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John Balance aka Geoff Rushton (born Geoffrey Laurence Burton) was a huge fan of Throbbing Gristle - the original "wreckers of civilisation" and one of, if not, the founders of "industrial" music). John had been in contact with Throbbing Gristle and became good friends with Peter Christopherson aka "Sleazy". The break up of Throbbing Gristle in 1981 meant the original members went their own way: Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti became Chris And Cosey (covered in our July 2018 WaxTraxFriday articles). Genesis P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson formed Psychic TV. John, now Sleazy's partner, became a member of Psychic TV too, starting with the first single Just Drifting and second album Dreams Less Sweet. Although, from 1982 John was already working on a side-project that would ultimately become Coil. During this period Jon and Peter also joined up with Boyd Rice to record as the Sickness Of Snakes. In 1984, fed up with Genesis P-Orridge's shenanigans, both John and Sleazy left Psychic TV with the two of them becoming Coil full-time.

Coil's music was first and foremost about experimenting and recording much material to hone into an actual release. Over the years many different versions, remixes, outtakes have also be released of their material. Their first officially released output was the collaborative, split release with ZOS KIA - see this week's bonus section. Their first proper single was How To Destroy Angels - see next week's WaxTraxFriday article for more about that. Their second single was Panic / Tainted Love released in April 1985 on their own Force & Form label and licensed to Wax Trax! for the American market. Reportedly, profits from the sale of this single were donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust - you can still donate directly to this great and important organisation here.

Tainted Love was an English "Northern Soul" track from 1965, that Soft Cell famously covered in 1981 and it became a huge international hit for them. It was reissued and remixed in 1991 and for this version Peter Christopherson directed the music video.


Coil's own music video from 1985 includes a cameo appearance by Marc Almond! The video was purchased by The Museum of Modern Art in New York, USA.

Tainted Love has been covered many times, by many artists, including the shock-rocker Marilyn Manson in 2001…

All of the original releases for this single are collectable especially the original vinyl from the UK pressed on red vinyl.

ZOS KIA was formed by John Gosling (Mekon), John Balance and Min with guest Peter Christopherson. Their one and only album, Transparent, was released on 23rd August 1983 as a cassette only edition on the now defunct Austrian label Nekrophile Rekords. They were the first released recordings of both Coil and ZOS KIA. It was reissued in 1997/1998 by Threshold House / Eskaton. The entire Transparent recordings were released for the first time, completely remastered from the unedited tapes, in 2017 via Cold Spring Records. This reissue includes two previously unreleased bonus tracks by Ake (pre-Zos Kia). The music on Transparent is genuinely unsettling and disturbing, with a more primal Industrial feel than the Coil album which followed; Scatology (recorded 1984, released 1985). This album is an essential insight into the very early work of these extraordinary artists and an undeniable link between Coil and Throbbing Gristle. The new CD version comes in a six-panel digi-pak with a booklet containing unseen images. (Thanks to Cold Spring Records for the basis of this text.)


Please note: Unlike previous WaxTraxFriday artists, our Coil discography is not complete - it's a complicated one especially with lots of unofficial/counterfeit releases and so we'll be working on it over time.

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Article number = 81