The classic Aphex Twin song that started out as a “crappy death metal jingle”
Often considered one of music’s greatest mavericks, Richard D James, better known as Aphex Twin, is probably best known as a pioneer who manipulated the electronic music scene of the 1990s on multiple occasions. His innovative approaches to composition and electronic experimentation were virtually unmatched by his peers, and his music continues to inspire artists in a variety of genres, having stretched his influence far beyond the realm of electronic music.
While some might argue that his debut album, Selected Ambient Works 85-92, is one of the high points not just of his career but of electronic music, others might look away from his groundbreaking approach to ambient techno and IDM towards the album’s follow-up, Selected Ambient Works II as being an even more important album in the advancement of ambient music. It didn’t really matter what style James was working under his Aphex Twin moniker; it was guaranteed to be unlike anything else heard at the time.
On a personal level, I would argue that his efforts in the latter half of the ‘90s are some of his finest. While there’s his 1996 record Richard D James Album that presented a chaotic mixture of acid house, new age classical music and breakbeats, there’s also a series of EPs such as the infamous Windowlicker and the frightening Come to Daddy that signify a creative peak for James in what was already a career full of dizzying highs.
The title track from his Come to Daddy EP is a terrifying track that manages to combine everything in James’ broad palette of influences, with breakbeats and techno making another appearance alongside some more industrial textures. With a repeated refrain of “I want your soul, I will eat your soul” being growled throughout the track as it becomes increasingly menacing, it’s not a song for the faint of heart, and nor is the sinister Chris Cunningham-directed music video featuring a group of children terrorising a neighbourhood with his evil grinning face superimposed over the top of all of them. However, it’s also not one of the artist’s favourites of his own work, or at least so he claims.
“It got marketed and a video was made, and this little idea that I had, which was a joke, turned into something huge.”
Richard D James
It has to be noted that James isn’t known for doing many interviews, and when he does do them, he tends to talk absolute bollocks. He’s previously claimed to write songs in his sleep and wake up with them implanted into his mind, that he previously lived beneath a roundabout in Elephant & Castle, and that he was supposedly named after his own dead brother. The facts and fiction often blur into one with James, but there’s no reason to believe that his negative feelings towards ‘Come To Daddy’ are a fabrication.
Speaking to Index Magazine, James revealed that ‘Come to Daddy’ “came about while I was just hanging around my house, getting pissed and doing this crappy death metal jingle” before further explaining that “it got marketed and a video was made, and this little idea that I had, which was a joke, turned into something huge.”
He would go on to add that “it wasn’t right at all,” which sums up his animosity towards the song perfectly. While it’s one of his most visceral and intense tracks, he also claimed to Loaded Magazine that while he normally would clench his fists if a song felt intense enough, “the clench factor wasn’t tight enough” on this occasion. He might not like the song, but this sounds like bullshit to me.
