring that their "mission [was] terminated."[15][16] In a 1987 interview, Tutti attributed the band's split to her own breakup with P-Orridge: "TG broke up because me and Gen broke up."[17]
P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson went on to formPsychic TV, and Tutti and Chris Carter, now a couple, continued to record together asChris & Cosey. Christopherson later formedCoil with fellow Psychic TV memberJohn Balance; P-Orridge subsequently formedThee Majesty andPTV3 with their wife Jacqueline "Jaye" Breyer.
The release in 1999 of Simon Ford's bookWreckers of Civilization on the history of COUM Transmissions and TG sparked renewed interest in the group's work. Plans for a reissue of theTG24 box set were set in motion with Mute Records and came to fruition with its release in December 2002.[18] To mark the occasion, an exhibition was held at the Cabinet Gallery, showcasing artifacts related to the first edition ofTG24. A listening room was set up to play the twenty-four hours of concert recordings.[19][20]
In 2004, Throbbing Gristle briefly reunited to record and release the limited albumTG Now. This was followed by concerts on May 16, 2004 at theLondon Astoria, and on December 3 atCamber Sands during theAll Tomorrow's Parties festival. That concert was released asA Souvenir of Camber Sands.
On 2 April 2007, TG released the albumPart Two: The Endless Not, which the group had finished recording in Berlin. It was originally set to be released by Mute Records in September 2006 but was delayed for unknown reasons.
In March 2007, Side-Line announcedPart Two's final release date, adding that a string of special live events would take place in 2007.[21]
In April 2007, TG gave two concerts at theDonaufestival inKrems.[22][23] During the second concert, the soundtrack of the filmIn the Shadow of the Sun was played, with the participation of a choral ensemble conducted byHildur Guðnadóttir.[24] On May 26, 2007, TG presented the same performance at theTate Modern in London, again accompanied by Guðnadóttir, who conducted theNew London Chamber Choir.[25][26]
The band then worked to record an album based on their interpretation ofNico's 1970 albumDesertshore.[27] The recording sessions took place over three days in June 2007 at theInstitute of Contemporary Arts. The group issued the entirety of the recording sessions for the album as a limited edition 12-CD set packaged in a custom CD wallet,The Desertshore Installation, which was sold via mail order from the group's website.[28]
A seven-disc DVD set titledTGV was issued in the fall of 2007.[29] The set contains old and new footage of the band.TGV came packaged in a deluxe box with a 64-page book, all designed by Christopherson.[30]
The group performed a reinterpretation of their debut albumThe Second Annual Report twice in 2008 to mark the thirtieth anniversary of its release.[31] The performance in Paris on 6 June was issued as a limited-edition framed vinyl set titledThe Thirty-Second Annual Report.[32]
In April 2009, Throbbing Gristle toured the United States, appearing at theCoachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago.The Third Mind Movements, a new release, was made available at these shows, which was edited down from improvisations recorded during theDesertshore Installation sessions.
A collaborative installation withCerith Wyn Evans titledA=P=P=A=R=I=T=I=O=N was displayed atTramway in Glasgow from 7 August to 27 September 2009. Throbbing Gristle contributed a multi-channel soundtrack that was played through 16 hangingAudio Spotlight sound panels that Evans had incorporated into his sculpture.[33]
In November 2009, Throbbing Gristle andIndustrial Records released their version of theBuddha Machineloop player, designed by the group with Christiaan Virant ofFM3, namedGristleism [fr].[34]
On 29 October 2010, Throbbing Gristle announced on their website that P-Orridge had left the group; Carter, Cosey and Christopherson finished their current tour under the name X-TG.[citation needed] P-Orridge's website stated that they had not quit Throbbing Gristle and had merely stopped participating in the current tour. However, the band would dissolve for good on 24 November following Christopherson's death.[35][better source needed]
In 2011, Industrial Records had an official "re-activation" to reissue the group's studio albums, as Throbbing Gristle's contract withMute Records had expired.[36]
Industrial Records subsequently announced that a double album, titledDesertshore/The Final Report, would be released on 26 November 2012. Carter and Tutti produced the album with the participation of film directorGaspar Noé, former pornographic actressSasha Grey, and guest vocalistsAnohni,Blixa Bargeld, andMarc Almond.[37][38]
The group had decided before Christopherson's death to re-record the album because they were not satisfied with the ICA recordings. Christopherson had been the driving force behind the project and had been working on the record in Bangkok withDanny Hyde. "It was Sleazy's project, then Cosey and Sleazy's, then I came in on it", Carter said in an interview withThe Quietus.[39] After Christopherson died, custom instruments built for the project by Christopherson were given to Carter and Tutti, and they began combining his recordings with the work they had done themselves.[40] They announced plans to debut the album live atAV Festival on 17 March 2012 accompanied by a screening ofPhilippe Garrel's filmThe Inner Scar "for whichDesertshore was the soundtrack and inspiration".[41][42]
P-Orridge died from leukaemia on 14 March 2020.[43]
The band is widely viewed as having helped create theindustrial music genre along with contemporariesCabaret Voltaire.[44] The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by P-Orridge andMonte Cazazza; on Throbbing Gristle's debut albumThe Second Annual Report, they coined the slogan "industrial music for industrial people".[45]
Alternative Press included Throbbing Gristle in their 1996 list of "100 underground inspirations of the past 20 years."[46]
Wreckers of Civilization, a survey on COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle's original run written by Simon Ford, was published in 1999.[47] A book in the33⅓ series on20 Jazz Funk Greats by Drew Daniel ofMatmos was released in 2007.[48]
Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle, a documentary on both projects consisting of archival footage and photos and interviews with their members, was co-produced byBBC Television and aired onBBC Four in December 2021.
Studio albums
