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Claude Bessy interview and Catholic Discipline performance of “Underground Babylon” fromThe Decline of Western CivilizationDuring Slash’s first year, Bessy appeared as “Frenchie” on the TV show The Hardy Boys Mysteries. Though his band, Catholic Discipline, only existed for a handful of shows between 1979 and 1980, it appeared alongside Black Flag, Fear, X, Circle Jerks, Germs, and Alice Bag Band in The Decline of Western Civilization (see below). The performance of “Underground Babylon” on the Decline soundtrack was the band’s only release until 2004, when the excellent Artifix label issued a Catholic Discipline CD, Underground Babylon. Compiled from cassettes of live shows, it is not a high fidelity experience, but the whole thing is good, and the world is a better place with two versions of “Everyone Dies Laughing” in it, instead of none.
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Catholic Discipline “Everyone Dies Laughing”Claude and Philomena moved to England shortly after the election of Ronald Reagan. Until his death, Bessy continued to have a spectral existence in recorded media, making sporadic appearances in obscure places. He wrote the liner notes to Throbbing Gristle’s 1980 Greatest Hits: Entertainment Through Pain (“the only Help-From-Above scheduled for your lifetime, bub”). In England, Bessy worked for Rough Trade and Factory, but he was not a company man, and earnest salesmanship does not seem to have been his bag. He showed zero enthusiasm for the season’s product on the Factory Records promotional video that he hosted around Christmas 1984 (see below), making it a unique artifact in the history of public relations. Introducing Sonic Youth in 1986 (on the semi-bootleg Walls Have Ears), Bessy said nothing about the band, but instead shouted down a hostile crowd to complain about Rough Trade’s attempts to censor the cover of their “Flower” single.
Claude Bessy promotes Factory RecordsHe and Philomena moved to Barcelona in 1987. Wir (Wire dropped the “e” in their name when drummer Robert Gotobed left) built the song “naked, whooping and such-like (extended on and on),” from 1991’s the first letter, around a tape of Bessy reading his work. Mark Cunningham of Mars moved to Barcelona that year, and his new duo Raeo recorded “Dejame Solo” with Bessy singing. Claude Bessy died of lung cancer in Barcelona on October 2, 1999.Previously - Song Morgue