The band, formed in 1975 in Cleveland, Ohio, took the jarring discord of punk and gave it a new and poetic form. Mr Thomas's voice is that of a man muttering in a crowd. You think he's talking to himself until you realize he's talking to you. At times he has sounded like the guy you try to avoid in the crowd. But Thomas' more extreme moments seem calmed, at least in execution, on the latest record.
Reality is defined by the needs of the media . . .
Culture is a weapon that's used against us . . . And David Thomas isn't joking. In what may be one of the last true punk statements, Thomas happily dismisses almost all forms of culture in a simple broadside. Nobody with serious ambitions can use the form. The day is past.