In The Beginning There Was Genesis P.

Genesis P. Orridge probably first came to my attention following some typically outraged piece in The Daily Mirror from the mid-'70's after some typically outrageous piece of performance art/exhibition. Musically I was certainly aware of the first Throbbing Gristle LP (Second Annual Report), can't remember if I bought it, but definately had the classic(?) single 'United' from 1978. I bought the next album as well, and got this postcard from Cosey Fanni Tutti herself when I was trying to get information about record pressing for the Z-Block project.


I was always aware that he was an arty wanker, but on the other hand I thought it was interesting to have a musical contribution to the punk/post-punk scene from someone who had some kind of transgressive track record. I lost interest as the 1980's dawned and he seemed to spiral into tedious self-indulgence, forming Psychic TV after Throbbing Gristle split.

I had no idea what the new line-up would sound like, having never heard anything by Psychic TV, but just thought it might be a different experience. They'd just come on when I arrived and I was amazed at the conventionality of it all. For someone who pushes most boundaries to breaking point (see here) the line-up of Gtr/Bass/Keybds/Drums/Vocs was remarkably bog standard. As were the sounds, typical Doors/Stooges/Velvets dark&pretty rock. Apart from the odd, contained, feedback frenzy, and the surgically enhanced back projections, this could have been any band who'd immersed themselves in late '60's American garage rock. Nice enough, but a bit safe really. They finished with a pretty good version of the Velvets 'Foggy Notion' which was probably better than Lou Reed could manage nowadays, but then he did the original, 40 years ago, and aguably doesn't need to.