Play Killing Joke Radio
Killing Joke
2,438,991 plays (178,662 listeners)
Listening now: AstromanD
(1979 – present)
1979–1982
Ferguson was drummer in the Matt Stagger Band when he met Coleman (originally from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) in Notting Hill, London. In early 1979, after Coleman was briefly keyboard player in that band, he and Ferguson defected to form Killing Joke with Geordie and bassist Martin “Youth” Glover. According to Coleman, their manifesto was to “define the exquisite beauty of the atomic age in terms of style, sound and form”.
In late 1979, they began the Malicious Damage record label with graphic artist Mike Coles as a way to press and sell their music; Island Records distributed the records, until Malicious Damage switched to E.G. Records in 1980. The songs on Killing Joke’s early singles were primitive punk rock sometimes mixed with funk (“Nervous System”) and dub/reggae (“Turn to Red”) styles. Their ‘Nervous System/Turn To Red’ EP came to the attention of legendary DJ John Peel, who was keen to champion the band’s urgent new sound and gave them extensive airplay. They quickly progressed this sound into something denser, more aggressive, and more akin to heavy metal, as heard on their first two albums, Killing Joke (1980) and the more abrasive What’s THIS For…! (1981). They toured extensively throughout the UK during this time, and both fans of post punk and heavy metal took interest in Killing Joke through singles such as “Follow the Leaders” (1981).
Ferguson was drummer in the Matt Stagger Band when he met Coleman (originally from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) in Notting Hill, London. In early 1979, after Coleman was briefly keyboard player in that band, he and Ferguson defected to form Killing Joke with Geordie and bassist Martin “Youth” Glover. According to Coleman, their manifesto was to “define the exquisite beauty of the atomic age in terms of style, sound and form”.
In late 1979, they began the Malicious Damage record label with graphic artist Mike Coles as a way to press and sell their music; Island Records distributed the records, until Malicious Damage switched to E.G. Records in 1980. The songs on Killing Joke’s early singles were primitive punk rock sometimes mixed with funk (“Nervous System”) and dub/reggae (“Turn to Red”) styles. Their ‘Nervous System/Turn To Red’ EP came to the attention of legendary DJ John Peel, who was keen to champion the band’s urgent new sound and gave them extensive airplay. They quickly progressed this sound into something denser, more aggressive, and more akin to heavy metal, as heard on their first two albums, Killing Joke (1980) and the more abrasive What’s THIS For…! (1981). They toured extensively throughout the UK during this time, and both fans of post punk and heavy metal took interest in Killing Joke through singles such as “Follow the Leaders” (1981).
Top Albums
-
Killing Joke
Killing Joke
Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.99
- 7digital $7.77
- iTunes $9.90
- Buy Album
- Amazon $20.88
- eBay Search
-
Laugh? I Nearly Bought One!
Killing Joke Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $10.99
- 7digital $7.77
- iTunes $10.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $9.81
- eBay Search
-
Night Time
Killing Joke Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.49
- 7digital $7.77
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $11.71
- eBay Search
-
Pandemonium
Killing Joke Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $8.99
- 7digital $6.99
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $41.98
- eBay Search
Top Tracks
| 1 |
|
Love Like Blood
full track
|
|||
| 2 |
|
Eighties
full track
|
|||
| 3 |
|
Wardance
full track
|
|||
| 4 |
|
Requiem
full track
|
|||
| 5 |
|
The Wait
full track
|
|||
| 6 |
|
The Death & Resurrection Show
full track
|
|||
| 7 |
|
Tomorrow's World
full track
|
|||
| 7 |
|
Bloodsport
full track
|
|||
| 9 |
|
Complications
full track
|
|||
| 10 |
|
Asteroid
full track
|
|||
| 11 |
|
Darkness Before Dawn
full track
|
|||
| 12 |
|
Primitive
full track
|
|||
| 13 |
|
Total Invasion
full track
|
|||
| 14 |
|
Loose Cannon
full track
|
|||
| 15 |
|
Change
full track
|
Shoutbox
-
Wrecktoid wrote:
One of the best bands live that i have ever seen!
-
stroke_me wrote:
why only hamburg and cologne? they should come to berlin. fuck that.
-
skinnydrifter wrote:
Great band, had a change of shirt but never in my years will I have a change of thought! JAZ Coleman is one of my heroes.
-
Hugsa wrote:
The best band!!!
-
ativke wrote:
I never considered myself a Killing Joke fan, but I haven't been able to stop listening to Thousand Suns for about two months now
-
tcelestino wrote:
Seeing Red is best!! Killing JOKE
-
gnrseb wrote:
I love 'The Death and Resurrection Show' : )
-
MrLJM wrote:
I clocked up about 80 plays for this band in 3 days and I'm fed up with them. :( I wish they weren't so amazing, then I wouldn't have listened to them so much. I'll probably get back into them in about a week or so.
-
zeffyr wrote:
At last, tour in April! And they will visit Poland, yay! So excited about that :D
-
grustnyi_putnik wrote:
Унылая хуета
-
idlewoodarian wrote:
ah, so cool, I definitely need one like this.
-
skinnydrifter wrote:
It's backwards, but it's my KILLING JOKE SHIRT HURR.
-
CrackRawkSteady wrote:
Is something wrong with it 3;?
-
skinnydrifter wrote:
Check the shirt I'm wearing.
-
augustynjzz wrote:
AEON
-
gybrush_ wrote:
the wait,garage days ,good song
-
skinnydrifter wrote:
Cracking band.
-
seanjkeating wrote:
'Exorcism' and 'Majestic' must rank as some of the heaviest songs ever written by any band? The variation is the main reason i listen to KJ as well, as with all of the bands i'm heavily into. I can't stand bands like Oasis who do the same thing over and over again, KJ don't just vary things but they come up with something completely unexpected. Who expected something as harsh as 'Extremities' after 'Outside the Gate'? Completely insane, but i love it! (oh and yes i do like Outside the Gate!)
-
cha0sm0nkey wrote:
I like the way that, like Ministry, they constantly reinvent themselves. If there's one reason why I listen to the Joke so much, that would be it - there's so much, that's so varied, and it's all worth listening to (apart from 'Outside the Gate', obviously). I don't get the sense that any period is closed - 'The Gathering 2008' covers a pretty good range of their career. Personally, I don't think I'll ever get enough of 'Exorcism', which is about the Heaviest Thing Ever, in my humble.
-
zeffyr wrote:
The present KJ is more mature, I think. I feel more experience of making good music, I can see, that they don't deny their past, but they want to give us sth more than just a well composed and well performed song. That period is closed, now it's like a message: "Take a look at this. There's sth more than we said in the 80's. Listen.". I'm buying it all.
Videos
See more
Events
-
Apr
15
Killing Joke
HMV Picture House, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Add shout
| 6 attendees
-
Apr
16
Killing Joke
HMV Hammersmith Apollo, London, United Kingdom
1 shout
| 15 attendees
-
Apr
19
Killing Joke
Bataclan, Paris, France
Add shout
| 27 attendees
News
KILLING JOKE - REQUIEM - LOKERSE FESTIVAL 2003
21 Jul 2009 | from blog.myspace.com/killingjokeofficial
KILLING JOKE - REQUIEM Live document of KILLING JOKE's set at the LOKERSE FESTIVAL 2003 Heavy and slow, Killing Joke (at least early in their career) was a quasi-metal band dancing to a tune of doom a. …
-
24 Feb 2009 | from blog.myspace.com/killingjokeofficial -
19 Aug 2008 | from blog.myspace.com/killingjokeofficial -
28 Feb 2008 | from blog.myspace.com/killingjokeofficial
Listeners
-
AstromanD
Listening now
to Love of the Masses -
idoom
Listening now
to Love Like Blood -
Emulsifier__
Top Listener
-
orange_peel
Top Listener
-
YANKESS76
Top Listener
Recent Activity
-
Wrecktoid, Spunch1, HarryBuddhaPalm and 1 other person added Killing Joke to their libraries. yesterday evening
-
BenMech tagged Killing Joke with british bands, experimental, 2000s and 4 other tags. yesterday evening
-
rnech and 2 other people added Killing Joke to their libraries. yesterday evening
-
th3m3 wrote about Killing Joke in The Soundtrack of My Life. yesterday afternoon
-
th3m3 wrote about Killing Joke in The Soundtrack of My Life. yesterday afternoon
-
steffboy0 and ncsmn2001 added Killing Joke to their libraries. yesterday afternoon
-
Quintesson tagged Killing Joke with industrial rock, industrial and post-punk. yesterday afternoon
-
cris696 and curtis80 added Killing Joke to their libraries. yesterday morning
-
Levittoux tagged Killing Joke with british, alternative, alternative rock and 3 other tags. Tuesday evening
-
goldghosts and sweetnsour88 added Killing Joke to their libraries. Tuesday evening
Related Journals
-
The Soundtrack of My Life
by th3m3 |
25 Nov 2009 | Add comment
-
The Soundtrack of My Life
by th3m3 |
25 Nov 2009 | Add comment
-
Tuesday Twenty: My top 200 tracks 1990-99 Pt.05a: 40 to 21
by amodelofcontrol |
24 Nov 2009 | Add comment
Groups (159)
-
Killing Joke
134 members
-
Music From Your Mind
44 members
-
The Danse Society
51 members
-
No wave, thrash and no star
44 members
-
For those who don't sleep enough due to staying up late at night for no apparent…
9,863 members
