Celebrating
its 40th anniversary this month is the album that turned a couple of
"wreckers of civilization" into pop stars, as Chris & Cosey's Songs
of Love & Lust hit the record shops in January of 1984.
As
members of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle, Chris Carter and
Cosey Fanni Tutti had created reputations for themselves as
controversial outsiders and provocateurs, pushing the boundaries of what
was acceptable as both music and art. However, after the release of
their confection of a single, October Love Song, late in 1983, they set
their sights on creating a kind of music that was seemingly more
conventional than anything they'd done previously. Their move in this
direction began with their first two albums, Heartbeat, and to a lesser
extent, Trance, which had a much more experimental vibe, but Songs of
Love & Lust was purposefully and unapologetically striving towards
accessible pop music, with intelligible, up front lyrics and melodic
hooks that could linger in one's memory of the song, long after it was
finished playing. For hardcore "industrial" music fans, this may have
come as something of a disappointment, but for those willing to indulge
the duo, their flirtations with mainstream song-craft opened up some
wondrous possibilities.
This album was my introduction to Chris
& Cosey, post TG. I'd only really dabbled in TG prior to this
album's release, and didn't know of the existence of Psychic TV or Coil
at all. As such, it functioned as a gateway drug into that world,
offering infectious hooks and grooving rhythms I could relate to quite
easily, where TG had seemed mostly impenetrable. That would all change
soon enough, however, as the rest of 1984 would find me backtracking
through Throbbing Gristle's catalogue, as well as Chris & Cosey's
earlier releases, and eventually discovering PTV and Coil, until I was
immersing myself in their entire oeuvre of sonic mayhem. But this was
the album that truly piqued my curiosity and stuck with me, continuing
to offer up its delights all these decades later. There are still songs
on this album that I consider some of their all time best works.
