Killing Joke - Eighties 

Kurt! Kurt, it's Marvin your cousin, Marvin Cobain. You know that new sound you're looking for? Well, listen to this!

RIP to one of the most underrated guitarists ever. He will truly be missed.

RIP the two members of Killing Joke Geordie Walker (December 18, 1958 - November 26, 2023), aged 64 Paul Raven (January 16, 1961 - October 20, 2007), aged 46 You both will be remembered as legends.

Conan O'brien absolutely killing it on guitar!

Nirvana stole the riff from KJ; KJ stole the riff from Damned; Damned stole the riff from the Moody Blues; Moody Blues stole the riff from Chuck Berry; Chuck Berry stole the riff from Glen Miller; Glen Miller stole the riff from Gershwin; Gershwin stole the riff from an Irish folk song; The Irish stole the riff from a Medieval knight chant; Medieval knights stole the riff from a Hebrew prayer; The Hebrews stole the riff from Pagan priests; Pagans stole the riff from sub-Saharan aborigines; Aborigines stole the riff from Australopithecus Africanus; Australopithecus Africanus, after eating too many beans one night, created the riff...

The eighties were being parodied, deconstructed and retroed while it was still the eighties.

This came out in 1985. It's incredible how they managed to pin down everything that will go on to become iconic about their decade

RIP Geordie Walker.... His playing was on another level. Especially the riffs on this one, outstanding! A sad day.

David Bowie on guitar Al Pacino on vocal Great band👏

60 more years, and we'll live in the 80's again

THIS WAS THE LAST SONG THAT I HEARD IN THE 1980s. That's true. On 31 DEC 1989 at a few minutes before midnight, I played this song on my record player and timed it perfectly so the song would end at 11:59:59 PM. It was the last time that I could say I was "living in the Eighties". I first heard this song when I saw this video on MTV during Father's Day Weekend 1984. I only saw the video once or twice that weekend and I never caught the album it was from. Nonetheless, this song and video changed my life. Later, I discovered one of my students was a fan of this band and he told me that this song was from the Night Time album, so I promptly went to the record store and bought it on LP.

"Good artists borrow, great artists steal" Both songs are amazing and IT ALL HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE.

TWENTIES - I'm livin' in the twenties

Bauhaus "hollow hills" (1981) The Damned "life goes on" (1982) Garden Of Delight "22 faces" (1984) Killing Joke "eighties" (1985) Nirvana "come as you are" (1991)

That bass guitar riff is just awesome

RIP Paul Raven. Absolutely killer bassist.

Lyrics: Come as you are, as you were As I want you to be As a friend, as a friend As an known enemy Take your time, hurry up The choice is yours, don't be late Take a rest as a friend As an old Memoria, memoria Memoria, memoria Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach As I want you to be As a trend, as a friend As an old Memoria, memoria Memoria, memoria And I swear that I don't have a gun No I don't have a gun No I don't have a gun Memoria, memoria Memoria, memoria (No I don't have a gun) And I swear that I don't have a gun No I don't have a gun No I don't have a gun No I don't have a gun No I don't have a gun

"Say hello to my little riff!"

I love it how they made it look like this is a modern day retrospective of 80s nostalgia clichés but they actually did it in the mid 80s.

RIP Kevin 'Geordie' Walker. Best version of this memorable riff.

While everyone is talking about how similar this song is to Come As You Are, we forget that “Eighties” is great in its own right. It’s a song that harshly critiques the political and social landscape of the 80s, even if the lyrics seem vague the video makes the bands intentions clear. And it came out in the middle of the 80s!

0:42 Killing Joke predicted the wide Putin meme

Rest easy Geordie Walker! True punk legend.

Netflix brought me here. I thought I heard the "Come as You Are" riff during a docuseries about the Cold War. Awesome song! Glad you have a channel on YT!

Come as yo- Ah shit wrong song

"Thanks guys!" - Kurt Cobain

Rip Kevin "Geordie" Walker. Thank you for your brilliance.

Rest in Peace Geordie. Such an underrated guitarist. So many music genres owe a lot to his unique style.

DJ Khaled will yell his name over this chord progression in the next 2 years...

The Equals - Baby Come Back (1968) Bauhaus - Hollow Hills (1981) The Damned - "Life goes on" (82') Garden Of Delight "22 Faces" (84') Killing Joke - Eighties (85') Nirvana - come as you are (91') Sigur Ros - Olsen Olsen (99')

Rest in Peace, mr. Geordie. Your guitar tone is absolutely beautiful, deeply MAGIC. Thanks for this musical gift you've shared with us. My ears are grateful... You will forever missed.

I hope Guitar World Magazine does a great tribute to Geordie. He deserves it. Big time.

Can we just acknowledge how great the drummer is in this song

Every 10 years the riff emerges, seeking a new indie host to feed upon, before disappearing again; leaving nought but hit singles in its wake.

R.I.P. Geordie Walker, a true legend

The one thing I LOVE about Killing Joke is their unique talent for taking a riff AND BEATING IT TO DEATH AND BEYOND OVER AND OVER VERY VERY SUCCESSFULLY.

1. Al Pacino on vocals 2. Billy Armstrong on bass 3. A young conan o'Brien on guitar 4. And Jake Paul on drums

This is where the Come as You Are riff came from. Rip Geordie, amazing guitar player.

R.I.P. Geordie Walker (1958-2023) 🙏

I love how this song just doesn't let up. It just keeps pounding the beat and guitar riff. Just when you think it is going to calm down, it just kicks right back in.

Come As You Are as Life Goes On Living in the Eighties.

RIP Geordie Walker, thank you for the great music and this anthemic guitar riff that will last forever!!

Rest is peace Geordie, you were amazing 👏

Cold war: *exists* Killing Joke: Stonks

Back in the mid 80s, they used to play this song at my local underground club just a few minutes before closing time (usually preceded by a build up of other high energy tunes). When the needle dropped on "eighties" the crowd always went so NUTS dancing. You had to dance otherwise you might got knocked over. LOL. After the madness, the DJ usually played Siouxie's Dear Prudence to calm everybody down and end the night. Such amazing times!

Come as your Eighties

Played the living shit out of "What's THIS For" when it came out in 1981. Don't listen to much punk anymore, but did for 30 years. Those days are gone forever. If you were there, you know. Another one down, 64 too young. R.I.P. Geordie. 80s

That guitar sounds amazing.

My kid: "Man, the 80s must've been awesome!" Me: Well, the *music* was.

I first saw Killing Joke in 1980 and they blew me away they were so intense live, they were proof that Punk Rock could be as hard as fuck without just being a band that plays 100 miles an hour. Ironically it was at a CND rally in Trafalgar Square yet they sounded like the apocalypse had already happened, lol.

Rest Easy Kevin Geordie Walker 😢

I am living in the twenties!

How no one has made a _Twenties_ cover of this song is beyond me. It's the only lyric you'd have to change.

RIP Kevin Walker

RIP, Geordie. 😔

This band are the real deal. They have everything. Melodic, Aggressive, powerful and haunting. Just class!!!

Killing Joke, another 80s underrated band.

RIP TO GEORDIE!

RIP Geordie

Killing Joke represents everything that is good in post punk in the eighties.😁

The bass playing is really good on this song

Rest in peace Geordie, you truly inspired me to pick up a guitar, you will be missed 💔

I love the way the singer pulls of an angry dictator perfectly I mean he deserves an Oscar

nirvanas "come as you are "guitar part was taken from this song in case anyone was interested.

If you were a teenager in the 80's and were into punk music and started a band with a group of friends like many of us did... this riff was fun to play... regardless if you heard it in 82 when The Damned played it on Life goes On or in 85 by Killing Joke or 92 when Kurt used it for his song. I was born the same year as him and remember thinking when I heard it... okay dude I'm digging the throwback vibe! I felt it was a nod to that music that inspired us and him no doubt..I think it was obvious for people our age who remembered those days. For younger people...teens in 92 its likely it was lost on them and even more so now 30 years removed from Nirvana and 40 years from when the Damned played it...and even before when whoever played it before them! Lol

twenties, I have to push, I have to struggle

Song called Eighties couldn't sound more 80's if it tried. And I mean that as a compliment.

This song goes hard as hell. Gives me enough energy to backflip off a four-story building.

Twenties, I'm living in the twenties!!

This song is basically a time capsule

0:42 Fellas, this shot was ahead of its time lmao

Glorious bass line.

"OK Kurt you can copy my homework just change it up a bit" Kurt* makes come as you are

A crazy decade. I miss it. 2020s are turning into a disaster.

When I first got into 'Alternative' music, I started with The Smiths, The Cure and early REM in High School. I was delighted when I found Killing Joke. I remember thinking something like "This is great- It's alternative music, with Grapefruit sized testicles".

This guy seemed so old to me when I was a kid. Now I'm like: "That guy is young enough to be my son!" lol

RIP Geordie! You're a constant inspiration to me!

"I'm not so sure if Nirvana's riff is that much of a rip off..." *plays it at 0.75 * "THEM BASTERDS!!"

So Conan O'Brian, Al Pacino and Billie Joe Armstrong were in in a band....damn who knew...

1:49 This riff makes me feel nostalgia for the time a few years before I was even born. That's damn powerful! Thank you, guys, for writing this awesome song.

Rip Geordie one of the most underated and influential guitar players ever!!!!!

My adolescence was a lie.

the blonde guy's look is everything.

Rest in Power Geordie!

I have been a nirvana fan since 2000 and this is the first time I am hearing this song. It sounds so familiar with come as you are.

As an straight male, I have to say that the guitarist is hot as hell.

A friend of mine passed away today (52) and Killing Joke are his favourite band, R.I.P Frank A.K.A Killer, a true punk - the real deal, you'll never be forgotten.

RIP Geordie, thank you for all the music you left us, and thank you Killing Joke...

Come as you are, is that you?

The bass player looks really good in this video

I like that oldschool music 1980.s

Hell I didn't know that when I play "Come as you are" riff crookedly, I play Eighties lol

This is one of the most ‘80s things I’ve ever seen

2017 and still good shit.

RIP Geordie! The music will live on in all of our hearts....

Killing Joke was revolutionary. True innovators.

Funfacts (from Songfacts): Killing Joke lead singer Jaz Coleman wrote the lyrics to this song, which were inspired by the 1871 novel The Coming Race by the English writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton. (A line in the lyric directly references the title: "I'm in love with the coming race.") The book is about an undiscovered race that lives underground and has attained extraordinary powers. In our interview with Coleman, he explained the song's meaning, stating: "It was looking forward to the trans-human future that is upon us now." This song was written in a farmhouse in Switzerland that the band first came across when they played two shows in Geneva in 1983. They loved it there, and the house became a regular getaway for the band members. On one such excursion, they came up with this track. Coleman remembers going up stairs to Geordie Walker's room and hearing him play the guitar riff for the first time. "When he knocked that riff out, it was so memorable, it kind of embodied everything that was happening at that time," Coleman told us. Nirvana copied the guitar riff on their 1991 hit "Come As You Are." It's a pretty blatant rip-off and Killing Joke considered legal action, but after Kurt Cobain died, they dispensed with any thoughts of a lawsuit. Dave Grohl and Jaz Coleman later became good friends, and Grohl played drums on the 2003 self-titled Killing Joke album. The video was directed by Anthony Van Den Ende, who did the A Flock of Seagulls clips for "I Ran (So Far Away)" and "Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)." In the video, Jaz Coleman is shown as an authoritarian political figure speaking in front of both Russian and American flags. Coleman wanted an array of video footage related to the decade incorporated into the clip, so Van Den Ende gathered shots of various political figures and shot other random footage to go with it, including a dog wedding and a shot of Coleman's melting face. The Killing Joke fans were shot waiting outside of a show at the Hammersmith.

still a huge fan of nirvana but gotta give it up to killing joke, this is a great song.

One of the best guitar riffs. No wonder we hear it on the radio from other guitarists so much.

It’s a Similar riff to “Come as you are” but not the same. Both great songs