Killing Joke
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Category: Other music related lounges
Forum Name: General Music Discussions
Forum Description: Discuss and create polls about all types of music
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16904
Printed Date: December 23 2024 at 07:48
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Topic: Killing Joke
Posted By: Bob Greece
Subject: Killing Joke
Date Posted: January 03 2006 at 05:25
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Killing Joke is a hard band to describe. It's not prog and it's not punk. I would describe it as psychedelic metal. Are there any other Jokers on the forum? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: January 03 2006 at 08:36
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Happy new year Bob! I'm sure we've discussed Killing Joke before, but cant remenber what was said. I used to like them up until 'Outside the Gate' then gave up on them. My favourite album is 'Brighter than a thousand Suns' although the early 'punk' albums like 'Whats this for' have a certain horrible charm.. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: krusty
Date Posted: January 03 2006 at 08:45
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Yeah, it's the early 'punk' albums I prefer, (up until Jaz got all weird and gloomy) I suppose I would call them 'new wave' or 'post-punk' if I was to get all pedantic about it..  but I'm not, so call 'em whatever u like ------------- http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentChapterView.asp?chapter=309" rel="nofollow - Humanism |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: January 03 2006 at 08:56
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Not sure I'd call them punk at all.
Ok I am sure......I wouldn't. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Bob Greece
Date Posted: January 03 2006 at 09:04
They always get lumped in with the punk bands but I wouldn't say they were punk at all. I hate punk but I like Killing Joke. They just have too much technical ability to be called punk (as Blacksword once said to me). What I like about Killing joke is the hypnotic rythms. The bass and drums just keep going round and round playing the same patterns over and over again and Jazz Coleman's vocals are intense. Of course it doesn't always work. Some of their stuff is a bit boring but when it works it's great. I just bought their new live album. Intense psychedelic stuff. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10">
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Snow Dog wrote:Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: January 03 2006 at 10:40
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Even when they were often being refered to as punk, they were not pure punk. Even early songs like War Dance and Requiem had an 'intelligent' edge. Brutal...but somehow thoughtful. They exuded anger in a far more unsettling and disturbing way than any other 'punk' band. I think this was down to a combination of tribal drumming and Jaz Colemans bitter turn of phrase. I still ocassionally play 'Whats this For' Tension and Fall of Because are great songs, and very original. Plus, they will clear a house of unwanted guests in a flash.. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Jon The Impaler
Date Posted: January 03 2006 at 11:13
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I think Jaz once referred to them as a punk band , in their very early days ....but they do defy definition into any one category . After The Stranglers , these are one of my very favourite bands . Their mid 90's material is very much worth a listen , very powerful . It tends to be the drumms more than anything that make the KJ sound ....the beat they have is unique to them . ------------- Its expensive being poor |
Posted By: AngelRat
Date Posted: January 03 2006 at 15:32
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Great band! I'm looking forward to their new album (will be released later this year).
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Posted By: Bob Greece
Date Posted: January 04 2006 at 03:35
Tribal drumming - that's a good description. Those beats are adictive. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10">
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Posted By: Bob Greece
Date Posted: January 04 2006 at 03:36
Yes I wonder if they'll continue with the really heavy direction of the last album or whether they'll try something new? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10">
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Posted By: Bob Greece
Date Posted: January 04 2006 at 03:39
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Killing Joke and The Stranglers are your favourite bands? Are you on the right forum?! ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10">
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Posted By: Jon The Impaler
Date Posted: January 04 2006 at 10:15
No I am not , but never made any issues about it . I visited here from the Punk77 website , mainly to put a few misconceptions about punk right , but as you can see , there is music that crooses all boundaries . I quite enjoy the discussions here , though some bands I don't have a clue about . Anyway , its all very quiet and boring on the punk77 site at the moment and I have to have something to do ------------- Its expensive being poor |
Posted By: Bob Greece
Date Posted: January 04 2006 at 10:29
Amazing! It's good to see that punk and prog fans can be together and have a decent conversation without fighting. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10">
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Personally I don't like punk but I love Killing Joke and whilst I'm not a Stranglers fan, I have to say that the songs of theirs I've heard on the radio have been very catchy (are they really punk?). Do you like any prog bands?Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: January 04 2006 at 10:44
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Nice to hear from you again Jon! Who or what is Jaz?
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: krusty
Date Posted: January 04 2006 at 10:54
Jaz = Jeremy Coleman = Founder member/singer/keyboard player/lyricist of Killing Joke  ------------- http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentChapterView.asp?chapter=309" rel="nofollow - Humanism |
Posted By: Hemispheres
Date Posted: January 04 2006 at 18:08
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im a big post punk fan and i heard there first album and i thought it was ok but not great is there any better albums by them ------------- [IMG]http://www.wheresthatfrom.com/avatars/miguelsanchez.gif">[IMG]http://www.rockphiles.com/all_images/Act_Images/TheMothersOfInvention/mothers300.jpg"> |
Posted By: Bob Greece
Date Posted: January 05 2006 at 03:50
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I think that they really started to get good from 1985 onwards. Here are the albums I would recommend: ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10">
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Posted By: spo1977
Date Posted: January 07 2006 at 01:26
| I like Night Time, Extremities is very interesting but flawed. I need to pick up "What is this for?" |
Posted By: Jon The Impaler
Date Posted: January 07 2006 at 01:51
Jaz ...Jaz Coleman - Killing Joke's singer . ------------- Its expensive being poor |
Posted By: Jon The Impaler
Date Posted: January 07 2006 at 01:56
Night Time I think is superb , but for me ,surprisingly , Pandemonium is the pick of their albums . Surprising I say because I like punk music and though all their material would go well beyond simple punk ( I think KJ have often been described as Industrial music ) , Pandemonium is powerful but also uses a lot of technology and style punk would never approach .At their best , these can be brilliant , even their early stuff stood out from the run of the mill punk stuff . ------------- Its expensive being poor |
Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: January 07 2006 at 06:18
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I only know their early stuff, but I used to really enjoy them - the combination of punk attitude and pretty good musicianship was a winning combination for me. Gigs were intense, and the audience were a lot scarier than the band themselves from what I recall. Youth is a spectacular bassist, and went on to work with Steve Hillage in System 7 (among many other interesting projects) so maybe they were peace loving hippies underneath all the camouflage make up and brutal rhythms. ------------- 'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...' Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom |
Posted By: Bob Greece
Date Posted: January 09 2006 at 06:55
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From what I've heard, Jaz Coleman's main job these days is composing classical music. He only reformed Killing Joke in 2003 because he was angry about the Iraq war. He must be still angry because there's another Killing Joke album in the pipeline this year. What kind of person goes to a Killing Joke concert I wonder? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10">
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Posted By: Bob Greece
Date Posted: January 11 2006 at 03:43
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Wikipedia describes Killing Joke as post-punk ... one of the bands that tried to make punk more complex, a strange concept when you think about it. One of the reasons why they couldn't be called punk is because they use keyboards. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10">
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Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: January 11 2006 at 05:32
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So did the Stranglers.. I'll have to see what Wikipedia says about them, not that Wikipedia is gospel.. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: January 11 2006 at 05:37
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Ok just looked up the Strangers.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranglers - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranglers Agree with most of it, I guess. They didn't consider themselves punk, not because of keyboards, but because they wrote intelligently..like Killing Joke... Sorry to stray off topic..I'm good at that.. short attention sp.. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Bob Greece
Date Posted: January 11 2006 at 05:50
No, I like that. It makes things more interesting. Wikipedia is really good most of the time but did you hear about the time when a man was falsely linked to the JFK assassination on the site? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4520678.stm - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4520678.stm The entry for neo prog wasn't very complimentary either. Now who's straying off the topic .... and it was my topic as well. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10">
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Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: January 11 2006 at 06:00
I never considered the Stranglers punk. You prabably know that from other threads. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: January 11 2006 at 08:03
Yeah, I remember. I always did, somewhat foolishly I guess. Whenever there was programs on telly about punks the Stranglers semed to get a mention. They were lumped in with the Mohican brigade because of their agression and raw sound, I suppose. If you think about it intelligently, they are obviously NOT punk... ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: January 11 2006 at 08:03
It's your thread as you say... Take it wherever you like, mate! ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Bob Greece
Date Posted: May 09 2006 at 05:37
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Killing Joke's new album is out. It's very intense as usual with repetitive tribal rythyms. I'd say it's more melodic than their previous album. The third track is particularly interesting with heavy use of violins throughout. If they had used more orchestral sections in the whole album, it could have been a masterpiece. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/BobGreece/?chartstyle=basicrt10">
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Posted By: lordoflight
Date Posted: May 14 2006 at 06:35
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Killing Joke are a good band, quite unique in their use of heavy tribal
drumming. They seem to be getting better and heavier with time -
their 2003 self-titled album and the samples i heard of Hosannas From
The Basement of Hell (new album) are great. They are well known for having influenced many bands - Metallica covered their song Killing Time, Nirvana ripped of the riff from Eighties on Come As You Are (has anybody else noticed this?) and even Kate Bush is their fan |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: May 15 2006 at 16:50
I stopped following Metallica after they released "Load" - the only Killing Joke cover I know they did was "The Wait" on the $5.98 EP - which is a good cover, but I much prefer the original. KJ's first album is a masterpiece of its genre - I particularly like "Requiem" and "War Dance", as well as "The Wait" - but I never really got into anything they did after that. ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |