Throbbing Gristle's 33rd Annual Report

After their “termination of mission” in San Francisco (a week after their ’81 L.A. gig), Throbbing Gristle split and evolved into Psychic TV, prime movers on the early ’90s global neopsychedelic rave scene and pagan revivalist circuit; Chris & Cosey, pioneers of rhythm-centered experimental electronica; and Coil, Original Goths, seeping Occult Music for Occult People, for reals. By the turn of the millennium, TG had somehow mutated into an archetype in the history of rock music. PTV had a Top 10 U.K. hit with a cover of the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” and were then persecuted there as satanic cultists.

In 2004, Throbbing Gristle reunited for some tentative gigs, then recorded the new studio album The Endless Not, demonstrating that, bad reputations and mythological career arcs notwithstanding, their commitment to radical creativity has remained a living thing. There probably won’t be any black-egg inoculations on the Jumbotron at Coachella, or bottles thrown at the screening of Derek Jarman’s feature-length Super-8 montage In the Shadow of the Sun (originally scheduled for UCLALive at Royce Hall; currently slated for the Ricardo Montalban Theatre on April 21). Regardless of any ideological transformations, TG’s ongoing commitment to the disruption of the status quo guarantees a profitable signal-to-noise ratio.

Throbbing Gristle 2009: (left-right) Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, Genesis P-Orridge

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More About

• Throbbing Gristle
• Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
• Genesis P-Orridge
• Ricardo Montalban
• Electronic Music

Throbbing Gristle perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday, April 19, and at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre on Tuesday, April 21.