RIP Sleazy

Musical composer and grandfather of industrial music Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson has passed away. Founding member of both Throbbing Gristle and COIL, ‘Sleazy’ leaves behind him an impressive body of work that pushed the boundaries of pop music and a positive message of life and how to live it.

Via http://www.brainwashed.com/:

It is with great sadness that Brainwashed has learned of Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson’s passing.

Reports have come in this morning of November 25th, 2010, that Christopherson passed away quietly in his sleep at his home in Bangkok. A book of condolences has been set up at unklesleazy.tv.

Peter Christopherson wrote, on July 31, 2010, in response to his interview in The Quietus:

“we are all only temporary curators of our present bodies, which will all decay, sooner or later. In a hundred years or so ALL the humans currently alive will have died. I take great comfort in knowing, with certainty, that thing that makes us special, able to enrich our own lives and those of others, will not cease when our bodies do, but will be just starting and new (and hopefully even better) adventure…

If we don’t get to meet in this Life, maybe in the next you can buy me a beer! ,-)”

Sleazy will be remembered for his fruitful music career with Throbbing Gristle, Coil, SoiSong and The Threshold HouseBoys Choir as well as his visual work as a music video director, photographer and his stint with design company Hipgnosis. His work frequently was outside the bounds of normality and indeed challenged the very idea of normality. His art touched us all and his innovative and free approach to music cannot be denied.

Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti simultaneously announced his death this morning on twitter:

“Our dearest beautiful Sleazy left this mortal coil as he slept in peace last night.words cannot express our grief.”

Chris has also posted the following on his blog:

“I first met Sleazy in 1975 when we were both in our early twenties. We immediately hit it off – talking endlessly about films, the merits of John Barry or Martin Denny’s arrangements, the aesthetics of gay vs straight porn, the why’s & wherefores of programming in Basic, or the best place in London to get a decent ice cream sundae. Sleazy was the first person to give me an Abba album, in 1976 – and it being Sleazy it was of course a ‘signed’ copy.

Over the 30 odd years we knew each other mine and Cosey’s relationship with him got closer as we grew older and spent more time together – lately comparing our various ailments and aches & pains, or the latest Apple gadget. There was (there is) nobody else on this little blue rock that I shared such disparate and diverse interests with, no one.

I last saw Sleazy about a week ago, just before he left for home to his beloved Bangkok. He was clutching a bag full of Apple goodies and he never looked happier or, ironically, healthier. He had new schemes and plans for X-TG’s future and was looking forward to finishing the Desertshore project and playing us rough mixes of “his baby”. He gave Cosey and me each a kiss and one of his infamous ‘bear hugs’, jumped in a waiting taxi and was gone… forever.

To quote the same movie three times (including the title):

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time… like tears in rain…”

“The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long – and you have burned so very, very brightly…”

c

x”

Chris and Cosey released an expanded statement this evening on the Throbbing Gristle site:

“Peter Christopherson, affectionately known as Sleazy, died peacefully in his sleep on the 24th of November at his home in Bangkok, Thailand.

The music and art world has lost a great talent whose unique approach ignored the conventions of the day and often challenged the status quo.

Sleazy’s playful and inspiring creativity saw him pushing boundaries as a musician, video director and designer throughout his life. He had recently returned to Thailand from Europe, where he had played a short but spectacular series of live shows as a member of Throbbing Gristle and in the newly formed trio X-TG with Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter.

Sleazy’s visual art career included work as a member of the influential British design agency Hipgnosis, creating iconic record sleeve artwork in the 1970s for Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and, later, Factory Records. He took the first promo photographs of the Sex Pistols, created a highly controversial window display for Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s clothing shop, SEX, and went on to design the logo of the hugely popular fashion company, BOY. In 1976 Sleazy met Cosey Fanni Tutti, Chris Carter and Genesis P-Orridge and together they formed electronic music provocateurs Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records, creating one of the first independent record labels of the era and laying the foundation for a new genre of music. The band was infamously described in the Daily Mail by Tory MP Nicholas Fairbairn as “the wreckers of civilisation”.

TG ceased operations in 1981, after which Sleazy formed Psychic TV with Genesis P-Orridge and they produced two albums. The second, Dreams Less Sweet included his future life partner Jhonn Balance as a member, with whom he went on to form Coil and to release an extensive body of work up until Jhonn’s passing in 2004. Subsequently, Sleazy left the UK to live in Bangkok, Thailand and to continue his artistic and musical vision in the guise of The Threshold HouseBoys Choir and Soisong.

Following their original break-up, Throbbing Gristle’s legacy steadily grew within the music and art world, leading to their reformation in 2004 and a series of sold-out performances, including in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.

At the time of his death, Sleazy was in the midst of assembling what was to be Throbbing Gristle’s next project: a cover version of Nico’s Desertshore album.

Sleazy was a kind and beautiful soul. No words can express how much he will be missed.

Throbbing Gristle / X-TG
Cosey Fanni Tutti
Chris Carter”

For those unfamiliar with COIL, here’s a video clip from their appearance on ‘Hello Culture’ (excuse the snarky interviewer):

… and a piece by COIL and Zos Kia

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/gv50

Throbbing Gristle

In the vacuous era of depression known as the 1970’s, music was undergoing a kind of change. In some ways, this lead to the further commercialization of punk and candy-like pop from the same vein that once brought listeners resounding rock n roll.

Then there was industrial music.

Before there was Throbbing Gristle, there was COUM, the duo performance art show of Genesis P Orridge and Cosi Fanni Tutti. In the groundbreaking art show called Prostitution, the entire English cultural world descended upon Genesis and Cosi like vultures.

This was before The Sex Pistols performance that influenced a dozen bands overnight. This event freaked out all involved, and paved the way for an entirely different approach to music.

Born  from COUM, Throbbing Gristle was the brainchild of Genesis P. Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson and Chris Carter. While most rock bands start with some vague idea at making money or getting dates, Throbbing Gristle had an ulterior motive to shake people up and unsettle their calm little worlds. That in itself isn’t so strange (just look at Alice Cooper or Jane’s Addiction), but these guys were like mad scientists. They carefully designed their songs to impact the audience in a biological way, either joyous or… decidedly unpleasant.

Discipline 1979

Genesis himself is an odd duck to say the least. As a young man he had all the appearance of a young man or boyish girl, despite the inner workings of his mind. Awkward and intense all at once, he was like an alien invader with a guitar slung across his chest for a raygun. After a near-death experience, he was profoundly changed and saw the implicit power of sounds, and decided to utilize them to the utmost.  With fellow mad scientist Peter Christopherson (nicknamed Sleazy), Throbbing Gristle‘s musical output was just stunning.

Ironically, as Throbbing Gristle progressed in  their sound and image manipulations, so did the media. It was a very vibrant time, and one that TG saw as ‘nothing short of total war.’ There was a definite war on the senses, and Genesis was on our side.

Something Came Over Me- live at Oundle School 1980

After group disbanded in 1981, the performers went their separate ways.

In 1984, Genesis formed Psychic TV, producing 17 albums in a very short period and earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most number of albums released in one year. The early period with guitarist Alexander Fergusson is regarded as the high point of creative success, but regardless of the opinion Psychic TV created yet another form of music, acid house.

Peter Christopherson, along with John Balance formed COIL, one of the most influential and unusual industrial/ambient groups ever formed. COIL‘s music is full of fantastic imagery and nightmarish sounds, all seeming to come from some otherworldly place.

It’s this ‘alien’-ness that I find most captivating and bizarre. The songs of Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and COIL all seem to be from some other place, but were all created by people like you and me… well, maybe not. These are exhilarated and talented artists operating on a level far above the standard operating frequency that most of us work at in our everyday life.

In a lot of ways, they’re reminiscent of the modern comic book creators like Wally Wood, Stan Lee, Will Eisner and Steve Ditko who took accepted art forms of painting, comic strips and motion pictures and mixed them together into something completely new.

In recent years, Genesis looks more like Meg Ryan than anything else.Turning himself into a ‘human art project,’ he has decided to use his body as a weapon on the concept of sexuality. In any case, s/he’s still making incredible music. The newest PTV3 album is really quite incredible and far closer to the band’s early work than the house music that followed.

Industrial Music itself has mutated and changed since it first wriggled its was  into the ears of listeners across the world. From Ministry to Skinny Puppy, Pigface, and later Nine Inch Nails, industrial music has become more or less an extension of pop music, with the occasional sample from an old movie.

That’s not to say that it’s less good or less important than Throbbing Gristle‘s music, but to be sure…  modern industrial music takes far fewer risks at reaching an audience. In short, the experiment that was started in 1975 is far from over.

In the battle for individual sanity and freedom from outside control, Genesis P Orridge and Throbbing Gristle have fought a mean fight. It was seldom pretty, but it was definitely the most vibrant and lively explosion of sounds produced in music history since Pete Townsend smashed his first guitar.

Rock on.