Cop (album)

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Cop
Cop cover
Studio album by Swans
Released 1984
Recorded 1984
Genre Noise Rock, No Wave, Experimental Rock
Length 40:25
Label K.422
Producer(s) Michael Gira
Professional reviews
Swans chronology
Filth (1983) Cop (1984) Young God EP (1985)


Cop is the second album by the No Wave band Swans. The album is considered to be an improvement on their previous LP, Filth. It is most often described musically as "heavy metal in slow motion". Its most infamous song is probably the titular piece, which some consider more vitriolic than even Ice-T's "Cop Killer". Lead singer Michael Gira, however, notes that the song is entirely symbolic, therefore making its subject matter not unlike the Milgram experiment. As has been made obvious, the subject matter of this album is very dark, though the bleak, more often than not vague imagery can be taken in multiple ways.

Henry Rollins has mentioned an ironic incident involving the title song in several spoken-word performances.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Half Life" – 4:18
  2. "Job" – 4:46
  3. "Why Hide" – 5:50
  4. "Clay Man" – 5:05
  5. "Your Property" – 4:48
  6. "Cop" – 6:47
  7. "Butcher" – 4:02
  8. "Thug" – 5:12
Swans
Michael Gira | Jarboe | Algis Kizys | Norman Westberg
Studio Releases
Swans EP | Filth | Cop | Young God EP | Time is Money (Bastard) EP | Greed | A Screw EP | Holy Money | Children Of God | New Mind EP | Love Will Tear Us Apart | The Burning World | Can't Find My Way Home EP | Saved EP | White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity | Love Of Life | Celebrity Lifestyle EP | The Great Annihilator | Die Tür Ist Zu | Failure/Animus EP | Soundtracks for the Blind
Live and Compilations
Public Castration Is A Good Idea | Feel Good Now | Anonymous Bodies In An Empty Room | Body To Body, Job To Job | Real Love | Kill The Child | Omniscience | I Am the Sun/My Buried Child | Swans Are Dead | Various Failures | Forever Burned
Related Articles
The Angels of Light | World of Skin | Young God Records | Ecstatic Peace | Neutral Records | Some Bizzare Records
Official Site | Young God Records