Throbbing Gristle, in case you need a refresher, was a 4 person industrial noise band from England that existed from the late 1970's through the early 1980's. Someone called them "the wreckers of civilisation" on the floor of Parliament. Their output was released by themselves or tiny independent labels who took an interest. I had heard them in high school from older members of the A.V. Club (yes, for real) and was intrigued. Then Mute did everyone a favor and reissued their official releases on CD in the early 90's. I got "Second Annual Report". One track led to a vivid recurring nightmare when I left it on repeat and fell asleep. This was no deterrent. I bought a copy of each reissued CD. End of story? Not quite.
The same thing happened as with Spider-man. I had to have it all. I made a checklist for my wallet. I started answering ads in the Record Collector to Brits selling their stuff. Over a few years I accumulated a serious collection. Most of the original pressings and all but the rarest bootlegs. Bootlegs were a grey area for TG - some of them were blessed by the band - so they needed to be had. They had only ever performed about 35 shows in their existence and they were all available to be hear in some form. And in the end, I heard them all. If you know anything about TG, you know that this means I must have acquired a copy of the mythical "24 Hours" set (on cassette kids, not those new-fangled CD reissues). I got it from some hippie in Oregon who had a website with the word "groovy" somewhere in the name. He gave it to me for a song - $500. If that sounds like a lot to you, guess again. It's worth 5 times that at least. End of story? Again, not quite.
The last gasp of this battle was a usenet auction in 1996. Someone in Chicago had some ultra-rarities. Buried in the list was a copy of the United 7". It said "unrel tp" next to it. This means "unreleased test pressing" if you're not in on the lingo. I managed to win it while the other, more exciting items went for big money. The United 7" was not unreleased so I needed to know what this was. I got it and it said "IR9005" on it and some other numberings. I couldn't tell what was up. The matrix numbers didn't match the normal pressing. I made some inquiries, got no answers, and decided that, since no other collector had bid on it, the joke was on me - this was a dud. End of story? Ah - you're getting the hang of this now.
Fast forward 10 years. Google is here. I am going through some records and come across my old friends, Throbbing Gristle. I take out the "unrel tp" and google this : "throbbing gristle"+9005. First result : http://www.irscorner.com/irsamdiscog.html. Here's what it says :
| IR# | Artist | Song Titles | Release Date | Other Info |
| 9005 | Throbbing Gristle | United / Zyklon B Zombie | --- | Never Released |
It seems IRS Records, in their effort to bring the unusual to the mainstream, must have signed a deal with TG and test pressed the record. Somehow the project got scuttled and the only memory of it exists on a web page listing the catalogue. And, of course, my basement. The dud was in fact all gold. Better than gold. In fact, it looked like it was one of a kind.
I knew Throbbing Gristle had reunited and played shows in England and Europe a few years ago. It was in the back of my mind that they may come to the US. I got a simple email from a friend earlier this year.
"are you going to coachella?"
The wreckers of civilisation were coming. They had split up in 1981. I was 9 years old. I got my ticket to a show in Brooklyn at a Masonic Temple (naturally...) and contemplated what to bring with me. A chance to make one of their releases even more rare by getting it signed by the whole band. There's no way to make a one of a kind item even more rare so I ruled it out.
Sure I did.
That's fantastic!!!
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