Psychic TV

Psychic TV (aka PTV or Psychick TV or several other aliases) were an English experimental video art and music collective, formed by performance artist Genesis P-Orridge and songwriter Alex Fergusson in 1981 after the break-up of Throbbing Gristle. They have released over one hundred full-length albums to date. Contributors include artists such as Coil, Current 93, Monte Cazazza, Larry Thrasher, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Soft Cell, Fred Giannelli, Hafler Trio, The Cult, Master Musicians of Jajouka, William Breeze, Derek Jarman, John Gosling, Timothy Leary, Rose McDowall, Andrew Weatherall, and Z'EV. Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (a.k.a. T.O.P.Y.) formed as an organisation at the inception of the band, who conceived it as a magical order and the philosophical wing of Psychic TV. T.O.P.Y. functions as a cult-like fan-club for the group. Psychic TV was influential in pioneering the acid house genre, releasing several fake compilations in an effort to popularize the sound, such as Jack the Tab and Tekno Acid Beat. According to some, acid house was given its name by Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. After breaking up in 1999, they reformed as PTV3 with a new line-up in 2003, but disbanded in 2020 when their core member Genesis Breyer P-Orridge died. Since Genesis P-Orridge primarily wrote the lyrics instead of the music for Psychic TV, the history of Psychic TV can be broken up into the periods of the main songwriter that was working with them at the time. Psychic TV was formed with the core membership of Genesis P-Orridge (ex-Throbbing Gristle) and Alex Fergusson in 1981.