Music has been my escape for most of my life. I remember having a Mr Microphone as a kid and being able to hear myself broadcasted over an empty radio station. Here is where myself and my sister would pretend to be singers. From there I remember making mix tapes, of my favorite songs, off the radio. Working my hardest to cut out the commercials and the DJ’s voice over. It is from here that my love of music grew, well that combined with growing up having parents who also listened to quite a bit of music.

I thought it would be good to introduce a monthly segment where I could introduce some of the bands that have been a part of my life and that I have great passion for.

Who are the Revolting Cocks?

n high school, I sort of fell into the goth scene. Groups like the Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees were commonplace for me, with just enough mixture of heavy metal. It wasnt until I went to college that I learned of the amazing genre of Industrial metal, thanks in part to a friend and frat brother Jeff Banschbach. It was through a Chicago radio station that I first heard Revolting Cocks, or RevCo as they were later called.

REVCO was introduced to America in 1984, thanks in part to Wax Traxx records inviting Front242 to come to American to be a part of their record label.

Once in American, they began their first tour with the new labelmates Ministry, headed up by Al Jourgensen. During this tour, Jourgensen approached Richard23 to do a collaboration. Richard23 reached out to Luc van Acker, a guitarist with Shriekback. They all spoke with Jourgensen and decided to form a band

The origins of the group’s name is reported to have come from an incident at a Chicago bar. Jourgensen and van Acker say that they were trying out insulting French expressions for ordering something they said mean “revolting cock. The frustrated waiter looked at them both and said,  “You are revolting cocks!” There are stories that say they got their name as a nod to a now bankrupt drugstore with the same name.

The Early Beginnings

Thus, the band was born and they released their first single in 1985, “No Devotion.“

Their first album, Big Sexy Land, was released in 1986. Shortly after the release, Richard23 had a falling out with Jourgensen over a remix of the song “You Often Forget.” Jourgensen wasted no time in recruiting Chris Connelly, Paul Barker, and Bill Rieflin. If you havent noticed, these were also members of Ministry.

RevCo was then essentially a side project for Jourgensen and as Ministry broke up, they were moved to RevCo. The band would rotate in members and was often known to host guest members for specific collaborations.

After the departure of Richard23, RevCo released their first live album called, Live! You Goddamned Son of a Bitch (1986), this album was a much more aggressive version of their next album,  Big Sexy Land, and fully landed them into the industrial scene.

As technology changed in the music industry and sampling started to take off, RevCo utilized it along with distortion for their next album Beers, Steer, and Queers. Here is one of my favorite songs off that album, (Let’s Get) Physical – a cover of Physical by Olivia Newton-John.

Or… Get Down.

By 1993, RevCo had left Wax Traxx and was now under the label Sire Records and released their album Linger Ficken’ Good. This album was a less layered and less industrial vibe in comparison to Beers, Steers, and Queers. It did include my second favorite song by them, “Do Ya Think Im Sexy?” – cover of the Rod Stewart song, by the same name.

Check out the official video were you get to see an attractive stripper transform into Al Jourgensen. That will, surely, leave an impression on you.

A tour was planned for this album, unfortunately it was canceled and the band went on hiatus.

Revolting Cocks Revival

It would be eleven years before the band returned from hiatus Jourgensen partnered with Phildo Owens to bring the band back to life. Shortly thereafter they released a song called “Prune Tang.”

That same year, they had slated a new album, Purple Head, to come out, however it was pushed back until 2006. At release, the album was retitled to Cocked and Loaded. They had also released a single from the album called “Caliente (Dark Entries) – a cover of Dark Entries by Bauhaus, this track featured the vocals of Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers.

During 2006, they also created a touring lineup consisting of vocalist Josh Bradford, keyboardist Clayton Worbeck, and guitarist Sin Quinn. Assembled, this group was to be the opening act on the Ministry MasterBaTour and they shortened their name to simply RevCo.

True to RevCo style, they seemed to have issues releasing their next album Sex-o Olympic-o. This album was slated to be released in 2008 but didnt finally come out until March of 2009. Using the same line up, they released Got Cock in 2010. Bradford and Worbeck left the band and they broke up in 2010.

What have you done for me lately?

The band got back together in April of 2011. With it, we saw the return of Richard23, Connelly, Paul Barker, van Acker and others at Metro Chicago.

In 2016, Richard23, van Acker, and Connelly came together under the shortened name The Cocks to honor the 30th anniversary of the release of Big Sexy Land.

In 2017, they grouped again for a tour using the original Revolting Cocks name.  In America, they held a tour with Front Line Assembly.

Lastly, in 2018 Jourgensen teased the world when he announced that another album was on its way from Revolting Cocks, we have yet to see it come to fruition. Come on Al, give us one more taste of  Revolting Cocks.

Roll that beautiful RevCo video

Here are a few more of my favorite tracks by RevCo.

RevCo was one of the many early industrial bands that went on to shape my musical tastes. It is also one of the few things that my boyfriend, Karl, and I live – industrial music. Many times we sit around and talk about the evolution of the industrial scene, who influenced us, and how those groups shaped what we now see of that genre.

If you have never heard of Revolting Cocks, please check them out. while a tad bit out of date, their music is still on par with many things being released today. If you are familiar with them, let me know in the comments below what your thoughts of then are.

If you are looking for a bit more history into how they came about, check out this video on YouTube.