The Melancholy Mad Tenant

Coil
Coil (left to right: John Balance, Peter Christopherson)
Background information
Also known as	Black Light District, ELpH, Sickness of Snakes, The Eskaton, Time Machines
Origin	London, England
Genres	Experimental, industrial, electronic, synthpop, avant-garde, noise, ambient, acid house
Years active	1982–2004
Labels	Some Bizzare, Threshold House, Eskaton, Chalice, Solar Lodge
Associated acts	Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, The Threshold HouseBoys Choir, Zos Kia, Soisong, Nine Inch Nails
Website	thresholdhouse.com
Past members	John Balance Peter Christopherson Stephen Thrower Drew McDowall William Breeze Thighpaulsandra Ossian Brown

Coil were an English experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his life partner and former Throbbing Gristle member Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be inspired by the omnipresence of the coil's shape in nature. Today, Coil remains one of the most influential and best-known industrial music groups.

The group's first official release as Coil was a 1984 12" album titled How to Destroy Angels released on the Belgian Les Disques du Crépuscule's sublabel LAYLAH Antirecords. Following the 12"s success, Some Bizzare Records produced two albums, Scatology (1984) and Horse Rotorvator (1986). After departing Some Bizzare, Coil produced and released Love's Secret Domain (1991), which saw the duo incorporate the influence of the UK acid house scene.

In 1985, the group began working on a series of soundtracks, among them music for the first Hellraiser movie based on the novel The Hellbound Heart by their acquaintance at that time, Clive Barker. The group's first live performance in 16 years occurred in 1999, and began a series of mini-tours that would last until 2004. Following the death of John Balance on 13 November 2004, Christopherson announced via their official record label website Threshold House that Coil as an entity had ceased to exist.

Coil was formed in 1982 and became a full-time concern in 1984, following Christopherson's departure from Psychic TV. Balance and Christopherson began working with John Gosling on the project Zos Kia, which resulted in four live performances and the 1984 cassette tape Transparent. Following Gosling's departure, Balance and Christopherson teamed up with Boyd Rice, and under the alias Sickness of Snakes, released the split four-track album, Nightmare Culture, with the experimental group Current 93 in 1985.