A Short History of Killing Joke

Of all the post-punk bands, and there were indeed many, Killing Joke seemed to be the first to give their music a heavy metal edge. Their sound comprised of goth and industrial, but was held together by a darker metal sound, a sound which seems to have inspired all dark music since about 1981, including people like Nine Inch Nails, Steve Albini and many others along the way.

Killing Joke were formed in 1979. They lived in the sleepy town of Cheltenham, England. Jaz Coleman was of Egyptian descent, the drummer was Paul Ferguson. The two of them left a band called the Matt Stagger Band and joined forces with bassist Martin Glover, who was Youth from a punk band called Rage, and a guitarist called Geordie. They started to experiment with a new sound that has since held them in lofty company alongside other pioneers like Joy Division, PiL, the Pop Group and Gang Of Four.

Their early sound limited the use of hi-hats and cymbals and concentrated the drumming on low and rumbling sounds. On top were layered synths and dark distorted guitar sounds. Then the cherry on top was the angry vocals of Jaz Coleman. The subject matter of their first album was that of anti-capitalism and pro-environmental in a time when Britain was presided over by Margaret Thatcher and the prevailing dread of a society in the midst of what could be described as a class war. Their was a single called 'Wardance' , which as well as tracks like 'The Wait' and 'Tomorrow's World' featured a blend of fast and punk, and slow and funky. The songs were always, always brutal and definitely could be described as brooding.

Their second album, 'What's THIS For...!' was released in 1981. The band stuck with the rhythmic dynamics of their debut album and increased the dependency on Geordie's top-end guitar. The music followed repetitive refrains, over which Coleman lambasted the present and evoked a doomed future set in paranoid times. The old sci-fi trick of talking about the future whilst describing the present.

Another album followed in 1982 called 'Revelations'. As the band were touring to promote the release, both Coleman and Geordie went to Iceland for a year. Youth followed later, but then returned to Britain to form the band Brilliant along with bassist Paul Raven. But then he had to put his plans on hold again when Raven fled to Iceland too. There is a story associated with all this fleeing to Iceland, it's more rumor than fact and can only be guessed at. It suggests that Coleman saw Iceland as the only safe place in a doomed world and that he had somehow managed to convince the rest of Killing Joke that he was conducting important psychic and occult research there. Whether it's true or not, it suggests that Coleman was a fine storyteller.

They all returned to Britain in 1983 and made a new album. Youth didn't rejoin the band. The album, 'Fire Dance', was based around Coleman's spiritually informed lyrics. The music bristles with a new found confidence and energy and there are glimpses of a fine melodic talent at work. They didn't release another for two years, but when they did it was commercially successful. 'Night Time' contained the hit singles 'Eighties' and 'Love Like Blood' and sees the band at their most enjoyable and accessible. The band then tried to come up with similar sounding albums for a while and continued to split up then reform.

In 1994, Coleman, Geordie and Youth all got back together again and released 'Pandemonium. The album was released alongside similar sounding albums by similar sounding bands, like 'The Downward Spiral' by Nine Inch Nails and 'Portrait Of An American Family' by Marilyn Manson. The music that Killing Joke had helped define had become a commercial monster and the band's new album was bought in droves by NIN and Manson fans. Finally, Killing Joke had been cornered by their own legacy and must have thanked their lucky stars that paranoia was finally fit for the mainstream.