Marking
its quarter century anniversary today is the infamous EP/single from
Aphex Twin, Come To Daddy, which was released on vinyl and extended CD
edition on October 6th, 1997. Along with its mind bending video,
courtesy of Chris Cunningham, it would go on to become one of Richard D.
James’ most iconic songs.
The title track began as something of a
drunken joke when James was at home messing about with some death-metal
riffs fused with furious break-beat rhythms. Some say it was a
piss-take parody of Prodigy’s Firestarter hit. James went ahead and
released it, but then withdrew it shortly thereafter for a week in order
to prevent it from going to the #1 spot on the charts. It ended up
peaking at #33.
The video for the single is a primary reason
for the song’s longevity and lasting impact. It was shot in the same
area as many of the exterior scenes in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork
Orange and offers a dismal, apocalyptic scenario where an old lady is
terrorized by a gang of rampaging children, all with Richard D. James’
sinister grinning face, a motif that would be repeated with various
record covers and videos. Grandma is eventually confronted by a
screeching TV summoned demon who gathers the kids around him in a manner
which seems intended to be a parody of a similarly framed scene in one
of Michael Jackson’s videos. The oblique references to Jackson would
continue in the Windowlicker video, which was the followup from AFX and
Cunningham.
Reissues of the CD have expanded it to 11 tracks
and a pretty much full LP runtime of 45 minutes. What may have started
off as a bit of a laugh turned out to be one of Aphex Twins most
enduring and memorable releases.
