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
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...
who rose to notoriety as the founder of the
COUM Transmissions artistic collective and lead vocalist of seminal
industrial band
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. They are widely regarded as pioneers of industrial music. Evol ...
. P-Orridge was also a founding member of
Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth
Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, abbreviated as TOPY, was a British magical organization, fellowship and chaos magic network founded in 1981 by Genesis P-Orridge, lead member of multimedia group Psychic TV. The network, including later members of ...
occult group, and fronted the experimental
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, ear ...
band
Psychic TV.
Born in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
, P-Orridge developed an early interest in art, occultism, and the
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...
while at
Solihull School
Solihull School is a coeducational independent day school in Solihull, West Midlands, England. Founded in 1560, it is the oldest school in the town and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
History
In 1560 th ...
. After dropping out of studies at the
University of Hull
, mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £18.8 million (2016)
, budget = £190 million ...
, P-Orridge moved into a counter-cultural commune in London and adopted ''Genesis P-Orridge'' as their pseudonym. On returning to Hull, P-Orridge founded COUM Transmissions with
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 ...
, and in 1973 they relocated to London. COUM's confrontational
performance work, dealing with such subjects as
sex work
Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to volun ...
, pornography,
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
s, and
occultism
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...
, represented a concerted attempt to challenge societal norms and attracted the attention of the national press. COUM's 1976 ''Prostitution'' show at London's
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the I ...
was particularly vilified by tabloids, gaining them the moniker of the "wreckers of civilisation." P-Orridge's band, Throbbing Gristle, grew out of COUM, and were active from 1975 to 1981 as pioneers in the industrial music genre. In 1981, P-Orridge co-founded Psychic TV, an experimental band that from 1988 onward came under the increasing influence of
acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthes ...
.
In 1981, P-Orridge co-founded
Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth
Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, abbreviated as TOPY, was a British magical organization, fellowship and chaos magic network founded in 1981 by Genesis P-Orridge, lead member of multimedia group Psychic TV. The network, including later members of ...
, an informal occult order influenced by
chaos magic
Chaos magic, also spelled chaos magick, is a modern tradition of magic. It initially emerged in England in the 1970s as part of the wider neo-pagan and magical subculture.
Drawing heavily from the occult beliefs of artist Austin Osman Spare, ...
and experimental music. P-Orridge was often seen as the group's leader, but rejected that position, and left the group in 1991. Amid the
Satanic ritual abuse
The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in the United States in th ...
hysteria, a 1992
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
documentary accused P-Orridge of sexually abusing children, resulting in a police investigation. P-Orridge was subsequently cleared and Channel 4 retracted their allegation. As a result of the incident, P-Orridge left the United Kingdom for the United States and settled in New York City. There, P-Orridge married Jacqueline Breyer, later known as Lady Jaye, in 1995, and together they embarked on the Pandrogeny Project, an attempt to unite as a "pandrogyne", or single entity, through the use of surgical
body modification
Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common ear piercing in many so ...
to physically resemble one another. P-Orridge continued with this project of body modification after Lady Jaye's 2007 death. Although involved in reunions of both Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV in the 2000s, P-Orridge retired from music to focus on other artistic mediums in 2009.
P-Orridge was credited on over 200 releases during their lifetime. They were cited as an icon within the avant-garde art scene, accrued a
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
, and had been given the moniker of the "Godparent of Industrial Music".
P-Orridge used gender-neutral pronouns.
Early life
1950–1964: Childhood
Genesis P-Orridge was born Neil Andrew Megson on 22 February 1950 in
Victoria Park, Manchester, to Ronald and Muriel Megson. Ronald was a travelling salesman who had worked in
repertory theatre
A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation.
United Kingdom
Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawin ...
and who played the drums in local
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
and dance bands. Muriel was from
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
and had first met Ronald after he returned to England after being injured with the British Army at the
Battle of Dunkirk
The Battle of Dunkirk (french: Bataille de Dunkerque, link=no) was fought around the French port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on t ...
in 1940. As a child, P-Orridge had a good relationship with their parents, who did not interfere with their artistic interests.
Due to Ronald's job, the family moved to
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
, where P-Orridge attended Staples Road Infant School in
Loughton
Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...
, and for a time lived in a
caravan
Caravan or caravans may refer to:
Transport and travel
*Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together
**Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop
*Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals
*Convoy, a group of veh ...
near to
Epping Forest
Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...
while the family house was being completed. The family then moved from Essex to
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...
, where P-Orridge attended Gatley Primary School. Passing the
11-plus
The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academi ...
exam, P-Orridge won a scholarship to attend
Stockport Grammar School
Stockport Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school in Stockport, England. Founded in 1487 by former Lord Mayor of London Sir Edmund Shaa, it is the second oldest in the North of England, after Lancaster Royal Grammar School, ...
, doing so between 1961 and 1964.
1964–1968: Solihull School and Worm
After their father became the
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...
area manager of a cleaning and maintenance business, P-Orridge was sent to the privately run
Solihull School
Solihull School is a coeducational independent day school in Solihull, West Midlands, England. Founded in 1560, it is the oldest school in the town and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
History
In 1560 th ...
in Warwickshire between 1964 and 1968; a period they would refer to as "basically four years of being mentally and physically tortured", but also a time when they developed an interest in art, occultism and the avant-garde. At age fifteen, P-Orridge became a fan of "The Hundred Headless Woman," a book that contained
surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
collages by various artists, including
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...
. The book became an early source of inspiration, and it was at that time that they took on the name "P-Orridge."
Unpopular with other pupils, P-Orridge was bullied at the school, finding comfort in the art department at lunch-time and in the evenings. They befriended Ian "Spydeee" Evetts, Barry "Little Baz" Hermon and Paul Wolfson, three fellow pupils who shared their interest in art, literature, and poetry. They regularly discussed books and music, developing an interest in the writings of
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...
,
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...
,
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
Of French-Canadian an ...
and
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
and the music of
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...
,
the Fugs
The Fugs are an American rock band formed in New York City in late 1964, by the poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of The Holy Modal Rounders. K ...
and
the Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise ...
. P-Orridge became interested in
occultism
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...
, and has also asserted that their grandmother was a
medium
Medium may refer to:
Science and technology
Aviation
* Medium bomber, a class of war plane
* Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data
* Medium ...
.
In 1967, P-Orridge founded their first collective, Worm, with school friends Pingle Wad (Peter Winstanley), Spydeee Gasmantell (Ian Evetts) and P-Orridge's girlfriend Jane Ray. Worm was influenced by
AMM and
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading f ...
's 1961 book ''
Silence: Lectures and Writings''. In 1966, P-Orridge, Evetts, Hermon, Wolfson, and Winstanley began production of an
underground magazine, entitled ''Conscience''. Forbidden from selling it on school grounds, they sold copies outside the school gates. Included in ''Conscience'' were various articles criticising the school's administration, leading to proposed changes regarding such issues as school uniforms and prefects (known as benchers) privileges. That same year, influenced by newspaper accounts of "
Swinging London
The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mu ...
", P-Orridge organised the first
happening
A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow during the 1950s to describe a range of art-related events.
History
Origins
Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happen ...
at the school, doing so under the auspices of organising a school dance.
![Solihull School Chatwin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Solihull_School_Chatwin.jpg)
Brought up in the
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
denomination of Christianity, P-Orridge became secretary of the school
sixth form
In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for ...
's Christian Discussion Circle, in this position inviting members of other ideological positions – including a
Marxist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
from the
British Communist Party – to speak to the group. Aged 18, P-Orridge began helping to run the local Sunday school classes, but came to reject organised Christianity. Afflicted with
asthma
Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...
throughout childhood, P-Orridge had to take
cortisone
Cortisone is a pregnene (21-carbon) steroid hormone. It is a naturally-occurring corticosteroid metabolite that is also used as a pharmaceutical prodrug; it is not synthesized in the adrenal glands. Cortisol is converted by the action of the enz ...
and
prednisone
Prednisone is a glucocorticoid medication mostly used to suppress the immune system and decrease inflammation in conditions such as asthma, COPD, and rheumatologic diseases. It is also used to treat high blood calcium due to cancer and ad ...
steroid
A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and ...
s to control the attacks. The latter of these drugs caused their
adrenal gland
The adrenal glands (also known as suprarenal glands) are endocrine glands that produce a variety of hormones including adrenaline and the steroids aldosterone and cortisol. They are found above the kidneys. Each gland has an outer cortex ...
s to atrophy as a side-effect, and so the doctor advised P-Orridge to stop taking them. As a result, aged 17, P-Orridge suffered from a serious
blackout; while in hospital recovering they decided to devote their life to art and writing.
With Hermon and Wolfson, P-Orridge founded a group called the Knights of the Pentecostal Flame.
The Knights undertook a
happening
A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow during the 1950s to describe a range of art-related events.
History
Origins
Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happen ...
on 1 June 1968 which they titled ''Beautiful Litter''. Taking place in Mell Square,
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...
, it involved the three students handing out cards to passersby that had a series of words written onto them; "fleece", "rainbow", "silken", "white", "flower" and "dewdrops". Ensuring that the local ''
Solihull News'' was informed of the event, P-Orridge told reporters that the Knights wanted to ignite "an artistic revolution in Solihull, by making people aware of the life around them, its essential beauty and tranquillity." In mid-1968, Worm recorded their first and only album, entitled ''Early Worm'', in P-Orridge's parents' attic in Solihull. It was pressed onto
vinyl
Vinyl may refer to:
Chemistry
* Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer
* Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation
* Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry
* Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...
in November at Deroy Sound Services in Manchester, but only one copy was ever produced. A second album, ''Catching the Bird'', was recorded but never pressed.
1968–1969: Hull University and Transmedia Explorations
In September 1968, P-Orridge began studying for a degree in Social Administration and Philosophy at the
University of Hull
, mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £18.8 million (2016)
, budget = £190 million ...
. Hull was chosen in an attempt to study at "the most ordinary non-elitist, working-class, red brick university", but P-Orridge disliked the course and unsuccessfully tried to transfer to study English. With a group of friends, P-Orridge founded a 'free-form' student magazine entitled ''Worm'' which waived all editorial control, publishing everything placed into the magazine's
pigeonhole, including instructions on how to build a
molotov cocktail
A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with fla ...
. Three issues were published between 1968 and 1970 before the Hull Student's Union banned the publication, considering it
legally obscene and fearing prosecution. Developing a keen interest in poetry, P-Orridge won the 1969 Hull University Needler Poetry Competition, judged by Compton lecturer Richard Murphy and the poet
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, ''The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, ''Jill'' (1946) and ''A Girl in Winter'' (1947 ...
, who was then librarian at the university. P-Orridge became involved in radical student politics through their friendship with Tom Fawthrop, a member of the Radical Student Alliance who had led a student occupation of the university's administrative buildings as a part of the
worldwide student protests of 1968. In 1969, P-Orridge attempted to reconstruct the occupation for a film, in the hopes that it would itself become a genuine protest occupation, but this venture failed due to a lack of participants.
In 1969, P-Orridge dropped out of university and moved to London, and joined the Transmedia Explorations commune, who were then living in a large run-down house in
Islington Park Street. The group, initiated by the artist
David Medalla
David Cortez Medalla (23 March 1942 – 28 December 2020) was a Filipino international artist and political activist. His work ranged from sculpture and kinetic art to painting, installation, and performance art.
Early life
David Cortez Med ...
and initially named the Exploding Galaxy, had been at the forefront of the London
hippy
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
scene since 1967, but had partially disbanded after a series of police raids and a damaging court case. Moving into their commune, P-Orridge was particularly influenced by one of the founding members of the group, Gerald Fitzgerald, a
kinetic artist, and would recognise Fitzgerald's formative influence in P-Orridge's later work. The commune members adhered to a strict regime with the intention of
deconditioning Deconditioning is adaptation of an organism to less demanding environment, or, alternatively, the decrease of physiological adaptation to normal conditions. Decondition may result from decreased physical activity, prescribed bed rest, orthopedic cas ...
its members out of their routines and conventional behaviour; they were forbidden from sleeping in the same place on consecutive nights, food was cooked at irregular times of the day and all clothing was kept in a communal chest, with its members wearing something different on each day. P-Orridge stayed there for three months, until late October 1969. They left after becoming angered that the commune's leaders were given more rights than the other members and believing that the group ignored the counter-cultural use of music, something they took a great interest in. Julie Wilson later stated that although P-Orridge's time at the Transmedia Explorations commune had been brief, "the experiences (they) had there proved to be seminal" to their artistic development.
COUM Transmissions
1969–1970: Founding COUM Transmissions
Leaving London, P-Orridge hitch-hiked across Britain before settling down in a new home in
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
. Here, they volunteered as an office clerk in Ronald Megson's new business. On one family trip to Wales, P-Orridge was sitting in the back of the car, then "became disembodied and heard voices and saw the COUM symbol and heard the words '
COUM Transmissions. Returning home that evening, P-Orridge filled three notebooks with artistic thoughts and ideas, influenced by the time spent at Transmedia Explorations.
In November 1969, P-Orridge returned to Hull to meet up with friend John Shapeero, who partnered with P-Orridge to turn COUM Transmissions into an avant-garde artistic and musical troupe. They initially debated as to how to define "COUM", later deciding that like the name "
dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...
" it should remain open to interpretation. P-Orridge designed a logo for the group, consisting of a semi-erect penis formed out of the word COUM with a drip of
semen
Semen, also known as seminal fluid, is an organic bodily fluid created to contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads (sexual glands) and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize the female ovum. Sem ...
coming out of the end, while the motto "Your Local Dirty Banned" (a pun on "band") was emblazoned underneath. Another logo designed by P-Orridge consisted of a hand-drawn seal accompanied by the statement "COUM guarantee disappointment"; from their early foundation, the group made use of
wordplay
Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phon ...
in their artworks and adverts.
COUM's earliest public events were impromptu musical gigs performed at various pubs around Hull; titles for these events included ''Thee Fabulous Mutations'', ''Space Between the Violins'', ''Dead Violins and Degradation'', and ''Clockwork Hot Spoiled Acid Test''. The latter combined the names of
Anthony Burgess
John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer.
Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his dystopian satire ''A Clockwork ...
' dystopian science-fiction novel ''
A Clockwork Orange
''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to:
* ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess
** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel
*** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...
'' (1962) with
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
's ''
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
''The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'' is a 1968 nonfiction book by Tom Wolfe. The book is a popular example of the New Journalism literary style. Wolfe presents a firsthand account of the experiences of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, ...
'' (1968), a work of literary journalism devoted to the
Merry Pranksters
The Merry Pranksters were comrades and followers of American author Ken Kesey in 1964.
Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters lived communally at Kesey's homes in California and Oregon, and are noted for the sociological significance of a lengthy roa ...
, a US communal counter-cultural group who advocated the use of
psychedelic drug
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...
s. COUM's music was anarchic and improvised, making use of such instruments as broken violins, prepared pianos, guitars, bongos and talking drums. As time went on, they added further theatrics to their performances, in one instance making the audience crawl through a polythene tunnel to enter the venue.
In December 1969, P-Orridge and Shapiro moved out of their flat and into a former fruit warehouse in Hull's docking area, overlooking the
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between ...
. Named the Ho-Ho Funhouse by P-Orridge, the warehouse became the communal home to an assortment of counter-cultural figures, including artists, musicians, fashion designers and underground magazine producers. At Christmas 1969, a woman named Christine Carol Newby moved into the Funhouse after being thrown out of her home by her father. Having earlier befriended them at an
acid test party, Newby became P-Orridge's roommate at the Funhouse, first taking the name Cosmosis, but latterly adopting the stage name
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 ...
after the title of
Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
's 1790 opera ''
Così fan tutte
(''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte ...
''. Joining COUM, Tutti initially helped in building props and designing costumes, and was there when the group began including performance art and more theatrical happenings in its music events; Evetts, aka Spydeee Gasmantell, after being expelled from Solihull School joined COUM. The three of them lived in a derelict Georgian warehouse in Prince Street, Hull. An example performance involved the group turning up to play a gig but intentionally not bringing any instruments, something P-Orridge considered "much more theatrical, farcical and light-hearted" than their earlier performances.
1971–1973: Activities in Hull
On 5 January 1971, P-Orridge underwent a legal name change to Genesis P-Orridge by
deed poll
A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract because it binds only one party.
Etymology
The ...
, combining the adopted nickname Genesis with an altered spelling of ''
porridge
Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...
'', the foodstuff which they had lived off as a student. The new name was intentionally un-glamorous, and they hoped that it would trigger a personal "genius factor". In February, COUM caught the attention of ''
The Yorkshire Post
''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...
'', which featured an article on them that led to further media attention from national newspapers. They also featured in an article in ''Torch'', the publication of the University of Hull's student union, entitled "God Sucks
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
's Hairy Nipple"; the article's author, Haydn Robb (nowadays known as Haydn Nobb), subsequently joined COUM, as did maths lecturer
Tim Poston
Timothy Poston (19 June 1945 – 22 August 2017) was an English mathematician and polymath best known for his work on catastrophe theory.
His early childhood was in Moscow where his father served in the British Embassy for 18 months. When his f ...
. In April 1971, COUM, consisting of P-Orridge and Gasmantell, broadcast their first live radio session, for the ''On Cue'' programme for
Radio Humberside. Following up the press attention they received, they performed further happenings, including their first street action, ''Absolute Everywhere'', which brought problems with the police.
After performing another set, ''Riot Control'', at Hull's Gondola Club, the premises were raided by police and closed soon after; most local clubs blamed COUM and unofficially banned them. COUM drew up a petition to gain support for the group, attaining a booking at the local Brickhouse; their first performance in which the audience applauded and called for an encore. The petition had contained their phallic logo, and the police charged P-Orridge and Robb with publishing an obscene advert, although the charges were later dropped. As they gained coverage in the music press, interest in the band grew, and they supported
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...
at St. George's Hall in
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
in October 1971, where they performed a piece called ''Edna and the Great Surfers'', where they led the crowd in shouting "Off, Off, Off". The following month, the band attracted the interest of music journalist
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
, who publicly remarked that "
me might say that Coum were madmen but constant exposure to mankind forces me to believe that we need more madmen like them."
Gaining an Experimental Arts Grant from the publicly funded Yorkshire Arts Association, COUM described themselves as performance artists, being inspired by the Dadaists and emphasising the amateur quality of their work. They entered the National Rock/Folk Contest at Hull's New Grange Club with a set titled ''
This Machine Kills Music'', and organised events for
Hull City Council
(Kingston upon) Hull City Council is the governing body for the unitary authority and city of Kingston upon Hull. It was created in 1972 as the successor to the Corporation of (Kingston upon) Hull, which was also known as Hull Corporation and fou ...
's celebrations to mark the UK's entry into the
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lis ...
in 1973. They had also worked on solo projects, generating controversy in the local press over a
conceptual art
Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called ins ...
work the artist entered at a local exhibition. Taking an increasing interest in
infantilism, P-Orridge founded the fictitious L'ecole de l'art infantile and co-organised the "Baby's Coumpetition" at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
's 1973 May Festival, also producing material as the fictitious Ministry of Antisocial Insecurity, a parody of the
Ministry of Social Security Ministry of Social Security or Department of Social Security is the government entity responsible for social security affairs. It may be a ministry office, a department, or, as in the United States, a nominally independent agency.
Notable ones ar ...
. Meanwhile, P-Orridge created the character of Alien Brain, and in July 1972, performed as the character at an event entitled the ''World Premiere of the Alien Brain'', at Hull Arts Centre. COUM also began publishing books; in 1972, they brought out the first volume of ''The Million and One Names of COUM'', part of a proposed project to release 1001 slogans (such as "A thousand and one ways to COUM" and "COUM are Fab and Kinky"), while in 1973 P-Orridge published ''Copyright Breeches'', which explored an ongoing personal fascination with the
copyright symbol
The copyright symbol, or copyright sign, (a circled capital letter C for copyright), is the symbol used in copyright notices for works other than sound recordings. 17 U.S.C. The use of the symbol is described by the Universal Copyright Co ...
and its implications for art and society.
1973–1975: London and growing fame
Following continual police harassment, P-Orridge and Tutti relocated to London, moving into a squat and obtaining a basement studio in
Hackney which they named the "Death Factory". After a brief correspondence, P-Orridge met American novelist and poet
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...
.
[Metzger, Richard (31 December 2009)]
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: Thee Psychick Bible.
'' Dangerous Minds'' Brion Gysin
Brion Gysin (19 January 1916 – 13 July 1986) was a British-Canadian painter, writer, sound poet, performance artist and inventor of experimental devices.
He is best known for his use of the cut-up technique, alongside his close friend, the ...
would become a major influence upon P-Orridge's ideas and works and was the latter's primary tutor in
spiritual magic.
[P-Orridge, Genesis. "Magick Squares and Future Beats." ''Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult.'' ]The Disinformation Company
The Disinformation Company (abbreviated as Disinfo) was a privately held, limited American publishing company until 2012 when it was sold to Red Wheel/Weiser/Conari. It also owned ''Disinformation Books'', which focused on current affairs title ...
, 2003: 103–118 1973 saw COUM take part in the ''Fluxshoe'' retrospective that toured Britain exhibiting the work of the
Fluxus
Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...
artists; it was organised by David Mayor, who befriended P-Orridge. At that year's
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh F ...
, P-Orridge undertook a
Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
-inspired performance art piece, ''Art Vandals'', at the
Richard Demarco Gallery, engaging guests in unconventional conversation, and spilling their food and drink on the floor. Exhibiting alongside the
Viennese Actionists, P-Orridge came under increasing influence from these Austrian performance artists, adopting their emphasis on using shock tactics to combat conventional morality. P-Orrdige's first film, ''Wundatrek Tours'', was released in September 1973, and documented a day out to Brighton. Throughout the year the artist sent personally designed postcards to mail-art shows across the world.
In January 1974, COUM returned their attention to music, collaborating with the Canadian artist
Clive Robertson to produce ''Marcel Duchamp's Next Work'', which they premiered at an arts festival in the Zwarte Zaal
Royal Conservatory of Ghent
The Royal Conservatory of Ghent (Dutch: Koninklijk Conservatorium Gent) is a royally chartered musical institution. It is now a part of the University College Ghent.
History
The Royal Conservatory of Ghent is a royally chartered musical instituti ...
in
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
, Belgium. COUM's next major work was ''Couming of Age'', performed in March 1974 at the
Oval House
An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas ( projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one o ...
in
Kennington
Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between the ...
,
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the boroughs, in whole or in part, of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond, Southwark, Sut ...
. After the show, they were approached by an audience member,
Peter Christopherson
Peter Martin Christopherson (also known as Sleazy, 27 February 1955 – 25 November 2010) was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, and former member of British design agency Hipgnosis.
He also fou ...
, who shared many of their interests; P-Orridge and Tutti nicknamed him "Sleazy" because of the former's particular interest in the sexual aspects of COUM's work. Christopherson began to aid them using their skills as a photographer and graphic designer, and would first perform with them in their March 1975 work ''Couming of Youth''. In May 1974, COUM issued a manifesto published on an
A3 double-sided sheet titled ''Decoumpositions and Events''.
In April 1974, the
Arts Council of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council ( ...
gave COUM the first half of a £1,500 grant. The money stabilised the group, which now included P-Orridge and Tutti as directors, John Gunni Busck as technical director, and Lelli Maull as musical director. During that year, they made use of various artist-run venues in London, most notably the Art Meeting Place (AMP) in
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
, where they regularly performed during 1974. A number of these works entailed P-Orridge and Tutti exploring the gender balance, including concepts of gender confusion. In one performance at the AWB, which was titled ''Filth'', P-Orridge and Tutti performed sexual acts using a double-ended
dildo
A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for sexual penetration or other sexual activity during masturbation or with sex partners. Dildos can be made from a number of materials and shaped like an erect human penis ...
. COUM were frustrated with the restrictions imposed on them by the Arts Council as a prerequisite for receiving funding; rather than performing at Council-accredited venues, they wanted to perform more spontaneously. In August 1974 they carried out a spontaneous unauthorised piece of performance art in
Brook Green
Brook Green is an affluent London neighbourhood in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It is located approximately west of Charing Cross. It is bordered by Kensington, Holland Park, Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith and Brackenbury Vi ...
,
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...
; during the performance, police arrived and put a stop to the event, deeming it obscene.
In September 1974, COUM were invited to attend the Stadfest in
Rottweil
Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years.
Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,00 ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
, and they proceeded with a travel grant from the
British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
. There, they published two performance art actions in the street, earning them praise from
Bridget Riley
Bridget Louise Riley (born 24 April 1931) is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France.
Early life and education
Riley was born on 24 April 1931 in Norwood, Londo ...
and
Ernst Jandl
Ernst Jandl (; 1 August 1925 – 9 June 2000) was an Austrian writer, poet, and translator. He became known for his experimental lyric, mainly sound poems (''Sprechgedichte'') in the tradition of concrete and visual poetic forms.
Poetry
Inf ...
, both of whom were present. The acclaim that COUM received at Rottweil established the group's reputation as "one of the most innovative performance art groups then on the London art scene", convincing the Arts Council and British Council to take them more seriously and offer them greater support.
In February 1975, P-Orridge gained their first full-time job, working as an assistant editor at
St. James Press
Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007.
The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...
, in which they helped to compile the ''Contemporary Artists'' reference book. The work meant that they had less time to devote to COUM but gained a wide range of contacts in the art world. During that year, COUM embarked on a series of five performance pieces which it termed ''Omissions''; these were performed across Europe. In March 1975, COUM performed ''Couming of Youth'' at the
Melkweg in Amsterdam. Adopting a more violent stance than their previous work – in this reflecting an influence from the Viennese Actionists – the performance involved self-mutilation, Cosey inserting lighted candles into her vagina, P-Orridge being crucified and whipped, and P-Orridge and Cosey having sexual intercourse. At
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
's
Nuffield Festival Nuffield may refer to:
*William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, founder of Oxford-based Morris Motors and philanthropist
*Nuffield, Oxfordshire, a village in Oxfordshire, England and home of William Richard Morris from which he chose his title, Visc ...
in July 1975, COUM performed ''Studio of Lust'', where P-Orridge publicly masturbated and all of the members undressed and adopted sexual poses.
1975–1976: Establishing Throbbing Gristle and the ''Prostitution'' show
COUM were introduced to
Chris Carter in 1975 through their mutual friend John Lacey. Lacey believed that Carter would be interested in COUM as a result of his particular interest in the experimental use of light and sound. Together, Carter, Christopherson, Cosey and P-Orridge founded a musical band, Throbbing Gristle, on 3 September 1975; they had deliberately chosen that date for it was the 36th anniversary of the United Kingdom joining the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. The term "throbbing gristle" was deliberately chosen for it was a Yorkshire slang term for an erect penis. Throbbing Gristle, or TG as it was widely known, was aimed at a wider audience than COUM, thereby aiming to work within popular culture rather than the elite realm of the art scene. COUM and TG were largely treated as distinct entities; the music press ignored COUM and saw TG as experimental
art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ...
, while the arts press ignored TG, viewing COUM as performance artists. Despite their intention of operating within the realms of popular culture, TG never had chart success, and remained a
cult band
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
; their audience was far larger than COUM.
COUM continued to operate alongside TG, and in October 1975 they performed ''Jusquà la balle crystal'' at the Ninth Paris Biennale at the Musée d'art modern. The prestige of being invited to such an event led to the Arts Council awarding them a grant for £1,600, although only the first half of this was ever paid out. COUM's
mail art
Mail art, also known as postal art and correspondence art, is an artistic movement centered on sending small-scale works through the postal service. It initially developed out of what eventually became Ray Johnson's New York Correspondence Scho ...
had taken on an increasingly pornographic dimension, and in November 1975 the police charged P-Orridge with distributing obscene material via in the postal system under the
1953 Post Office Act; this trial was set for February 1976.
They were prosecuted in 1975 for making collages combining postcards of Queen Elizabeth with soft-core porn, but the jail term and fines were suspended on condition they did not continue.
[House D. (4 April 2009)]
Genesis P-Orridge Interview, Part I
an
Part II.
''RocknRollDating''
Their ''Prostitution'' show, in 1976 at the
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the I ...
(ICA) in London, included displays of Tutti's pornographic images from magazines as well as erotic nude photographs;
[ Metzger 2002 p. 150] the show featured a stripper, used
tampon
A tampon is a menstrual product designed to absorb blood and vaginal secretions by insertion into the vagina during menstruation. Unlike a pad, it is placed internally, inside of the vaginal canal. Once inserted correctly, a tampon is held in ...
s in glass,
[ and ]transvestite
Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons. The term is considered outdated in Western ...
guards. Prostitutes, punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
s, and people in costumes were among those hired to mingle with the gallery audience. The show caused debate in Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
about the public funding of such events. In the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
, Scottish Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
MP Sir Nicholas Fairbairn
Sir Nicholas Hardwick Fairbairn, (24 December 1933 – 19 February 1995) was a Scottish politician.
He was the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Kinross and Western Perthshire from October 1974 to 1983, and then for Perth and Kinross ...
demanded an explanation from Arts Minister Harold Lever
Norman Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester, PC (15 January 19146 August 1995) was a British barrister and Labour Party politician.
Early life
He was born in Manchester, the son of a Jewish textile merchant from Lithuania, and was educate ...
and proclaimed P-Orridge and Tutti as "wreckers of civilisation".[Williams, Sheldon. "Genesis P-Orridge". pp. 770–772 in Naylor, Colin & Genesis P-Orridge (editors). ''Contemporary Artists''. Macmillan Press/St Martin's Press, 1977. ] Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was n ...
was not slow to pick up the story. The reviews were cut up, framed, and put on display for the remainder of the exhibition.[ This was also reported in newspapers, so cut-ups about the cut-ups were also put on display.][ COUM was found so offensive that it lost its government grant, and went on to become the private company ]Industrial Records
Industrial Records is a record label established in 1976 by industrial music and visual arts group Throbbing Gristle. The group created the label primarily for self-releases but also signed several other groups and artists. The label gave a ...
. Toward the end of COUM, performances would often consist of only P-Orridge, Cosey and Sleazy, the core group who went on to form 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. They are widely regarded as pioneers of industrial music. Evol ...
.
Throbbing Gristle
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. They are widely regarded as pioneers of industrial music. Evol ...
was formed in late 1975 as a four-piece band, consisting of P-Orridge, 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 ...
, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson
Peter Martin Christopherson (also known as Sleazy, 27 February 1955 – 25 November 2010) was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, and former member of British design agency Hipgnosis.
He also found ...
and Chris Carter.[ The name "Throbbing Gristle" was adopted after a Northern English slang term for an erect penis. P-Orridge's involvement in Throbbing Gristle led to the artist being regularly cited as the "Godfather of ]Industrial Music
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 "initial ...
", or in some later sources, "godparent".
The first Throbbing Gristle performance was held at the Air Gallery in London in July 1976.[ At that point, Throbbing Gristle's headquarters was located at 10 Martello Street, Hackney, East London, the address of an artist collective. P-Orridge and Tutti's living and work space was the postal address of ]Industrial Records
Industrial Records is a record label established in 1976 by industrial music and visual arts group Throbbing Gristle. The group created the label primarily for self-releases but also signed several other groups and artists. The label gave a ...
(IR). Throbbing Gristle released "Discipline
Discipline refers to rule following behavior, to regulate, order, control and authority. It may also refer to punishment. Discipline is used to create habits, routines, and automatic mechanisms such as blind obedience. It may be inflicted on ot ...
" in 1980. TG came to be identified as the founders of industrial music
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 "initial ...
, although at the same time the academic Drew Daniel asserted that as a result of its eclecticism, their music resists clear analysis.
Throbbing Gristle's best-selling single was " Zyklon B Zombie" (1978) with Francky Vincent
Franck Joseph "Francky" Vincent (born April 18, 1956) is a French singer, songwriter, record producer, painter, talent manager and musician from Guadeloupe.
Biography
Childhood
Francky Vincent was born in Pointe-à-Pitre April 18, 1956, in Guad ...
, the title being a reference to the Zyklon B
Zyklon B (; translated Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It consisted of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), as well as a cautionary eye irritant and one of several adsorbents such ...
poison gas used at Auschwitz extermination camp. With their album '' 20 Jazz Funk Greats'' they attempted to move away from their industrial sound, and produced songs in a variety of different musical genres. P-Orridge received a number of threatening phone calls, proceeding to record them and use them as a backing track for the TG song "Death Threats".
The final IR release was called '' Nothing Here Now But the Recordings'', a best-of album taken from the archives of William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...
, who provided P-Orridge and Christopherson with access to his reel-to-reel tape archive.
The final Throbbing Gristle live event, ''Mission of Dead Souls
''Mission of Dead Souls'' is a recording of the final performance of Throbbing Gristle before their initial breakup. The concert took place at the Kezar Pavilion in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on the evening of May 29th, 1981.
The albu ...
'', occurred in May 1981 at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco. Shortly after the San Francisco event, P-Orridge and Paula Brooking were married.
During this period, P-Orridge befriended an English musician named David Bunting; P-Orridge already knew another man named David, so coined the moniker David Tibet
David Tibet (born David Michael Bunting; 5 March 1960) is a British poet and artist who founded the music group Current 93, of which he is the only full-time member.
He was given the name "Tibet" by Genesis P-Orridge, and in January 2005 he ...
, which Bunting adopted as a stage name. Through an introduction provided by Burroughs, P-Orridge met Brion Gysin
Brion Gysin (19 January 1916 – 13 July 1986) was a British-Canadian painter, writer, sound poet, performance artist and inventor of experimental devices.
He is best known for his use of the cut-up technique, alongside his close friend, the ...
in Paris, probably in 1980, coming to be deeply influenced by Gysin's cut-up method
The cut-up technique (or ''découpé'' in French) is an aleatory literary technique in which a written text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. The concept can be traced to the Dadaists of the 1920s, but it was developed and popularize ...
; P-Orridge understood this to be a revolutionary method of escaping current patterns of thought and developing something new.
Psychic TV and Thee Temple Ov Psychic Youth
Following the break-up of Throbbing Gristle, in 1981 P-Orridge founded a band with Peter Christopherson
Peter Martin Christopherson (also known as Sleazy, 27 February 1955 – 25 November 2010) was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, and former member of British design agency Hipgnosis.
He also fou ...
and Alex Fergusson that they named Psychic TV. Involved in video art, they also performed psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music. The decision to name the band "Psychic TV" stemmed from P-Orridge's belief that while mainstream television was a form of mass indoctrination and mind control, it could be used as an "esoterrorist" form of magick to combat the establishment's control. Historian Dave Evans described Psychic TV as "a band dedicated to musical eclecticism and magical experiment, their performances being in part ritual (ab)use of sound samples, the creation of 'auditory magical sigils' and the destruction of consensus language in order to find meaning".
The band's first song, "Just Drifting", was based on a poem by P-Orridge.[P-Orridge, Genesis, Douglas Rushkoff (foreword), and Carl Abrahamsson (introduction). ''Painful but Fabulous: The Life and Art of Genesis P-Orridge''. Soft Skull Press, 2002. ] For their first album, ''Force the Hand of Chance'' (1982), P-Orridge used a kangling
''Kangling'' (), literally translated as "leg" (''kang'') "flute" (''ling''), is the Tibetan name for a trumpet or horn made out of a human tibia or femur, used in Tibetan Buddhism for various chöd rituals as well as funerals performed by a ch ...
, or Tibetan trumpet made out of a human thigh-bone; the instrument had been introduced to P-Orridge by David Tibet
David Tibet (born David Michael Bunting; 5 March 1960) is a British poet and artist who founded the music group Current 93, of which he is the only full-time member.
He was given the name "Tibet" by Genesis P-Orridge, and in January 2005 he ...
, and attracted attention to their music. P-Orridge had become acquainted with Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan
The Church of Satan is a religious organization dedicated to the religion of LaVeyan Satanism as codified in '' The Satanic Bible''. The Church of Satan was established at the Black House in San Francisco, California, on Walpurgisnacht, A ...
and ideologue of LaVeyan Satanism
LaVeyan Satanism is a nontheistic religion founded in 1966 by the American occultist and author Anton Szandor LaVey. Scholars of religion have classified it as a new religious movement and a form of Western esotericism.
LaVey established his m ...
, with LaVey making an appearance on the Psychic TV song "Joy", in which he recites the Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
backwards. From 1988, the band came under the increasing influence of the acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthes ...
genre of dance music, and were responsible for helping the popularisation of acid house music in Europe.
Psychic TV made its debut in 1982 at an event organised by P-Orridge, David Dawson, and Roger Ely, called ''The Final Academy''. It was a 4-day multimedia celebratory rally held in Manchester and at the Ritzy Cinema
The Ritzy is a cinema in Brixton, London, England. It is a Grade II listed building. It is managed by Picturehouse Cinemas, who were bought by Cineworld in 2012.
The cinema opened on 11 March 1911 as "the Electric Pavilion". It was built by E.C ...
in Brixton, South London. It brought performers and audience together with literature, performance, film and music. PTV, Cabaret Voltaire, 23 Skidoo, Z'EV
Z'EV (born Stefan Joel Weisser, February 8, 1951 – December 16, 2017) was an American poet, percussionist, and sound artist. After studying various world music traditions at CalArts, he began creating his own percussion sounds out of indust ...
, John Giorno, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin
Brion Gysin (19 January 1916 – 13 July 1986) was a British-Canadian painter, writer, sound poet, performance artist and inventor of experimental devices.
He is best known for his use of the cut-up technique, alongside his close friend, the ...
, Terry Wilson, Jeff Nuttall
Jeffrey Addison Nuttall (8 July 1933 – 4 January 2004) was an English poet, publisher, actor, painter, sculptor, jazz trumpeter, anarchist and social commentator who was a key part of the British 1960s counter-culture. He was the brother of l ...
, and the Last Few Days participated to honour the cut-up techniques and theories of William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...
, Ian Sommerville, Antony Balch
Antony Balch (10 September 1937 – 6 April 1980) was an English film director and distributor, best known for his screen collaborations with Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs in the 1960s and for the 1970s horror film, '' Horror Hospit ...
and Gysin. Video projection and early sampling were used here, as well as whispered utterances by P-Orridge reprocessed as a soundtrack to Gysin's Dreammachine by the Hafler Trio
The Hafler Trio is an English conceptual, performance and sound art collaborative between Andrew M. McKenzie, the only permanent member, and guest sound artists, performers, and/or musicians. The project has seen the release of numerous album ...
. In the mid-1980s, Psychic TV aimed to release a live album on the 23rd of each month for 23 months[ in recognition of the 23 enigma. The group didn't reach its goal but still managed fourteen albums in eighteen months, thus earning them an entry in the ]Guinness Book of World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
.[ Following the culmination of Psychic TV but before embarking on Thee Majesty, P-Orridge and several Psychic TV musicians formed Splinter Test, a name adopted from one of P-Orridge's essays on sampling.
In 1981, P-Orridge also founded a loosely organised network of occultists named ]Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth
Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, abbreviated as TOPY, was a British magical organization, fellowship and chaos magic network founded in 1981 by Genesis P-Orridge, lead member of multimedia group Psychic TV. The network, including later members of ...
(TOPY), with the aid of John Balance
Geoffrey Nigel Laurence Rushton (16 February 1962 – 13 November 2004), better known under the pseudonyms John Balance or the later variation Jhonn Balance, was an English musician, occultist, artist and poet.
He was best known as a co-found ...
, Tibet, and a number of members of the Process Church of the Final Judgement
The Process Church of the Final Judgment, also known as the Process Church, was a British religious group established in 1966 and disestablished in the 1970s. Its founders were the English couple Mary Ann MacLean and Robert de Grimston, who spre ...
, a group which had exerted an influence on P-Orridge's occult thought. TOPY was conceived not as an occult order of teaching, but a forum to facilitate discussions on occult ideas by like-minded people, and from its beginnings was understood by its founders to be a successor to the late 19th and early 20th century Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), especially as the latter had been run under Crowley's leadership. Evans described TOPY as "a 'fusion' organisation, creating a crossover of punk/experimental music with chaos magic
Chaos magic, also spelled chaos magick, is a modern tradition of magic. It initially emerged in England in the 1970s as part of the wider neo-pagan and magical subculture.
Drawing heavily from the occult beliefs of artist Austin Osman Spare, ...
al thinking and practice", making particular use of the sigilisation practices of occult artist Austin Osman Spare
Austin Osman Spare (30 December 1886 – 15 May 1956) was an English artist and occultist who worked as both a draughtsman and a painter. Influenced by symbolism and art nouveau his art was known for its clear use of line, and its depiction of ...
. Journalist Gavin Baddeley described TOPY as "perhaps the most influential new occult order of the 1980s". P-Orridge had never wanted to be seen as the leader of an occult order, although many of those involved in TOPY were frustrated that outsiders regularly described P-Orridge as the group's leader. Accordingly, P-Orridge separated from TOPY in 1991, although it continued as a fan community after the departure.
Having been encouraged by groups involved in propagating the moral panic
A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational one, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", us ...
about alleged Satanic ritual abuse
The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in the United States in th ...
, the Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
1992 documentary show '' Dispatches'' claimed to have discovered videotapes depicting P-Orridge sexually abusing children in a ritual setting. Police from the Obscene Publications Squad
The Paedophile Unit is a branch of the Metropolitan Police Service's Child Abuse Investigation Command, based at Scotland Yard in London, England. It operates against the manufacture and distribution of child pornography, online child grooming, a ...
subsequently raided P-Orridge's home, and confiscated several tonnes of art work. At the time, P-Orridge was in Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
undertaking famine relief work; fearing arrest and loss of child custody upon return to the UK, P-Orridge stayed out of the country for several years, settling in the United States. P-Orridge believed that the negative press and police attention were the result of a campaign organised by a Christian group. It was subsequently revealed that the footage obtained did not depict child abuse. Instead, it was a video artwork titled ''First Transmissions'' that had been made in the early 1980s, partially funded by Channel 4 itself; the footage depicted sex-magic rites between adults, bloodletting
Bloodletting (or blood-letting) is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily f ...
performances, and scenes of the filmmaker Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist.
Biography
Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...
reading passages from the work of Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
. Embarrassed by these revelations, Channel 4 retracted its initial accusations.
In 2016, the film director Jacqueline Castel Jacqueline Castel is an American-born French-Canadian film director, screenwriter, and curator based in New York City. Castel's work has screened at the Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest, the Sitges Film Festival, and the International Fi ...
began work on the feature-length documentary titled ''A Message from the Temple'', about Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth and P-Orridge.
Later life
1993–2009: The Pandrogeny Project
At 45 years of age P-Orridge met Lady Jaye (née Jacqueline Breyer) in a BDSM dungeon in New York City and would eventually marry for a second time. Jaye worked as a nurse during the daytime, providing care for children with terminal illnesses and disabilities. In the evenings, Lady Jaye worked as a dominatrix
A dominatrix (; ) or femdom is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are known for inflic ...
at the dungeon, and Genesis was a visiting customer. The night they met, the two visited Paddles, an underground BDSM club in Manhattan. The two became a couple from that point forward.
In January 1993, P-Orridge and Jaye moved to Ridgewood, Queens, in New York City. Here, they embarked on the "Pandrogeny Project"; influenced by the cut-up technique, the duo underwent body modification to resemble one another, thus coming to identify themselves as a single pandrogynous being named "Breyer P-Orridge". In doing so, the pair spent $200,000 on surgical alteration, receiving breast implants, cheek and chin implants, lip plumping, eye and nose jobs, tattooing, and hormone therapy, while also adopting gender neutral and alternating pronouns. With this project, P-Orridge's intent was to express a belief that the self is pure consciousness trapped within the DNA-governed body. The couple adopted the term "pandrogyne" because – in their words – "we wanted a word without any history or any connections with things – a word with its own story and its own information".
They also stated that:
During this era, a book was published of P-Orridge's writings, poems, and observations, called ''Ooh, You Are Awful ... But I Like You!''. In the mid-1990s, P-Orridge collaborated with different people in music, including Pigface
Pigface is an American industrial rock supergroup formed in 1990 by Martin Atkins and William Rieflin.
History
Pigface was formed from Ministry's ''The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste'' tour, which produced the '' In Case You Didn't Feel ...
, Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver in 1982. The group is among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side-project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompto ...
, and Download
In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...
. P-Orridge also performed with Nik Turner
Nicholas Robert Turner (26 August 1940 – 10 November 2022) was an English musician, best known as a member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner played saxophone and flute, as well as being a vocalist and composer. While with Hawkwind, T ...
and other former members of Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...
.
In June 1998, P-Orridge won a $1.5 million lawsuit against producer Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.
Rubin helped popula ...
and his American Recordings label for injuries sustained while trying to escape a fire at Rubin's home in April 1995. According to P-Orridge's attorney, David D. Stein, P-Orridge was staying at Rubin's home, as a guest of Love and Rockets, when the fire broke out. P-Orridge tried to escape the house by crawling through a second-storey window and fell onto concrete stairs. P-Orridge suffered a broken wrist, broken ribs, and a pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain p ...
, as well as a shattered left elbow that, according to Stein, prevented P-Orridge from playing bass or keyboards. They remained in hospital for a total of ten days. The jury found that the liability for the fire rested with Rubin and American Recordings, and awarded P-Orridge US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1,572,000 in compensation.
In 1999, P-Orridge performed with the briefly reunited late-1980s version of Psychic TV for an event at London's Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...
, called ''Time's Up''. The MC for the event, via pre-recorded video, was Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; – ) was an English raconteur, whose work in the public eye included a memoir of his life and various media appearances. Before becoming well-known, he was an artist's model, hence the title of ...
, it was recorded and released as a DVD. '' Time's Up'' is also the title of the first CD by Thee Majesty
Thee Majesty was a British industrial music group.
History
In 1998, Genesis P-Orridge was ending their association with the name Psychic TV, the band they created after the termination of Throbbing Gristle. At the same time, they began conce ...
, P-Orridge's spoken-word project with "noise" guitarist, Bryin Dall.
In December 2003, P-Orridge, using the alias ''Djinn'', unveiled PTV3, a new act drawing upon the early "Hyperdelic" work of Psychic TV with media theorist Douglas Rushkoff
Douglas Mark Rushkoff (born February 18, 1961) is an American media theorist, writer, columnist, lecturer, graphic novelist, and documentarian. He is best known for his association with the early cyberpunk culture and his advocacy of open sourc ...
among its members. On 16 May 2004, all four former members of Throbbing Gristle performed at the London Astoria
The London Astoria was a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England.
Originally a warehouse during the 1920s, the building became a cinema and ballroom. It was converted for use as a theatre in the 1970s. After further developme ...
for the first time in 23 years.
P-Orridge appeared in the 1998 film and 2000 book versions of '' Modulations'', as well as appearing in the 1999 film ''Better Living Through Circuitry
''Better Living Through Circuitry'' is a 1999 documentary directed by Jon Reiss about the electronic dance music cultural scene of the 1990s. This is considered to be the first full-length documentary film that goes behind the electronic danc ...
'', the 2004 film '' DiG!'', Bruce LaBruce
Bruce LaBruce (born January 3, 1964) is a Canadian artist, writer, filmmaker, photographer, and underground director based in Toronto.
Life and career
LaBruce was born in Tiverton, Ontario. He has claimed both Justin Stewart and Bryan Bruce as ...
's 2004 film ''The Raspberry Reich
''The Raspberry Reich'' is a 2004 film by director Bruce LaBruce which explores what LaBruce calls " terrorist chic", cult dynamics, and the "innate radical potential of homosexual expression". It is about a contemporary terrorist group who set ou ...
'', the 2006 documentary '' Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback'', in Nik Sheehan's 2007 feature documentary on the Dreamachine
The Dreamachine (a contraction of Dream Machine) is a stroboscopic flickering light art device that produces eidetic visual stimuli. Artist Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs' "systems adviser" Ian Sommerville created the Dreamachine after r ...
entitled ''FLicKeR'', the 2010 documentary '' William S. Burroughs: A Man Within'', and the 2011 film '' The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye''.
In January 2006, the new PTV album was announced on P-Orridge's website. '' Hell Is Invisible... Heaven Is Her/e'' was recorded in NYC and features Nick Zinner
Nicholas Joseph Zinner (born December 8, 1974) is an American guitarist for the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs and a record producer. Zinner is an accomplished photographer.
Musical career
Before forming the Yeah Yeahs Yeahs with Karen O and ...
(Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complem ...
) and Gibby Haynes
Gibson Jerome Haynes (born September 30, 1957) is an American musician, radio personality, painter, author and the lead singer of the band Butthole Surfers.
Early life and career
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Gibby Haynes is the son of actor ...
(Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers are an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been ...
) guesting on some tracks. To inaugurate the release of ''Hell Is Invisible ... Heaven Is Her/e'', PTV3 hosted a five night residency in September 2006 at Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bedford–Stuyvesant to the s ...
, New York. '' Mr. Alien Brain Vs. the Skinwalkers'' was released on Sweet Nothing Records on 8 December 2008.
On 9 October 2007, Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge died. The cause of death was heart arrhythmia
Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, heart arrhythmias, or dysrhythmias, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats per minute in adults ...
, a heart condition that was possibly related to stomach cancer. Psychic TV cancelled its North American tour dates in the aftermath of Lady Jaye's death. A memorial was held at the Participant Inc. Gallery in New York City on 8 March 2008 . As of January 2013, P-Orridge's official website said:
Thus, P-Orridge continued the Pandrogyne Project, having further surgical operations to alter their body and using "we" when in reference to themselves; to a reporter P-Orridge admitted that without Lady Jaye:
From this point, P-Orridge began referring to themselves in the plural in order to keep Breyer's memory alive.
In 2013, Dale Eisinger of ''Complex'' ranked the Pandrogeny project the greatest work of performance art ever.
2009–2020: Semi-retirement, illness and death
In September 2009, a retrospective of P-Orridge's collages, entitled "30 Years of Being Cut Up", opened at Invisible-Exports
Invisible-Exports is a contemporary art Art museum, gallery located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. It is co-owned and directed by Risa Needleman and Benjamin Tischer and recognized for housing provocative and controversial exhibit ...
.
On 4 November 2009 it was announced that P-Orridge would retire from touring in any and all bands (including Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV) to concentrate on art, writing and music. In June 2010, P-Orridge sold the Ridgewood property, holding a garage sale in the basement of a local art gallery to sell off a range of personal items, in addition to an array of dildo
A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for sexual penetration or other sexual activity during masturbation or with sex partners. Dildos can be made from a number of materials and shaped like an erect human penis ...
s. This accomplished, P-Orridge moved to a one-bedroom apartment in New York's Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
, and continued producing art in this home.
P-Orridge visited Australia for the first (and only) time in 2012, performing two live shows with Psychic TV; one as part of the Adelaide Festival, and another secret show in Melbourne following a screening of the documentary film '' The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye''. P-Orridge returned to regular touring with Psychic TV in 2016, in support of the release of their album ''Alienist
Alienism is an obsolete term for psychiatry
Psychiatry is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cogn ...
''. The tour lasted from mid-September to early December, with concerts in Greece, Israel, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
In August 2015, P-Orridge gained publicity for an interview critical of Caitlyn Jenner's self-description as a "spokesperson" for the transgender community, stating that Jenner was "clueless" and did not know what life was like for the majority of transgender people around the world. In mid-2016, P-Orridge's artwork was the subject of an exhibition, "Try to Altar Everything", at the Rubin Museum of Art
The Rubin Museum of Art, also known as the Rubin Museum is a museum dedicated to the collection, display, and preservation of the art and cultures of the Himalayas, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and other regions within Eurasia, with a per ...
in New York City. The exhibition contained paintings, sculptures, and installations inspired by the Hindu mythology
Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and reg ...
that P-Orridge had encountered in Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
. In June 2016, P-Orridge was featured as a model in a campaign by the designer Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was d ...
, who described P-Orridge as "a sort of come-to-life definition of realness and authenticity".
P-Orridge was diagnosed with chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia
Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) is a type of leukemia, which are cancers of the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. In adults, blood cells are formed in the bone marrow, by a process that is known as haematopoiesis. In CMML, there are in ...
in October 2017, and died in New York City on 14 March 2020, aged 70. P-Orridge's memoir, ''Nonbinary,'' was published a year later, in June 2021, a project P-Orridge had been working on in collaboration with writer Tim Mohr
Tim Mohr is a New York-based translator, writer, and editor.
Biography
Mohr's narrative history of East German punk rock and the role the movement played in bringing down the Berlin Wall and in forming the culture of 21st century Berlin was p ...
for several years, according to the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''.
Work
Influenced by concepts from both Western esotericism
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...
and contemporary Paganism
Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...
, P-Orridge's work is designed to confront the audience with ways of thinking alien to the mainstream values of Western society. The religious studies scholar Christopher Partridge
Christopher Hugh Partridge (born 1961) is an author, editor, professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ...
characterised P-Orridge's work as being a "confluence of pornography, violence, death, degradation, the confrontation of taboo subjects, noise and Paganism", deliberately courting controversy and expressing an anti-establishment stance. Partridge suggested that this intent to shock emerged both out of a serious attempt to highlight the mechanisms of social control in Western society and also out of "a juvenile delight gained from extreme behaviour and the offence caused".
P-Orridge's work was particularly influenced by the early 20th-century English artist and occultist Austin Osman Spare
Austin Osman Spare (30 December 1886 – 15 May 1956) was an English artist and occultist who worked as both a draughtsman and a painter. Influenced by symbolism and art nouveau his art was known for its clear use of line, and its depiction of ...
, who shared their disdain for mainstream morality and fascination with sexuality and the human body. P-Orridge adopted Spare's views on sigils
A sigil () is a type of symbol used in magic. The term has usually referred to a pictorial signature of a deity or spirit. In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitione ...
, coming to see their own work as a form of sigil magic. Spare's sigilisation process entailed writing down one's desires, before crossing out any letters that are repeated and then combining the remaining letters into an abstract design, or sigil; the magician must then focus on that sigil and mentally absorb it, and – according to Spare's claims – psychic energies operating on the subconscious ensure that the original desire is manifested in reality. P-Orridge adopted this theory, believing that their work operates according to its principles.
A further element of P-Orridge's work is their common use of idiosyncratic grammar and spelling, such as "Thee" in place of "the", "ov" in place of "of" and (especially in early writings) "butter" in place of "but". The purpose of this is to challenge thought and established ways of reading.
Personal life
P-Orridge had two daughters, Caresse and Genesse, with former wife Paula P-Orridge
Paula P-Orridge (born Paula Jean Brooking, 23 February 1963), also known as Alaura O'Dell, is an English musician, writer, and entrepreneur.
Career
P-Orridge's musical career began in 1979 when she met musician and artist Genesis P-Orridge while ...
(born Paula Brooking). An interview with Genesis and Paula P-Orridge appeared in the book '' RE/Search: Modern Primitives'' in 1989, and the Icelandic publication ''Eintak'' in 1994.
On a religious or spiritual level, Christopher Partridge described P-Orridge as representing "a particularly interesting, influential and subversive example of contemporary paganism". Asserting that their "industrial paganism" was different from most forms of contemporary paganism, Partridge described it as "confrontational, subversive, experimental and, to a large extent, dystopian", with it serving as "an ideological tool" with which to analyse society "from its underbelly; an immersion in the dark side; the subversion of Christian hegemony, conservative politics and what nowadays might be described as neoliberalism
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
". P-Orridge was devoted to the deity Eshu Elegguá, an entity from the Afro-Caribbean syncretic religion of Santería
Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between the tradit ...
. P-Orridge also stated disbelief in the literal existence of gods
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...
, deeming such entities to instead be "early attempts at psychology, trying to understand the light and dark side of human nature".
P-Orridge vociferously criticised contemporary Christianity, describing it as "an incredibly sick social pseudo-religion", and arguing that it was based upon the tenet of "Be good now, agree, or else we will punish you forever and ever when you're dead. And we may punish you while you're alive ..." P-Orridge maintained that such an attitude was established in Christianity by St. Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
and the early Roman Catholic Church, and that it differed from the "ecstatic mysticism of the original Christianity, the Gnostic Christianity
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized per ...
".
In her memoir, ''Art Sex Music'', bandmate and former significant other Cosey Fanni Tutti claimed P-Orridge had been abusive during their relationship. P-Orridge denied the allegations.
Reception and legacy
According to ''New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' magazine, P-Orridge became "an icon of the London avant-garde" in 1976. Writing for ''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' in 2016, the reporter Hermione Hoby
Hermione Hoby is a British author, journalist, and cultural critic. She is the author of the 2018 novel ''Neon in Daylight''.
Early and personal life
Hoby was born and raised in South London. She is named for the character Hermione from Shakespe ...
described P-Orridge as a "cult figure" considered to be "a treasure of the avant-garde by global art institutions".
The quote that P-Orridge attributed to their mentor, "I feel your pain, I feel your shame, but you're not to blame", was used as the catchphrase for the Shirley Ghostman psychic clairvoyant character by comedian Marc Wootton
Marc James Wootton (born 8 February 1975) is an English actor, comedian and writer, best known for his role as Mr Poppy in the ''Nativity!'' film series. Wootton has also appeared in ''High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman'', ''La La Land'', ''Nig ...
.
P-Orridge's ironic cult of TOPY has been criticized as being a front for abuses of power and developing an actual cult of personality
A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an id ...
.
Musician Electrosexual
Electrosexual is a French electronic musician, composer, performer, record producer and music video director living in Berlin.
Career
Electrosexual's passion for early electronic engines and primitive sounds from analog synthesizers inspired hi ...
and Syrian German industrial/techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
artist Hanin Elias
Hanin Elias (born 31 May 1972) is a Syrian German industrial/techno artist. She was a member of Atari Teenage Riot and is now a solo artist.
After Atari Teenage Riot's non-definitive break in 2000, and the subsequent death of Carl Crack fro ...
, founding member of Atari Teenage Riot
Atari Teenage Riot (ATR) is a German band formed in Berlin in 1992. Highly political, they fuse left-wing, anarchist and anti-fascist views with punk vocals and a techno sound called digital hardcore, which is a term band member Alec Empire use ...
, recorded a cover version o
''Hot on the Heels of Love''
with all proceeds from the sales of both the CD and digital versions going to aid Genesis P-Orridge and their battle against leukemia.
Musician Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...
cites P-Orridge as a major inspiration behind his work.
In 2021, Polish writer Jacek Szafranowicz
Jacek is a Polish given name of Greek origin related Hyacinth, through the archaic form of ''Jacenty''. Its closely related equivalents are: Jacinto (Spanish and Portuguese), Giacinto (Italian), Jácint ( Hungarian) and Jacint (Catalan, shortene ...
wrote an eulogy of P-Orridge, describing their passing as a "huge loss", also citing them as an important influence on his approach to writing.
Discography
References
Notes
Footnotes
Sources
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External links
* – official site
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Breyer P-Orridge
via InvisibleExports gallery
Genesis P. Orridge
interview on RocknRollDating
Genesis P. Orridge
interview on the podcast Love + Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porridge, Genesis
1950 births
2020 deaths
Deaths from leukemia
English industrial musicians
English expatriates in the United States
English electronic musicians
English experimental musicians
English occultists
English contemporary artists
Chaos magicians
LGBT people from England
Non-binary musicians
English multi-instrumentalists
Musicians from Manchester
People from Rusholme
People educated at Solihull School
Pigface members
People educated at Stockport Grammar School
Squatters
English modern pagans
Psychic TV members
Throbbing Gristle members
People from Ridgewood, Queens
Critics of Christianity
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
People from the Lower East Side
20th-century LGBT people
Non-binary writers