Genesis P-Orridge RIP

Whilst s/he'd been very unwell for quite some time the news of the death of Gen still came as a bit of a shock, even at a time when the whole world seems to be imploding. I'd been a fan since discovering their work via Psychic TV's acid house phase and through their links with another musical hero of mine Marc Almond. Of course Gen first became infamous fronting godfathers/mothers of industrial music Throbbing Gristle who are/were often a challenging listen. Their PTV output was/is a lot more accessible though, even grazing the nether reaches of the charts thanks to a Godstar, the band's tribute to Brian Jones (my own personal favourite was Gen's tribute to Ian Curtis I C Water though, apparently Gen was one of the last people to speak with Ian).



I was lucky enough to meet Gen once and spent a little time with them and the band backstage after a gig in Brum and found them to be wonderful company as we bonded over a one particular shared life experience that shaped us (for better or for worse) both. At that point they'd embarked on their pandrogeny project, during which time Gen and partner Lady Jaye had a series of fairly radical surgeries to try to look like each other, predating today's somewhat fluid gender identification. Quite frankly Gen was too original to look like, behave like or be like anyone else on planet earth though and whilst s/he clearly pissed off a lot of people during their 70 years on earth their contribution to art, music, politics and culture will be felt for as long as the human race survives...hmmm...that would have sounded a lot better a few weeks ago eh?! Anyway, RIP Gen, see you on the other side.