Throbbing Gristle were dubbed "wreckers of civilisation" by Tory MP Nicholas Fairbairn because of their 1976 exhibition "Prostitution" at the I.C.A. in London.
After terminating their first mission in 1981, TG split and the members went their seperate ways. Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti went on to form chris & cosey and started their label CTI (Conspiracy International) and recently carter tutti. Genesis P-Orridge and peter christopherson (Sleazy) went on to found psychic TV; later Sleazy and fellow PTV member Jhonn Balance left PTV to form Coil. Genesis P-Orridge still remains active with PTV3 and Thee Majesty. Chris Carter & Cosey Fanni Tutti are still recording, collaborating and touring and in 2001 became known as Carter Tutti. Cosey Fanni Tutti also has a successful career as an international artist (recently exhibiting at Tate Britian, Barbican, Los Angeles, Washington, Zurich). Peter Christopherson is now recording and performing live with Ivan Pavlov as Soi Song and solo as The Threshold Houseboys Choir.
In 2003 Throbbing Gristle regrouped.
The first new studio album from the regrouped TG was entitled 'Part Two: The Endless Not' and was released in 2007. Each of the initial CD pressings included one of a series of four different Totemic Gifts in either copper, bone, rubber or wood and the gifts were encased within the CD jewel case. The Totemic Gifts were handmade under Peter Christopherson's personal supervison in Thailand and each of the Totemic Gift CDs came in an edition of 1000.
TG have also recently released a limited edition DVD boxed set titled 'T G V'.
In 2007 TG performed live at the I.C.A. in London as a three-day installation entitled 'The Desert Shore'. This installation consisted of the band recording a cover version of Nico's classic album 'Desert Shore'. A limited edition of the live recording was later released on Industrial Records. In 2007 TG also performed a live 'soundtrack' concert to a series Derek Jarman films, with a full choir (conducted by Hildur Guðnadóttir) at the Turine Hall in Tate Modern.
In 2008 TG performed two special concerts in Barcelona and Paris entitled 'Thirty Second Annual Report'. These concerts were commemorative recreations of their first album:'Second Annual Report'. Both concerts will be available as a framed limited edition vinyl release (777 copies) in 2008.
On October 29th, 2010, Throbbing Gristle announced on their website that Genesis P Orridge had informed them that she was no longer willing to perform with Throbbing Gristle and would be returning to her home in New York. Chris, Cosey and Peter would finish the tour under the name X-TG.
Throbbing Gristle - the founders of the musical Industrial - of art, which is based on experimental music-expressed with active use of samples and inharmonious combinations of sounds, as well as visualization and avant-garde live performances, often unpleasant and repulsive to the average layman. Musically TG absorbed the influence of experimental music pioneers of the 60s, such as the Fifty Foot Hose, The Velvet Underground, Can, as well as classical composers John Cage and La Monte Young.
Key member of Throbbing Gristle can formally assume a man named Neil Megson, better known as Genesis P-Orridge. Neil was born in 1950 in Manchester, in a family involved in theatrical and musical activity. His father was a jazz musician. As a child, Neil was interested in the occult, his grandmother was a psychic. At age 15, Neil began to develop a character named Genesis P-Orridge, but until 1971, all the records released under the name of Early Worm. His first record he released in 1968, it is based on improvisation on homemade instruments. In 1969, he enrolled at Hull University and created the first "sound lab" where not only make music, but hid from everyday life. Laboratories were among the devices not only cassette recorders and other devices for recording and playback of sound, but also model railway. Early Worm designed the cover artist John Cage. His book Silence was one of the main sources of inspiration for the P-Orridge. At Hull University, he studied not long, and in the same '69 safely departed from him, went to London, where he lived for a while in the commune of Exploding Galaxy. The members of the commune refused to normal life, the concept of private property and personal life, as well as the class structure of Britain. In the commune practiced discipline and costumed role play. Back in Hull, P-Orridge founded comic musical theater company with Cosey Fanni Tutti.
After some time, this group was transformed into a performance-art-shock group COUM Transmissions, focusing on sex, taboos, and paranormal phenomena. In 1971, Genesis even learned magic from William S. Burroughs. In 1973 he joined a COUM Peter «Sleazy» Christopherson, who is considered one of the founders of the concert sampler. His sampler consisted of a number of connected together cassette recorders and controllers. Cosey worked as a secretary, stripper, pornographic and erotic model. Famous show "Prostitution", held in 1976 at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), included a display of pictures of naked Tutti, and her porn pictures. The show included a striptease, tampax in the glass and guards transvestites. Prostitutes, punks, men in suits and the usual inquisitive were hired to mingle with visitors to the gallery. All this even caused debate in Parliament. Members of the House of Commons demanded an explanation from the Minister of Culture, and the P-Orrige and Tutti were declared "destroyers of civilization." But this is not long in coming, and a report on the show in the newspaper Fleet Street. However, the organizers received original, cutting out the review of the newspaper and making it another one of the exhibits. Until the end, in a shocking performance COUM Transmissions involved only Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, and Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson. These people and became the nucleus of the future band Throbbing Gristle.
Throbbing Gristle was founded October 18, 1976 in the ICA, a rock band from 4 participants. For Genesis, Cosey and Peter'u joined Chris Carter. Name to Yorkshire slang means "erect penis" (although the term 'throbbing gristle' can be employed in relation to the heart). In an episode of the comedy TV show 80's "Only When I Laugh", written by Yorkshireman Eric Chappell, character Figgis, refers to a greyhound named Throbbing Gristle. It is unlikely that the TV censors of the time were aware of all the values of this phrase when they were given the good scenario.
The first performance took place in Throbbing Gristle Air Gallery in London on 6 July 1976. The band played in one room, while in the next room sounded different music. Peter worked on the special effects and led to the idea of artificial scars, and Chris was cutting himself with a razor.
His first creative team christened word Industrial.
At this point, the headquarters of Throbbing Gristle was the home of 10 on Martello Street in East London, the team of artists address anti-West End. Living and working spaces, P-Orridge and Tutti also has a mailing address of their own record label, Industrial Records. IR logo has faded high-contrast black-and-white photograph of the main ovens of Auschwitz. In 1977, they released their debut record, "2nd Annual Report". Originally released on Industrial Records in the amount of 786 copies, it was reprinted later, thanks to the great demand among the public. Also for six years on Industrial Records were released works by such artists as Monte Cazazza, The Leather Nun, Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, Surgical Penis Klinik (SPK), Elisabeth Welch, Dorothy, Clock DVA, Richard H. Kirk, Cabaret Voltaire, as well as the famous writer William S. Burroughs. All these people and groups should be considered artists present original Industrial.
Throbbing Gristle confrontational performances were based on the annoying artistic images, including pornography and photographs of Nazi concentration camps. All this gave the band a rather bad name. However, the group always has a clear opinion that their mission - to cry out and explore the dark and obsessive sides of the human condition, rather than to make attractive music. Throbbing Gristle pioneered the use of pre-recorded samples, and extensive use of special effects to create special, terribly distorted background, usually accompanied by the rhythmic verses or colloquial speech Genesis P-Orridge. Live entertainment group is always quite different from their studio work. In addition to the studio albums were vypusheno many recordings of concerts TG.
Throbbing Gristle latest single was «Discipline.» A recent release Industrial Records was named "Nothing Here But The Recordings", a best-of-album of tape archive William S. Burroughs, who gave the P-Orridge and Sleazy access to records. The last show TG, Mission Of Dead Souls, was held in May 1981 in San Francisco. Soon after this, Genesis and Paula P-Orridge (née Alaura O'Dell) were married in Tijuana. Throbbing Gristle ceased to exist. Industrial Records were closed and former members heralded the end of the industrial era in the music and the beginning of the post-industrial. After that, Genesis P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson created a project Psychic TV, thus becoming one of the founders not only industrial, but also acid house. Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter continued to issue records under the name Chris and Cosey. Christopherson later became half of Coil, he created with fellow Psychic TV, John Balance. All participants TG have sponsored a considerable number of films and books.
Many years later, the group got together again. The first show after a break of almost two decades, passed in 2004, Astoria Theatre, London. This was followed by two concerts in Italy in 2005 and the show in Berlin from 31 December 2005 to 1 January 2006. Also completed recording the first in many years album. In April 2007, in light of the album «Part Two - The Endless Not», well met as music critics and fans.
October 29, 2010 P-Orridge announced its withdrawal from the group. The three remaining members continued to tour in Europe under the name X-TG.
November 24, 2010 another member of the team, Peter Christopherson, died in his sleep
TG website links: MySpace
TG members individual website links:
Chris Carter
Genesis P-Orridge
Peter Christopherson
Cosey Fanni Tutti
Persuasion
Throbbing Gristle Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You gotta get some
Persuasion
You gotta get some
Look at me I touch your breast
Look at me I touch your knees
And I persuade you
Like always I persuade you
Persuasion
Look at me I touch your head
I say the words and you got to bed
My sister and my mother
My father and my son
Do everthing I want them to
With persuasion
One lot of persuasion
Like always persuasion
Now there's lots of ways to persuade you
I could do it with money
I could look at you
I could show you all that
You might as well do it anyway
You might as well choose to play the game
After all you've seen yourself before
What difference does it make if I take your photograph?
What difference does it make if someone else sees it too?
All your friends do it
I mean nobody will know it's you
Anybody, it could be any body
I mean, these magazines, you know.
They only go to middle aged men
So why don't you do as I suggest
I persuade you
With words I persuade you
Persuasion
I've got a little biscuit tin
To keep your panties in
Soilde panties, white panties, school panties, why-Front
Panties
By the canal, by the canal
And I persuade you
Look at me
Look at me
There's a certain word and a certain touch
A certain way and a way too much
There's a little bit here
And a little bit there
When you've done it all it's too late to care
Oh I persuade you
Like always I persuade you
Look in my eye
Under your covers
I touch you
And tell you what to do
Do it because I tell you
Do it because I love you
And I persuade you
Persuasion
Throbbing Gristle's "Persuasion" is a disturbing and uncomfortable song that delves deep into the theme of manipulation and coercion in a relationship. The lyrics speak of a person who uses various tactics to persuade their partner to comply with their desires. The first verse refers to touching the partner's breasts and knees, followed by touching the head and persuading them to go to bed. The rest of the song speaks of using money or showing them something if words aren't enough. The singer also claims to have control over their family members.
The line "I've got a little biscuit tin to keep your panties in" is especially chilling, as it implies that the singer is not only manipulating their partner but also keeping a memento of their unwilling actions. Throughout the song, there is an element of control and power-play, where the singer is in charge, and the partner has to go along with their demands without any say.
Overall, "Persuasion" is a creepy depiction of a manipulative relationship, where one partner has complete control over the other, and there is little room for autonomy.
Line by Line Meaning
Persuasion
The act of convincing someone to do something against their will
You gotta get some
You need to acquire some persuasion in order to influence others
Look at me I touch your breast
I use physical touch and proximity to assert dominance and influence over you
Look at me I touch your knees
I am comfortable invading your personal space to express my power
And I persuade you
My actions are meant to convince you to do what I want
Like always I persuade you
I have a history of successfully manipulating you
My sister and my mother
Even my family members are subject to my powers of persuasion
My father and my son
I have no qualms about controlling those closest to me
Do everthing I want them to
I am able to dictate the actions of people I have a relationship with
With persuasion
I use my powers of persuasion to achieve my desired outcomes
Now there's lots of ways to persuade you
There are numerous techniques I can use to influence you
I could do it with money
I could offer you financial incentives to do what I want
I could look at you
I use my gaze to intimidate or entice you
I could show you all that
I could present you with information or imagery to sway your opinion
You might as well do it anyway
I attempt to make it seem like there are no real consequences to doing what I want
You might as well choose to play the game
I am framing the situation as a game where there are winners and losers
After all you've seen yourself before
I imply that you've already damaged your own reputation or sense of self by engaging in similar behavior
What difference does it make if I take your photograph?
I am playing down the severity of my actions and minimizing the consequences for you
What difference does it make if someone else sees it too?
I am downplaying the harm that could come to you if others become aware of what we are doing
All your friends do it
I am trying to normalize or justify the behavior by implying that others engage in it with no repercussions
I mean nobody will know it's you
I am offering you a false sense of security by implying that there is no risk to your reputation
Anybody, it could be any body
I am attempting to minimize the seriousness of the action and any resulting harm
I mean, these magazines, you know.
I am trying to further justify my actions by implying that they are commonplace in media
They only go to middle aged men
I am attempting to downplay the potential reach or impact of the photos
So why don't you do as I suggest
I am attempting to make it seem like my suggestion is the obvious or desirable choice
With words I persuade you
I am emphasizing the power of my language and communication skills to influence you
I've got a little biscuit tin
I am presenting this object as a trivial or harmless item while using it to perpetrate a violation
To keep your panties in
I am trying to take control of something of yours and eroticize it for my own pleasure
Soilde panties, white panties, school panties, why-Front
I am cataloging different types of underwear to further emphasize the erotic nature of the act
Panties
I am using this term to further sexualize the situation and assert my power over you
By the canal, by the canal
I am providing specifics about the location to further emphasize the power dynamics and vulnerability of the situation
There's a certain word and a certain touch
I am emphasizing the importance of specific verbal and physical behaviors to achieve compliance
A certain way and a way too much
I am having to increasingly escalate my behavior to achieve my desired outcome
There's a little bit here
I am attempting to minimize or minimize the impact of my actions
And a little bit there
I am continuing to engage in manipulative behaviors in small ways throughout the interaction
When you've done it all it's too late to care
I am implying that once the behavior has been carried out, you will have no choice but to accept the consequences
Oh I persuade you
I am emphasizing my power to influence you, regardless of the tactics used
Look in my eye
I am using eye contact to assert dominance and try to intimidate you
Under your covers
I am using your personal space and physical contact to try to make you uncomfortable and feel vulnerable
I touch you
I am continuing to use physical touch to assert control over you
And tell you what to do
I am exerting my power over you by dictating your actions
Do it because I tell you
I am emphasizing your lack of autonomy and the fact that I am in control
Do it because I love you
I am using a manipulative tactic by trying to emphasize my affection for you in order to achieve my desired outcome
And I persuade you
I am asserting my continued power and influence over you
Persuasion
The song title is repeated to further emphasize the theme of using manipulation to achieve control and power over someone else
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: CHRIS CARTER, COSEY FANNI TUTTI, GENESIS P-ORRIDGE, PETER MARTIN CHRISTOPHERSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Bob's Brain
Hearing this for the first time today, no other piece of music has made me so uncomfortable. Miles ahead of its time, thanks to everyone involved in creating.
beautiful flower
CTI- MARY
Javier Treviño
This is one of my favorite experimental/industrial songs ever, the cries and harsh sounds are just terrifying
Ironclad Aussie
Mr. Crowley 😈
Michael Page
Paul Evans wtf, where’d you hear that?
Arthur Dent
was shown this song at 12 by my mothers best friend.... that was 30 years ago... this song corrupted my listening and made me a devotee to unusual and unique music to this day... Thanks throbbing Gristle... and thanks Pete Spotswood, for the original recommendation all those years ago.
Paul Evans
This is one that you can sing along to with the Gristleism quite well.
FruityLoveKraft
I listen to this while walking through downtown on a sunny day: “what’s wrong with me Dr.?”
Ambr Sanford
It's been far too long. A masterpiece.
securityrobot
What a pity this song didn’t get in the Pop Charts - Pans People could have done one of their sanitised dance routines on Top of the Pops.