I have to confess, I was not wholly familiar with Throbbing Gristle until EMI included the track ‘United’ on their recent Death Disco compilation. And very sorry I am too for my ignorance, if only for the fact that it’s such a bloody fantastic name for a band. Whether or not Mute are trying their damndest to rewrite the history of dance music with this reappraisal of the band though, is very much by the by, as it’s quite often the case that those at the margins of popular culture are those that provide the greatest impetus for change. People like the Sex Pistols and Kraftwerk are arguably the belated manifestation of influences and events taking place elsewhere at root level. Just like it was Bo Diddley – Bill Haley – not Elvis Presley who were the wiggley, jostling initators of rock n roll. Elvis the Pelvis simply provided a riper and more attractive account of things going on outside the event horizon. As is the case with Throbbing Gristle.
Thirty years on since their inception from the ashes of performance art troupe/media guerrilla cell Coum Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle are again thrust into the barely discernable margins of popular culture. Why? Well it’s difficult to think of any number of bands today not influenced by their androgynous wiry brand of electro and performance art: Chicks On Speed, Ladytron, Fischerspooner, The Rapture. Let’s face it, the time is right. And although a remix album may not be the best introduction to such purported genius, it’s certainly one way of blending it into a familiar landscape unnoticed, as everyone from Basement Jaxx’s Simon Ratcliffe and Carl Craig have signed up to offer some pretty attractive remixes of Throbbing standards like ‘Hot On The Heels of Love’, ‘United’ and ‘Hamburger Lady’.
The anti-rock stance may at first seem a touch outdated, but when you consider that the two main paradigms of music are roughly the same today (the hot, sweaty world of cock-rock vs. the android weariness of electronica) its re-emergence would seem quite timely.
Anyway, it’s an album that offers some warm, fuzzy moments of mutant bliss and inspiration and definitely worth a look in.