Throbbing Gristle's early records : post-hippie/pre-punk/post-punk

Throbbing Gristle made a unique intervention into popular culture that bridged confrontational performance art (and more generally a cross-disciplinary approach) with the zeitgeist of punk and post-punk. This chapter seeks to situate Throbbing Gristle as a phenomenon that could only have emerged in the mid-1970s. They fit a generational profile, as David Thomas puts it referring to his group Pere Ubu, that is ‘post-hippie and pre-punk, a very narrow period of time’ (Encarnacao 1999: 27). This generation also includes Patti Smith, the Residents, Devo and Suicide, with Kraftwerk just out of the frame. Like Throbbing Gristle, many of these artists distinguish(ed) themselves through engagements beyond music – Smith as a poet, the Residents and Devo through film and video, and conceptual and theatrical presentations that go beyond the usual rock band fare. Perhaps most significantly Throbbing Gristle, like the Residents, Devo and Kraftwerk, were conceptual artists whose philosophy or worldview is an essential part of their appeal. The work of these artists is an articulation of a specific mode of critique of culture and society.