Biography
Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in 1976 in Kingston upon Hull. The band comprised Genesis P-Orridge (born Neil Megson; bass guitar, violin, vocals, vibraphone), Cosey Fanni Tutti (born Christine Newby; guitars, cornet, vocals), Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson (tapes, found sounds, horns, piano, vibraphone, synthesizer) and Chris Carter (synthesizers, tapes, electronics). Evolving from the experimental performance art group COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle are widely viewed as early pioneers of industrial music.They disbanded in 1981, but the individual members went on to participate in other projects, and reformed in 2004 for a second stint before disbanding again in 2010 after the death of Christopherson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throbbing_Gristle
Album & Cover
20 Jazz Funk Greats is the third studio album by British industrial music group Throbbing Gristle, released in December 1979 by the band’s label Industrial Records. It has been hailed as the band’s best work, with UK magazine Fact naming it the best album of the 1970s. 20 Jazz Funk Greats is the band’s first fully studio album, as prior albums contained both live and studio recordings. The production is credited to “Sinclair/Brooks”. The album was recorded on a 16-track borrowed from Paul McCartney after Peter Christopherson had worked on artwork for McCartney. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_Jazz_Funk_Greats
The album’s cover photograph was taken at Beachy Head, a chalk headland on the south coast of England known as one of the world’s most notorious suicide spots. In a 2012 interview, Cosey explained the album cover and tongue-in-cheek title: We did the cover so it was a pastiche of something you would find in a Woolworth’s bargain bin. We took the photograph at the most famous suicide spot in England, called Beachy Head. So, the picture is not what it seems, it is not so nicey nicey at all, and neither is the music once you take it home and buy it. We had this idea in mind that someone quite innocently would come along to a record store and see [the record] and think they would be getting 20 really good jazz/funk greats, and then they would put it on at home and they would just get decimated.
On the 1981 Fetish Records issue of the release an apparently dead and naked male body lay in front of the band on the album cover.
Cover Location: Beachy Head South Coast, England.
Who Did What: Photography By [Poster] – Clay Holden. Cover Design – Hipgnosis/P. Christopherson. Photography – P. Christopherson.
Label: Industrial IR0008(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell
Tracklist
| Side One 20 Jazz Funk Greats Beachy Head Still Walking Tanith Convincing People Exotica |
Side Two Hot On The Heels Of Love Persuasion Walkabout What A Day Six Six Sixtie |
Credits
Bass Guitar [Bass Guitars], Violin, Vibraphone [Vibes], Synthesizer [Synthesiser], Vocals – Genesis P-Orridge
Composed By, Performer [Played By] – Throbbing Gristle
Lead Guitar [Satellite Lead Guitar], Guitar [Gizmo Guitar], Synthesizer [Synthesiser], Cornet, Vocals – Cosey Fanni Tutti
Mastered By – SA
Producer – Sinclair/Brooks
Synthesizer [Roland Synthesisers], Sequenced By [Sequencers], Percussion [Rhythms], Vocals – Chris Carter
Tape, Vibraphone [Vibes], Cornet, Vocals – Peter Christopherson
Notes
5000 copies released on Industrial Records, first 2000 included a black and white poster, with photograph of TG outside KFJC Radio Station in San Jose, California (September 1979).
