Discipline (Throbbing Gristle song)

Single

45 RPM 12" with 2 live versions of the song "Discipline" recorded in Berlin and Manchester. Center labels are cream with black printing. Glossy picture sleeve of TG group stood outside ex-Nazi Ministry of Propaganda in Berlin on front and Val Denham holding 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.

Track listing

Side A:

1. "Discipline (Manchester)" - 8:06

Side B:

1. "Discipline (Berlin)" - 10:45

Song

"Discipline" may be Throbbing Gristle's most infamous song. First played at the S036 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 would declaim 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 TG show up to the group's demise. Often it would range in length from eight to twelve minutes, although it could be stretched out much longer: A version from one of their last shows at the Lyceum in London was over half an hour, as documented on the bootleg Once Upon a Time and the VHS release Destiny.

The song was covered by Marc Almond and Friends on a flexi disc that was issued free with an issue of Flexi-Pop Magazine. He performed it solo on Siouxsie and the Banshees' Join Hands tour at the Hammersmith Odeon, an extended version of the song forming the entirety of his set, which preceded The Cure, the main support band. Discipline was also covered by Boyd Rice and by German synthpop group Propaganda as "Disziplin".

Extended links