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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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"

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.

Not for me

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

yuck

Protean horrors.

First dive into industrial metal.

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

It was very ok

…this, isn’t music???? Baffled

No.

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

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

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.

Well.

I hated that.

What?

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

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.

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

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

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.

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!

A bit to experimental. Not my kind of soup.

What the fuck 0/5

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.

Yeah, no.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

What a crock of shit

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

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

Not for me

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

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

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

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.

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

Interesting as an art piece, but as an album I'd ever return to? Nah. The sound design is pretty insane though so I'm giving it points for that.

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

1 unlistenable

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

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

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.

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

1978 - Industrial music; Avant-garde music

These 5 star reviews gotta be trolling right? 1

"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.

19th July 2022

detta var piss

This is totally my jam

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!

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

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

wtf was this

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.

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

weird a little 1\5

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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

This one didn't speak to me

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.

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?

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?

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.

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

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

Lamb chops

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!!!!!!

Terrible

Err yeah, I've heard of them was quite excited to engage with their notorious avant garde sounds. I can't lie I really wanted to like this, in electronica they have this rep early pioneers and all. But it was a large bag of rat infested goats shit. Im sure they had cerebral laughs making it, I was just glad when it was over.

Fuck off. Art school wankery.

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.

What the actual fuck?

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

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

This seemed like something I should like a lot, and instead it annoyed me.

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

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

Is this music? Just bad start to finish.

Bad music. I hate anyone who likes this.

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??

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).

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.

Demasiado surrealista para mi gusto. Interesante diseño sonoro

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

Horrible just noise

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.

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.

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