Teen Beat: Miki Berenyi’s Favourite Albums | Page 5 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

4. Killing JokeWhat’s THIS For…!

I met a bunch of people at a gig when I was 16. They were these blokes who were into the South London skateboarding scene. I remember going along to the Southbank, and I’m not a skateboarder myself, but I would go along and hang out. They were probably a little bit older than me, maybe about 19-21, but it was brilliant because they were just such a disparate group. Two of them worked at the Ministry Of Defence. There was a guy called Bricky because he was from Brixton who was basically a dope dealer. They would put Killing Joke on a ghetto blaster and I got into it because I’d never heard anything like it. It’s just drums, just pounding, pounding drums and mad rhythms. When I think of that crowd, I think it is really unusual music for you lot to be listening to.

What’s interesting about Killing Joke is that I was never massively into them. I just played this album a lot because it was new to me to have an album that is completely built around rhythm and sounds like heavy industry. When I listened to What’s THIS For…! there was something slightly terrifying about it. It’s a bit like being sort of pursued through some apocalyptic landscape by unseen threats. This is a sort of album that if a parent walked into a 14-year-old child’s room and heard them listening to this, they would start calling social services. I actually found the aggressiveness quite liberating. It was more thrilling than threatening.

PreviousNext Record

The Quietus Digest

Sign up for our free Friday email newsletter.

Support The Quietus

Our journalism is funded by our readers. Become a subscriber today to help champion our writing, plus enjoy bonus essays, podcasts, playlists and music downloads.

Support & Subscribe Today