​Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats - Controversial Album Cover

​Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats - Controversial Album Cover

Posted by Matt Lehman on Aug 24th 2023

Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats 

It was releases in December 1979 and is their third studio album.

The jacket Photo was taken at Beachy Head which is one of Sussex Coast's most notorious suicide spots.

In a 2012 when asked about the cover, Cosey Fanny Tutti responded, 

"We did the cover so it was a pastiche of something you would find in a Woolworth's bargain bin. We took the photograph at the most famous suicide spot in England, called Beachy Head. So, the picture is not what it seems, it is not so nicey nicey at all, and neither is the music once you take it home and buy it. We had this idea in mind that someone quite innocently would come along to a record store and see this and think they would be getting 20 really good jazz funk greats, and then they would put it on at home and they would just get decimated"

The 1981 re-issue has an alternate version with a dead naked body lying in front of the band.

Supposedly the land rover was actually owned by a couple who had committed suicide off the cliff in the background. I guess it just hangs out there now for a cool photo op for tourists and selfie-seekers.

If you're looking at the band members and scratching you head because they look familiar, that's because 2 of them are on UFO's ' Force it" jacket making out.