"Discipline" is a song by the English electronic group

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of in ...

Single

The "Discipline" single features two versions of the title track, recorded in Berlin and Manchester. The center labels are cream with black printing, and a glossy picture sleeve depicts the band standing outside the ex-Nazi Ministry of Propaganda in Berlin, and the other side shows Val Denham holding a Hitler Youth dagger centre back. The words "Techno Primitive" were scratched on side A and "Psykick Youth Squad" on side B. Both tracks were later released on the CD version of '' 20 Jazz Funk Greats''. The word "Techno Primitive" was later used by electronic duo

Chris & Cosey Chris & Cosey, sometimes known as Carter Tutti, are a musical duo formed in 1981, consisting of couple Chris Carter (electronics) and Cosey Fanni Tutti (voice, electronics, guitar, cornet), both previously (and as of 2020 the sole surviving) ...

for their 1985 album of the same name, while the name "Psykick Youth Squad" can be seen as a reference to the later band

Psychic TV Psychic TV (aka PTV or Psychick TV or several other aliases) were an English experimental music, experimental video art and music collective, formed by performance artist Genesis P-Orridge and Scottish musician Alex Fergusson (musician), Alex ...

, both groups made up of ex-Throbbing Gristle members.

Track listing

Side A: #"Discipline (Manchester)" - 8:06 Side B: #"Discipline (Berlin)" - 10:45

Song

"Discipline" is considered to be Throbbing Gristle's most infamous song. First played at the SO36 Club in Berlin (as documented on the single), it was at first entirely improvised, based upon a topic suggestion given by Cosey Fanni Tutti before the show. The song is driven by a minimal, pulsing synthesizer drumbeat, over which

Genesis P-Orridge Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950 – 14 March 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmi ...

would sing lyrics surrounding the concept of discipline, slowly introducing other musical elements, such as electric bass and walls of guitar or synth noise. After Berlin, it was played at nearly every Throbbing Gristle show until the group's demise. Often it would range in length from eight to 12 minutes, although it could be stretched out much longer. A version from one of the last Throbbing Gristle shows at the Lyceum in London was over 30 minutes long, as documented on the bootleg ''Once Upon a Time'' and the VHS release ''Destiny''. The song was covered by

Marc Almond Peter Mark Almond (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop/ new wave duo Soft Cell. He has a distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He has had a diverse career as a ...

and Friends on a

flexi disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable. ...

that was issued free with an issue of ''

Flexipop ''Flexipop'' (stylized as ''Flexipop!'') was a British pop music magazine that ran from 1980 to 1983, which featured a flexidisc in each issue. The magazine was launched in 1980 by ex-''Record Mirror'' journalists Barry Cain and Tim Lott. One of ...

'' magazine. He performed it solo on

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...

' ''Join Hands'' tour at the

Hammersmith Odeon The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...

as an extended version forming the entirety of his set, which preceded

the Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

, the main support band. "Discipline" was also covered by

Boyd Rice Boyd Blake Rice (born December 16, 1956) is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s. A pioneer of industrial music, Rice was one of the first artists to use a sampler and turntable as an instrum ...

and by German

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

group

Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

as "Disziplin."

Charts

References

Extended links

Discogs entry
{{authority control 1981 singles Throbbing Gristle songs 1981 songs