[kj] Hamburger Lady????

[Alex Smith]

While it might sound like "Hamburger Lady" is just an excercise in exploitative gross-out ala the works of Cannibal Corpse, Cradle of Filth and their ridiculous ilk, scratch the surface and there's a lot more going on. Like the best art, it's open to a myriad interpretations, and speaks to people on different levels.

Consider this assesment culled from a discussion I started on ILM, when I pitted the Throbbing Gristle track against another notorious "scary" track, "Frankie Teardrop" by Suicide. One contributor quite eloquently posted:

"'Hamburger Lady' is a greater achievement.  'Frankie...' is a little maudlin, a little histrionic. [Suicide vocalist Alan] Vega, in character, combines the self-disbelief and dismay of [the song's protagonist,] Frankie with a sort of writerly, crime fiction/Capote narrative. [Throbbing Gristle vocalist, Genesis] P.Orridge, on the other hand, is entranced, hypnotised, and fascinated in 'Hamburger Lady'. Time seems to be slower. It is a creepier song about a kind of horror that is more extreme than Frankie's, as it is about the preservation of life in pain, not the sudden extinction of life. It is just as common as the Frankie situation, but just more ignored by the lazier writers - because writers like to draw on what they've read. 

Characteristically, Genesis's fascination has a certain unlikely compassion within it. His attentiveness holds humility and respect. Musically, TG present the situation as deeply evil. The dreamy urban nightmare they create as the musical backdrop, like an opiated ambulance in a nightmare, is meant to convey that the sitation is repellant and unnecessary. I think they make their point. It's a moral song with a specific intent - it is in favour of euthanasia. 

Genesis's gaze is on the patient. He is definitely not turning away, but taking it wholly into his being. This is better, I think. Less actorish. "


Alex in NYC







-----Original Message-----
From: "peter.west410" <peter.west410 at ntlworld.com>
Sent: Apr 16, 2005 5:38 AM
To: Alex Smith <vassifer at earthlink.net>, 
	"A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)" <gathering at misera.net>
Subject: Re: [kj] Hamburger Lady????

Shoegazers:I could nt think of a better word ,I realised that it was
inappropriate,But could nt think of anything else(We are not all journos
,You know)
    But ,You re right again Al.I ve never actually even heard one chord of
theirs, let alone one song.I was basing my analysis on fact that they wrote
a song about "Hamburger lady".I just have no time for depressing songs."Red
House Painters" are about as far as I go, miserable wise.

        PW



See now, before the SBE gigs, this is exactly the type of post that would've
gotten on my nerves, but having met the estimable Peter West, I know he's
just being silly (in the head) as is his inimitable forte.

That said, to explain the thought process behind the endeavors -- artistic
or otherwise -- of Throbbing Gristle is something that takes veritable tomes
to do (and hats off to Simon Ford for doing it, ala "Wreckers of
Civilization: the story of Coum Transmissions & Throbbing Gristle"....not
beach reading by any stretch). They were neither manic depressives nor
squeaky clean rich kids, and they *ASSUREDLY* did not have shit for brains.
As far as dressing weird, only Genesis P-Orridge took up that particular
baton (and fucking ran with it). By and large, TG looked like garden variety
citizens, but made some of the most viscerally harrowing and gorgeously ugly
music to ever grace audiotape. In terms of subject matter, TG concentrated
on the very things that plague the human psyche, making their art more
provocative than simple three chord punk rock In their own words: Throbbing
Gristle delivered "entertainment through pain" and engaged in "nothing short
of a total war on contemporary perceptions". To write them off -- let alone
to call them shoegazers (if you heard even a nanosecond of their output,
you'd realize this is an inaccurate description) -- is to make yourself look
wildly and woefully misinformed.

Alex in NYC









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