Cosey Fanni Tutti’s large memoir. The COUM and (2) Throbbing Gristle eras take up the bulk of the book. Art Sex Music could have used an index; it would be nice to be able to look up the bands, artists, & books she mentioned. It seems the all of the pictures of TG where Sleazy, Chris, & Cosey are smiling next to a Genesis P-Orridge who it looks has just been told to behave, and is now sullenly going through the motions of doing so accurately capture the band dynamic (e.g. the cover of 20 Jazz Funk Greats). I’ve always really liked TG & their sound, but I didn’t really know much about the band itself or the members before reading this book. I was kind of surprised at how much of a normal rock n roll band they were, apart from that the music they were making consisted of soundscapes punctuated by industrial jammers. I was particularly surprised that they sat down and actually wrote & planned out as many of the songs and tracks that they did. I kind of had the idea that the forlorn lyrics to tracks such as “Weeping” & “Adrenaline” were ironic send ups of pop music, instead of heartfelt songs about how Cosey left Genesis P-O & they’re sad now. Of course, I was most surprised by how shitty Genesis P-Orridge was to Cosey, and how messed-up their relationship was until TG broke up.
Genesis P-O has their own account of their relationships with Cosey & with COUM, & TG, but I would tend to believe a Cosey or a Chris over the front guy for Psychic TV, which has made some great music, but had kind of an ‘infinite monkeys with typewriters’ (or in this case, synthesizers) feel to it.
Art Sex Music made the life of an avant-garde noise/performance artist in 70s England seem decidedly not fun. Maybe it is because I’m old and tired. I wonder how much of that is Cosey’s perspective looking back & how much is how she felt at the time. Meanwhile, Cosey’s depicts her life now with Chris as the square Avant-Gardes dream, making art out of tampons, doing some soundscapes, and coming home for a spot of tea in a lovely garden with lots of cats.
Art Sex Music also makes me wonder how many more great American bands there would be if more Americans had the option of going on the dole.
I think most bios & memoirs that cover someone’s life should follow Boswell’s lead and have as a header on each page the year & year of the subject’s life (‘Aetat’) covered by that page, but I guess this is more of a comment for the publishing industry. I also think there should have been a picture section for Chris & Cosey’s cats. Much like this review, Art Sex Music could have been better organized, had some disjointed parts, and maybe could have included more, but overall, it was a great read. I’ll have to check out Factory Floor, & the collab album with Coil & Robert Wyatt.