Snog is a band that was formed by Australian musician David Thrussell, along with fellow art school friends Tim McGrath and Julia Bourke in 1989. The band's music is a fusion of many different styles, including industrial,

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

. The band name is a reference to "kissing and cuddling".

History

Snog's first album ''Lies Inc.'' was released in 1992 and Pieter Bourke, who has since worked with

Dead Can Dance Dead Can Dance are a British-Australian band founded in Melbourne in 1981 by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, before relocating to London the following year. The Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance's style as "const ...

and

Lisa Gerrard Lisa Germaine Gerrard ( ; born 12 April 1961) is an Australian musician, singer and composer and member of the group Dead Can Dance with music partner Brendan Perry. She is known for her unique singing style technique (glossolalia). She has a ...

, joined the band soon afterwards. The second album, ''Dear Valued Customer'', which drew heavily on techno influences, was then released in 1994. Also in 1994, the side projects Soma (Thrussell and Pieter Bourke) and Black Lung. By 1997, the band was primarily a solo project for Thrussell, who collaborated with guest musicians on recordings. The next album release was ''Buy Me... I'll Change Your Life'' and country western-style guitar was featured, as well as a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Lee Hazlewood Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s ...

's "Let the Little Flowers Grow". ''Third Mall from the Sun'' followed in 1999 and the album blended the styles of the previous two albums, in addition to new influences. Thrussell described the progression of Snog's musical styles in a 1998 interview with ''Sonic Boom Magazine'': "In the past Snog has written a lot of dance floor material and while it has been successful, I kind of felt that I needed to write something different. I intentionally try and do something new with every Snog release. I do not want to get caught up in the musical trap of remaking the same album over and over". ''Third Mall from the Sun'' was followed by the remix album ''Relax into the Abyss''. In 2003, the album ''Beyond the Valley of the Proles'' was released and its follow-up ''Snog vs. the Faecal Juggernaut of Mass Culture'' was released three years later. Snog continued to release music into the 21st century and the EP ''Everything Is Under Control'' (consists of

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

es and the additional song "The Lament of the Lost Sheep") was released on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

on 25 March 2013. The EP was followed by 23 April 2013 album release ''Babes in Consumerland'' and both recordings are part of a contract with the Metropolis record label. A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for ''Everything Is Under Control'' was published on the Internet on 19 March 2013. On 20 March 2013 Snog also released a 12" vinyl record with French record label M-Tronic entitled "The Plug-In Drug"; produced as blue-coloured vinyl and limited to 300 copies, the record features three songs from ''Babes In Consumerland'', in addition to remixes and unreleased songs.

Politics

Thrussell's songs frequently contain themes of

anti-consumerism Anti-consumerism is a sociopolitical ideology. It has been described as "''intentionally'' and ''meaningfully'' excluding or cutting goods from one's consumption routine or reusing once-acquired goods with the goal of avoiding consumption". The ...

anti-capitalism Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism with an alternati ...

individuality An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or g ...

and opposition to the idea of Big Brother. The albums ''Third Mall from the Sun'' (1999), ''Relax into the Abyss'' (2000) and ''Beyond the Valley of the Proles'' (2003), ''The Last Days of Rome'' (2006) and ''City'' (2008) featured artwork by

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

artist Chris Woods, whose paintings lampoon the advertising tactics of major corporations such as

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

, The Gap and

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

. Snog supports the copying of its music and depending on the recording label, many releases are designated

copyleft Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose, ...

(or "copyright-free"), as indicated by a crossed-out "©" symbol that is printed on the album case.

Reception

In a 2008 review of ''The Last Days of Rome'', Matthew Rich from ''Left Hip Magazine'' described Snog as "the greatest band at the moment".

Snog discography

Albums

*''Lies Inc.'' – (CD LP) 1992 – Machinery • (CD Album) 1993 – Id • (CD Album, Reissue) 1993 – Futurist, Machinery • (CD Album) 2003 – Ground Under Production *''Dear Valued Customer'' – (CD LP) 1994 – Id • 1995 – Machinery *''Buy Me... I'll Change Your Life'' – (CD LP) 1997 – Shock • (CD Album) 1998 – Metropolis (#14

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

RPM Charts) *''Third Mall from the Sun'' – (CD LP) 1999 – Metropolis, Hymen Records, Rollercoaster Recordings • (2xLP Album) 1999 – Hymen Records • (2xCD Album) 2001 – Equinox (#198 CMJ Radio Top 200; #19 CMJ RPM Charts) *''Relax into the Abyss'' – (CD LP) 2000 – Metropolis, Hymen Records • 2000 – Hymen Records (#29 CMJ RPM Charts) *''Beyond The Valley of the Proles'' – (CD LP) 2003 – Metropolis, Hymen Records, Karmic Hit *''Snog vs. The Faecal Juggernaut of Mass Culture'' – (CD Album, Enhanced) 2006 – Metropolis, Psy-Harmonics *''The Last Days of Rome'' – (CD LP) 2007 – Metropolis, Hymen Records, Psy-Harmonics • (CD EP) 2007 – Psy-Harmonics • (AAC file) 2007 – Metropolis *''Last of the Great Romantics'' – (CD LP) 2010 – Metropolis *''Babes in Consumerland'' – (CD LP) April 2013 *''Compliance™'' – (CD, Digital Release) October 2015 *''Lullabies for the Lithium Age'' – (Vinyl, CD, Digital Release) 24 April 2020 – Metropolis *''Eight Offerings for the Undead'' – (Vinyl, CD, Digital) 4 February 2022 – Lightarmour Editions – Metropolis

Singles

*''Corporate Slave'' – (12", CD Maxi) 1992 – Machinery *''Shop'' – (12", CD Maxi) 1992 – Machinery • (CD single) 1993 – Id *''Born To Be Mild'' – (CD Maxi) 1993 – Machinery, Id *''Hey, Christian God'' – (CD Maxi) 1993 – Id *''Cliché'' – (CD Maxi) 1994 – Machinery • (CD single) 1994 – Id *''The Future'' – (CD Maxi) 1995 – Metropolis, Id • (CD) 1996 – Zoth Ommog *''...Make the Little Flowers Grow'' – (CD Maxi) 1997 – Shock *''Hooray!!!'' – (CD Maxi) 1997 – Shock • (CD Maxi) 1998 – Metropolis *''The Ballad'' – (CD Maxi) 1998 – Shock *''The Human Germ'' – (CD Maxi) 1998 – Metropolis *''Justified Homicide'' – (CD Enhanced, Ltd. Ed) 2001 – Karmic Hit *''Fill My Hole'' – (CD Promo) 2003 – Karmic Hit *''Real Estate Man (The Rema s)'' – (12") 2005 – ack-troni *''Real Estate Man Plus'' – (CD Maxi) 2005 – Hymen Records *''Crash Crash Rema s'' – (12") 2006 – ack-troni *''Crash Crash vs. Remixes and Exclusive Tracks'' – (CD Maxi) 2006 – Psy-Harmonics • (AAC file) 2006 – Metropolis *''Planet of Shit'' – (CD Maxi) 2006 – Psy-Harmonics • (AAC file) 2006 – Metropolis *''The Kings of Hate'' – (CD Maxi Enhanced) 2006 – Psy-Harmonics • (AAC file) 2006 – Metropolis *''City'' – (CDr, Single Promo) 2007 – Psy-Harmonics *''Vaguely Melancholic'' – (CDr, Single Promo) 2007 – Metropolis *''City'' – (CD EP) 2008 – Metropolis *"The Plug-In Drug" (12" vinyl) – M-Tronic *''Everything Is Under Control'' – (CD EP) 2013 – Metropolis *''Cheerful Hypocrisy'' – (CD, Digital Release) September 2015 *''The Clockwork Man'' – (12" Vinyl) 2015 – Metropolis *''Rich Kuntz'' – (Single, Digital Release) 2016 – Metropolis *''The Clockwork Man'' – (Single, Digital Release) 2016 – Metropolis

Other

*''Dear Valued Customer/Live in the Global Village – (2xCD) 1994 – Id *''Lies Inc./Lies Inc. The Special Edition'' (2xCD) 1996 – Id *''Remote Control'' – (CD) 1996 – Metropolis *''Dear Valued Customer/The Remix Files'' – (2xCD) 1998 – Rollercoaster Recordings *''I Snog, Therefore I Am'' – (LP) 1999 – Hymen Records • (2xCD) 1999 – Hymen Records *''Lies Inc./Dear Valued Customer'' – (2xCD LP) 2000 – Metropolis *''Beyond The Valley of the Proles/Your Favorite Electro-Folk-Swingers'' – (2xLP) 2003 – Hymen Records *''Your Favorite Electro-Folk-Swingers'' – (CD) 2003 – Karmic Hit *''Sixteen Easy Tunes for the End Times'' – (CD LP, Enhanced) 2006 – Metropolis, Solnze Records, Karmic Hit *''The Dissolving Satellite of Egoism Overturned'' – (CD LP) 2010 – Hymen Records

DVDs

*''Adventures in Capitalism'' – (DVD) 2003 – Metropolis

Sound Tracks

*''Pearls Before Swine'' – Movie Soundtrack 1999 – (contributed tracks, alongside NON and Death in June)

References

External links

Snog
on

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

{{Authority control Australian electronic music groups Victoria (state) musical groups Australian techno groups Metropolis Records artists Anti-consumerist groups Zoth Ommog Records artists