D.O.A. the Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle

Just random noise. It's heartwarming to know that a complete lack of musical talent or ability is no barrier to creating an influential album. With that in mind, I hereby announce that my innovative pop duo 'Bumblecheek and the Reverb' is working on its debut album, to be titled 'Sexual Overcoat'. I fully expect inclusion in the next edition of the '1001 albums...' book. Rating: 1/5 Playlist track: AB/7A Date listened: 07/06/22

if someone tells you they are really in to throbbing gristle you've either accidentally walked in to a BDSM club or you're talking to someone who is such a music aficionado they've decided the way to keep themselves in their ivory tower is to listen to something extremely close to unlistenable because you proles don't get it. that being said, i'd rather listen to this than kanye or beyonce. what's the safe word again?

Bad music. I hate anyone who likes this.

I can feel the rhythm coursing through my veins. The remarkable thing about it is that some people think it's a joke and just random industrial noises, but those of us who are in the biz, know how powerful and influential this record is. It's breathtaking in its ruthlessness. It's not afraid to go to places you never knew you needed to go. A masterful triumph of heavyweight crescendos and thunderous beats. Danger lies around every corner. Beware.

What the fuck 0/5

This is some weird ass shit I'm grateful to have learned about today.

If nothing else, this sounds like nothing else that had been put on record at that time. A real mix of styles, from Weeping to AB/7A, I love all aspects of this album. You could say AB/7A owes a debt to Kraftwerk, but Hamburger Lady sounds unlike any other artist (thankfully). In equal parts uplifting and downright scary, this is not an album I would sit down and listen to very often, but certainly one that has had a massive influence in my subsequent musical taste.

Massive banger after massive banger. Huge soaring choruses, exquisite melodies and perfectly polished pop hooks. An earworm if ever there was one.

Honestly not bad. I cannot believe this is the lowest rated album on this entire website. Sometimes your brain needs to be challenged a bit, and this was a very interesting series of sound experiments. i can totally see how this is the grandfather to NIN.

I'm surprised more people haven't taken the time to review this album, for good or for bad. Thumbs up to anyone who gave it a shot. Yes, it's a difficult listen, but it's also pretty fascinating. I doubt I would listen to this again in its entirety, but it was interesting. You'd be hard pressed to find many musical acts as adventurous as Throbbing Gristle is on this album. They really push the boundaries of what you can call music, and also for our tolerance as listeners. Their palette is noise - blips, feedback, guitar distortion, fragments of conversations. Sometimes the effect is oddly musical, sometimes it's aggressively grating. The lyrics, if you care to look them up, can get disturbing. The general vibe is definitely creepy, but in the middle, a bright, synth-y song like "AB/7A." Go figure. There are some interesting ideas here, but I think the arrangement of the songs could have been a little more precise, like ordering the the songs so they flow better. The way they're organized now, they come off as tonally a little haphazard. I also think they could have dropped a couple of tracks and had a much tighter album. As for my review, I've been back and forth between 2 and 3 stars. That's not because I think it's bad necessarily, but because it's really challenging (and I like challenging stuff). Intellectually I appreciate it, but it's also unsettling in a way I didn't enjoy. Fave Songs: AB/7A, Dead on Arrival, Weeping

Ok...what the F&^% was that? Most of the album isn't music. The tracks that can be called music are 'interesting' but does that make it good? Is this something I want to listen to?

What a wonderful album, it has so many of Throbbing Gristles biggest hits like 'Hit By A Rock', 'Valley of the Shadow of Death', 'AB/7A' and the all time classic 'Death Threats'. They made such sweet sounds back in the 70's, you have to wonder how many babies were conceived listening to this timeless album. Everything about it is wonderful; the classic songwriting of Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, the gorgeous vocal harmonies, the immaculate string arrangements, the sparkling production. I could go on and on. No seriously, this was terrible. It was like being sat in a dentist chair having all my teeth pulled out without anesthetic. How the F**k does this qualify as music??? There's nothing clever or ground breaking or artistic about it. It's just a pile of garbage. Stop wasting my f**king time with this nonsense!!!!!!

Creepy. Weird. Kind of cool? Maybe? Probably not. I thought I enjoyed industrial music. This album makes me feel like a schizophrenic. Fave tracks: AB/7A

Yeah, no.

Well that was a cheery start to Monday morning. It's not exactly Britney Spears. Pleasant, but you'd be hard pushed to call it music. More of a project.

This one didn't speak to me

Weird. I didn't enjoy this AT ALL! Would be a 1, but bonus star for badass band name! Ye must worship the THROBBING GRISTLE!

Congratulations, you experiment with what you could make music out of. And you do it in the worst way possible. Out of the first 4 tracks, literally only one of them has any melodic value. The only reason "I.B.M." is the third most played track on the album is that it's the opener and a good amount of people shut off the record before they get a minute in. Most of these tracks are nothing more than either shock value or an academic study into the extremities of meshing various sounds with abrasive electronic effects, but even then little to no worth could be found in comparison to their more refined follow-up "20 Jazz Funk Greats" which actually served as the primary influence of the industrial genre. As a fan of noise rock, I quite fancy the chaotic "Hit by a Rock", but really the album starts with "Dead on Arrival," one of the two tracks alongside "AB/7A" as a harsh response to Kraftwerk. "Weeping" is a personal favorite of mine if only cause they managed to make something that sounds like it came from The Madcap Laughs even more disturbing than anything Syd Barrett came up with. Good for a couple of listens but you get a bit tired of the 5.5-minute length. Next, we have "Hamburger Lady", and if you're wondering why it's the most popular song, it's cause it's actually quite notorious as being one of the most unsettling songs in music history. Personally, I find it intriguing but nothing more emotional, unfortunately. Only one of the next 5 tracks is actually melodic, the beforementioned Kraftwerk-esque "AB/7A", which has nice school cafeteria ambiance in the background and hilariously gruesome lyrics. Brilliant. Finally, we end with an ironically bad punk closer "Blood on the Floor". I fancy it. I give 1 star to albums that have no worth or interest at all. This is not a 1-star album. I'd listen to "Hit By a Rock" or "Weeping" again for pleasure. There's plenty to revisit for curiosity and to share with others, whether to shock them or show them something of note. However, I would advise never listening to the album in its entirety ever again. Favorites: Hit By a Rock, Weeping, Hamburger Lady

Had given this album a try before out of curiosity but still do not see why this is an "essential" album - experimental pre-industrial 70s music that deliberately sounds ugly and lo-fi (it sounds exactly as what you would expect it to sound like). The follow-up "20 Jazz Funk Greats" is better (more pop) and would be a more appropriate choice for this list (i assume it is included as well).

I'm presuming they've been included as a joke. because there's NOTHING on display here of anything resembling musicianship or song craft. truly awful

Not sure where the music in this one was.... Its just some experimental sounds with dinner table chatter in the background

I hate that I have to give any stars to this. This is shameful to include on this list.

All I can say is - literally oh my days blud.

This is definitely the worst album I’ve listened to yet. At least electronic music can be enjoyed and has direction. This is pure nonsense and a collection of noises. 0.0/10

Horrible. Many tracks didn’t even have lyrics, just noise on top of electronic noise “. When there were ‘lyrics’ it was spoken word garbage

Absolute trash. This isn't music. It is random noise and is an unorganized mess. Several songs were skipped. Burn it down.

Wow. My first thought was thank god it wasn't more punk. My second was noisy! Really grew on me though as it poured its sinister sampling sound down my ears. Dark and sombre. I've never heard of Throbbing Gristle but will check out their other stuff now for sure. Amazing such a challenging sound got released. Definitely not dinner party music! Best tracks - Hamburger Lady, AB/7A, E-Coli. I need to listen to this again.

Went into this with low expectations, but it turned out to be quite an interesting album. Experimental and unsettling at times, but it kept me intrigued.

This is totally my jam

Protean horrors.

I found this album to be quite interesting. While it's not something I would listen to regularly, I didn't find it to be the inaccessible barrage of noise a lot of "industrial" albums are. At times I found it to actually be almost relaxing, more akin to an ambient work. The use of spoken word recordings on a couple tracks such as Valley of the Shadow of Death and Hometime had the feeling of being in a cafe or watching someone's old home recordings. The punk-like tracks Hit By a Rock and Blood on the Floor are pretty standard of the time. Then there are the tracks in the middle that experiment more with the synth and vocal effects, to varying degrees of success, but some are actually quite good. There are also a few tracks that lean more towards the noisy/industrial side like I.B.M, Dead on Arrival and Walls of Sound that I could do without. Overall I think this is interesting piece of musical history. Very experimental, it gets a few things right and a few things wrong. I'm glad I got to listen. Fav Tracks: Hamburger Lady, AB/7A, E-Coli

Full marks for being different and influential and pushing the DIY envelope in arty ways. However, on substance, this is moderately interesting at best and often primitive-sounding. Much of it barely qualifies as music or, for that matter, a record. "Found sound" (especially answering machine content) jumped the shark quite some time ago, no? One might be just intrigued enough to explore a touch more of the catalog (liking soundscapes, obscurities and irrelevant artistic endeavors as much as one tends to do), but it’s certainly not a no-brainer and one’s skeptical about finding much else worthwhile.

Ik vind chip-music wel leuk, maar dit is me toch iets teveel fabriek-music. *

This was a great surprise. Odd and very interesting. Understandable that they show up in the lineage of industrial music.

What makes this good and not just complete nonsense? I have no idea but good it certainly is. Unusual, weird, noisy, and really really good.

As clearly as much of this isn't music, it performs the same function. The formal elements have clearly been picked up by the modern ambient community, sans much ugliness. As interesting is the motorik sometimes present: Throbbing Gristle didn't come from nowhere. Deranged, though.

Chaotic bunch of noise that rips through the norm. Not a comfortable listen but not all music needs to be. Bonus points for just how influential this is, even for the bands that have listened to Throbbing Gristle

Not normally my scene, but I get it. Pretty cool! B

I went into this on high alert. Then I started letting my guard down after the extremely fun sped up rendition of the single “United”. A question came up: “Why do I not actively hate this?” Then it dawned on me. Nothing really overstays its welcome. The krautrock influence is apparent but this is still something completely new and groundbreaking - especially for a ‘78 release! I was equally curious, horrified and alienated - just as I believe was intended.

Maybe I am a bit damaged, but I was expecting something truly awful and unlistenable here. Instead there is a huge variety on this groundbreaking record with the common theme being snapshots of industrial Britain in a time where the British music scene was trying to find its way in a tumultuous musical decade. The most difficult part of the record was the final two tracks 'Walls of Sound' and ' Blood on the Floor' which were both difficult but by no means horrible. The road leading to the closing tracks is however truly entertaining and diverse. From the rhythmic and enjoyable 'I.B.M.' the record visits a moody atmospheric (and sometimes scary) place on 'Valley of the Shadow of Death' and 'E-Coli'. On 'Hamburger Lady', Throbbing Gristle also gives their idea for the imaginary soundtrack to a spaghetti western set in a rundown factory in northern England. The band is also surprisingly groovy at times, especially when channeling their inner role as direct descendants of krautrock as is evident on the groovy 'AB/7A' and 'Dead on Arrival' - an awesome combination of space lasers and machine throttles. Further listens are of course warranted, but I imagine it is more likely to yield and extra star than make me think less of this record.

The song titles pretty much had me ready for something that was way off the beaten path and I wasn’t disappointed. The first time through I thought I might cut myself. The second time through I think I did. The second time through I decided to put it on while I was working. I sort of fell into a zen-like state while I was working and it served perfectly to keep things interested as I focused on my various tasks. It lended a sinister darkness to my workday which proved surprisingly productive. Somehow this horror show wormed its way into my heart. I really like this and at some point may love it.

The name "Throbbing Gristle" makes me recoil and shudder every single time I encounter it. I think that's what they were going for. Well done. This was not a popular morning drive accompaniment, and the passenger kept turning the volume down during the first two tracks. I sort of appreciate this more that it's from 1978. It seems a little more daring in that context than even if it was from 10 years later. Was this an enjoyable listen? No. But did I have genuine reactions? Yes. Each track was a different experience! It must have been a good day because I was intrigued and engaged all through. Wow.

Very influential album

Aan de hand van de reviews verwachtte ik vervelende drukke herrie (een soort Black Midi - Hellfire) en dat is het helemaal niet. Het is redelijk minimalistisch en rustig juist. Dit bevalt me onverwacht goed. De meeste nummers klinken alsof ze uit soundtracks komen van films/games die ik goed vind. Misschien dat het me daarom bevalt. "Hit by a Rock" past in de film 'The Sound of Metal'. "Dead on Arrival" past in 'Requiem for a Dream'. "Hometime" en "AB/7A" zouden zo toegevoegd kunnen worden aan 'The Fountain'. En "E-Coli" zou mooi passen bij 'The Last of Us'. Als het album was gestopt na track 11 had ik zelfs 5 sterren gegeven, maar de laatste twee nummers zijn kut, dus wordt het een 4.

I don't want to like this because I feel like only a pretentious music snob would like this just to prove they are smarter than everyone else. They "get it" and you don't. Well, I don't "get it" either, but somehow this "music" tickles my ADD infected brain just right. I listened to this 3 times, and it somehow got better each time. It somehow has a calming effect on me. I feel like I could sleep to this twisted shit. The only part I didn't like was when the kid yells "mama." That's probably just because I have PTSD from having a toddler. I don't know if or when I'll listen to this again, but I liked it. 7.5/10

Fax noises at first but improves to something interesting

Well... that was a thing. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I don't know if I want to listen again. It was probably innovative and unique at the time, but it's a bit dull to listen to now. I've just listened to their modern work, and found it much more interesting. It's still borderline art/bullshit, mind.

Its basically impossible to rate. Where do I even start? As art house albums go, its both amazing and shite.

I like me some experimental nonsense, so I found this an engaging enough listen, but nothing really wowed me. Fave track - "We Hate You (Little Girls)" is delightfully deranged!

"Not as unlistenable as I had expected!" —Cover quote I think track 5, "Dead on Arrival", is the one that really solidifies what this album is trying to do. This is when the previously-ungraspable mixing board of sounds coalesces into something melodic, in its own way. The difficulty is, sitting at nearly ten minutes in, it's all too easy to have already checked out by the time it starts up. Yeah, weird one to rate. I didn't hate it. But if I wanted to listen to music, I'd still go with any of the albums I one-starred before I opted for this.

Very strange. I like odd recordings like this, though I don't know this is one I would listen to often. I read that one of the band members went on to form Psychic TV, which makes a lot of sense. Knowing that, I really want to give a second listen in a much quieter environment; probably lots of hidden aural treats.

HAAaamMBUUURrgerr LAAAaaddyYy Dark but playful soundscapes that I had fun picking through Reminds me of a New Wave film but in an album Weeping is really sad but pretty AB/7A has unsung lyrics but don't look them up unless you want to ruin your day I think outsider art is interesting in general Probably won’t listen to it again any time soon

It was very ok

Es muy oscuro y ruidoso, no es una escucha agradable, es muy pero que muy interesante pero hasta ahí. Se escuchan ruidos de fondo, sinteticos, gritos y muchas otras cosas extrañas. Grabaciones de voces se ponen encima de otros ruidos y eso es una canción. Es impresionante que esto halla salido antes del 80, ya había escuchado un disco de ellos pero pienso que era un poco más, musical, esto es pura experimentación. Me recuerda a la música concreta. Como album no me gusta, como experimento musical y revolución, es de lo más único que he escuchado. Es bizarro distorcionado e industrial. En conclusión, un disco raro y muy adelantado a su epoca Canciones Favoritas: (A medias) - Dead On Arrival - AB/7A - Blood on The Floor ⭐ - E- Coli 3/5 Nunca escuchen música industrial antes de 1980

I think this album broke me similar to how "Everywhere At the End of Time" did. I think it's akin to watching a horror movie on acid. I'm not going to pretend I enjoyed it, or even liked it, but it made me feeling something. Mounting dread. Horror. But that's what it's going for, isn't it? Favorite(?) track: "E-Coli"

Wow. Proto-industrial and I liked it a lot more than I thought that I would. That said, the bar was pretty low.

Maybe being 525 albums in has prepped me for this kind of thing. Maybe it has made be grateful for it not being late 60s/early 70s rock. Either way, I kind of got into it.

Throbbing Gristle is funny as hell. Oooo look at this ART. Do you see how ARTSY we are? Let's mumble incoherent nonsense over a track of somebody having sex with a tuning fork - truly the MODERN Mona Lisa. Let's dedicate a track to a young kid speaking about god knows what for 4 minutes because that's what BEETHOVEN did. Man, fuck these guys. ... Strong 3/5. Has some cool ideas, I'll definitely return to this one in the future.

This has its moments I guess

I prefer '20 Jazz Funk Greats' for its humor and diversity, but a Throbbing Gristle record is always a dark cacophony. Favorite track: 'E-Coli'

Some cuts on this record are quite enjoyable, but some others are almost unlistenable for me. I feel I didn't completly get this thing, but on the other hand I didn't dislike it at all.

Je sais pas quoi en penser. Intriguant comme noise, clairement avant-gardiste, mais trop purement noise pour mon goût, manquait de musicalité.

Hamburger Lady is a true masterpiece. I appreciate this as an art piece, but not really a regular listening kind of thing.

I dig it. this speaks to the robot in me.

Hard to rate this one... It's for sure music for an art installation at a modern art museum. A dark room, weird video, crazy dancing, or maybe a mechanical clock shortly turning as someone fixes a lift. +1 for the band name.

Interesting early instrumental/electronic album

Experimental

Demasiado surrealista para mi gusto. Interesante diseño sonoro

Great first song title ofc ;) For the remainder... okay, it´s somewhat intriguing, but then again why would one listen to it more than once? I mean.... really? why??

The repetitive threnody sounds didn't really lend to me liking the album. The industrial sounds over the vocals didn't really create a pleasant melody.

wtf was this

Experimentació sense creativitat ni ànima. Voluntat d'epatar sense un nivell artistic que la faci rellevant. Dues estrelles i no una per la seva precocitat en algunes de les técniques de gravació i sons, que amb els anys (décades) es reprendrien i millorarien amb escreix

1978 - Industrial music; Avant-garde music

Pas aussi mauvais que les gens semble indiquer sur le site. Mais c’est weird tout de meme. J’ai ecoute vraiment en backgro7nd et ca ne m’a pas derange du tout. Pour etre franc, j’ai mieux aime que taylor swift… 2.90

Meermaals gedacht: "Wtf ben ik naar aan het luisteren?". Net intrigerend genoeg om te blijven luisteren, maar niet genoeg om er van te kunnen genieten

Really didn't care for this at all. It's interesting, but I don't know why I'd ever revisit it. There's no rhythm to it, and I can't get down to something with that is devoid of rhythm. 1.5/5

Good background music but wouldn't want to listen to consciously

Throbbing Gristle, what a name to represent a very interesting album. Beginning caught me off guard big time, each song seemed like I was communicating with an Alien. Weeping and hamburger lady were decent trippy songs. The album ended with some less Alieny music, which soothed me on my bike ride home. This band HAD to be abducted because no other type of inspiration makes sense

Just noise and didn't care. Sorry. Only so much ambience a gal can handle

Odd synth music that was interesting as a concept, but didn’t enjoy

It's like a timecapsule to back when this was experimental and new. Some early examples of like synthwave with AB/7A en dark synth with Hamburger lady. Very interesting.

A bit to experimental. Not my kind of soup.

La única canción que me ha gustado ha sido una que puso Deezer cuando el disco se había terminado. Bueno, y I.B.M. era graciosa. Género Industrial, avant-garde. Bueno, sí, un poco ruido de fábrica sí que parece. Eso es cierto que está muy logrado. Por eso, y por I.B.M., lo salvo del 1.

Industrial. Le pongo un 2 porque alguna no es ruido sin más...

I don’t even know how to rate this on a standard like/dislike scale.

I was pretty happy to see that the songs were short. Turns out, short is very much relative... For a mediocre pop song, two minutes is nice and brisk. For a loop of computer sounds it's... Not. And, like, I even kind of like the idea behind this album, and thought it stabilized a bit later, but man, way too much of this was just unpleasant noise that went on too long.

Very weird. The whole talking bits were interesting. Not my jam though

First dive into industrial metal.

yuck

Not for me

Very different Talks about a lot of morbid topics, hence the name

It's throbbing gristle - one can only take so much at a time.

I didn’t really enjoy listening to any of this and it almost left me weeping on the floor. I guess I found it conceptually interesting, but not really something to listen to for entertainment or comfort.

This record, more than Kraftwerk, has the DNA of all the great industrial bands of the 90s and 2000s. NIN has been my favorite band since 1994 and while this is no Downward Spiral, I get the reference.

Just plain weird

😳 Throwing in an extra star on the assumption that they pioneered something.

Eh...I can appreciate that there is some avante guarde merit there but not for me.

A hard listen with small nuggets resembling proto industrial, I guess

D.o.A: The Third and Final Report is the second album by English industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle. In this album the band continued toying with industrial music - which is a genre of music that uses harsh, mechanical, transgressive, or provocative sounds and themes. Defined in simple terms, industrial music is the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music". The genre began as a blend of noisy patterns from electronic devices and punk rock. This album was one of the early works of industrial music and was an "essential, nauseating masterpiece". I'm not sure I would echo that previous sentence, but this was an interesting album. Less music and instead more random sounds strewn together in rhythmic patterns. It was definitely trippy, but not something I would ever go out of my way to listen to. Also, what's with the little girl on the album cover? I read they gave away a calendar of her with the first 1,000 album purchases. That's more than a little weird - but I guess it wasn't weird for the late 70's.

Noisy and beepy