TS: Genesis P Orridge v. GG Allin

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Or, alternatively, mutilating yerself v. mutilating yerself and people in yer audience?

― Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 31 August 2003 19:46 (twenty-two years ago)

certainly, the honorable mr. megson was more articulate in explaining his rationale for him doing his thing than mr. allin ever was. but doesn't it really come down a question of "high-art" vs. "redneck art"? just because mr. allin didn't wrap his schtick in high-falutin sounding rhetoric like "dada" and "post-modernism" and purported spiritual quests, was his act really that much more stupid and artless than mr. p orridge's?

plus for mr p orridge -- as far as i know, he's never taken a shit onstage, much less thrown his shit at anyone in the audience at a COUM transmissions/throbbing gristle/psychic tv/thee majesty show! though he's done a good bit of other gross things onstage.

― Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 31 August 2003 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't think gen *ever* wrapped his shtick in highfalutin borrowed terms like "dada" or "pomo": he was always very clear about why he did things (whether or not you buy his whys, they weren't in borrowed language, that's what i'm saying)

other ppl threw that shit at him obv, but that's not his fault really

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 31 August 2003 21:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Genesis P-Orridge kissed me full on the lips when PTV played the Roxy in L.A. in 1985! Gen's current schtick seems quite sad to me, though.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Sunday, 31 August 2003 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, PTV at that point were one of the best live rock bands in the whole feckin' world, which counts for a lot in my rock-addled brane

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Sunday, 31 August 2003 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Not a real commonality between the two. GPO started a religion and made really interesting music for a pretty long time and GGA...didn't do either.

― Brandon Welch (Brandon Welch), Monday, 1 September 2003 04:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Gen's a sweetheart, no comparison

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 1 September 2003 12:34 (twenty-two years ago)

in my personal experience of gen, dadaismus is correct

(but of course i never met allin)

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 1 September 2003 12:36 (twenty-two years ago)

have seen allin give interview on TV: didn't come across as a 'sweetheart' (though whether he is or not doesn't really matter).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 1 September 2003 12:40 (twenty-two years ago)

... errrrrrrrrrrrrr, it is in the sense that he is therefore dissimilar to Genesis P-Orridge

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 1 September 2003 12:51 (twenty-two years ago)

based on everything i've ever heard about genesis p. orridge from those who've met him, the description of him as a "sweetheart" seems very dead-on. he's also one of the few rock musicians i've read who comes off very well in interviews, always having something interesting to say (rather like [get ready to gag, mistah sinkah!] another touchstone of mine who was also known for being "outrageous"). as fer mr. allin, "sweetheart" and "charming" just ain't two adjectives ever used wr2 him (to say the least).

and of course there's a major difference b/w the two. i really began to dig gen when i sussed out -- from the music and the interviews -- that there was a heavy spiritual component to his stunts, borne of a real (though off-kilt) spiritual sensibility on his part. it's fascinating because it's a way of thinking pretty foreign to mine ... and mr. allin's!

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 00:24 (twenty-two years ago)

anyway, this thread is a subset of sorts of my ILE "artlessness" thread. my point being: mr. p orridge did his shocking things in an artistically interesting way (and yes, mr. sinker, i did read a gen interview where he specifically invoked Dada [and Situationism too!] along with the usual William Burroughs and Timothy Leary stuff). mr. allin did his shocking thing like a dumbass ("artistic" in the sense of, "ever wonder what would happen if someone took a shit onstage and then ate his shit and threw the rest at the audience? NO-ONE HAS EVER DONE THAT BEFORE TOP IT MUTHAFUCKAS!")

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 00:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Gen's art stuff was all really a cut-rate British version of Viennese Actionism, I don't find any of it really profound - Throbbing Gristle is what it's all about

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 14:06 (twenty-two years ago)

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