Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group, officially formed on 3 September 1975 in Kingston upon Hull. With its members Genesis P-Orridge (born Neil Megson), Cosey Fanni Tutti (born Christine Newby), Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter, they became widely regarded as the pioneers of industrial music. Evolving from the experimental performance art group COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle made its public debut in October 1976 on COUM Transmissions exhibition Prostitution, and, the following year, released their debut single, "United / Zyklon B Zombie", followed by an album, The Second Annual Report. Further throughout its first stint, the band released several studio and live albums--including D.o.

Throbbing Gristle evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions, which was formed in Kingston upon Hull by a group of performers centred on Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti. The last known performance of COUM Transmissions--Prostitution, an exhibition which was held in October 1976 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts--was also the public debut of Throbbing Gristle. Throbbing Gristle's confrontational live performances and use of often disturbing imagery, including pornography and photographs of Nazi concentration camps, gave the group a notorious reputation. However, the group always maintained that their mission was to challenge and explore the darker and obsessive sides of the human condition rather than to make attractive music. Throbbing Gristle made extensive use of pre-recorded tape-based samples and special effects to produce a distinctive, highly distorted background, usually accompanied by lyrics or spoken-word performances by Cosey Fanni Tutti or Genesis P-Orridge. Though they asserted they wanted to provoke their audience into thinking for themselves rather than pushing any specific agenda (as evidenced by the song "Don't Do As You're Told, Do As You Think" on Heathen Earth), Throbbing Gristle also frequently associated with the anarchist punk scene. They appeared in the fanzine Toxic Grafity, with a condensation of their own propaganda parody series, Industrial News. In 1977, they released their debut single, "United / Zyklon B Zombie", followed by an album, The Second Annual Report. Although pressed in a limited initial run of 786 copies on the band's own Industrial Records label, it was later re-released on Mute Records due to high demand; however, this later release was reversed with all tracks playing backwards and in reverse order. This was followed by a series of albums, singles and live performances over a four-year period. On 29 May 1981, Throbbing Gristle performed at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, California, United States. This concert marked the end of the group and its mission. As Cosey succinctly put it, "TG broke up because me and Gen broke up". In 1981 Michael Sheppard, concert promoter and founder of Transparency Record label brought Throbbing Gristle to Los Angeles. Genesis P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson went on to form Psychic TV, while Cosey Fanni Tutti and Carter continued to record together under the names of Chris and Cosey, Carter Tutti and Creative Technology Institute. Christopherson had paricipated in Psyshic TV's first releases, and had later joined John Balance in the latter project Coil. Meanwhile, Gen (now known as Genesis Breyer P-Orridge) subsequently formed Thee Majesty and PTV3 with the help of their wife, Jacqueline "Jaye" Breyer. CANNOTANSWER

Answer the following question by taking a quote from the article: What was Throbbing Gristle?

pornography and photographs of Nazi concentration camps,