Throbbing Gristle

Yes

... on YouTube on karaoke these days, what's to stop you from calling up kind of Glenn Branca or Throbbing Gristle or something? Or something quite offensive maybe even.

You could call up Sleepy Laz-

Well, I mean, they, obviously they-

It's satisfying and meaningful to us in different ways to, to get to explore them and hopefully for somebody who listens to them, they get something out of it too.

The, the range, I mean, I was talking to a friend about this and saying, like, in the subscription service at least, you go from Bob Dylan to Throbbing Gristle, Kylie Minogue to Bikini Kill, Nancy Sinatra to Diamanda Galas.

It's like a-- partly it's an education.

Like, if I listen to these covers and then go and follow who you're covering, I, I'll see a whole range of musical history.

Yeah.

So he's really into Throbbing Gristle and, you know, odd music.

And he meets Genesis B. Ohre there, doesn't he?

On the stairs, I think, isn't it?

Yeah, and it sort, I suppose it fits more with where he came from, though.

Yeah.

If you're into throbbing gristle, you're gonna end up playing banging techno, aren't you, really? [laughs]

Yeah, it's very true.

It sounds like machines or some of the creepier industrial music is the most startling of all.

Like Throbbing Gristle is a good one to start with because they had these big, loud, banging, clanging songs that were just chaotic and frenetic.

But the songs that are really going to get under your skin, we were talking about Hamburger Mary.

Oh, my God.

And it's just so dark.

I think it's worse than The Hamburger Woman, you know? It's this

throbbing gristle you're talking about? Throbbing

gristle, yeah.

He's a hardcore, Crowley-loving occultist.

Part of the Throbbing Gristle, this underground.

And he did videos for Rage Against the Machine and all these other famous bands.

Here they were hiring him.

We're still mining the contacts listed in the tapes received section of Throbbing Gristle's industrial news zine, published between 1979 and 1980.

Young artists rally under the flag of the new electronic industrial music, and there's a tangible sense of acceleration as we head into post-punk culture in the 80s.

The mood seems to have moved beyond just getting involved and doing it into something more sophisticated and aspirational.

From 1971 Butler's Wharf was established as a home to the largest artist studio complex in London.

By 1980, this was about to change.

But when Throbbing Gristle performed there in December 1979, it was still home to a community of 150 artists.

We wondered how a 15-year-old Matt had been introduced to this world.

Well,

So you've got Genesis Pierridge and his missus, Paula.

Paula, who hadn't been in Throbbing Gristle, but Genesis, who had been one of the main principal players.

And also in this line-up of Psychic TV, you've got Geoff Rushton, a.k.a. John Balance of Coil, and fellow Coil member and former Throbbing Grisler, Peter Sleazy Christopherson.

Throbbing Grisler.

It's this melange of medieval court music with snarling attack dogs across it and machine gun fire that kind of dissolves into just the sound of fire burning.

There are pagan ritual chants on the album and these quite grim, desolate soundscapes.

And then there are pieces like Ancient Lights and In the Nursery, which are back almost to the throbbing gristle-esque industrial apocalyptic sounds, which all sounds wrapped up as if it's been created by a religious cult of some description, which arguably they have.

The Psychic TV were very much about the kind of Alistair Crowley-esque magic.

He was actually using their recording studio after hours to cut his own demo tapes.

In 1979, a 17-year-old Johnson placed an advert in the New Musical Express looking for collaborators who shared his love for the Velvet Underground, The Residents and Throbbing Gristle.

A synthesiser player named Keith Laws answered the call and together they formed The The, making their live debut at the Africa Centre in London's Covent Garden in May 1979.

Over the next few years, The The evolved from a synth-heavy duo into a fluid solo vehicle for Johnson's singular vision.