Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
P-Orridge in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Neil Andrew Megson
Also known as	DJ Doktor Megatrip, Megs'on, P. Ornot, PT001, Vernon Castle
Born	(1950-02-22) 22 February 1950 (age 62)
Origin	Victoria Park, Longsight, Manchester
Genres	Experimental, industrial, psychedelia
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, clarinet, synthesizer, violin, vibraphone
Associated acts	COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Thee Majesty, Splinter Test, Pigface
Website	GenesisBreyerPOrridge.com

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, who was born Neil Andrew Megson, is an English singer-songwriter, musician, writer and performance artist. In the latter capacity he was the founder of the COUM Transmissions artistic collective, which operated form 1969 through to the 1975, while as a musician, P-Orridge fronted the pioneering industrial band Throbbing Gristle from 1975 through to 1980, and then the acid house band Psychic TV from 1981 through to 1999.

Born in Manchester, P-Orridge moved around the country as a child, first to Essex and then to Warwickshire. Here he attended the privately-run Solihull School, where he developed an interest in art, occultism and the avant-garde. Studying at the University of Hull, P-Orridge dropped out, and briefly moved into a hippy commune in North London. Adopting his nom-de-guerre, he returned to Hull, where he founded COUM Transmissions in 1969, which operated out of a communal warehouse which he named the Ho-Ho Funhouse.

P-Orridge's early confrontational performance work in COUM Transmissions in the late 1960s and early 1970s along with the industrial band Throbbing Gristle, which dealt with subjects such as prostitution, pornography, serial killers, occultism, and P-Orridge's own exploration of gender issues, generated controversy. Later musical work with Psychic TV received wider exposure. P-Orridge is credited on over 200 releases.

P-Orridge has two daughters, Caresse and Genesse, with former wife Paula P-Orridge (born Paula Brooking). After marrying Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge in 1993, Genesis and Lady Jaye began a project to become Breyer P-Orridge, a single pandrogynous entity. Genesis Breyer P-Orridge continued this project after the death of Lady Jaye in 2007.

Early life[link]

Childhood: 1950–1964[link]

Neil Andrew Megson was born on 22 February 1950 in Victoria Park, Longsight, Manchester. His father, Ronald Megson, was a travelling salesman who had worked in repertory theatre and who also played the drums in local jazz and dance bands. Neil's mother, Muriel, was originally from Salford and had first met Ronald when he returned to England after being injured fighting for the British Army at the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940.^[1] Throughout his childhood, Neil had a good relationship with his parents, who did not interfere with his artistic interests.^[1] Due to his father's job, the family soon moved to Essex, where Neil attended Staples Road Infant School in Loughton, and for a time lived in a caravan near to Epping Forest while the family house was being completed.^[1] The family then moved from Essex to Cheshire, where Neil attended Gatley Primary School. Passing his Eleven Plus exam, he won a scholarship to attend Stockport Grammar School, which he did between 1961 and 1964.^[2]

Solihull School and Worm: 1964–1968[link]

After his father gained employment as the Midlands area manager of a cleaning and maintenance business, Neil was sent to the privately-run Solihull School in Warwickshire from 1964 through to 1968; a period he would refer to as "basically four years of being mentally and physically tortured."^[2] Unpopular with other students, Megson was bullied at the school, finding comfort in the art department at lunch-time and in the evenings. He befriended Ian "Spydee" Evetts, Barry "Little Baz" Hermon and Paul Wolfson, three fellow students who shared his interest in art, literature and poetry. At weekends they would meet up to discuss books and music, developing an interest in the writings of Aleister Crowley and Allen Ginsberg and the music of Frank Zappa and The Velvet Underground.^[2] He became interested in the occult; his grandmother was a medium.^[3]

In 1965, Megson founded his first band, Worm, with his school friends Peter Winstanley, Ian Evetts and his girlfriend Jane Ray, in doing so being influenced by John Cage's 1961 book Silence: Lectures and Writings.^[4] With Evetts, Hermon, Wolfson and Winstanley, he began a production of a new underground magazine, Conscience, in 1966. Forbidden from selling it on school grounds, they sold copies outside the school gates. Included in Conscience were various articles criticising the school's administration, leading to several changes regarding such issues as school uniforms and benchers' privileges.^[5] That same year, influenced by newspaper accounts of 'Swinging London', he organised the first happening at the school, claiming that it was a school dance.^[5]

Solihull School, designed by J. A. Chatwin in 1882. Megson studied here between 1964 and 1968, despising it.

Brought up in the Anglican denomination of Christianity, Megson became the secretary of the school's sixth form's Christian Discussion Circle. Arguing that the group should encompass multiple religious views and not just those of Christians, he invited speakers from a variety of different ideological positions, including from a member of the British Communist Party, to speak to the group.^[5] Aged 18, he also began helping to run the local Sunday School classes, but later came to reject organised Christianity entirely.^[5] Afflicted with asthma, throughout his childhood Megson had taken cortisone and then prednisone steroids to control the attacks, the latter of which caused his adrenal glands to atrophy as a side-effect. Due to this, he stopped taking the steroids on the advice of a doctor, but aged 17 suffered from a serious blackout, after which he returned to taking the steroids. It was while in hospital recovering that he decided to devote himself to art and writing.^[6]

With Hermon and Wolfson, Megson founded a pseudo-society, the Knights of the Pentecostal Flame, who undertook a happening on 1 June 1968 which they entitled Beautiful Litter. Taking place in Mell Square, Solihull, it involved the three students handing out cards to passers by that had a series of words written onto them, such as 'fleece', 'rainbow', 'silken', 'white','flower' and 'dewdrops'. Ensuring that the local Solihull News was informed of the event, Megson told reporters that the Knights wanted to ignite "an artistic revolution in Solihull, by making people aware of the life around them, its essential beauty and tranquility."^[7] In the summer of 1968, Worm recorded their first and only album, entitled Early Worm, in Megson's parents attic in Solihull. It was pressed onto vinyl in November at Deroy Sound Services in Manchester, but only one copy was ever produced. A second album, Catching the Bird, was recorded but never pressed.^[8]

Hull University and Transmedia Explorations: 1968–1969[link]

In September 1968, Megson began studying for a degree in Social Administration and Philosophy at the University of Hull. He had chosen Hull in an attempt to study at "the most ordinary non-elitist, working-class, red brick university", but disliked the course and unsuccessfully tried to transfer to English.^[9] With a group of friends he founded a 'free-form' student magazine entitled Worm which waived all editorial control, publishing everything that was placed into the magazine's pigeonhole, including instructions on how to build a molotov cocktail. Three issues were published between 1968 and 1970 before the Hull Student's Union banned the publication, considering it legally obscene and fearing prosecution.^[9] Developing a keen interest in poetry, Megson won the 1969 Hull University Needler Poetry Competition, judged by Compton lecturer Richard Murphy and the poet Philip Larkin, who was then Chief Librarian at the university.^[10] Megson became involved in radical student politics through his friendship with Tom Fawthrop, a member of the Radical Student Alliance who had led a student occupation of the university's administrative buildings as a part of the worldwide student protests of 1968. In 1969, Megson attempted to reconstruct the occupation for a film, in the hopes that it would itself become a genuine protest occupation, but this venture failed through a lack of participants.^[11]

In 1969, Megson dropped out of university and moved to London, where he joined the Transmedia Explorations commune, who were then living in a large run-down house in Islington Park Street. Formerly known as Exploding Galaxy, the group had been at the forefront of the London hippy scene since 1967, but had partially disbanded after a series of police raids and a court case. Moving into their commune, Megson was particularly influenced by one of the founding members of the group, Gerald Fitzgerald, a kinetic artist, and would recognise Fitzgerald's formative influence in his later work. The commune members adhered to a strict regime with the intention of deconditioning its members out of their routines and conventional behaviour; they were forbidden from sleeping in the same place on consecutive nights, food was cooked at irregular times of the day and all clothing was kept in a communal chest, with its members wearing something different on each day. Megson stayed there for three months, until late October 1969, when he decided to leave; he was angered that the commune's leaders were given more rights than the other members, and believed that the group lacked an interest in music.^[12]

COUM Transmissions[link]

Founding COUM Transmissions: 1969–1970[link]

Leaving London, Megson hitch-hiked across the country before settling down in his parents' new home in Shrewsbury. Here he volunteered as an office clerk in his father's new business.^[13] On one family trip to Wales, Megson was sitting in the back of the car when he "became disembodied and heard voices and saw the COUM symbol and heard the words 'COUM Transmissions'." Returning home that evening, he filled three notebooks with various artistic thoughts and ideas, influenced in part by his time with Transmedia Explorations.^[13] In December 1969 he returned to Hull to meet up with his friend John Shappero, with whom he would turn COUM Transmissions into an avant-garde artistic and musical troupe. They initially debated as to how to define "COUM", later deciding that like the name dada it should remain open to interpretation. Megson designed a logo for the group, consisting of a semi-erect penis formed out of the word COUM with a drip of semen coming out of the end, while the motto "YOUR LOCAL DIRTY BANNED" was emblazoned underneath. Another logo designed by Megson consisted of a hand-drawn seal accompanied by the statement "COUM guarantee disappointment"; from their early foundation, the group made use of wordplay in their artworks and adverts.^[14]

COUM's earliest public events were impromptu musical gigs performed at various pubs around Hull; titles for these events included Thee Fabulous Mutations, Space Between the Violins, Dead Violins and Degradation and Clockwork Hot Spoiled Acid Test. The latter combined the names of Anthony Burgess' dystopian science-fiction novel A Clockwork Orange (1962) with Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968), a work of literary journalism devoted to the Merry Pranksters, a U.S. communal counter-cultural group who advocated the use of psychedelic drugs.^[14] COUM's music was anarchic and improvised, making use of such instruments as broken violins, prepared pianos, guitars, bongos and talking drums. As time went on, they would add further theatrics to their performances, in one instance making the audience crawl through a polythene tunnel in order to enter the venue.^[15]

In December 1969, Megson and Shapeero moved out of their flat and into a former fruit warehouse in Hull's docking area, overlooking the Humber. Named the Ho-Ho Funhouse by Megson, the warehouse became the communal home to an assortment of counter-cultural figures, including artists, musicians, fashion designers and underground magazine producers.^[16] At Christmas 1969, a woman named Christine Carol Newby (1951–) moved into the Funhouse after being thrown out of her home by her father. Having earlier befriended Megson at an acid test party, Newby would move into his room at the Funhouse, adopting the nom-de-guerre Cosey Fanni Tutti after the title of Amadeus Mozart's 1790 opera Così fan tutte.^[17] Joining COUM, Tutti initially helped in building props and designing costumes, and was there when the group began changing its focus from music to performance art and more theatrical happenings; one of these involved the group turning up to play a gig but intentionally not bringing any instruments, something Megson considered "much more theatrical, farcical and light-hearted" than their earlier performances.^[15]

The rise of COUM Transmissions: 1971–1976[link]

On 5 January 1971, Megson officially changed his name to Genesis P-Orridge by deed poll, combining his school nickname of "Genesis" with a misspelling of "porridge", the foodstuff which he lived off as a student. His new nom-de-guerre was intentionally un-glamorous, and he hoped that by adopting it he would trigger his own "genius factor".^[18] This caught the attention of the Yorkshire Post, who featured an article on P-Orridge and COUM Transmissions on 11 February. Soon, COUM began to attract further media attention from newspapers across the country.^[18] On 18 April 1971, COUM broadcast their first live radio session, for the On Cue programme for Radio Humberside.^[19] On the back of their radio and press success, they performed a variety of other happenings, including Riot Control at the Gondola Club, followed by their first street action, Absolute Everywhere, which got them in trouble with the local police force.^[19]

The Gondola Club was raided by the police and closed down soon after; most other local clubs blamed COUM and unofficially banned them from performing in the Hull area. COUM drew up a petition which they distributed locally to gain support for the group and as a result, the group got a booking at the local Brickhouse, which was their first performance in which the audience applauded and called for an encore. However, the petition had contained their phallic logo, and the police charged P-Orridge and fellow COUM member Haydn Nobb of publishing an obscene advert, although the charges were later dropped.^[20]

In 1971, P-Orridge met the American novelist and poet William S. Burroughs (1914–1997) after a brief correspondence, and Burroughs later introduced P-Orridge to the English poet and performance artist Brion Gysin (1916–1986).^[21] Gysin would become a major influence upon P-Orridge's ideas and works and was his primary tutor in magic.^[22]

In 1973 they were joined by Hipgnosis' Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson. COUM employed confrontational imagery, including Nazi-influenced elements and the occult.^[23]

They were prosecuted in 1975 for making collages combining postcards of Queen Elizabeth with soft-core porn, but the jail term and fines were suspended on condition they did not continue.^[24]

[edit] The Prostitution show: 1976

Their Prostitution show, in 1976 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London included on display Tutti's pornographic images from magazines as well as erotic nude photographs. The show featured a stripper, used Tampax in glass, and transvestite guards. Prostitutes, punks, and people in costumes were among those hired to mingle with the gallery audience. The show caused debate in Parliament about the public funding of such events. In the House of Commons, Scottish Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Fairbairn demanded an explanation from Arts Minister Harold Lever and proclaimed P-Orridge and Tutti as "wreckers of civilisation".^[25] Fleet Street was not slow to pick up the story. The reviews were cut up, framed and put on display for the remainder of the exhibition. This was also reported in newspapers, so cut-ups about the cut-ups were also put on display.^{[citation needed]}

Toward the end of COUM, performances would often consist of only P-Orridge, Cosey and Sleazy, the core group who went on to form Throbbing Gristle.

Throbbing Gristle[link]

Throbbing Gristle was formed in the autumn of 1975^[27] at the ICA^{[citation needed]} as a four-piece band consisting of P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, and Chris Carter.^[27]

The first Throbbing Gristle performance was at the Air Gallery in London on 6 July 1976. The band performed in one room with the music "appearing" in an adjacent room. Peter worked in special effects and provided the performers with simulated scars; meanwhile, Chris actually used a razor to slash himself.^{[citation needed]}

At that point Throbbing Gristle headquarters was 10 Martello Street, Hackney, East London, an address of an artist collective. P-Orridge and Tutti's living and work space was the mailing address of Industrial Records. The final Throbbing Gristle single was "Discipline".^{[citation needed]}

The final IR release was called Nothing Here but the Recordings, a best-of album taken from the archives of William S. Burroughs, who had allowed P-Orridge and Sleazy access to his reel-to-reel tape archive.^{[citation needed]}

The final TG event, Mission of Dead Souls, was in May 1981 in San Francisco. Soon after, Genesis and Paula P-Orridge (née Alaura O'Dell) were married in Tijuana.^{[citation needed]}

Psychic TV[link]

Genesis P-Orridge posing in Japan

Psychic TV was formed in 1979,^[28] after Alex Fergusson of Alternative TV had encouraged P-Orridge to start something new.^{[citation needed]} The musical collaboration between the two goes back to the very first ATV line-up, which included Genesis as drummer.^{[citation needed]} According to the official P-Orridge and Voiceprint websites, the name was Fergusson's idea, with the "psychic" part representing P-Orridge and the "TV" part representing Fergusson.^{[citation needed]} "Just Drifting" was the first PTV song, based on a poem by P-Orridge.^[29]

Psychic TV made its debut in 1982 at an event organised by P-Orridge, David Dawson, and Roger Ely, called The Final Academy. It was a 4-day multimedia celebratory rally held in Manchester and at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton, South London. It brought performers and audience together with literature, performance, film and music. PTV, Cabaret Voltaire, 23 Skidoo, Z'EV, John Giorno, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Terry Wilson, Jeff Nuttall, and The Last Few Days participated to honour the cut-up techniques and theories of William S. Burroughs, Ian Sommerville, Anthony Balch and Gysin. Video projection and early sampling were used here, as well as whispered utterances by P-Orridge reprocessed as a soundtrack to Gysin's Dreammachine by the Hafler Trio.^{[citation needed]}

Force the Hand of Chance, Dreams Less Sweet, Allegory and Self, and Trip/Reset are considered by P-Orridge, in an interview with Sonic Envelope, to be the fully realized PTV albums – "metaphorical and very, very considered and carefully constructed meticulous albums."^{[citation needed]}

At around the same time as Psychic TV were formed, P-Orridge also founded Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, a loose network of people operating as a blend of artistic collective and practitioners of magic.

Psychic TV set about, in the mid-eighties, to release 23 live albums on the 23rd of each month for 23 months^[28] in recognition of the 23 enigma. The group didn't reach its goal, but still managed fourteen albums in eighteen months to earning an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.^[28] The liner notes to each of these releases functioned somewhat like mini-manifestos in the tradition of the Situationist International or William S. Burroughs' Electronic Revolution in addition to recounting aspects of the recordings contained therein. For example, the fourth album in this series, Live In Reykjavík, featuring part of a ritual from Godhi Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson includes liner notes that refer to Christianity as "sham X-tianity," in reclamation of a Pagan heritage via an Ásatrú marriage, over which Beinteinsson presided, below a statue of Thor in "the wilderness".

Psychic TV returned to the stage in 2003, with a concert in New York under the guise of PTV3 and was accompanied by (with the exception of Genesis) an all new line-up. In September 2004, an extensive tour of Europe (covering 16 countries) and North America was launched. 2005 saw the band return to the studio, recording their first album in over 10 years (Genesis also spent 2005 working with Throbbing Gristle on what would be their first album in over 25 years).

In January 2006, the new PTV album was announced on P-Orridge's website. Hell is Invisible... Heaven is Her/e was recorded in NYC and features Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) guesting on some tracks. Genesis describes it as "The Dark Side of the Moon for the 21st century".^{[citation needed]} To inaugurate the release of Hell is Invisible... Heaven is Her/e, PTV3 hosted a five night residency in September 2006 at Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. On 17 August a new album was announced, "Mr. Alien Brain Vs. The Skinwalkers" will be released by Cargo/Sweet Nothing Records on 20 October 2008.

Recent life[link]

PTV3 live in Germany 2004: Alice Genese, G. P-Orridge, Markus Persson

Genesis and his second wife Lady Jaye, née Jacqueline Breyer, relocated to Brooklyn.^[30] There, they began an ongoing experiment in body modification aimed at creating one pandrogynous being named Breyer P-Orridge.^[31] They received breast implants and adopted gender neutral and alternating pronouns.^[32] A book of Breyer P-Orridge's writings, poems, and observations, called Ooh, You Are Awful... But I Like You!, was published in Nepal^{[citation needed]}.

In the mid-1990s, Breyer P-Orridge collaborated with different people in music, including Pigface, Skinny Puppy, and Download. Breyer P-Orridge also performed with Nik Turner and other former members of Hawkwind.^[33] In June 1998, Breyer P-Orridge won a $1.5 million lawsuit against producer Rick Rubin and his American Recordings label for injuries he sustained while trying to escape a fire at Rubin's home in April 1995.^[34] According to Breyer P-Orridge's attorney, David D. Stein, Breyer P-Orridge was staying at Rubin's home as a guest of Love and Rockets when the fire broke out. Breyer P-Orridge tried to escape the house by crawling through a second-story window and fell onto concrete stairs. Breyer P-Orridge suffered a broken wrist, broken ribs, and a pulmonary embolism, as well as a shattered left elbow that will prevent him from playing bass or keyboards, according to Stein. The jury found that the liability for the fire rested with Rubin and American Recordings and awarded Breyer P-Orridge $1,572,000 for his injuries.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, Breyer P-Orridge performed with the briefly reunited late-1980s' version of Psychic TV for an event at London's Royal Festival Hall, called Time's Up. This is also the title of the first CD by Thee Majesty, Breyer P-Orridge's spoken-word project with noise guitarist Bryin Dall. The MC for the event, via pre-recorded video, was Quentin Crisp. A DVD was made of this event, which included the Master Musicians of Jajouka, Question Mark & the Mysterians, Billy Childish, and Thee Headcoats.

The aforementioned Thee Majesty CD Time's Up was released by The Order of the Suffering Clown via World Serpent Distribution. Jaqueline Megson is credited as providing Point Of View, Bryin Dall for Frequency Of Truth, and Genesis as Divination Of Word.

In December 2003, Breyer P-Orridge, using the alias Djinn, unveiled PTV3, a new act drawing upon the early "Hyperdelic" work of Psychic TV with media theorist Douglas Rushkoff among its members.^[35] On 16 May 2004 all four former members of Throbbing Gristle performed at the London Astoria for the first time in 23 years.

Breyer P-Orridge appears in the 1998 film and 2000 book versions of Modulations, in the 1999 film Better Living Through Circuitry, in the 2004 film DiG!, the 2006 documentary Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback, in Nik Sheehan's 2007 feature documentary on the Dreamachine entitled 'FLicKeR', and the 2010 documentary "William S. Burroughs: A Man Within."

On 11 October 2007 Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge died.^[36] This message was posted on the official Genesis P-Orridge website:

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and her reactivated Psychic TV aka PTV3 are terribly sad to announce the cancellation of their November North American tour dates. This decision is entirely due to the unexpected passing of band member Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge. Lady Jaye died suddenly on Tuesday 9 October 2007 at home in Brooklyn, New York from a previously undiagnosed heart condition which is thought to have been connected with her long-term battle with stomach cancer. Lady Jaye collapsed and died in the arms of her heartbroken "other half" Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.^[37]

Psychic TV's current incarnation, PTV3, released a CD/DVD set, Mr. Alien Brain vs. The Skinwalkers on 9 December 2008. The album was the first full-length release since the death of Breyer P-Orridge's "other half". The two had previously embarked on a years-long pursuit of pandrogyny, undergoing a series of plastic surgery procedures in order to become gender-neutral human beings that looked like each other.^[38]

We started out, because we were so crazy in love, just wanting to eat each other up, to become each other and become one. And as we did that, we started to see that it was affecting us in ways that we didn't expect. Really, we were just two parts of one whole; the pandrogyne was the whole and we were each other's other half.^[39]

On 4 November 2009 it was announced that Breyer P-Orridge would retire from touring in any and all bands (including Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV) to concentrate on art, writing and music.^[40]

Personal life[link]

Esotericism and religion[link]

In describing his theological beliefs, P-Orridge has commented that "I don't believe in any gods. I believe that gods are early attempts at psychology, trying to understand the light and dark side of human nature. The deeper part of human nature where you go right inside yourself, beyond dreams and into those recesses which we should look into, but we're out of practice [in doing that] in our culture."^[41]

P-Orridge has openly criticised contemporary Christianity, describing it as "an incredibly sick social pseudo-religion", and arguing that it was based upon the tenet of "Be good now, agree, or else we will punish you forever and ever when you're dead. And we may punish you while you're alive…". He maintains that such an attitude was established in Christianity by St. Paul and the early Roman Catholic Church, and that it differed from the "ecstatic mysticism of the original Christianity, the Gnostic Christianity."^[41]

Discography[link]

Note: this is for releases specifically credited to Genesis P-Orridge, for work with PTV see Psychic TV discography, for work with Throbbing Gristle see Throbbing Gristle discography.

• Interview By TOPYSCAN
• The Industrial Sessions 1977
• What's History (1983)
• Je T'Aime (1985)
• Alaura/Slave Priest (1990)
• What's History (1990)
• At Stockholm (1995)
• Vis Spei (1995)
• A Perfect Pain (With Merzbow) (1999)
• Direction Ov Travel (2002)
• Painful 7 Inches (2002)
• Wordship (2003)
• When I Was Young (2004)

References[link]

Footnotes[link]

Bibliography[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Genesis P-Orridge

• Official website
• Breyer P-Orridge via InvisibleExports gallery

Peter Christopherson
Sleazy in Thailand, self-portrait (2005)
Background information
Birth name	Peter Martin Christopherson
Also known as	Sleazy
Born	(1955-02-27)27 February 1955
Died	25 November 2010(2010-11-25) (aged 55) Bangkok, Thailand
Genres	Industrial music Electronic music
Occupations	Musician Songwriter Music video director
Instruments	Macintosh computer, synthesizer, electronics, piano, french horn
Years active	1975–2010
Labels	Threshold House, Eskaton, Chalice, Industrial Records
Associated acts	Soisong The Threshold HouseBoys Choir Coil Throbbing Gristle Psychic TV

Peter Martin Christopherson (also known as Sleazy, 27 February 1955 – 25 November 2010^[1]) was a musician, video director and designer, and former member of the influential British design agency Hipgnosis.

He was one of the original members of the Industrial Records band, Throbbing Gristle. After Throbbing Gristle he participated in the foundation of Psychic TV along with Geoffrey Rushton, aka John Balance. After his short time in Psychic TV, Christopherson formed Coil along with Balance, which lasted just under 23 years, until Balance died of a fall in their Weston-Super-Mare home. Christopherson participated in the reuniting of Throbbing Gristle and he composed an album for his solo endeavour The Threshold HouseBoys Choir.

Biography[link]

Prior to his musical career, Peter Christopherson was a commercial artist, designer, and photographer. Notably, he was one of the three partners of the album cover design group Hipgnosis, which was responsible for many notable album covers of the 1970s. Christopherson remained involved with commercial art through his later musical career as a director of music videos and television commercials.

Born in Leeds, Christopherson was a founding member of Throbbing Gristle who are credited with creating the industrial music genre before disbanding in 1981. Throbbing Gristle members Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti formed their own group while Peter Christopherson and TG's other member Genesis P-Orridge formed Psychic TV along with other musicians. John Balance met Christopherson as a Throbbing Gristle fan and the two became partners. Christopherson worked on the first two Psychic TV albums, Force The Hand Of Chance and Dreams Less Sweet, joined by Balance on the second one. The two performed live several times with Psychic TV then formed their own project, Coil. Along with Chris Carter, Christopherson has personally documented on his MySpace blog (with photographic evidence) of having played a custom-made (for him) keyboard-triggered sampler before the first sampler (Fairlight) was available in UK. While not the first sampler, this was a major step towards the use of samplers in live performance, as noted by Christopherson himself.

Despite Christopherson's long and extensive history as a musical artist, he only released two tracks under the name Peter Christopherson. The first, "In My Head A Crystal Sphere Of Heavy Fluid", appeared on the compilation Foxtrot, a benefit album for former partner John Balance's rehabilitation from alcohol addiction while the second, "All Possible Numbers", appeared eleven years later on Autumn Blood (Constructions).

In 2005, Christopherson relocated from England to Bangkok, Thailand and undertook the project The Threshold HouseBoys Choir. He also released the final Coil CDs: The Ape of Naples, The Remote Viewer, Black Antlers, The New Backwards, and reissued Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 1 and Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2, which were formerly being manufactured in England.

2005 also marked the reuniting of Throbbing Gristle for a few concerts. Throbbing Gristle announced a new album Part Two. The group announced several additional concerts in 2007 to promote the album.

In 2007 Christopherson released the debut album of his solo effort The Threshold HouseBoys Choir. The album, Form Grows Rampant, is broken down into five "parts" or songs, and includes a DVD of the album set to video of Thai rituals in Krabi. He was a guest and jury head of the 2007 Melbourne Underground Film Festival.^[2]

In 2008 Christopherson and Ivan Pavlov (aka COH) started a new project called Soisong. The band officially premiered in Tokyo on 9 March 2008 and later toured Europe with several shows, having self-released their debut EP. In April of the same year Christopherson and Pavlov, alongside David Tibet, Othon Mataragas and Ernesto Tomasini, performed a live soundtrack for Derek Jarman's The Angelic Conversation in Turin, Italy.^[3]

Christopherson died in his sleep on November 25, 2010.^[1] The cause of his death has not been revealed.

Discography[link]

Solo as Peter Christopherson[link]

• "In My Head A Crystal Sphere Of Heavy Fluid" on Foxtrot (1998)
• "All Possible Numbers" on Autumn Blood (Constructions) (2009)

Solo as The Threshold HouseBoys Choir[link]

• ...It Just Is compilation contains the track "Mahil Athal Nadrach". (CD) (2005)
• X-Rated: The Dark Files compilation contains the track "So Young It Knows No Maturing". (CD) (2006)
• Form Grows Rampant debut album. (CD+DVD) (2007)
• Brainwaves 2008 compilation contains "Cap Rot Taxi" (CD) (2008)
• Amulet Edition limited release (200 pcs) 4 mini-cds in Amulet package (CD) (2008)

With SoiSong[link]

• Soijin-No-Hi Octagonal CDEP / free download EP from www.soisong.com from March (2008)
• xAj3z Octagonal CD housed in fold out custom sleeve with colour inlay (2009)

With Psychic TV[link]

• Force The Hand Of Chance
• Just Drifting
• Dreams Less Sweet
• Berlin Atonal Vol. 1
• Berlin Atonal Vol. 2
• N.Y. Scum
• Thee City Ov Tokyo/Thee City Ov New York
• Mein-Goett-In-Gen

Other contributions[link]

Filmography[link]

Music video as director

• The Almighty - "Wrench"
• Marc Almond - "Waifs and Strays", "Stories Of Johnny", "Love Letter", "A Woman's Story", "Ruby Red", "Tainted Love '91", and "Say Hello Wave Goodbye '91"^[4]
• Ash - "Girl From Mars"^[5]
• Bad Company - "Shake It Up"^[4]
• Bassomatic - "One With The Oil Rig"^[4]
• Big Big Sun - "Stop The World"^[4]
• Björn Again - "A Little Respect"
• Blue Mercedes - "Love Is The Gun"
• Bomb The Bass - "Love So True", "Winter In July", "Air On The Train"^[4]
• Jerry Cantrell - "Cut You In"
• The Christians - "Forgotten Town"^[4]
• Coil - "The Wheel", "Tainted Love", "Windowpane", "The Snow (Answers Come In Dreams II)", "Love's Secret Domain"
• The Crystal Method - "Comin' Back"
• Danzig - "Until You Call on the Dark"^[6] (alternate version)
• Godsmack - "Keep Away"
• Gravity Kills - "Blame (L.A. Remix)"
• Erasure - "Chains of Love", "A Little Respect", "Stop"
• Deon Estus - (track unknown)^[4]
• Fairground Attraction - "Find My Love"^[4]
• The Firm - "Radioactive", "All The King's Horses", "Satisfaction Guaranteed", "Live In Peace"^[4]
• Gavin Friday - "Falling off the Edge of the World", "King Of Trash"^[4]
• Filter - "Welcome to the Fold"
• Front 242 - "Rhythm of Time"
• Diamanda Galás - "Double Barrel Prayer"
• Galliano - "Twyford Down"^[7]
• Gemini - "Another You Another Me"
• Barry Gibb - "Now Voyager" (long form made-for-television music film)
• Hanson - "I Will Come to You"
• Nona Hendryx - (track unknown)
• Kyosuke Himuro - "Misty", "Shuffle"^[4]
• Hue & Cry - "Labour Of Love"^[4]
• K's Choice - "Not an Addict" (live version), "Everything for Free"
• Nik Kershaw - "Nobody Knows", "Radio Musicola"^[4]
• Thomas Lang - "The Happy Man"^[4]
• The Law - "We Are the Law"
• Level 42 - "To Be With You Again"
• Magnum - (track unknown)
• Masters of Reality - (track unknown)^[4]
• Paul McCartney - "Going Home (From Rio to Liverpool)"
• Ministry - "N.W.O.", "Just One Fix", "Over the Shoulder"
• Nine Inch Nails - The Broken Movie ("Pinion", "Wish", "Help Me I Am in Hell", "Gave Up"), "March of the Pigs" (two versions: one officially released, with clips of the scrapped version available on the Closure DVD), Unreleased concert footage at The Forum (6/24/94)^[7]
• Pink Floyd - "Us and Them" (1994 version)^[7]
• Robert Plant - "Tall Cool One", "Heaven Knows", "Calling To You", "I Believe"^[4]
• Rage Against the Machine - "Freedom", "Killing in the Name", "Bombtrack", "Bulls on Parade", "People of the Sun"
• Chris Rea - "Road To Hell"^[4]
• Vic Reeves - "Abide With Me"^[4]
• Rollins Band - "Illumination"
• Vasco Rossi - "C'è chi dice no", "Liberi Liberi"^[4]
• Scorpions - (unknown concert film)^[4]
• Senser - "Age of Panic"
• Sepultura - "Refuse/Resist"
• Silverchair - "Pure Massacre"
• Stabbing Westward - "Lies"
• Curtis Stigers - "This Time", (another unknown track)^[4]
• 10cc - (track unknown)
• Helen Terry - "Black Floor Job"^[4]
• The The - "Infected", "The Mercy Beat", "Heartland"
• Therapy? - "Stories"^[7]
• The Threshold HouseBoy's Choir - "Mahil Athal Nadrach", "So Young It Known No Maturing", and other videos from the album Form Goes Rampant.
• 3 lb. Thrill - "Something Will Come"
• The Wildhearts - "Suckerpunch"
• Van Halen - "Don't Tell Me", "Can't Stop Lovin' You"
• Van Morrison & Cliff Richard - "Whenever God Shines His Light"^[4]
• Jah Wobble - "Becoming More Like God", "The Sun Does Rise"
• Yes - "Owner of a Lonely Heart"^[8]
• The Young Gods - (track unknown)^[4]

Television commercials as director

• AA Insurance - 2 commercials (1991)^[4]
• Best Magazine (1988)^[4]
• Coca-Cola - "Tall Cool One" feat. Robert Plant (1988)^[4]
• Phil Collins & Richard Branson (1989)^[4]
• Konica (1987)^[4]
• Max Factor - "Le Jardin" feat. Jane Seymour (1983)^[4]
• McDonald's - "Space" (1987), "Submarine" (1987)^[4]
• Miller Lite (1989)^[4]
• NEC (1988)^[4]
• Nissan - "Ali Baba" (1988), "Snow Queen" (1988), "Cinderella" (1988)^[4]
• Pan-Am - "Ready" (1986), "Club" (1987), "Leisure" (1987)^[4]
• Prima Magazine (1988)^[4]
• Toshiba - "Idea" (1988)^[4]

Album artwork credits[link]

This from Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson himself: "I worked as a free-lance photographer and contributor, then promoted to an assistant to Hipgnosis before becoming a partner, and continued to act also after I officially left the organization. So my contributions range from attempted but rejected artwork or design work, to partial contribution in either/both as an assistant, to being fully responsible for all design and artwork, such as the Peter Gabriel LPs. What you wish to document is up to you."

• A Certain Ratio - To Each...
• Dave Ball - In Strict Tempo
• Pink Floyd - A Nice Pair - "contributed photos as an assistant to Hipgnosis but did not do the design" – PC
• Pink Floyd - Animals (credited on LP and CD cover to Hipgnosis)
• Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (credited on LP and CD cover to Hipgnosis)
• Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel, aka "Peter Gabriel I" or "Car" (credited on LP and CD cover to Hipgnosis)
• Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel, aka "Peter Gabriel II" or "Scratch" (credited on LP and CD cover to Hipgnosis)
• Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel, aka "Peter Gabriel III" or "Melt" (credited on LP and CD cover to Hipgnosis)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peter Christopherson

• Coil
• Coil at Brainwashed
• Left Hand Path
• Myspace
• Throbbing Gristle
• SoiSong
• PeterChristopherson.com archive and forum
• Coil: The Million Dollar Altar (August 29, 2006)
• Sacred-Profane.com (Peter's new photography site)
• This Mortal Coil: A Final Report on Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson (November 29, 2010)

Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle performing live in 2008
Background information
Origin	Kingston upon Hull, England
Genres	Industrial, avant-garde, electronic, experimental, performance art, noise, dark ambient, noise rock
Years active	1975–1981, 2004–2010
Labels	Industrial Records Mute Records
Associated acts	Psychic TV, Coil, Chris & Cosey, Carter Tutti, Soisong, SplinterTest, Monte Cazazza
Website	www.throbbing-gristle.com
Past members
Peter Christopherson Cosey Fanni Tutti Chris Carter Genesis P-Orridge

Throbbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions. The band consisted of Genesis P-Orridge (born Neil Megson - bass guitar, violin, vocals, vibraphone), Cosey Fanni Tutti (guitars, cornet, vocals), Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson (tapes, found sounds, horns, piano, vibraphone, synthesizer), and Chris Carter (synthesizers, tapes, electronics).

History[link]

First era: 1975 to 1981[link]

Throbbing Gristle evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions, which was formed in Kingston Upon Hull, England, by a group of performers centered on Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti. The final performance of COUM Transmissions in 1976 was the debut of Throbbing Gristle.

Throbbing Gristle's confrontational live performances and use of often disturbing imagery, including pornography and photographs of Nazi concentration camps, gave the group a notorious reputation. However the group always maintained that their mission was to challenge and explore the darker and obsessive sides of the human condition rather than to make attractive music. Throbbing Gristle made extensive use of pre-recorded tape-based 'samples'^[1] and special effects to produce a distinctive, highly distorted background, usually accompanied by lyrics or spoken-word performances by Cosey Fanni Tutti or Genesis P-Orridge. Though they asserted they wanted to provoke their audience into thinking for themselves rather than pushing any specific agenda (as evidenced by the song "Don't Do As You're Told, Do As You Think" on Heathen Earth), Throbbing Gristle also frequently associated with the anarchist punk scene. They appeared in the fanzine Toxic Grafity, with a condensation of their own propaganda parody series, Industrial News.^[2]

In 1977, they released their debut single United/Zyklon B Zombie, followed by an album, Second Annual Report. Although pressed in a limited initial run of 786 copies on the band's own Industrial Records label, it was later re-released due to high demand on Mute records, however this later release was reversed with all tracks playing backwards and in reverse order. This was followed by a series of albums, singles and live performances over a four year period.

On 29 May 1981, Throbbing Gristle performed at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, California, United States. This concert marked the end of the group and its mission. As Cosey succinctly put it, "TG broke up because me and Gen broke up".^{[citation needed]}

Genesis P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson went on to form Psychic TV, while Cosey Fanni Tutti and Carter continued to record together under the names of Chris and Cosey, Carter Tutti and Creative Technology Institute. Christopherson later went on to become half of the band Coil with his partner and fellow Psychic TV member, the late John Balance. Meanwhile, Gen (now known as Genesis Breyer P-Orridge) subsequently formed Thee Majesty and PTV3 with the help of his late wife, Jacqueline "Jaye" Breyer.

Second era: 2004–2010[link]

In 2004, Throbbing Gristle reunited for a brief while to record and release the limited album TG Now. On 2 April 2007, TG released the album Part Two, which the group had finished recording in Berlin. With the exception of TG Now, it was their first studio album in twenty five years. It was originally set to be released by Mute in September 2006 but was delayed for unknown reasons.

In March 2007, Side-Line announced Part Two's final release date, adding that a string of special live events would take place in 2007.^[3]

A 7-disc DVD set, titled TGV, was issued in 2007.^[4] The set contains old and new footage of the band. "TGV" came packaged in a deluxe box with a 64-page book, all designed by Christopherson.^[5]

The group performed a re-interpretation of their debut album The Second Annual Report twice in 2008 to mark thirty years since the original release.^[6] The performance in Paris on 6 June was issued as a limited edition framed vinyl set entitled The Thirty-Second Annual Report, which was limited to 777 copies (as the group claim the original was, although other sources claim that there were 785).^[7]

Throbbing Gristle worked to record an album based on their interpretation of Nico's album Desertshore.^[8] The group issued the entirety of the recording sessions for this album as a limited edition 12CD set packaged in a custom CD wallet, The Desertshore Installation, which sold out via mail order from the group's website.^[9]

In April 2009, Throbbing Gristle toured the United States, appearing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. A new release was made available at these shows, The Third Mind Movements, which was edited from jams recorded during the Desertshore recording sessions.

A collaboration with Cerith Wyn Evans titled A=P=P=A=R=I=T=I=O=N was displayed at Tramway, Glasgow from the 7 August to 27 September 2009. Throbbing Gristle contributed a multi-channel soundtrack that was played through sixteen hanging Audio Spotlight sound panels that Evans had incorporated into his sculpture.^[10]

In November 2009, Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records released their version of the Buddha Machine called Gristleism. It was designed by Throbbing Gristle and Christiaan Virant based on FM3's design. Gristleism offers more loops and almost twice the frequency range of the Buddha Machine. The player comes in three colors: black, chrome and red.^[11]

On 29 October 2010, Throbbing Gristle announced on their website that Genesis P-Orridge had informed them that he was no longer willing to perform with Throbbing Gristle and would be returning to his home in New York. Chris, Cosey and Christopherson would finish the tour under the name X-TG.

However, Genesis P-Orridge's website stated that he had not quit Throbbing Gristle and had just stopped participating on the current tour, it also said that an explanation would be released when all things were cleared up. However, on 24 November 2010, Christopherson died in his sleep at the age of 55, and the band subsequently dissolved.^[12]

Third era: 2011-current[link]

In 2011, Industrial Records had an official "re-activation" as TG's contract with Mute Records had expired. Since TG has permanently disbanded following the death of Christopherson, the label's plan is to re-release the original TG albums (The Second Annual Report, D.o.A: The Third and Final Report, 20 Jazz Funk Greats, Heathen Earth, and Greatest Hits) on the label. Originally intended to be released en masse on 26 September 2011, they had to delay due to a Sony DADC warehouse fire in London. The plan changed to issue each album chronologically once per week starting on Halloween 2011 with The Second Annual Report and ending 28 November with Greatest Hits ^[13].

Statements on the Throbbing Gristle website have announced that Carter and Cosey are currently at work on the Desertshore album with several mystery guest vocalists. A group decision had been made prior to Christopherson's death that the album would be recorded afresh as they were not satisfied with the ICA recordings. Christopherson had been the driving force behind the project and had been working on the record in Bangkok with Danny Hyde, even getting custom instruments made to use for the album. "It was Sleazy's project, then Cosey and Sleazy's, then I came in on it," Carter explained in an interview with The Quietus.^[14] After Christopherson died, the Desertshore instruments were given to Carter and Cosey and they have been combining the recordings he had been making with the work they had done themselves.^[15] They have announced plans to debut the album live at AV Festival on 17 March 2012 accompanied by a screening of Philippe Garrel’s The Inner Scar "for which Desertshore was soundtrack and inspiration".^[16]

Live[link]

Throbbing Gristle were noted for their live performances, which were often experimental and quite different from their recorded work. In addition to studio albums, a large number of recordings of live shows have been released.

Discography[link]

During Throbbing Gristle's extensive career they have released numerous volumes of music including studio albums, live releases as well as box sets.

See also[link]

• Post-punk

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• RE/Search: Industrial Culture Handbook
• "Rip It up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984", Simon Reynolds
• "Wreckers of Civilization: The Story of Coum Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle", Simon Ford, Black Dog Publishing, 2001 [3]
• "Industrial Music For Industrial People", Éric Duboys, Camion Blanc, 2007 (In French) [4]
• 20 Jazz Funk Greats (33⅓) (Paperback) "20 Jazz Funk Greats by Drew Daniel for 33⅓ music series"

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Throbbing Gristle

• Throbbing-Gristle.com Official website
• Throbbing Gristle at Brainwashed
• Gristleism - Official Gristleism website
• Genesis P-Orridge interview by Tony Oursler