Why Killing Joke rules

Im a massive fan and supporter of KJs music from all eras and stages. They got a unique sound and approach to composition. Like King Crimson, Killing Joke avoids blues influence in the music aimfully amd as a mutual agreemant within the band. Here is an answer by singer Jaz Coleman on the reason behind KJs song composition method and ideals.

outskript from interview
Question
The formative Killing Joke7 sound was unique amongst its contemporaries of the time, I wanted try and get a sense of where you were coming from musically, and how your beliefs tied into that formation as well.

answer
One of our foundations was to inspire a renaissance, when I remember my early conversations with Paul – and this was before Geordie and Youth [Glover, bass] even came on the scene. That was the objective; that and also to have an understanding of the world’s power system, the world power complex; and more importantly – to see ourselves in context to it. That was one of the other points I remember discussing with Big Paul.

Apart from that there was strict musical form. We rejected ALL blues music as musical communism, because it was a musical form from a foreign land and not our country of origin. We would ask ourselves these questions on what an Anglo-Saxon rhythm is, so Killing Joke came out of fierce debate like this. We rejected ALL guitar solos, on the grounds that they were an expression of ego – and that tradition remains to this day. The drums were always considered the royal instrument. Big Paul drew from Celtic tradition on drums, and we meant to reinvent and establish modern tribal drums of an Anglo-Saxon style – so in many respects we were almost writing our own folk music, because England has no real folk tradition. And by that I mean, no one sings the songs of their ancestors or forefathers anymore. If you asked 500 people in England today to sing the songs of their forefathers, they’d probably sing you a Manchester United song! So it was always about reestablishing tradition. And of course that’s what we are today.

https://hellbound.ca/2010/11/jaz-coleman-interview/

Edited by Icarium - March 26 2018 at 06:35

Good band for sure! Probably even more influential then given credit for. And best name for a band ever!

Edited by SteveG - March 26 2018 at 06:47

Important and very strong band. I can do without interview statements like "We rejected ALL blues music as musical communism, because it was a musical form from a foreign land and not our country of origin" though. Fair enough they do good music in this way. Sensible reasoning it is not. (OK you never know to what extent Jaz means what he says.)

I straight up thought this was a thread about triggering people with comedy about death 

It appears that Jaz Coleman is an utter f**kwit who happened to be in a fairly good band. New Zealand is welcome to him as far as I'm concerned.

dr wu23 wrote: I can't say I ever heard one of their albums before so I sampled Fire Dances on you tube.....sounds like The Clash on a mix of acid and steroids. ;)

Killing Jokes sound is very dence and layered, i would signify the guitar sound as a key factor of KJs sound Kevin 'Gordey' Walker is the key member

Edited by Icarium - April 01 2018 at 11:00

If a band wants to be truly ground breaking and different, then rejecting the blues is a good place to start. Blues based music has been done ad nauseum, and the folk who were best at it, have long been and gone, so repitition is fairly pointless unless you're in a pub band, and doing it for a hobby at weekends.

As for Killing Joke, yeah, very good band and truly original, but Colemans description of the blues is somewhat off, and his reasoning pretty weak. They were always a pretentious bunch; sulky, miserable and up themselves.

They have made some classic albums though, and they knew how to convey true brutality in their music. Brutality that no other punk band could ever do, and a cold anger that no silly thrash metal band could ever muster, without humour. Their second album 'What's this for?' is possibly my favourite. Tracks like 'Tension' and 'The Fall of Because' epitomise all that was good about the early KJ. Fire Dances and Night Time are also classic albums, where the band reveal a more sophisticated side. Their influence can be heard years later in Nirvana's 'Come as you are' the riff for which is at least partly stolen from KJ's 'Eighties'

Musically, they are a bad trip, and one which I do like to go on from time to time. They are certainly unique.

Edited by Blacksword - April 04 2018 at 01:29

Mortte wrote: To me Blues is a feeling, so in my point of view I think KJ is also bluesbased (never heard any glad song from them). I don´t see them very unique, I think their base are same as for example Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees & the Cure (in their second to fourth albums), also punkbands like Damned & Stranglers went into same direction. Maybe from those they are the most depressive, that could be the reason, why they never been as big favourites to me as those others I mentioned.

I like all those bands you mentioned (especially Siouxsie) but none of them resemble KJ, or each other for that mattetr. Completely different approaches to making music. In the same way that Genesis doesn't resemble King Crimson, or VDGG in any shape or form.

IMO..