Throbbing Gristle was an English music and visual arts group founded in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, who were later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. The band is widely recognized as a pioneer of industrial music. Emerging from the experimental performance art collective COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle made their public debut in October 1976 with the COUM exhibition Prostitution. They followed up with their debut single "United/Zyklon B Zombie" and their first album, *The Second Annual Report*, the next year. P-Orridge's lyrics frequently explored themes of mysticism, extremist political ideologies, sexuality, and the darker or underground aspects of society, using a unique approach to language influenced by William S. Burroughs.

The band released several studio and live albums, including *D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle* (1978), *20 Jazz Funk Greats* (1979), and *Heathen Earth* (1980), on their own label, Industrial Records. They earned a reputation for their transgressive and confrontational aesthetics, incorporating disturbing visual imagery such as ironic fascist and Nazi symbols and pornography, along with noise and sound manipulation inspired by Burroughs and Brion Gysin.

Throbbing Gristle disbanded in 1981 due to internal conflicts, with members subsequently engaging in other projects like Psychic TV, Coil, and Chris & Cosey. The group reunited in 2004 and released three more studio albums—*TG Now* (2004), *Part Two* (2007), and *The Third Mind Movements* (2009)—before disbanding once more after P-Orridge's departure in October 2010 and Christopherson's death the following month. Their final studio project, a cover of Nico's 1970 album *Desertshore* titled *The Desertshore Installation*, was released in 2012 under the name X-TG.