Revolting Cocks, also known as RevCo, was an
American–
Belgian industrial rock band and, sometimes, supergroup that began as a musical side-project for
Richard 23 of
Front 242,
Luc Van Acker, and
Al Jourgensen of
Ministry.
Rumor has it the gents who make up Revolting Cocks came upon the name by their usual debauchery. Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen was out for a hard night of drinking with some friends, so hard that the bartender threw them out, declaring them a bunch of revolting cocks. The name was first applied to one of Jourgensen's many side projects in
1985, when he partnered with Luc Van Acker and Front 242's Richard 23 to bring art and the dancefloor closer together. As recordings progressed, things went in a different direction and the chaotic, snide, and sleazy sounds that were taking over had Richard 23 making an exit over creative differences. He departed in
1986, right as the band's debut,
Big Sexy Land, was being released by the seminal industrial label
Wax Trax! The
album featured the
Blade Runner homage and club hit "
Attack Ships on
Fire," while the artwork introduced "the Three Guys," anonymous faces from an old photograph that would represent the band on album covers for years to come. Ministry associates
Paul Barker,
Chris Connelly, and
Bill Rieflin would join Van Acker and Jourgensen for a tour supporting the album, recordings of which surfaced in
1988 on the live album and video You
Goddamned Son of a Bitch.
Beers, Steers + Queers The nihilistic party attitude of the band had now officially taken over any grand artistic aspirations, and if the success of
1989's
Stainless Steel Providers didn't prove their audience was right there with them, college radio and clubs being dominated by
1990's "Beers, Steers + Queers" certainly did. Beers, Steers + Queers, the album, followed that same year and included two cover versions of "(
Let's Get) Physical," one a simple loop of the word "physical" that goes on for 13 minutes.
The band celebrated the album's release by touring the country with the Skatenigs -- whose vocalist,
Phil Owen, had contributed to
Beers -- and the always-vile
Mentors as support.
Linger Ficken' Good... from
1993 was a more subdued album, but it was still shocking that the
Warner Bros.-associated
Sire released the album and helped the band score another club hit with their cover of
Rod Stewart's "Da Ya
Think I'm
Sexy?"
Cocked and Loaded Years passed and it seemed the Revco were officially over until 2004, when the track "Prune
Tang" appeared on the
Internet, announcing the coming of their next album,
Purple Head. The Ryko label reissued the band's first two albums that year with bonus tracks, but the new album failed to appear. A year later, a cover version of
Bauhaus' "
Dark Entries" with Butthole
Surfer Gibby Haynes as vocalist appeared on the
Saw II soundtrack.
Haynes joined
Jello Biafra,
Cheap Trick's
Rick Nielsen and
Robin Zander,
Davíd Garza, and
ZZ Top's
Billy Gibbons, along with veterans Jourgensen and Owen (now known as
Phildo Owen) for
2006's Cocked and Loaded. The album appeared on Jourgensen's
13th Planet label and was the first Revco release to not feature "the Three Guys" on the cover.
Sex-O Olympic-O would follow in 2008 with
Got Cock? arriving in
2010. The latter included a cover version of
2 Live Crew’s “
Me So Horny.”
- published: 21 Apr 2015
- views: 1781