The forefront of the local post-punk, electronic/experimental movement of the late 1970s.The forefront of the local post-punk, electronic/experimental movement of the late 1970s.The forefront of the local post-punk, electronic/experimental movement of the late 1970s.
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Not for the squeamish
The original shocking music video. I rented "Despair" from a music video store in 1987 and was, well, shocked (I was also 15). Harsh noise and distorted colors first come at you, but that's nothing compared to what follows.
SPK, first of all, were capable of being musically terrifying. At this stage of their career their music was of the junkyard punk variety - a lot of distortion, clamor and white noise with grim shouting. But they developed into a truly awe-inspiring outfit. Later tracks like "In Flagrante Delicto" or "Twilight of the Idols" remain some of the spookiest songs I've ever heard. Their unique selection of sounds, and the way in which they're introduced into the piece, are still unmatched. The subject matter of their early songs (mental illness, terrorism, sadism) seemed to take a backseat as time went on and their music took on an exotic, sophisticated, but still eerie tone. They also had a foray into dance music. But when SPK wanted to, they produced music that was the stuff of nightmares. Once I left my CD player on random play and went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and the player was stuck on an SPK disc which was scratched -so it kept repeating over and over. Nightmare music indeed - sleep accompanied by SPK is not recommended.
But back to the videos. "Despair" and "Human Postmortem," both released in the early 80's, have been endlessly bootlegged and copied as few copies were originally produced. It was also claimed by some outlets that these titles were both rated XXX for offensive content, but in reality that was merely a suggestion. "Despair" actually contains some live band footage. In one sequence, we see a hooded band member on stage tearing apart a huge slab of meat. But then things get truly disturbing as we see disgusting things done to a dead cat as well as a human corpse. The last time I attempted to watch this I gagged involuntarily, and I don't have that reaction easily. Absolutely nauseating. "Human Postmortem," as the title suggests, is a straight-up autopsy with SPK music as the soundtrack. It is the more straightforward of the two, although not light viewing by any stretch of the imagination. Watching a person's brain be removed is far worse in action than it is on paper.
So, these videos are so over-the-top that they really don't leave any room for interpretation. But again, the music that SPK went on to produce was so intelligently done, and so eerie, that even the work of other experimental legends pales in comparison. That Revelle went on to become a multi-millionaire Hollywood movie composer is a fitting development in his legendary career.
SPK, first of all, were capable of being musically terrifying. At this stage of their career their music was of the junkyard punk variety - a lot of distortion, clamor and white noise with grim shouting. But they developed into a truly awe-inspiring outfit. Later tracks like "In Flagrante Delicto" or "Twilight of the Idols" remain some of the spookiest songs I've ever heard. Their unique selection of sounds, and the way in which they're introduced into the piece, are still unmatched. The subject matter of their early songs (mental illness, terrorism, sadism) seemed to take a backseat as time went on and their music took on an exotic, sophisticated, but still eerie tone. They also had a foray into dance music. But when SPK wanted to, they produced music that was the stuff of nightmares. Once I left my CD player on random play and went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and the player was stuck on an SPK disc which was scratched -so it kept repeating over and over. Nightmare music indeed - sleep accompanied by SPK is not recommended.
But back to the videos. "Despair" and "Human Postmortem," both released in the early 80's, have been endlessly bootlegged and copied as few copies were originally produced. It was also claimed by some outlets that these titles were both rated XXX for offensive content, but in reality that was merely a suggestion. "Despair" actually contains some live band footage. In one sequence, we see a hooded band member on stage tearing apart a huge slab of meat. But then things get truly disturbing as we see disgusting things done to a dead cat as well as a human corpse. The last time I attempted to watch this I gagged involuntarily, and I don't have that reaction easily. Absolutely nauseating. "Human Postmortem," as the title suggests, is a straight-up autopsy with SPK music as the soundtrack. It is the more straightforward of the two, although not light viewing by any stretch of the imagination. Watching a person's brain be removed is far worse in action than it is on paper.
So, these videos are so over-the-top that they really don't leave any room for interpretation. But again, the music that SPK went on to produce was so intelligently done, and so eerie, that even the work of other experimental legends pales in comparison. That Revelle went on to become a multi-millionaire Hollywood movie composer is a fitting development in his legendary career.
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- mjourgensen
- Dec 8, 2004
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