This book situates the British band Throbbing Gristle as both a lens and critical tool for England during the punk years and the Winter of Discontent. Using detailed archival research and testimony from key performances, it plots the impact and affective reach of the band. 20 b/w illus.

Late 1970s Britain... before, during, and immediately after the Winter of Discontent. Punk and Throbbing Gristle. This book explores how the band worked in and against the time, and how they worked in and against punk, as punk worked in and against the time and place. Punk acts as a mediating factor and nuisance value in the band’s story, as Throbbing Gristle emerged with punk in late 1976, grappled with it through 1977, and went on to create and eventually criticize a number of post-punk scenes that had flourished around 1979.

Drawing on archives and live performances, Ian Trowell traces the impact - then and now - of the activist and antagonistic band Throbbing Gristle.