“It became a bit of a curse. We were never really a singles band”: The hypnotic 80s single that gave an apocalyptic post-punk band an unlikely Cold War-inspired hit

Killing Joke posing for a photograph in 1984.

For a brief period in the mid-1980s it seemed that the world might just be ready for Killing Joke. As post-punk made inroads into the mainstream, the hypnotic repetitions, apocalyptically portentous lyrics and drum-driven, bottom-end primal funk of Killing Joke was on the cusp of breakthrough. Their 1983 album Fire Dances teetered on the brink. But in order to operate at the peak of their potential Killing Joke needed to record in an environment more fitting to their sound and mood.

“We were writing and recording in Berlin in the middle of the Cold War,” singer and keyboard player Jaz Coleman remembers of the sessions that produced 1985’s Night Time album and it’s hit single Love Like Blood. “We were thrilled to bits. We loved the Cold War. It was one of the best times to be in Berlin. At Hansa studios we would open the windows and the wall was right next to us. The guards outside on the control tower could hear our mixes and were giving us the thumbs-up.”