from the LP Gag, Mute Records, 1984A school topic which seems to brandish perpetual appeal amongst young kids is any discussion on criminal punishments of yore: the guillotine, being burned at the stake, the rack, even lesser penalties like being put in the stocks. One method of retribution that always gets a mention is the process of “tarring & feathering”, but the very notion of such a visibly riotous procedure always left me with one eyebrow raised as to the practicality of such an odd course of action---that is, until I saw the video for this track by British freakazoid (and I mean that in the best possible way) Frank Tovey, a.k.a. ‘Fad Gadget’. With a little help from like-minded weirdo’s Einstürzende Neubauten, he created one of the paramount roasts of gothic / industrial culture in the ‘80s, all tongue-in-cheek of course, “…stay awake all night, but never see the stars, and sleep all day, on a chain link bed of nails… steer clear of the sun, pancake sandpaper skin; they have no reflections, drink blood but pierce no veins… exagerrate the scar tissue, wounds that never heal; takes hours of preparations, to get that wasted look…” You simply must watch the video for full effect (dig the “band”, particularly that chick playing the hell out of those Perrier bottles): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGXBjwifubI
