DivineDemento

From the sonic terrorism of Throbbing Gristle, through to the playful experimentation of modern acts such as SOPHIE, industrial music has formed a core aspect of the queer musical landscape. Through studying its history, we can see how this most challenging of genres has reflected the lives of queer people perhaps better than any other.  When performance art collective COUM Transmissions unveiled their Prostitution exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1976, the resulting furore was almost inevitable. The show – which included artefacts ranging from used tampons to double ended dildos smeared with blood – led to Conservative MP Nicholas Fairbairn denouncing the troupe, and especially their sole female member Cosey Fanni Tutti, as ‘wreckers of civilization’. However, the show was also notably the moment COUM Transmissions made the full transformation into the equally challenging musical outfit Throbbing Gristle.  Drawing their name from Yorkshire sla...