- (This page covers all variations of the Foetus project of JG Thirlwell, as well as music released under other aliases.)

Foetus is a solo musical project of Australian JG Thirlwell. The project has had many similar names, each including the word "foetus".
The "members" of the project are aliases of Thirlwell; they include Frank Want, Phillip Toss, and Clint Ruin. Thirlwell occasionally collaborates with other artists, but doesn't consider them members of Foetus.
(Read more at Wikipedia.)
Links to Peel[]
On his 03 January 1981 (BFBS) show, Peel describes receiving a copy of the debut Foetus Under Glass single during a chance encounter with Jim Thirlwell while Christmas shopping in Oxford Street, London.
As noted by Peel author David Cavanagh, Foetus proved to be a “big favourite” of the DJ in the mid-1980s, under a constantly amended brand name. The writer describes the artist's music in the following terms:
“… a one-man Throbbing Gristle from Melbourne … can be hostile, bestial and overwhelming … a sound akin to being head-butted in a Thirties jazz bar ….”
(Good Night and Good Riddance, Faber & Faber, 2015, pg 352)
On the 17 October 1984 show discussed by Cavanagh, Peel enthused that the latest Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel LP, 'Hole', was "timeless" and should sound pretty good in ten years' time, while also admitting that most of the records he was playing on the radio ten years earlier now sounded awful to him and he can’t believe he ever thought they were any good at all - "and I hope that's always the case."
While Peel's opinion of Foetus in subsequent decades is not known at present, no plays of the project beyond 1987 can be found in currently available show tracklistings, despite further albums in 1988, 1995 and 2001, after Jim Thirlwell relocated from London to New York. Tracks as part of the Steroid Maximus grouping were heard on Peel shows in late 1991.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- None
Sessions[]
You've Got Foetus On Your Breath - Peel Session 1982
One session only, recorded as You've Got Foetus On Your Breath. No known commercial release.
1. Recorded: 1982-12-18. First broadcast: 04 January 1983. Repeated: 19 January 1983
- Today I Started Slogging Again / Clothes Hoist / Wash It All Off / Ignorance Is Bliss (Or Is It?)
Other Shows Played[]
(List below is chronological, by first play under artist name.)
- Foetus Under Glass
- 03 January 1981 (BFBS): Spite Your Face (7") Self Immolation WOMB S201
- 12 June 1983 (BFBS): Spite Your Face (7") Self Immolation WOMB S201
- 18 July 1984 (BFBS): Spite Your Face (7") Self Immolation WOMB S201
- You've Got Foetus On Your Breath
- 17 June 1981: unknown (but probably Wash It All Off)
- 30 June 1981: Wash It All Off (7") Self Immolation
- 30 July 1981: Wash It All Off (7") Self Immolation
- Peel October November 1981: Why Can't It Happen To Me? (LP - Deaf) Self Immolation
- 04 October 1981 (BFBS): I Am Surrounded By Incompetence (album - Deaf) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 1
- 04 October 1981 (BFBS): Today I Started Slogging Again (album - Deaf) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 1
- 20 October 1981: Today I Started Slogging Again (album - Deaf) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 1
- 25 October 1981 (BFBS): Today I Started Slogging Again (album - Deaf) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 1
- 29 November 1981 (BFBS): Is That A Line? (album - Deaf) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 1
- 12 October 1982: Dying With My Boots On (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 20 October 1982 (BFBS): Gums Bleed (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 21 October 1982: Gums Bleed (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 25 October 1982: Exit The Man With Nine Lives (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 27 October 1982 (BFBS): Exit The Man With 9 Lives (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 27 October 1982 (BFBS): J. Q. Murder (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 31 October 1982 (BFBS): Gums Bleed (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 14 November 1982 (BFBS): Wholesome Town (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 02 December 1982: Gums Bleed (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 05 December 1982 (BFBS): Kid Hate Kid (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 06 February 1983 (BFBS): I Am Surrounded By Incompetence (album - Deaf) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 1
- 12 June 1983 (BFBS): Spite Your Face (7") Self Immolation
- 10 September 1983 (BFBS): Exit The Man With Nine Lives (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 29 October 1983 (BFBS): I Am Surrounded By Incompetenc (album - Deaf) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 1
- 17 April 1984: Gums Bleed (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 25 April 1984 (BFBS): Gums Bleed (album - Ache) Self Immolation WOMB OYBL 2
- 08 January 1985: Wash It All Off (12" - Wash & Slog) Self Immolation WOMB FGH 8.12
- 21 January 1985 (BFBS): Wash It All Off (12" - Wash & Slog) Self Immolation WOMB FGH 8.12
- 10 February 1985 (BFBS): Wash It All Off (12" - Wash & Slog) Self Immolation WOMB FGH 8.12
- Philipp And His Foetus Vibrations
- 11 January 1982: Tell Me, What Is The Bane Of Your Life (7") Self Immolation
- 17 January 1982 (BFBS): Tell Me, What Is The Bane Of Your Life (7") Self Immolation WOMB KX 07
- 26 May 1985 (BFBS): Mother, I've Killed The Cat (7" - Tell Me, What Is The Bane Of Your Life) Self Immolation WOMB KX 07
- Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel
- 19 September 1984: Clothes Hoist (album - Hole) Self Immolation WOMB FDL 3
- 23 September 1984 (BFBS): Clothes Hoist (album - Hole) Self Immolation WOMB FDL 3
- 25 September 1984: Lust For Death (album - Hole) Self Immolation WOMB FDL 3
- 27 September 1984: Water Torture (album - Hole) Self Immolation WOMB FDL 3 (JP - "Ecstatically reviewed in the NME.)
- 30 September 1984 (BFBS): Lust For Death (album - Hole) Self Immolation WOMB FDL 3
- 01 October 1984: Satan Place (album - Hole) Self Immolation WOMB FDL 3
- 09 October 1984: Sick Man (album - Hole) Self Immolation WOMB FDL 3
- 17 October 1984: Water Torture (album - Hole) Self Immolation WOMB FDL 3
- Peel Late Sep Early Nov 1984: Sick Man (album - Hole) Self Immolation WOMB FDL 3
- 28 October 1985: The Only Good Christian Is A Dead Christian (v/a album - If You Can't Please Yourself You Can't, Please Your Soul) EMI
- 23 November 1985 (BFBS): DI-1-9026 (album - Nail) Self Immolation WOMB FIP 4
- 14 December 1985 (BFBS): Descent Into The Inferno (album - Nail) Self Immolation WOMB FIP 4
- 03 November 1987: Ramrod (12") Self Immolation
- 13 November 1987 (BFBS): Ramrod (12") Self Immolation
- 18 November 1987: Ramrod (12") Self Immolation
- Foetus ~ Art ~ Terrorism
- 28 October 1984 (BFBS): Calamity Crush (12") Self Immolation WOMB FAT 11.12
- Steroid Maximus
- 14 December 1991: Life In The Greenhouse Effect (album - Quilombo) Big Cat
- 15 December 1991: Phantom Miscarriage (album - Quilombo) Big Cat
- 26 December 1991 (Radio Mafia): Life in the Greenhouse Effect (album - Quilombo) Big Cat