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Although I haven't heard much Throbbing Gristle, what I have listened to of theirs suggests that they might be a difficult band to properly categorise. Obviously they can't be considered a part of the classical avant-garde (1920s-30s) but nor do they fit easily into any kind of notion of the postmodern (except maybe with the 20 Jazz Funk Greats album).
There is a certain 'anti-art' quality about them which would lend itself to comparisons with Dada, but that seems slightly reductive too. The whole 'industrial' thing does at timeds appear to be a sort of retrospective looking back at things the Futurists and the Constructivists were doing.
It might then be argued that Throbbing Gristle were one of the only genuinely avant-garde bands of their period, but problems in validating such a claim only echoes similar problems in defining what the avant-garde is/was in the first place. For all that though, they're definitely an interesting case for debate.
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