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

Ummm...I tried really hard to listen to the whole thing but yeah...that didn't happen. Not my cup of tea for sure.

Well, this is something. Experimental? It is perhaps another example of a gateway piece that opened doors for others, that established a foundation that others built masterpieces upon. In this time, and in this place, this album isn't for me. Perhaps it would have been in 1978. Now? I'll stick with Bass Communion.

This is a collection of sound effects, not something a rational person would listen to for pleasure. Let's all agree that even if we tried to listen to this with an open mind, it cannot be classified as "good music" under any rubric. The best thing you can say about this album is that "Throbbing Gristle" is a mildly amusing band name and "Hamburger Lady" is a mildly amusing song title.

Obviously, as “music” this leaves something to be desired. Which is why we must have to be able to appreciate it on another level to understand how it is one of the greatest albums of all time. Fortunately, I have figured out that that level is “sound to be forced into one’s ear holes as one lies on the floor of a sub-basement London rave twitching and spasming uncontrollably in a pool of the mixed bodily fluids of one’s fellow ravers while one hallucinates fragmented horror scenes too disturbing to recount here, all from the effects of whatever the fuck was in that shit one just bought from the sketchy creep at the door on the way down to this particular incarnation of hell.” In that context, this shit is fucking lit, I am sure.

I cannot imagine ever returning to this, however it was nice to experience an early entry in the industrial/noise genre, and it was well produced.

Terrible!

I’ve actually heard a couple of albums like this on the list now (‘Kollaps’ by Einstürzende Neubauten comes to mind), where the spirit of experimentation isn’t in doubt and some of the resulting sounds are pretty cool, but I just don’t think there’s enough there to make a good album. It sounds like a collection of demos/jams, half of which could’ve be fleshed out into decent tracks (E-Coli and Hamburger Lady are genuinely unnerving, in a good way) and half of which should probably never have been taken any further, let alone released. 1.5

???

Oh hell yeah been waiting for some Throbbing Gristle! Oh fam this ain't it. What they just played is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in their rambling, incoherent response were they even close to anything that could be considered a rational song. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Never heard of these. It's just a load of noise... I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this. Not for me this. Rubbish

This has only the 2nd lowest overall rating. I'm not liking forward to what came last. This excrement is a waste of time.

Not for me

Would actually probably like this But I don't have the patience 1

Exasperating, nauseating, pointless. This is not music to me.

This got 1 star because there is no option for 0.

Nope.

I got through one song and said to myself I don’t HAVE to listen to this before I die.

easily the worst album i have ever heard

Sucesión de canciones sin ningún tipo de sentido, ni ritmo ni coherencia. El que lo incluyó aquí se cubrió de gloria. No vale ni una canción. Estilo indefinible

Totaal niet voor in de stemming.

Dit deed mij bij vlagen denken aan de Bossche cult-band Power of Jism denken; Net zo intrigerend en slecht!

Wat is dit voor bizar spektakel

Lekker als muziekjournalist de pretentieuze stumper uithangen en dit promoten om op te nemen in de lijst 1001 albums die je gehoord moet hebben. Echt rot op zeg, dit heeft niet eens iets met muziek te maken. Dit is wat gerommel in de marge, waar toevallig 'geluid' uit kwam. 0/5 sterren! Opzouten!

Bah.

It really hurt my ears

What. The. Fuck. I think I figured out this list - Its not just like "the best albums ever that everyone should hear", its also "holy shit this is the worst album of all time and you have to hear it to believe it". This is the worst album I have ever heard, and possibly even the worst of all time. 0/5 (have to give 1 star, but its not even a 1 star album)

While I applaud a willingness to experiment, to challenge existing conventions and to push the boundaries of what is considered music, I did not enjoy the outcomes of these experiments in this instance. I only listened to the first half of half the songs on the album, but why I did hear was pretty much unlistenable. I guess that the influence this album had on later was music was mostly on music I don't enjoy.

Absolute fucking bollocks.

What the hell was this nonsense. Deserves a zero

1/5

The global score for this one sure prepares you for a wild ride into weird noisy experimental stuff. Only the score of Einsturdenze Neubaten's *Kolaps* (another early "industrial" landmark) is currently lower than the one of *D.O.A.*--a situation that I think is particularly unfair in my book, given that *Kolaps* is far more "musical" (or at least "rhythmical" ) than Throbbing Gristle's unsettling soundscapes. Still, that's quite a feat to be remembered for something that automatically elicits rejection on most listeners' part decades after your release. As the lyrics candidly go on "Hit By A Rock": "Makes me think you don't like my records". Indeed. That said, I'm still glad I've listened to this album, even if I could have lived without doing so. I might have my gripes with this list sometimes, but as I said elsewhere, I think it's important that said weird noisy experimental stuff can find its way in it. The thing is, should *this* particular experimental stuff be deemed as more essential than other examples of it? On which ground can one be selected and the other rejected? This is a difficult question and the jury's still out on this one... The answer may or may mot lie in the way Throbbing Gristle give hints here and there about their awareness that they're writing a future cult classic for a certain sub-type of listeners. Some of those hints are more subtle than the lyrics I've quoted up there (or say, the hilarious parody of the artwork in their other album *20 Jazz Funk Greats*). It's hidden in all the static. But it's there. And it gives the whole endeavor an aura of mystery, as dull as the music is most of the time. Maybe with the right drug, I could get immersed in those soundscapes a little more, however. And even sober, I can recognize the few merits of Throbbing Gristle's "music" once in a while: "Dead On Arrival" could be the soundtrack of a vintage sci-fi flick. "Weeping" (unwittingly?) uses a weird tuning for its different strings that sends you close to a meditative state of mind--yet it's a state of mind at odds with the miserable feelings expressed in the lyrics of this "song" about loneliness within couples or partnerships. I admit the whole thing can... strike a chord indeed. Even if the latter sounds out of tune. "Hamburger Lady" is yet another difficult cut, but sonically speaking, it's rather timeless. Don't get me wrong, it's still dull music, but it's the fact that said dull music was recorded in 1978 that makes it extraordinary: if you said it was an Arca track, no one would notice the difference, for instance. Conversely, "AB/7A" is regressive in the sense that it hearkens back to what Tangerine Dream were doing a few years before this album came out. The track is strangely soothing though. And accessible, which is a rare accurence in this LP. Finally, to end this list of compliments, "E-Coli" reminds me of droning interludes or transitory moments within compositions post-rock bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mogwai create once in a while--those recorded talking voices over it create a distinct mood like that... As you can see, I tried very hard to be positive here. But apart from this track sequence right in the middle of *D.O.A...*, the rest sounds utterly meaningless to me, though. Probably because, well, it just *is* meaningless--rationalisations of a couple of bad-faith "rock-critics" notwithstanding. Worse, the whole thing is rather unmemorable--apart from "Weeping" and "AB/7A", maybe--and when you try to shock your audience with how daring and uncompromising you are as an artist, that's a sign that you actually miserably failed at what you were doing. This here is the *worst* crime, and it has nothing to do with your noisy aesthetics. To be perfewctly candid, I really hope this LP can reach the bottom of this list again (it did so in the past), and thus replace Ensturdenze Neubatten's *Kolaps*, which is ten times better (some would say that doesn't make it a great album either given how bad *D.O.A... is, lol... yet I still think a one-star assessment is way too harsh for the German band). Speaking of the "unpopular" section of this app's global stats, there are two or three other acts unfairly stuck in it, by the way--Robert Wyatt and That Incredible String Band come to mind here. Yet generally speaking, when the people speak and express such a clearly *negative* consensus, it's because they have a point. And the fact that they can both reject Limp Bizkit and Throbbing Gristle is a reassuring thought, I have to say. If one day a found a very cheap copy of *D.O.A...* in a record store (strange miracles happen sometimes), maybe I would buy it to listen to it for a second time. Or maybe I would just do it to add a rare curio to my album collection. Just as I could do it for Captain Beefheart's *Trout Mask Replica*. Those sorts of record could have their own section: "the most hated albums of all time"... But let's be honest here, I would NEVER go out of my way to buy those records. And *that* is my own final report on how bad *D.O.A.* is. Number of albums left to review: 492 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 240 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 115 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 150 (including *D.O.A.*--and if *really* you want to select a Throbbing Gristle record, I feel like *20 Jazz-Funk Greats* is slightly more accessible, thanks to its more parodic intents. But that's as far as I'll ever go to "defend" this band...)

Is it music? Technically, I guess. Does it inspire, enrich, or connect with the listener? Not this particular human.

it sounds like two children playing in the garbage

Utter durge!! Why is this on here ?

No, just no. This album was absolutely awful. If I could give it a 0, I would have.

Awful, just awful

As if I just listened to an entire albums worth of pearl jams "heyfoxymophandle" and nirvanas "endless nameless" except this is the extent of their ability and they're actually serious. Why am I listening to this and why is it on this list??

ass cheeks. just sound :/

Don't know what to expect here but at least it doesn't seem like country. Okay this is super trippy. Very experimental. No real melody or tunes. I'll give it a 1.

Random noise bull. Definitely doesn't NEED to be heard by anyone. This is like modern art in music form. The illusion of something clever and artful while offering no actual substance.

My ears!!!

Some of the tracks are just people talking. The other ones would make a pretty annoying arcade game soundtrack at best.

When this album started, I thought I was having problems with my Spotify. After I realized it wasn't a technical glitch and listened a few more minutes, I wished I had problems with my Spotify. I made it through the entire album. This was brutally bad. Just terrible. Won't re-listen or revisit. Negative rating. I was trying to come up with funny stuff to write, but decided to focus my attention on something and music close to my heart. Prince Rogers Nelson was born June 7th, 1958. I'm going to spend the week honoring my fellow Gemini brother by listening to him and his music through the end of the week. (Although I still listen to Prince quite often!) Open your heart, open your mind A train is leaving all day A wonderful trip through our time And laughter is all you'll pay. God bless you Prince and Rock in Peace, brother.

Fuck this.

1 I saw that this is supposed to be some kind of industrial, experimental album, so when my Spotify glitched and the first song was entirely silent, I thought that might be a part of it. Turns out, I was actually better off when the album was playing with no audio. Look, after The Residents, I just don’t have time for this shit. At least those guys tried to write music. There isn’t even an attempt at songwriting here. 1. Say it with me kids: “There’s nothing profound about making your music unlistenable.” Ok no I’m back with a final thought. After reading the Wikipedia article, the song United is apparently a re-recording. The original version was considered their best and most accessible tune, so in an attempt at being avant-garde, they sped it up to a runtime of 16 seconds for this album to make it entirely unlistenable. There’s a punk spirit in there somewhere I appreciate, but… yeah this album sucks.

Voin kuvitella kuinka aikaansa edellä tämä(kin) on ollut. Aika ei ole tainnut vieläkään tosin tulla.

Mitäs ..tua tässä oikeen kuunneltiin?

Not even my strongest urges to be contrarian helped me enjoy this one.

2/10. Wasn't as aggressively bad as the site rating made me think, but it was like a whole album of the talk-y parts of The Wall, so it just ended up being rather boring, and didn't really feel like listening to music?

Made my teeth itch. 1/10

That was just experimental noise. You couldn’t call it music. If possible I would give no stars but in order to vote 1*

Not good cycling music.

Sounds a bit too much like noise

This might serve as suitable background to some modern art exhibition, but as music to be listened to in its own rights? Nah

Not my thing

Why is this called music and who would purposely listen to it?

Industrial music without the music

nope

Wow… I love cryptic static with little to no substance that was produced so late into the 70’s experimental era that it begs the question ‘where tf were you guys a decade ago.’ Landmark only in its complete obscurity. “Only people in the biz will get it” - give me a break. Pass me another tab so maybe I’ll find something redemptive.

Omg. This has been the lowest moment on the list. Minus stars “captured conversations to thoroughly composed creations“ Who writes this waffle. Tone deaf

I am going to scream. When you leave the threshold of music so often like this, it feels frustrating to review it as such. Some okay Kraftwerky type songs that I did enjoy, but too many unforgivables. Sti better than John Zorn.

It's interesting, but that's gonna be a no from me.

Probably not the best album to listen to while having a ear infection.

Ooh, valley of the shadow is my favourite, you know the one where no one is playing any music and someone just left the recording equipment on for a few minutes while people sat around finishing off their bacon and eggs. Ooh I love that one. Give me strength. Actually with hindsight, it is one of the stronger tracks on the album. Hometime is similarly stupid. Ab/7A was ok. The rest just sounds like accidental recordings in haunted forests or photocopiers.

Listened to like one song almost gave me a headache

no

It's piss poor. Experimental...yes, a good album?....absolutely not.

I’ll ‘probably’ never listen to this again. I say ‘probably’ because there’s always an off-chance I’m kidnapped and my captors put this on repeat to drive me insane within 24 hours.

What the actual heck did I listen to? Not the whole album that’s for sure. It’s like jazz, the people most entertained by this album are surely the people who made it. Certainly not me.

I know that must have been cool at and groundbreaking int he 70's, but ow my ears. No thank you.

A collection of pocket dials, drones and tones.

Genuinely don't understand what this was about. If this was a movie or video game soundtrack it would've been completely fine, but its not, and that's the problem. Some of the tracks are interesting but I can't even see it as musical instrumentals. It's just sound. No fave track.

Noise.

its experimental and such but i dont call this music, some of it is literally recordings of people but poorly

experimental, unpleasant random noises

Music for sleep paralysis.

This is not music.

Really make u think.

A terrible effort trying to make music out of random noises, strident voices, and what I assume is the elevator music as you're going down to hell.

Wow. D.O.A. the Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle. Where do I start? I really wish the music was as impressive as the album name itself. I can imagine that the people that think that this is a revolutionary album are the very same people that go to "conceptual art exhibitions" and rave about how "the urinal centerpiece moved them". Let's be real here - this album is nothing but noise. It's not even carefully arranged noise that's been used to produce some sort of music or even a melody, it's just a hodgepodge of random sounds that seem to have been recorded by a mere accident. Somebody brought some sort of recording contraption to work, pressed record and then that was that. I'm sorry, but Throbbing Gristle's third and final report most definitely did not make my gristle throb. In fact, by the end of the album, the only realization I had was that this album, along with my gristle, could both have been pronounced D.O.A. as soon as the album started playing.

Fuck off.

One of the worst things I've ever heard. Very occasionally, it sounds like it might turn into something interesting, but the vast majority of the time it's just incoherent noise that doesn't flow, doesn't say much, and is downright weird. Maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough for this, but it gave me absolutely nothing. 1/5.

I found nothing enjoyable, admirable, or redeemable about this. It's just a bunch of noise, talking, yelling, etc.

Can't listen to this shit.

This album made me physically ill to listen to. It's genuinely off-putting. By the time you get to ab/7a you're relieved to hear a little bit of a melody. That's probably because the first half of the album just assaults you with dissonance. I appreciate that this was probably technically harder to accomplish in an analog world but I still hate it.

Let’s keep it in last place. OMG. I can’t believe I wasted time listening to this. Throbbing Gristle in a word is “moist.” Wish I could give negative points but I will settle for 1/5.

No. Just stupid and pretentious. Yes the king is naked and we all see it, stop it with your alternative takes on art that are shit to begging with

Won't ever get back the 40 minutes spent on this album. Hard for me to find anything to like about this difficult to listen to album. 1 star

What a noise

Not much to say.

Put me in the list of folks that doesn't understand this. AB/7A is the only track that actually sounds like a song and is fine. I also found United in its slowed down state (as opposed to the 16 second version), but it nothing too noteworthy. Certainly a challenging listen and nothing that i could understand revisiting.

Ruidos aleatorios. Insufrible. Lástima que no se pueda dar un 0.

This is by far the worst album I've listened to in this project. This isn't music so much as it's ethereal mumbling and randomness. I can see why some might call it music, but I disagree. Wish I could give this a full 0.

It's not the worst of the avant garde this experience has offered, mainly noise and not all atonal or shouty. But it's still a 1.

When I read the reviews I was expecting the worse and it was slightly above that

Sorry but I do not appreciate your music. Say one good thing: I’m trying but I don’t know

garbage noise

Unlistenable

Wtf. Why is this album on this list? It literally sounds like a 2 year old hitting random keys on a keyboard with industrial sound effects. Yes, some might fight me for this, I don't care, this is not music.

unohti laittaa musiikkia tähän albumiin.. kivaa aa rsmr kontenttia silloin tällöion. varmaan on joku tarinoiden tarina tämän takana viiden tähden arvosta mutta en tykkää industrial vitun kling klangatuksesta hamburger lady.... on a

In September of 2019 I had an abscess in one of my front teeth. Even the slightest breeze wisping past my tooth caused immeasurable pain and I couldn’t speak or eat for 2 days. After emergency root canal surgery (which left me £360 lighter) my face looked like I’d been beaten with a bar of soap in a sock. I was woozy and in agony for a further three days. I would gladly repeat all of that rather than have to listen to a single second of this record ever again. One star because while I was listening to it my son farted and it made me laugh.

What the hell was this mess? I mean seriously, this sounded like a 2000s noise rock album. How is this even considered music? It was just noises. Its albums like these that me want the music industry to have a test and make sure potential musicians can actually make music, and not noise. Really, I hate this album! I'd rather listen to Lady Gaga than this again.

Awful

This album should be a litmus test for music critics: if you recommend this, it's clear you've lost the plot. There's nothing Important or Significant about it at all. It's just garbage. Best track: AB/7A is the closest thing to a song you can find on this thing

Waiting for this album to start was like waiting to get on the Internet in the ‘90s. The only difference is waiting to get onto the Internet in the ‘90s sounded way better than this album.

This was one of the worst things I've ever heard.

You know, I'm about a year into this, listening to albums every day even on weekends. I've listened to a LOT of stuff through this. I was beginning to worry I was becoming jaded as more and more of my scores gravitate towards 3 and I add less and less songs from these albums to my playlist for future listening. This album came along and blew right through that hard outer shell I'd been forming like an atom bomb. I hate this album. It's terrible. Just dogs***. Abysmal. Not one second was enjoyable. It came on, immediately filled me with frothing hatred, and only whipped that hatred to further and further frenzied heights as it continued. Thank you, Throbbing Gristle, for giving me a fresh answer for when my friends ask what the worst album I've listened to through this project is. And I hope your inadequacy will help me to be a kinder listener to future albums because hey, at least they're not you.

No need to listen to this one again. Experimental sounds, interesting at times but not much there.

Not art, not music, not clever. No stars.

This is noise rock... I really hate this experimental crap.

I’m sure there’s a reason to put noise on this list but it escapes me.

Ouch. Not for me. I didn't get it at all. Tried my best, but this was a complete chore to complete. I know some people like it, but they are people we shouldn't associate with.

This album is an insult to anyone and anything who can produce and hear sound.

What the fuck was that?

I bought this album from the cutout bin by mistake when I was in middle school because I thought it was an album by the hardcore band D.O.A. 35 years later, I still haven't been able to make it all the way through this record.

Pure noise. Shocked it's on this list.

0.01 just random noise

1/5 Best song: None D.O.A. the Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle Sind einfach nur random Geräusche die einen leichten Elektro vibe geben dad lied befindet sich nur in 1001 Gen weil es in Amerika Einfluss hatte weil es zu dem Zeitpunkt dort nichts vergleichbares gab im Deutschland gab es schon ein Jahr davor Kraftwerk also ist das hier unhörbar

…this, isn’t music???? Baffled

No.

Wow, that is one of the worst albums I’ve ever listened to.

Well.

I hated that.

What?

Look, I'm not really an opponent of the avant-garde. I can get down with some weird, experimental shit more than your average Joe. but I have my limits.

This was absolutely unbearable. I'm not being a snob when I say I don't even think it was music, it was just noise, worse than even Serge Gainberg...

I think there's something wrong with my headphones. They seem to be making random, nonsensical noises.

I get it but I don’t. It’s cool but it’s lame. New but old? Smart and clever.. dumb and accidental. Interesting I guess. I want to understand but then again I just want my next album. Cool thanks for the wrench in the mix

Tentando entender até agora porque alguém deveria ouvir isso antes de morrer, podem passar muito bem sem essa! Que merda, nem aguentei ouvir tudo. Credo!

If you want to know what chaos magic sounds like, look no further. [Quite literally, look into it] By the Emperor, this album is heresy.

What a crock of shit

Not for me

This is a new low for this app. If you even give this album 2 stars I don't know if I can ever take you seriously again. I think this might be the worst album I have ever listened to and that's saying something. 0/10 FUCK YOU

Maybe I’m pea brained but this was so stupid. I couldn’t imagine going to the record store, spending your hard earned cash on the new throbbing gristle album, going home, and listening to this for 45 minutes straight

1 unlistenable

Personne n'a vraiment compris pourquoi Robert a envoyé cet album dans le générateur il y a quelques semaines. Vous savez d'ailleurs que pour ajouter un album à la liste des 1001, notre ami Robert doit en enlever un autre, c'est la règle. Et ce petit farceur a de plus en plus tendance à enlever des albums récents que j'affectionne particulièrement pour les remplacer par des bouses comme celles-ci. J'espère pour lui qu'il n'a pas touché à Justin Timberlake sinon ça va très, mais alors très mal se passer...

Cet album est la preuve vivante que les extraterrestres existent et ont bel et bien tenté de communiquer avec nous. Seulement, après 45mn d'enregistrement, on en sort comme on est venu: on n'en sait pas plus sur ces êtres saugrenus.

These 5 star reviews gotta be trolling right? 1

19th July 2022

detta var piss

weird a little 1\5

Mmm. Godfathers of industrial. It was made to disturb. As an art project I think its a 4/5 but it would need context. As an album of music it's a 1.

Lamb chops

Terrible

Fuck off. Art school wankery.

What the actual fuck?

Is this music? Just bad start to finish.

Horrible just noise