Wasted Time - My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
July 6th 2008 20:41
Dirty Little Secrets by My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
Cigarette smoke swirls in the air and scatters under the dim light. The spell of the night is being woven as the music starts. Flesh begins to undulate to satisfy the hunger of man. Whispery vocals entwine a seductive bass walk, audacious beats, aphrodisiac saxophones and enticing key strokes. American industrial band My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult (abbreviated as TKK) tells the "you can look but you can't touch" story that starts as the sun sets with their hypnotic Wasted Time. It is a sneaky track that tickles deep down inside and awakens the hidden devils.
Chicago based musician and vocalist Frank Nardiello (aka Groovie Mann) came back from England (where he performed vocals for a goth band named Drowning Craze that recorded for 4AD. One of his band mates was Cocteau Twins' bass player Simon Raymonde) to team up with his friend Marston Daley (aka Buzz McCoy). They started shooting an autobiographical art movie named Hammerhead Housewife and the Thrill Kill Kult which would later become the inspiration behind TKK's name. Although they never completed the movie, they wrote and recorded songs for it regardless. These recordings caught the attention of new wave/industrial record label Wax Trax! and were released as an EP in 1987. Hence began the legacy of My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult which sure is among the most controversial bands in history with their cult songs. TKK's music that is based on predominant beats ranged from industrial to electronic, from disco to pop and rock throughout their discography. They stood out with their eclectic style together with their lyrics that depended on samples from B-movies. Throughout the 80s, they were considered as the pioneers of industrial music alongside others such as Ministry, KMFDM and Front 242.
The beginnings of the band were highly occult both lyrics-wise and as far as the artwork they used went. Their debut I See Good Spirits and I See Bad Spirits and second album Kooler than Jesus included supernatural elements, unconventional imagery and openly discussed taboo concepts like sex and drugs. This made the band an instant favorite of college radios and the nightmare of the "perfect parent". Titles such as "Universal Blackness", "Gateway to Hell", "Kooler than Jesus" and "Devil Does Drugs" were enough to stir the still waters and shunned by religious groups that labeled them as satanic (which was far beyond truth as one can imagine. Although they used paranormal and esoteric concepts in their music, TKK hardly ever promoted demonic worship of any kind).
Then came Confessions of a Knife in 1990, followed by their breakthrough album Sexplosion! which turned out to become the label's most selling album in its history and featured the alternative hit, "Sex on Wheelz". Having broken a leg with Sexplosion!, TKK moved on to a bigger label and released Above the Night & Hit on Holiday. They made 4 more studio albums (along with various compilations such as Dirty Little Secrets) until their last album The Filthiest Show in Town which came out in 2007.
TKK is also an avid soundtrack contributor, thus, one probably have been exposed to their music at some point or another without even knowing. Some of their tracks are featured in movies and TV series such as Cool World, The Crow, The Flintstones, BASEketball, Beavis and Butthead, CSI NY and Basic Instinct director Paul Verhoeven's box-office-disaster-turned-cu lt movie Showgirls.
Wasted Time is, most suitably, featured in this last film and sets its main idea as soon as the first lyrics are heard,
"She's gotta work it for the pleasure of the people"
The titillating aura of the song keeps building as it takes the listener to the intimate corners of the "dreamer's" mind (in this case, those who watch the stripper) and creating a notorious urge to waggle the feet if not directly sway with the idle tempo. The dancer casts her spell and exploits the fantasies of her audience just like a Femme Fatale or like a black widow feeding on her prey. The lyrics warn,
"Watch out:
You're just wasting your time
With her"
You're just wasting your time
With her"
However, the hypnotized crowd has already forgotten time and space in her and she makes them skillfully loose their sense of time and space some more as she becomes one with the music, becomes one with each and every one and transforms into the only thing they want and need until the fade out.
Just before they could collect themselves, another song begins, another spell is cast... And this nocturnal tale reiterates until the first ray of the sun appears in the east....
...and until it begins again the following night.
Ink Blots
Browse music online at IMEEM
Buy Dirty Little Secrets from Amazon
Meet the artist My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult at Really Long Link
Read the entire lyrics at Non Album Tracks -- A part of Kooler than Ascii
Browse music online at IMEEM
Buy Dirty Little Secrets from Amazon
Meet the artist My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult at Really Long Link
Read the entire lyrics at Non Album Tracks -- A part of Kooler than Ascii
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