# How To Destroy Angels ![[How To Destroy Angels - Cover.jpg]] | | | | --- | --- | | __Title__: | How To Destroy Angels | | __Type__: | Single | | __Release date:__ | ??.??.1984 | | __Label:__ | [[L.A.Y.L.A.H. Antirecords]] | --- *__How To Destroy Angels__* is the debut single by Coil, released in 1984 by [[LAYLA Antirecords]]. An album of remixes of the track would later be released in 1992 under the same name, though for the sake of clarity, this remix album would become known colloquially as [[How to Destroy Angels (Remixes and Re-Recordings)]]. ## Background Originally, the debut single under the Coil name was intended to be [[Silence & Secrecy (section) (live at Magenta Club, London 5.VIII.1983)|Silence&Secrecy]], a song performed at [[1983-08-04: Club Magenta, London, England|Coil’s first concert]] and previously released in excerpt on the live album [[Transparent]].[^1] [[Songs/How to Destroy Angels|How to Destroy Angels]] was originally created to serve as the B-side to this single. However, this single was also intended to be released through Psychic TV’s Temple Records; due to [[Peter Christopherson]] and [[John Balance]] leaving Psychic TV in 1984, the band were presumably no longer willing to release the single. As late as February 1984, the single was known as *Set and Reset*.[^2] ## Recording Recording of the single took place in February 1984 at Britannia Row Studios, alongside [[Scatology]]‘s [[The Sewage Worker’s Birthday Party]]. ## Release ### Versions A few different versions of the vinyl single exist, but most changes only affect the form and presentation of the B-side song, [[Absolute Elsewhere]]; see its page for details. Notably, the first pressing of the single is said to have been shipped with a black&white poster in A3 size; however, this poster does not appear to have been documented. [^1] ### Artwork The cover art for the single was visually simplistic and text-focused, a direction also seen on the subsequent releases [[Scatology]] and, to a lesser extent, [[Horse Rotorvator]]. The background consisted of an orange paint-like pattern on a red-orange base. The majority of the cover is taken up by a sticker containing explanatory text: > __The soundtrack of the programme__ > __How To Destroy Angels__ > Performed by COIL on 19||84 ⊙ > __Ritual Music for the Accumulation of Male Sexual Energy__ > __Duration: 17 minutes__ > > Throughout history man has made and used music for two distinct and separate purposes. In recent years, particularly since the advent of sound recording, the most popular use of music has been for entertainment - the temporary amusement and distraction of as large a number as possible. As a consequence, many people tend to overlook its more fundamental and ancient use as a tool for affecting man’s body and spirit. The many varieties of religious music from around the world contain a vast quantity of clues to the way in which sound can affect the physical and mental state of the serious listener, yet many find their associations with the religion itself - the dogmatism of the churches and the obvious shortsightedness of many cult leaders and their followers - too difficult a stigma to overlook in their appreciation of the sound and its potential, for its own sake. Over the past few years, we have been involved with a number of contemporary music groups that have tried to some extent to investigate this aspect of sound but only with varying success. On this record, hopefully the first in a series, we have tried to produce sound which has a real, practical and beneficial power in this modern Era. Specifically, it is intended as an accumulator of male sexual energy. Although we make neither claims nor rules for its use, we do suggest that for maximum potency it should only be played in circumstances that are exclusively male and/or onanistic in nature. What these are is entirely up to you. Obviously, the execution of the place was structured around concepts that we felt would work for us, in this case magickal and numerological rather than conventionally musical in form, but detailed information about the recording process, much of which was personal and relevant only to us, might well confuse and distract from the purpose. > One image or symbol which we drew upon that may be useful to bear in mind is that of Mars, often indicated by the male. Mars is the Roman god of Spring and Warfare. His qualities are dynamic energy combined with a vital stabilising discipline; when self-control is missing the unbalanced force results in cruelty and wanton destruction. Mars is a deification of forces within Man which can be found in every culture in one form or another, even to this day. Finally, since prejudice and fear of the unknown seem so far to have been unaffected by civilisation, we would like to state once again that, should this music have any power, over and above the banal and transitory titillation achieved by most records available now, it is a positive and beneficial power to be used and controlled by the listener, as he desires. Thank you. > COIL. London 17th March 1984 > *“The price of existence is eternal warfare”* #### Tracklist 1. [[Songs/How to Destroy Angels|How to Destroy Angels]] 2. [[Absolute Elsewhere]] ## Personnel | __Name__ | __Credit__ | | --- | --- | | | | ## References [Entry at Brainwashed](http://brainwashed.com/common/htdocs/discog/lay05.php?site=coil08>) [^1]: <http://brainwashed.com/common/htdocs/publications/coil-1983-grok.php?site=coil08> [^2]: Nick Soulsby: *Everything Keeps Dissolving*, p. 60