''The Young Gods'' is the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by the Swiss

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten a ...

band

The Young Gods The Young Gods are a Swiss industrial rock band from Fribourg, formed in 1985. The original lineup of the band featured singer Franz Treichler, sampler player Cesare Pizzi and drummer Frank Bagnoud. For most of their history, the band maintain ...

, released in 1987 by Play It Again Sam, Organik and

Wax Trax! Records Wax Trax! Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago. It began as a record shop in Denver, Colorado, opened by life partners Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, who sold the store in 1978 and moved to Chicago. In November of that y ...

. The album employs a

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

-based approach to

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

: the tracks are composed from samples from

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

guitar riffs and classical compositions. ''The Young Gods'' was produced by

Roli Mosimann Roli Mosimann is a drummer, electronic musician and record producer who has worked in genres ranging from industrial to pop. Originally from Switzerland, Mosimann first came to attention with the New York City no wave band Swans and later col ...

, who went on to become a frequent collaborator of the band. It is the band's only record to feature their original drummer, Frank Bagnoud. ''The Young Gods'' met with a critical acclaim, with a particular interest from the British music press: it was named as the "Album of the Year" by ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

''. The album peaked at number 14 on

UK Independent Albums Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

, while its sole single, " Did You Miss Me?," charted on the

UK Independent Singles Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

Background and recording

The Young Gods formed in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

in 1985, after

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

-native guitarist

Franz Treichler Francisco José Conceição Leitão Treichler (born 14 November 1961), better known as Franz Treichler, is a Swiss singer, songwriter, musician, composer and record producer. He is best known as the vocalist and sole consistent member of the Swiss ...

decided to assemble a band for his

sound collage In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage. This is often done throug ...

compositions. The band started rehearsing and performing with the inclusion of sampler player Cesare Pizzi and drummer Frank Bagnoud. After a series of early gigs, the trio signed to the Swiss label Organik, which was a subsidiary of

RecRec Music RecRec Music was a Swiss independent record label created in 1983 by Daniel Waldner. The label was modeled on, and affiliated to, the British independent record label Recommended Records, but remained financially independent. The label went ba ...

. Their self-financed debut single, "Envoyé!," was released in 1986 to positive reviews and publicity. It was named as "the Single of the Week" by ''

''; the band soon started touring in Europe and the United Kingdom. The success of the single won the band a recording deal with the Belgian label Play It Again Sam. The band soon started recording their debut album with

. Treichler had previously met with Mosimann during the latter's tenure as the drummer of

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

. The album was recorded at the Artag Studio in Zurich, Switzerland. According to Treichler, Mosimann was heavily involved in the songwriting and arrangement process.

Music and lyrics

On ''The Young Gods'', the band used the sampler as a compositional tool: the tracks are constructed from classical and rock/

guitar samples. On the band's arrangements, David Stubbs of

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...

wrote: "They used artifice and synthesis, mechanically retrieving the sounds of the dead rock (and classical) past, but forging them in such a way as to create something bold, grandiose and absolutely new under the sun." Treichler's vocals were described as "leering" and "guttural." The tracks often deviate from the standard

verse–chorus form Verse–chorus form is a musical form going back to the 1840s, in such songs as "Oh! Susanna", "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze", and many others. It became passé in the early 1900s, with advent of the AABA (with verse) form in the Tin ...

. The band have described their music as "new sonic architecture." The track "Nous de la lune" features a

martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

beat, tolling bells, and "a vomiting, bass growl" by Treichler. "Jusqu'au About" was characterized by "exhaust fume sputters of revving guitar," while the track "A ciel ouvert" features "Treichler's melodramatic,

pterodactyl Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to 6 ...

-like screams." "Did You Miss Me?," a cover of

Gary Glitter Paul Francis Gadd (born 8 May 1944), best known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is an English former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He achieved success during the glam rock era of the 1970s and 1980s, and his career ended after he w ...

's "

Hello, Hello, I'm Back Again "Hello, Hello, I'm Back Again" is a song by English glam rock singer Gary Glitter, written by Glitter with Mike Leander and produced by Mike Leander. The title of the song is only sung twice and as a result other more frequent sung lines have ...

," was constructed from string samples and was compared to the works of

Laibach Laibach () is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with the industrial, martial, and neo-classical genres. Formed in the mining town of Trbovlje (at the time in Yugoslavia) in 1980, Laibach represents the musical wing of the Neue ...

. The track features an audience sample from a

Yello Yello is a Swiss electronic music band, which formed in Zürich in 1979. For most of the band's history, Yello has been a duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank; founding member Carlos Perón left in 1983. Their sound is often charac ...

live album. "Jimmy" was described as a "furious

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 ...

" track. The tracks "Percussione" and "Feu" are driven by "primitive, muscle-powered percussion" and "a looped riff", respectively. "Envoyé!," featured on the CD version, consists of a "

motorik Motorik is the 4/4 beat often used by, and heavily associated with, krautrock bands. Coined by music journalists, the term is German for "motor skill". The motorik beat was pioneered by Jaki Liebezeit, drummer with German experimental rock band ...

percussion, gunshots, an abbreviated

hair metal Hair is a protein filament that grows from hair follicle, follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick ter ...

riff;" the track was likened to "

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 ...

played by a speed-metal band." "Comme si était la dernière fois," another CD bonus track, features a slowed down guitar riff from

The Ruts The Ruts (later known as Ruts DC) are an English reggae-influenced punk rock band, notable for the 1979 UK top 10 hit single "Babylon's Burning", and an earlier single "In a Rut", which was not a hit but was highly regarded and regularly pla ...

. The lyrics on ''The Young Gods'' are sung in French, except for "Did You Miss Me?" and "The Irrtum Boys."

Release and reception

''The Young Gods'' was released in April 1987 on Play It Again Sam and Organik.

handled the North American release. The record received a critical success in the United Kingdom and peaked at number 14 on

. The band regularly relocated to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

for the accompanying tour.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic Ned Raggett wrote: "Even if the uniqueness of the Young Gods' sample-based compositional and playing method of heavy rock wasn't a question, the band's debut would still have caught many a discerning ear." Raggett further added: "While not consistently strong throughout, this self-titled effort has far more hits than misses to its overall credit." Music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

noted the tracks "Feu" and "Did You Miss Me" as notable cuts from the record.

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...

of ''Melody Maker'' praised the record, stating that the record "looks like the most creative record released this year." Reynolds further stated that the band "takes sampling beyond the

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

functionalism which limits hip hop. Where most pop is linear, horizontal, The Young Gods open up space along the vertical." ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' wrote: "Bombastic would be a gross understatement, but when ability matches ambition, ''The Young Gods'' has a uniquely menacing majesty." The album was chosen as the "Album of the Year" by ''Melody Maker'' in 1987. It was also included on ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' magazine's lists of "Albums of the Year" and "The Top 80 Albums from the '80s" in 1987 and 1989, respectively. In 2010, ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' featured the record on its list of essential

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine In ...

albums.

Track listing

;Notes

Personnel

Adapted from ''The Young Gods'' liner notes. ;The Young Gods * Frank Bagnoud –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Cesare Pizzi – sampler *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

;Production and additional personnel * Voco Fauxpas – assistant engineer * Jean-Marc Giossi –

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(A5) * The Young Gods –

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

Chart positions

Release history

References

External links

*
''The Young Gods''
at

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young Gods, The 1987 debut albums Albums produced by Roli Mosimann The Young Gods albums Interscope Records albums Wax Trax! Records albums French-language albums PIAS Recordings albums