41. The Second Annual Report -- Throbbing Gristle

Mojo Says: "Punk preached chaos and anarchy, but only TG truly achieved it."

Album: The Second Annual Report
Artist: Throbbing Gristle
Year: 1977
Length: 40'02"

Track Listing:

1. Industrial Introduction
2. Slug Bait - ICA
3. Slug Bait - Live At Southampton
4. Slug Bait - Live At Brighton
5. Maggot Death - Live At Rat Club
6. Maggot Death - Studio
7. Maggot Death - Southampton
8. Maggot Death - Brighton
9. After Cease To Exist - The Original Soundtrack Of The Coum Transmissions Film

Favorite Tracks:

1. Maggot Death - Brighton, and that's only because you can hear a short clip of the Stooges' Down On The Street playing at the end of the track.

Worst Tracks:
Slug Bait - ICA tries too hard to be shocking and disturbing, and fails.

Is it weird?:
Weird, yes. Important, yes. Remotely entertaining? No.

Review:

This is actually another near-birthday review, as TG's Cosey Fanni Tutti's birthday was yesterday, November 4th. That irrelevence aside, I can safely say that I will not be celebrating her birthday like I will be Wild Man Fischer's, and that is because I think that while Throbbing Gristle's contribution to music is important, the music itself is almost totally useless.

The record is too blunt to be creepy, too formless to be haunting, and too concerned with being weird for the sake of being weird that it really can't be enjoyed on any level. It's not scary, pleasant, and is too dense to be analyzed, so it can't be paid attention to. The next time someone tries to tell you about how this record was incredibly groundbreaking for the time, just take their word for it (they'd definitely be right), because you sure don't want to waste your time listening to it.

Grade:

6/10

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