Saturday Night Social: RIP Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, the World Will Be Less Interesting Without You

There are some people who crash down on to earth and shake up vibrations so enormous that you might not even recognize you’re experiencing their effects because you exist so far outside of their point of impact, but nevertheless you are. Such is the case for Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, musician, artist, and icon who passed away early this morning.

P-Orridge, who uses the pronouns s/he and h/er, was a founding member of both Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle. H/er involvement in the creation of both bands, in addition to h/er influence on the music scene in general during the 70s and 80s, earned h/er the title of Godparent of Industrial Music. A title s/he will surely be remembered by for the rest of time.

In October of 2017, P-Orridge was diagnosed with leukemia, a year after Psychic TV recorded their final studio album. It was a diagnosis which s/he took on with the spirit only a true avant-garde, occultist could. Speaking to The New York Times in 2018, P-Orridge had this to say about her philosophy on life:

“When you’ve got a terminal illness, you think about what your legacy might be. My only answer is, we would hope that it would inspire people to see that they can do a life totally as they would like it to unfold. Live your life every day like a page in your book of life, and make that page as interesting as you can. Whenever you have a choice, say: Which is the better page in my book?”

Death is always a poor excuse for examining the fragility of life, but considering all that is going on in the world it would be worthwhile to remember P-Orridge’s sentiments and think moving forward, which is the better page in my book?

S/he will be greatly missed, and as Jezebel’s Julianne Escobedo Shepherd said to me moments ago, the world is far less interesting without h/er in it.