Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle

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Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle
Directed by
  • Marcus Werner Hed
  • Dan Fox
Written by
  • Marcus Werner Hed
  • Dan Fox
Produced byMarcus Werner Hed
Cinematography
  • Annika Aschberg
  • Marcus Werner Hed
Edited by
  • Dan Fox
  • Mariko Montpetit
  • Jasper Verhorevoort
Music by Throbbing Gristle
Production
companies
  • BBC Television
  • Willow Glen Films
Release date
  • 2020 (2020)
Running time
82 minutes
CountriesUS, UK
LanguageEnglish

Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle, also shorter titled Other, Like Me, is a 2020 American-British documentary film on the music and art groups Throbbing Gristle and COUM Transmissions, which covers the history of both projects in archival film footage and photos and interviews with their members.

Contents

Cast

Production and release

Other, Like Me was produced by BBC Television and co-director Hed's production company Willow Glen Films. It screened at various film festivals, including the IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival, Portugal, [1] and the Athens International Film Festival [2] in 2020, and the CPH:DOX festival [3] and the Chicago Underground Film Festival in 2021. [4] A one-hour long version of the film was shown on BBC Four on 5 December 2021. [5]

Reception

Reviewing Other, Like Me for Buzz Magazine, Ben Woolhead noted the lack of an in-depth observation of gender politics in alternative culture, seeing ongoing gender and social divisions in Cosey Fanni Tutti's recounts of her being the only woman in COUM. Also, he missed an observation of COUM's and Throbbing Gristle's shock tactics, which included the repeated usage of national socialist iconography, which in his eyes paved the way for the blurring of the "lines between provocative art and outright political incitement" in the early 1980s experimental noise scene. [6]

Writing for German newspaper taz , Andreas Hartmann found a "basically exciting" story in the formation of industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle out of the artist collective COUM, but criticised the lack of an outer perspective, as the film's only interview partners are the people directly involved. [7] Reviewing the film again one year later in 2021, his judgement was more positive, calling it a long overdue, "really good introduction" to Throbbing Gristle's work, which featured excellent footage and emphasised Cosey Fanni Tutti's contribution to the band's radical aesthetics. [8]

John Aizlewood of Radio Times commented that the film painted "a sometimes graphic picture of an extraordinary artistic phenomenon". [9]

Related Research Articles

Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments and punk provocation". The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by members of Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza. While the genre name originated with Throbbing Gristle's emergence in the United Kingdom, artists and labels vital to the genre also emerged in the United States and other countries.

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Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in 1975 in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of industrial music. Evolving from the experimental performance art group COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle made their public debut in October 1976 on COUM exhibition Prostitution, and released their debut single "United/Zyklon B Zombie" and debut album The Second Annual Report the following year. Lyrical themes mainly revolved around mysticism, extremist political ideologies, sexuality, dark or underground aspects of society, and idiosyncratic manipulation of language.

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Genesis Breyer P-Orridge was an English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmissions artistic collective and lead vocalist of seminal industrial band Throbbing Gristle. P-Orridge was also a founding member of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth occult group, and fronted the experimental pop rock band Psychic TV.

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COUM Transmissions was a music and performance art collective who operated in the United Kingdom from 1969 through to 1976. The collective was influenced by the Dada and surrealism artistic movements, the writers of the Beat Generation, and underground music. COUM were openly confrontational and subversive, challenging aspects of conventional British society. Founded in Hull, Yorkshire by Genesis P-Orridge, other prominent early members included Cosey Fanni Tutti and Spydeee Gasmantell. Part-time members included Tim Poston, "Brook" Menzies, Haydn Robb, Les Maull, Ray Harvey, John Smith, Foxtrot Echo, Fizzy Paet and John Gunni Busck. Later members included Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter, who together with P-Orridge and Fanni Tutti went on to found the pioneering industrial band Throbbing Gristle in 1976.

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References

  1. ↑ "Other, Like Me". IndieLisboa. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  2. ↑ "Other, Like Me". Athens International Film Festival. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  3. ↑ "Other, Like Me". CPH:DOX. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  4. ↑ "Other, Like Me - The Coum Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle Story". Chicago Underground Film Festival. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  5. ↑ "Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle". BBC Four. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Woolhead, Ben (13 December 2021). "We've been watching: BBC doc OTHER, LIKE ME chronicles history of electronica pioneers". buzzmag.co.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  7. ↑ Hartmann, Andreas (5 November 2020). "Russischer Rap und britischer Ska". taz.de (in German). Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  8. ↑ Hartmann, Andreas (10 November 2021). "In Sachen Popkultur". taz.de (in German). Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  9. ↑ Aizlewood, John. "Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle – RT Review". radiotimes.com. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
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