[kj] Killing Joke is not an Industrial band

[Peter Moltesen]

For me, Industrial might include Throbbing Gristle & SPK and perhaps the likes of some of the more experimental Krautrock groups (perhaps the likes of Faust, some Kraftwerk, Conrad Schnitzler and Einsturzende Neubaten), but that’s about it!!

Shouty goth / metal with or without drum machines and / or synths does not equal Industrial music


-----Original Message-----
From: Gathering [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net] On Behalf Of Alexander Smith
Sent: 25 April 2015 15:50
To: A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)
Subject: [kj] Killing Joke is not an Industrial band

I’m gong to try to revive discussions here, as most of the KJ groups on Facebook are public, and I don’t necessarily want to trouble my non-Kj-addicted friends with my Joke-related concerns (more than I already do). 

I’m sure we’ve addressed this at various points in the past, but why are Killing Joke ever cited as “industrial”?

Maybe sensibility-wise they have something in common, but when it comes to the signature trappings of all things Industrial — whether your definition of same stems from originators like Throbbing Gristle, Neubauten and Cabaret Voltaire or laughable latter-day dinks who wear space goggles and black fishnet stockings in your local shopping mall — Killing Joke have never really strayed from guitar/bass/drums/keyboards. No banging on metal or pile-drivers of clinky-clanky things at all.

I mean, there are assuredly elements of metal and punk (and, for that matter, traces of reggae and disco ) in the actual *sound* of the band, but I never had seen how they’ve been qualified as Industrial. Killing Joke are no more an industrial band than Public Image Ltd. are/were.

Of course, loads of industrial bands have ripped Killing Joke off (hello, Ministry, NIN et al.), but that doesn’t make the `Joke industrial.

At all.

No it doesn’t.

Weigh in, haters.

Alex in NYC
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