Frenetically creative, and playing only by his own rules, Thirlwell has never stopped experimenting and evolving his sound. While his music is most often outside of any genre, it is most frequently described as Industrial or No-Wave. His earlier music is usually quite harsh and distorted, although since Love, his music has become increasingly orchestral and symphonic, sometime sounding like a full orchestra, but is actually only J.G Thirlwell himself, though sometimes assisted by guest musicians on select tracks. His latest album, Hide, goes even further in this direction than Love did, beginning with an operatic piece sung by Abigail Fischer.
He has inspired many following industrial artists; like Nine Inch Nails, Pig and Cop Shoot Cop, among others, with his sonic assault and innovative use of studio technology, and was a key contributor on Coil's groundbreaking debut album Scatology as well as appearing on a few early Nurse With Wound recordings.
Thirlwell has also worked on collaborations under the names of Steroid Maximus (multiple collaborators), Stinkfist (with Lydia Lunch), Flesh Volcano (with Marc Almond), Baby Zizanie (with Jim Coleman) and Wiseblood (with Roli Mosimann of Swans); and does remix work as well, often under the name of Foetus. He also lent his voice to the introduction of album Misguided by Argyle Park.
Thirlwell is currently the Composer In Residence for Adult Swim's "The Venture Brothers".
For the video release of Season 3, a soundtrack album was also released, titled "The Venture Bros.: The Music of JG Thirlwell". This is the same audio CD included as a bonus with the Blu-ray version of Season 3. While the CD release was originally made available at Adult Swim's website, it was given a wide release on May 12, 2009;[15] the vinyl LP release came out a month earlier. It can also be downloaded from most major digital retailers. The CD features 20 tracks, while the vinyl LP release is 16 tracks.[16]
In the episode "The Trial of the Monarch," The Monarch mentions a picture of Dr. Girlfriend "skinny dipping with Jim Foetus," a reference to Thirlwell.
(not adam)
Foetus Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You're going to laugh on the other side of your mouth
I mo' blow my nose on your hankering
This is the third and final bout
If you're getting in then I'm getting out
This is a crime without passion
Blood washes away blood
And soak the lens in vaseline
Exit the man
Exit the man with nine lives
You get on my wick well get off it
I'm going to burn the candle at both ends
I fell like I'm stuck in a maze meant
With all dead ends
And I wonder where this all extends
This is a crime without passion
Blood washes away blood
I want to vent my spleen on the american dream
And soak the lens in vaseline
Exit the man the man with nine lives
This is the most transparent thing
That I ever didn't see
Spending all the time trying to think up things for the autobiography
Don't I know you from somewhere before?
Weren't you a tonic to the nation?
When I saw you last, weren't you framed
By somebody else's latest croatian?
You really know how to pollute a guy
You really know how to dilute a guy
You really know how to pollute a guy
You really know how to dilute a guy
You really know how to pollute a guy
You really know how to dilute a guy
This is a crime without passion
Blood washes away blood
Fraternise patronise deodorise sanitise
It's Not dirty but the name is mud
I want to vent my spleen on the american dream
Not soak the lens in vaseline
Exit the man with nine lives
You wouldn't look so damned surrealist
If you didn't have an apple on your face
You're a blemish in my mind
A pockmark on the human race
Waste of space, waste of space, waste of space, waste of space, waste of space
This is a crime without passion
Blood washes away blood
Fraternise patronise deodorise sanitise
Mind a drought face a flood
I want to vent my spleen on what I've seen
Not soak the lens in vaseline
Exit the man, the man with nine lives
Exit the man, exit the man
Exit the man, the man with nine lives
Exit the man, exit the man
Exit the man, the man with nine lives
Exit the man, exit the man
Exit the man, the man with nine lives
Exit the man, exit the man
The song "Not Adam" by Foetus is a scathing commentary on society and the American Dream. The lyrics are filled with anger and frustration at the state of the world and the people in it. The opening lines, "This is an advertisement for disaster/You're going to laugh on the other side of your mouth" set the tone for the rest of the song. The singer is warning the listener that things are not as they seem and that there are consequences to our actions.
Throughout the rest of the song, the singer expresses his desire to "vent [his] spleen on the american dream" and to "exit the man with nine lives." The repeated use of the phrase "crime without passion" suggests that the singer feels that society is corrupt and lacking in morality. The lines "Fraternize patronize deodorize sanitize/It's not dirty but the name is mud" suggest that people are trying to sanitize the world around them, masking the truth to fit their own ideals.
The chorus, "Exit the man, the man with nine lives" suggests that there is no escaping the cycle of corruption and bad decision-making. Whether we want to or not, we are all trapped in this system and the only option is to exit it completely.
Overall, "Not Adam" is a powerful and intense song that exposes the flaws in our society and the people who perpetuate them.
Line by Line Meaning
This is an advertisement for disaster
The song is a warning of a potential catastrophe
You're going to laugh on the other side of your mouth
The situation will be reversed and the listener will regret their current behavior
I mo' blow my nose on your hankering
I reject your desire and have no interest in it
This is the third and final bout
This is the last battle or struggle in a series of three
If you're getting in then I'm getting out
I do not want to be involved if you are going to participate
This is a crime without passion
An illegal act is being committed without any emotional motivation
Blood washes away blood
One act of violence can be replaced by another
I want to vent my spleen on the american dream
I have grievances about the traditional American success story and want to express them
And soak the lens in vaseline
Distortion and illusion is being created
Exit the man
This person needs to leave the situation
Exit the man with nine lives
This person has escaped danger multiple times and should leave before their luck runs out
You get on my wick well get off it
You are frustrating me and should stop
I'm going to burn the candle at both ends
I will work tirelessly until I can accomplish my goals
I fell like I'm stuck in a maze meant with all dead ends
The situation feels hopeless with no way out
And I wonder where this all extends
I question where this situation will lead
This is the most transparent thing that I ever didn't see
An obvious truth has been hidden from the artist
Spending all the time trying to think up things for the autobiography
The artist is focused on creating a record of their life
Don't I know you from somewhere before?
The singer recognizes the listener from a previous encounter
Weren't you a tonic to the nation?
The listener brought significant positive change to their homeland
When I saw you last, weren't you framed by somebody else's latest croatian?
The listener was previously deceived by someone else's recent creation
You really know how to pollute a guy
The listener knows how to negatively impact the artist
You really know how to dilute a guy
The listener knows how to weaken the artist's resolve
Fraternise patronise deodorise sanitise
Different forms of control and influence are being used over the situation or people involved
It's Not dirty but the name is mud
Something may not have a problem with its nature, but is viewed negatively due to its reputation
Mind a drought face a flood
The situation can quickly shift from one extreme to another
You wouldn't look so damned surrealist if you didn't have an apple on your face
The singer finds the listener to be ridiculous or absurd
You're a blemish in my mind, a pockmark on the human race
The listener is a disgrace to the singer and humanity as a whole
Waste of space, waste of space, waste of space, waste of space, waste of space
The listener is considered to be completely useless by the artist
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JIM THIRLWELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Юлиан Лукьянов
Hello, operator... give me no-man's land
Collect call to no one at all
Been yelling into an empty closet to the point of no return (and no deposit)
Fiddlin and watchin while rome boins
A roll of the dice: the woim toins
Hello, central... give me no-man's land
From a walking waste disposal unit
A transfusion from me'd kill the faint of heart
Alas poor yorick... I knew me well but I bin killin ma brain cell by cell
It only takes a bullet to make the woim toin--an this one's for you...
The toll is belling... the signs is telling
Nose is running... feet are smellin (foetus melon)
Currently less than a human wreck
Gimme a break... start at the neck
I rule my body from the throne of agony
My conscience and constitution's naggin me
Clock up another tracheotomy
Stab another dagger inna back o' me
The dark gods boint ma evil soul
Ma brittle spirit's toint to coal
I rule my body from the throne of agony
The throne of agony
Agony
Chalk up another frozen pizza... choke up another thousand marlboros
Anything goes for them ordinary joes
They'll cut off your face to spite your nose
I don't need to touch their toes to know I've already reached my all time low
Pacin' ruts inna carpet
Eatin' up the wallpaper, crawlin' the walls, sick on the ceiling
Dead in the head
Shut the shutters... I shoulda stayed in bed
Complainin bout ma campaign against personal decency
I got no excuses
Just rules wrapped in barbed wire, laced with busted glass
(yeah, I'm the one who gave the sandwich to mama cass)
Stoke up and poke up my funeral pyre
And watch my life flicker before your very eyes
With no commercial breaks... no brakes
No brakes... (kill me baby)
Pour another glass of liquid clear
King alcohol
Drinkin hard to not remember what I'd just as soon forget
String around the finger... rope around the neck
You always hate the one you love
Time dies when you're having fun
I'm gonna change ma name... I'm changin' trains... (kill me baby)
Ola Janson
Blast from the past. This was one of most important albums for me as late teenager. It represented something totally new and different. It was the gateway to more complicated and alternative music. Listening to this again me feelings are mixed. Sometimes it eternal and classic -- more often than I expected -- sometimes very 1985 (guitar sound?). Still, this album gives me goosebumps. It actually still floats like a butterfly and stings like manta ray. Thank you Jim Thirwell.
Kimbap Tempura
No offence, but it was on purpose.
D DR
What's the problem about 1985 guitar sound, dude?
Omry Kenaan
One of the greatest albums ever
Francesco Zucchetti
Just some trivias here that I'd like to share with you about this sonic monster that year after year never ceases to amaze and terrify me:
"Nail" can be possibly seen as the first output of Thirlwell after his exposition to America and NYC in the 80's, during the legendary three-nights tour of the Immaculate Consumptive with Lydia Lunch, Nick Cave and Marc Almond. Been located in London for almost four years and fallen disillusioned with the city that gave the start to the punk revolution, Thirlwell found himself comfortable with the chaos and the idea to be "sucked into it" of the american city. However, the album was going to be his last project recorded in London.
The idea behind it was to create what would be "a travelogue and guided tour" through the concept of oppression. Oppression as seen as a kind of personalised depression that one imposes upon oneself ("The throne of agony"), or as a weapon used against a victim (the killing spree depicted in "Pigswill" or the Manson's murders in "DI-1-9026), and finally the oppression that can be imposed through a governamental restricion (and that is the case of the cynical and unpleasant portrait of the life in a concentration camp of "Enter the exterminator"). All leading to the final climax, the mantra of "Anything" that resonates as a liberation march or as a survival manifesto: "I can do any goddamn thing I want". The wagnerian instrumentals interposed between the narration were presented by the author as the "foetal expression of heaven", as processed through a Disney vision, that can give the listener the idea of an oasis amidst the chaos and the horror.
At the time Thirlwell was so satisfied with the product that pointed at it as the best representation of himself and maybe that was the reason for him to embark in the first properly Foetus tour (you can find here on YouTube some videos of it, some really rough performances with the man himself dancing and screaming all alone against the musical backdrop blasted in full volume).
Kev Rex
this tune really evokes memories of that time...1985. I was there. I remember hearing this song and thinking of armies marching thru the woods until HE opens his mouth. I saw a live show back then. Really cool. With Westberg on guitar.
robert smith
Bought this album when I was 16 just because the cover looked cool. Turned out to be one of my favorites.
TheJuggtron
Here from Aron Ra - how had I never heard this amazing mid-80's experimental, jazz, punk, rap, proto-industrial goodness?
IJustNukedMcDonalds
Quickly becoming one of my favourite albums, really hits a spot that a lot of albums don't. Fun nihilism.
MrTrevithick
Well there's my late teenage years rekindled, still stirs the same feelings. A forgotten gem of an album, I still have my copy I bought back in 1985.