Pop quiz: who was the heaviest band of the 80s? If you’re tempted to respond to that question with some of the usual suspects from heavy metal or hardcore punk, please try again. In this writer’s (not particularly humble) opinion, the correct answer is Swans.
Granted, music is often a highly subjective experience, and “heavy” can mean different things to different people. Still, you would be hard-pressed to find a more uncompromisingly brutal sound than what Michael Gira and company dished out in the early/mid-80s. While their first couple of albums (Filth and Cop) might be the most notorious examples from a purely bruising sonic perspective, the band’s sound somehow continued to get heavier from there, becoming downright harrowing at times on their subsequent EPs Young God, Greed, and Holy Money. Indeed, it’s no wonder their astoundingly abrasive live album Public Castration is a Good Idea consisted of songs entirely from those aforementioned EPs. To say that era of Swans is not for the faint of heart might be a moderate understatement, but in case you’re curious, check out this (kind of terrifying) performance of “A Screw” from 1986 and see for yourself:
