Submitted by UAR-mwfree on Aug 16
Killing Joke band

 

Killing Joke Album album cover

 

Killing Joke – Killing Joke (1980):  Killing Joke are not exactly a punk rock band, and they are not exactly a hard rock band or a heavy metal band either.  Remarkably, a lot of their music is danceable, and they even picked up an arty side later in their career.  I first learned about Killing Joke in the video for their song “Eighties” (1984) that I saw on the MTV weekend alternative rock program, 120 Minutes (the show started at midnight, so typically, I would hit ‘Record’ on my VCR before going to bed and then watch 120 Minutes later in the week).  Killing Joke is the band’s first album; the Allmusic review by Bradley Torreano starts off:  “Since 1980, there have been a hundred bands who sound like this; but before Steve Albini and Al Jourgensen made it hip, the cold metallic throb of Killing Joke was exciting and fresh.”  The album includes Killing Joke’s first single, “Wardance”; “The Wait” was covered by Metallica just six years later; and Foo Fighters released “Requiem” as a B-side in 1997.  The bandleader of Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl was previously the drummer for NirvanaKilling Joke and Nirvana had a running feud for many years that nearly resulted in a lawsuit, regarding how similar the guitar line in “Eighties” was to that of the Nirvana single “Come as You Are” that was on their breakthrough album, Nevermind (1991).