Killing Joke was recorded in August 1980 at Marquee Studios in London, shortly after a small tour promoting the Almost RedEP. The album was self-produced by the band on purpose. They only wanted an engineer "who can put their technical knowledge into what we want, the way we want it. He's got to take us as we are". They recorded it live in the studio as "basic" as possible with "no overdubs to speak of"; Ferguson explained, "The mixing is where the difference is". The album's lyrics were written by frontman/vocalist Jaz Coleman and drummer Paul Ferguson expressing their opinions on issues such as politics, death, hypocrisy, human nature, pollution and exile. The artwork was based on a photograph by Don McCullin of young rioters trying to escape from clouds of CS gas released by the British Army in Derry, Northern Ireland, on 8 July 1971 during the Troubles. The original picture was taken a few months before the day now known as Bloody Sunday that took place in the same town in early 1972.
Release
Killing Joke was released on 5 October 1980 by E.G. Records, who were distributed at the time by Polydor Records. It entered the UKAlbums Chart on 25 October 1980, and eventually reached number 39. The album produced three singles: "Wardance", "Change" and "Requiem". The 2005 and 2008 reissues of Killing Joke featured several bonus tracks, such as previously released B-sides and demo tracks. The tracks were listed in addition to the UK original release, being that "Change" was track 9 instead of track 7, as it was in the original US release. The 2008 reissue was dedicated in memory of bassist Paul Raven, who performed on his last album with Killing Joke in 2006. Raven died of heart failure in October 2007. Since then, every reissue of Killing Joke's studio albums has been dedicated to him.
Reception
In his retrospective review, Bradley Torreano of AllMusic praised the album, writing, "Since 1980, there have been a hundred bands who sound like this, but before Steve Albini and Al Jourgensen made it hip, the cold metallic throb of Killing Joke was exciting and fresh", calling it an "underground classic" that "deserves better than its relative unknown status". Sputnikmusic called it a "post-punk masterpiece of tribal funk-rock and grinding heavy metal with suitably doom-mongering lyrics and splenetic vocals". In 2019, Pitchfork placed the album at No. 9 on their "33 Best Industrial Albums of All Time" list.
Legacy
The album has been called "an underground classic" for fans of "heavy music". Dave Grohl has cited it as one of his favorite albums. "The Wait" was covered by Metallica on The $5.98 E.P. - Garage Days Re-Revisited EP in 1987 and was later featured on Garage Inc. "Primitive" was covered by Helmet in 1993 as the A-side to their "Primitive" single, and later added to their Born Annoying compilation album. "Requiem" was covered by Foo Fighters in 1997 as a B-side to the "Everlong" single. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Track listing
Personnel
; Killing Joke
Jaz Coleman – lead vocals, synthesizer, production
