400 Hello Killing Joke - Follow The Leaders

Chart  entered : 23  May  1981

Chart  peak : 55

Number  of  hits : 15

Here's  another  act  who've  made  me  think  they  might  be  worth  investigating  further  but  I've  never  got  round  to  it.

Killing  Joke  started  in  the  autumn  of  1978  when  Jeremy "Jaz" Coleman ( born  1960 )  briefly  joined  the  backing  band  for  a  singer  called  Mataya  Clifford  whose  career  never  took  off. Jaz  was  an  interesting  character  to  say  the  least, the  son  of  an  English  father  and  Anglo-Indian  mother  ,reportedly  from  a  very  high  caste  family. He  was  a  classically  trained  pianist  and  violinist  who'd  sung  in  cathederal  choirs. He  persuaded  drummer  Big  Paul  Ferguson ( born  1958 )  to  quit  Clifford  and  form  Killing  Joke.  An  ad  in   Melody  Maker  produced  the  other  two  members  , guitarist  Kevin  "Geordie"  Walker  ( born  1958 )  who'd  never  played  in  a  band  before  and  Martin "Youth"  Glover  ( born  1960  )  who'd  been  in  a band  with  Jim  Lydon  called  4  Be  2. Their  single  "One  of  the  Lads"  is  a  prime  example  of  younger  brother  idol-worship  sounding  like  Death  Disco  with  added  banjos. Martin  supplied  the  Wobble-like  bass  line.

Killing Joke  played  their  first  gig  in  August  1979  supporting  The  Ruts  and  The  Selecter. Their  first  release  is  a  bit  confusing. Having  set  up  their  own  label  Malicious  Damage  they  signed  a  deal  with  Island  to  distribute  the  records. In  October  1979  they  released  the  EP  "Turn  To  Red", with  three  tracks, "Turn  To  Red", "Nervous  System" and  "Are  You  Receiving". The  first  two  tracks  are  PiL- like  experiments  with  dub  and  reggae  and  the  latter  a  jagged, tuneless  but  controlled  burst  of  punk  aggression. Both  Peelie  and  John  Lydon  immediately  backed  them. In  November  Island  released  "Nervous  System"  as  a  conventional  single  and  the  following  month  the  EP  again  with  an  extra  track  "Almost  Red"  which  is  little  more  than  a  synth  doodle  re-working  the  I  Feel  Love  bass  line.

Before  the  next  record  they  switched  the  distribution  from  Island  to  E.G.Records. "Wardance"  in  March  1980  sounded  like  nothing  else  around  at  the  time,  the  savagely  barked  vocals  ( like  The  Stranglers'  Jean-Jacques  Burnel  taken  a  stage  further )  warning  of  some  unspeakable  apocalypse  ,  the  discipline  and  muscle  of  the  band's  metallic   rock   sound   and  complete  absence  of  any  concession  to  melody. Their  eponymous  debut  album  followed  in  August  honing  this  sound  although  Jaz's  voice  isn't  always  so  hard  on  the  ear  and  some  tracks  such  as  the  follow-up  single  "Requiem"  work  synthesisers  into  the  sound  mix.  If  you  can  cope  with  the  complete  absence  of  anything  like  a  tune  and  Jaz's  unremittingly  bleak  worldview  it's  an  invigorating   listen  and  certainly  Nirvana,  Metallica, Marilyn  Manson  have  all  paid  tribute  to  its  influence. It  reached  number  39  in  the  charts

"Follow  The  Leaders "  , their  fourth  single  grafts  their  hard  rock  aggression  onto  an  electrodance  backing  track  that's  pretty  similar  to  Fascist  Groove  Thang.  With  the  track  anchored  by  a  brutalist  drum  machine,  Paul  takes  the  opportunity  to  out-drum  Adam  and  the  Ants  throughout  the  track  while  Jaz  spits  out his  anti-conformist  diatribe.  Again  it's  completely  tuneless. It  was  perhaps  the  least  commercial  chart  debut  of  the  year.