“Over the Ruined Factory There's a Funny Noise”:

[1] The title of this article is derived from Genesis P-Orridge's introduction to the first Throbbing Gristle performance at the ICA, 18 October 1976: “Tonight we're going to do a one hour set called Music from the Death Factory. It's basically about the post-breakdown of civilization. You know, you walk down the street and there's lots of ruined factories and bits of old newspaper with stories about pornography and page three pin ups…and you turn a corner past the dead dog and you see old dustbins. And then over the ruined factory there's a funny noise' (Ford 6.28).

Throbbing Gristle and the Mediatized Roots of Noise in/as Music

Abstract

Britain's Throbbing Gristle used a kind of aural and conceptual violence to pursue specific ideological goals. The concept of noise is crucial to the understanding of this use, but is often explained in a limiting discourse. Friedrich Kittler offers an alternative approach by showing how the introduction of media technology initially formed this discourse. When one assesses the use of noise and its relation to violence from such a media historic point of view, Throbbing Gristle's layered work becomes conceptually coherent and turns out to be an exemplary case study for the status of noise in popular music more generally.

Notes

[1] The title of this article is derived from Genesis P-Orridge's introduction to the first Throbbing Gristle performance at the ICA, 18 October 1976: “Tonight we're going to do a one hour set called Music from the Death Factory. It's basically about the post-breakdown of civilization. You know, you walk down the street and there's lots of ruined factories and bits of old newspaper with stories about pornography and page three pin ups…and you turn a corner past the dead dog and you see old dustbins. And then over the ruined factory there's a funny noise' (Ford 6.28).

[2] Throbbing Gristle disbanded in 1981 and its four members started other musical projects. Genesis P-Orridge formed Psychic TV, Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti continued as Chris & Cosey and Carter, Tutti and Peter Christopherson went on to form one half of Coil. However, in 2004 they reformed Throbbing Gristle and started performing and recording occasionally again until the unexpected death of Peter Christopherson in November 2010 terminated the group, as it seems, for good.

[3] See, for instance, Ford and Duguid.

[4] Original: “Tonbandmaschinen für die Soundmontage, Hifi-Technik für die Obertonbefreiung, Stereophonie für simulierte Räume, Synthesizer und Vocoder für Lieder jenseits des Menschen, schliesslich und endlich das FM-Radio für eine Massenübertragungsqualität…Jede einzelne dieser Techniken geht aus den Zweiten Weltkrieg zurück. Er ist—zum Glück vielleicht noch—die Medienbasis unsrer Sinne.”