THROBBING GRISTLE - The Second Annual Report (1991 CD)

This is one to scare the neighbours, the children, the wife/girlfriend, or anyone coum to think of it. Possibly the Punkiest group that emerged from 1977 without actually being labelled punk Throbbing Gristle were Industrial Music For Industrial people. The parallels between themselves and the Sex Pistols were similar, from the name which is Yorkshire slang for an erect penis, to the outrage they provoked a couple of months before the Pistols Grundy incident, when after their debut performance at the ICA at an exhibition called Prostitution. Questions asked in Parliament with one Tory MP declaring “These people are the wreckers of civilisation.” Throbbing Gristle were not yer average Rock’n’Roll band. They explored the dark side of the human psyche, masochistic sex, serial murderers and fascism, to the extreme. Musically they were ’anti music’ there were no songs, melody or groove, this was white noise at it’s darkest; Music From The Death Factory. I got this CD (a re-release of their 1977 debut) from a mate of mine (Mark Astronaut) for a few quid a few years ago, he’d bought it from Welwyn Garden City Library of all places when they were selling some of their CD’s. The thought that Throbbing Gristle could have been next to Take That in the Popular section makes me chuckle. Anyway if you wanna ‘enjoy’ some sonic mayhem here you go.

Posted in memory of former Throbbing Gristle member Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson, who died last week.

The Writing's On The Wall*

*and on the police van!

RIOT ON!

So students take to the streets of London again and cause some more chaos at another demo against the cuts. This time they are joined by ‘school children’ Where were the parents? They should have been there with them, it’s not just about the cuts! We need to be doing whatever we can to fight the cu*ts!! I wanna see the police on the same side as the students, united alongside the tube workers and whoever else has had enough of it all. Spread the word, Smash it up! By whatever means necessary! Our leaders need to know that their big society isn’t happy.
To be honest I don’t really give a shit if fees rise for ‘middle class’ kids. I’m fed up of hearing about people who think they’re ’poor’ because the earn less than £25,000 a year, Fuck me! I earn half that, I’ve never earned anything like that amount during my ’working life’, so I don’t care that people earning over £44,000 pounds don’t get child benefit, these people have had it too good for too long, these are the people that got richer under New Labour, while the poor got poorer, and now they’re reaping what they’ve sown and they don’t like it, and neither do their kids, I blame the parents, after saying that, at least their doing something about it. STAY ANGRY AND CARRY ON!

VIVE LE ROCK! (A Compilation CD)

This great 14 track compilation came free with the first issue of music mag Vive Le Rock, and a right little stonker it is to! Starts on a bit of a low point with Adam Ant’s Vive Le Rock, but there are some standout tracks from Electric River and Marky Ramones Blitzkrieg. New tunes from Spear Of Destiny and Killing Joke show there’s still life in the old dogs, I dunno about Vice Squad though the words: past, sell, by and date spring to mind, unlike former Meteors front man P.Paul Fenech who still sounds as psychotic as he did 20+ years ago but relevant to the now. The Urban Voodoo Machine are what the tin says they are, and jolly good fun it is. Department S who I never much cared for turn in a top tune, and Andy J Gallagher could be one to watch. The Creepshow, Volbeat and The Zero Point tracks do nothing for me except making me reach for the fast forward button where GoldBlade round off the proceedings in righteous fashion. Anyway don’t take my words for it check 'em all out here. As for the mag….Well, the first issue was a jolly good read features/articles/interviews on/with The Ramones, Manic Street Preachers, The Ruts, Motorhead, Killing Joke, Crass, The Pogues, The Sweet plus loads of other stuff, the whole thing is like a cross between Mojo and Kerrang, cover price of £4.99 seems a bit steep, but all in all I reckon it’s quite good value, especially with the freebie CD.

FUCK THE(IR) ROYAL WEDDING and FUCK THE(IR) SYSTEM! (some thoughts)

Just when it couldn’t get any worse ….We’re gonna be subjected to a bullshit Royal Wedding that’s gonna be used as some propaganda about national pride, just when Britain’s status on the world stage is being questioned.
But they’re good for the economy people cry, Great!!!!! Britain used to produce things, it had industries; steel, coal, car, now what, a family of parasites? That have the tourists flocking to the country with their bulging wallets ready to spend spend spend in our rip off economy
Ching, ching, ching…….I can hear the sound of the tills, the cheap made in China tat, souvenir shit! All presented on a celebratory porcelain platter. Everyone’s a winner while our government continues to pay lip service to China’s human rights record, except the losers that buy it. Talking of human rights it’s good to see Burma have released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, now that would be a coalition: The Military autocracy and the pro-democracy movement.
Just how much is this gonna cost the tax payer? The happy couple have said they’re gonna be aware of the economic times when planning the big day, they’re using a second hand ring. I read figures (if they’re to be believed) that security was gonna be £20million, well lets get our moneys worth and take to the streets not in celebration, but in protest against it all, fuck fighting the cuts, lets just fight the c**ts!
I heard someone on the radio saying that it’s just what the country needs to boost it’s morale. Well my moral was boosted the other week when the students smashed their way into Tory HQ and started kicking off. I’m just waiting for the biggest moral boost of them all….when Thatcher dies! We used to have an economy before greedy and selfish politicians and people of all parties and political persuasion fucked it up in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The politicians, The Unions, The Bosses and The People are all guilty, future generations are left with the shit that the past created.
Tory Party advisor and one of Thatcher’s old guard Lord Young made some rather insensitive comments recently about people never having it so good and that this recession isn’t that bad. On one level he’s totally wrong; people are losing their jobs, food and clothing prices are rising. On another level (and I’m sure this wasn’t what he meant) he’s right; people never have had it so good, with their flash cars, TV’s HiFi’s etc with instant credit even those on low incomes have been able to buy into lifestyles above their means. Being rich aint about piles of money and consumer commodities what about self fulfilment instead of self indulgence? Once yer basic needs are met; food, clothing and shelter, the rest is just surplus, but it’s the surplus that makes the profits for the corporations, it’s the surplus that keeps people chained and shackled. We’ve been brainwashed over the centuries to want and demand more. The irony is that if people had led simpler lives in the past and the present then perhaps things wouldn’t have seemed so bad, but they didn’t and don’t, so things have and do. People should have been more austere in the past and not so ostentatious.
Progress means we can’t go back, but just how much further can we go? How much faster must our broadband connection be before Richard’dicky’Branson finally realises that he’s got enough fuckin’ money.
I don’t give a shit if the future Royal came from humble stock, because social mobility aint about what you know, it’s about who you know, it’s another illusion to give those at the bottom of the pile hope that they may reach the top of the pile.

Is there anything that arsehole Tony Blair wont do for some cash? What a fuckin’ Shit!

ELECTRIC RIVER - The Myspace Demos

From Canterbury in Kent the garden of England here’s a blast of some Ballsy, Brassy and Bolshy Punk’n’Roll from ELECTRIC RIVER A band with a message, and some passion and power you don’t hear much of these days, well I don’t. Reminds me of Rancid, The Clash, The Blaggers ITA, but with a flavour and soul of it’s own. I’m hoping to hear a lot more from these guys, but in the mean time here's 4 Tracks I pilfered from their Myspace page. Enjoy! Or Destroy! If you enjoy, then why not check out their web page. If you Destroy….still enjoy!

DEPRESSION / RECESSION / REPRESSION

I was listening to the Radio this morning, and the presenter was saying that today was ‘officially’ the most depressing day of the year, what with the clocks going back and the days becoming shorter, they were also saying about Christmas and the economic downturn adding to the pressure….Personally I’ve had more depressing days than today, and I reckon by Christmas so will a lot more people….unofficially that is! I mean this shit is just getting worse….Footballers sip champagne while the fans make do with cheap lager, the unemployed are stigmatized as scroungers, while tax dodging celebrities are seen as role models by people. If they ever make the unemployed work for their ‘benefits’ then the undeserving celebrities should be made to contribute towards say The Arts, Sport etc, these areas are gonna see major government cut backs, so why not let those that profited (Footballers, Pop Stars etc)put something back into ‘the system’ seems fair, after all it’s the people that made them who they are. It was good to see that unhappy fans gathered outside Wayne Rooney’s mansion when his temper tantrum over how much he was worth kicked off. It’s also nice to see people demonstrating against Vodaphone and their creative methods of paying taxes. It was good to hear that people gathered together in a disused building to dance the night away and then throw bottles at the police who tried to stop people entering the ‘illegal rave’ seeds are starting to grow, even Al Qaeda have appeared again with some bombs on planes, did they ever go away, do they really exist apart from in the minds of the US and British intelligence? Coincidence or conspiracy? that a few days before the bombs were discovered on the cargo planes British Airport authorities were calling for security at airports to be relaxed. If there is a war on terror, then as in all wars the first casualty is the truth; their propaganda kills it, I mean if people hadn’t been blinded by all the fear that’s been created would they be taking off their shoes as they check in their luggage through the new hi-tech scanner, that has made the manufacturer a nice sum of money, would they accept that the police should be carrying guns and have a battery of anti-terror laws at their disposal, and as for some police units getting trained by the SAS….no one seems to think this isn’t what should be happening in a ’healthy democracy’ The fact that people seem to accept this shit on a day to day basis is depressing!