THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

819-Killing Joke-Love Like Blood.

1985-Number 16 single.

Best Bit-At 0.17. Jaz Coleman, a founding member of Killing Joke, has explained the evolution of the bands name,’The killing joke is like when people watch something like Monty Python on the television and laugh, when really they’re laughing at themselves. It’s like a soldier in the first world war. He’s in the trench, he knows his life is gone, and that within the next 10 minutes he’s gonna be dead … and then suddenly he realises that some c..t back in Westminster’s got him sussed – ‘What am I doing this for? I don’t want to kill anyone, I’m just being controlled.’

Killing Joke were formed in Notting Hill, London, England, in 1979, by Jeremy ‘Jaz’ Coleman, (vocals, and keyboards) Paul Ferguson, (drums) Kevin ‘Geordie’ Walker, (guitar) and Martin ‘Youth’ Glover (bass) (see also best songs 1047.) Youth left in 1982, and was replaced on bass guitar by Paul Raven (1961-2007.) Between 1988-2008 there were four other members, who have all now left, and at the time of writing Killing Joke are active, with the four original founding members currently making up the group. Killing Joke, whose music over the decades has covered ‘ Post-Punk, ‘Industrial Rock, Gothic Rock, and ‘New Wave,’ have been name checked by several ‘Heavy Metal’ and ‘Rock’ bands, such as ‘Metallica,’ (see also best songs 730 and 52) and ‘Soundgarden,’ (see also best songs 614) as a major influence.

The discography of Killing Joke includes 18 studio Albums released between 1980-2015, and 32 singles that have been issued between 1979-2023, there are also 16 official compilation Albums, and 17 live Albums available. In the UK, six of their studio Albums have reached the top 40 Album chart, with ‘Night Time,’ from 1985, charting the highest at Number 11. Also in the UK, five of their singles have reached the top 40, with ‘Love Like Blood,’ peaking the highest at Number 16. ‘Love Like Blood,’ has also reached the top 40 in Germany, (Number 24) Ireland, (Number 30) the Netherlands, (Number 5) and New Zealand (Number 6.)

‘Love Like Blood’ was the second of three singles released from ‘Night Time,’ which was the fifth studio Album release from Killing Joke, from February 1995. The track was written and produced by Jaz Coleman, Paul Ferguson, Paul Raven, and Geordie Walker, who were the four members of Killing Joke at that time, and the song was also co-produced by Chris Kimsey.

Christopher Kenneth Kimsey is one of England’s most successful music producers and audio engineers. He was born on December 3rd, 1951, in Battersea, London, England, and has worked with many of the worlds top artists, including The Rolling Stones, where he was the mixing engineer on their 1978 ‘Some Girls’ Album, (see also best songs 160) ‘Sticky Fingers,’ (1971) and ‘Emotional Rescue’ (1980.) Kinsey also worked on two other Rolling Stones Albums, co-producing the Albums ‘Undercover,’ (1983) and Steel Wheels,’ (1989) with Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards. Kimsey has worked on dozens of Albums, receiving his first credit in 1970, for his engineering work on the Led Zeppelin Album, ‘Led Zeppelin III,’ and he has continued to produce and engineer well in to the 2020’s.

‘Love Like Blood’ is a call to live everyday like it is your last. Don’t be afraid to take that extra step, be brave, and fearless, as you are only hear for a short time, Do everything with a passion, and don’t wait for others to do it for you. ‘Love Like Blood’ was partly inspired by the 1967 novel ‘The Samurai Ethic and Modern Japan,’ by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima (1925-1970.) Jaz Coleman has said,’I loved the warrior principal, to freedom with blood, if you like. The song itself was a distillation of everything that we hold dear, and one must aspire to walk and talk what you write about in your songs, actually live it.’

‘We must play our lives like soldiers in the field, but life is short I’m running faster all the time. Strength and beauty destined to decay, so cut the rose in full bloom. Til the fearless come, and the act is done, a love like blood, a love like blood.’