"Discipline" is a song by the English electronic group

Throbbing Gristle 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 (British musician), Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pi ...

Single

The "Discipline" single features two versions of the title track, recorded in Berlin and Manchester. The center labels are cream with black printing, and a glossy picture sleeve depicts the band standing outside the ex-Nazi Ministry of Propaganda in Berlin, and the other side shows Val Denham holding a Hitler Youth dagger centre back. The words "Techno Primitive" were scratched on side A and "Psykick Youth Squad" on side B. Both tracks were later released on the CD version of ''

20 Jazz Funk Greats ''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 is known for its tongue-in-cheek title and artwork, and has been hailed ...

''. The word "Techno Primitive" was later used by electronic duo

Chris & Cosey Chris & Cosey, sometimes known as Carter Tutti, are a musical duo formed in 1981, consisting of couple Chris Carter (electronics) and Cosey Fanni Tutti (electronics, guitar, cornet), both previously (and currently the sole surviving) members o ...

for their 1985 album of the same name, while the name "Psykick Youth Squad" can be seen as a reference to the later band Psychic TV, both groups made up of ex-Throbbing Gristle members.

Track listing

Side A: #"Discipline (Manchester)" - 8:06 Side B: #"Discipline (Berlin)" - 10:45

Song

"Discipline" is considered to be Throbbing Gristle's most infamous song. First played at the

SO36 The SO36 () club is a music club on Oranienstraße near Heinrichplatz in the area of Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany. It takes its name from the historic postcode of that area, SO36, in which the SO stands for Südost (South East). The Kreuzberg dis ...

Club in Berlin (as documented on the single), it was at first entirely improvised, based upon a topic suggestion given by

Cosey Fanni Tutti Cosey Fanni Tutti (born Christine Carol Newby; 4 November 1951) is an English performance artist, musician and writer, best known for her time in the avant-garde groups Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey. Tutti first performed under the name ...

before the show. The song is driven by a minimal, pulsing synthesizer drumbeat, over which

Genesis P-Orridge Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950 – 14 March 2020) was a singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmissions arti ...

would sing lyrics surrounding the concept of discipline, slowly introducing other musical elements, such as electric bass and walls of guitar or synth noise. After Berlin, it was played at nearly every Throbbing Gristle show until the group's demise. Often it would range in length from eight to 12 minutes, although it could be stretched out much longer. A version from one of the last Throbbing Gristle shows at the Lyceum in London was over 30 minutes long, as documented on the bootleg ''Once Upon a Time'' and the VHS release ''Destiny''. The song was covered by

Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He ...

and Friends on a

flexi disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable. ...

that was issued free with an issue of ''

Flexipop ''Flexipop'' (stylized as ''Flexipop!'') was a British pop music magazine that ran from 1980 to 1983, which featured a flexidisc in each issue. The magazine was launched in 1980 by ex-''Record Mirror'' journalists Barry Cain and Tim Lott. One of ...

'' magazine. He performed it solo on

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. ''Q'' magazine in ...

' ''Join Hands'' tour at the

Hammersmith Odeon The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ha ...

as an extended version forming the entirety of his set, which preceded

the Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

, the main support band. "Discipline" was also covered by

Boyd Rice Boyd Blake Rice (born December 16, 1956) is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the ''Partridge Family Temple'' religious group, co-founder of ...

and by German

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

group

Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

as "Disziplin."

Charts

References

Extended links

Discogs entry
{{authority control 1981 singles Throbbing Gristle songs 1981 songs