History YMMV / KillingJoke

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Music/{{Nirvana}} were brought to court over the riff of "Come As You Are" being a little too similar to the Joke's "Eighties". The riff for "Eighties" in-turn is almost exactly like the riff for Music/TheDamned's "Life Goes On".

** Other classic Geordie Walker riffs: "The Fall of Because" from ''What's THIS for...''; "Empire Song" from ''Revelations''; "The Gathering" and "Let's All Go (to the Fire Dances)" from ''Fire Dances''; and "Eighties" and the title track from ''Night Time''. "Here Comes the Singularity" from ''Absolute Dissent'' is an impressive modern-day addition to this list. "Eighties" was even supposedly ripped off by Music/{{Nirvana}} for "Come As You Are", though a one [[Music/TheDamned Captain Sensible]], author of "Life Goes On" from years before either song, might like to have a word with both bands.

* CrazyAwesome: Jaz. [[http://www.vice.com/read/where-in-the-world-is-jaz-coleman-and-is-he-cooler-than-ian-astbury This article]] came out after someone hacked Killing Joke's [=FaceBook=] impersonating Jaz and trash-talking The Cult. It pretty nicely shows how Jaz is CrazyAwesome, even if the initial insults weren't by him. For bonus points, type "Jaz Coleman" into Google; "Jaz Coleman crazy" is the first suggestion.

* SignatureSong: "Wardance" and "Love Like Blood".
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Music/{{Nirvana}} were brought to court over the riff of "Come As You Are" being a little too similar to the Joke's "Eighties". The riff for "Eighties" in-turn is almost exactly like the riff for Music/TheDamned's "Life Goes On".
* FanonDiscontinuity: ''Outside The Gate'', both because it's much more heavily based around synthesizers than their other albums, and because ExecutiveMeddling was what made it part of the Killing Joke discography to begin with: Though most of the then-current Killing Joke lineup were involved [[note]]Jaz Coleman, Geordie Walker, and an uncredited Paul Raven, who left the band after recording the album[[/note]], it was going to be billed as a Jaz Coleman solo album until the record company put the Killing Joke name on it, in the hopes of recouping the album's admittedly expensive production costs. The band themselves have admitted it shouldn't have been a Killing Joke album, but it isn't quite in CanonDiscontinuity - it was reissued alongside the rest of their discography in 2008.

* RefugeInAudacity: Many of their comments in interviews seem to imply racism and such, but are really just them messing with the music press for laughs and [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity free press]].

* BaseBreaker: ''Brighter Than a Thousand Suns''. It was the most unapologetically synth-led album of their gothic era, not to mention their poppiest (aside from ''Outside the Gate'', but that wasn't even intended to be a Killing Joke album to begin with). Fans of their early and later eras tend to despise it, while goths tend to view it as an excellent and unfairly maligned album that needs more love. Given that they haven't played anything from it in a very, very long time, it would appear that the band is in the former camp.

* CrazyAwesome: Jaz. [[http://www.vice.com/read/where-in-the-world-is-jaz-coleman-and-is-he-cooler-than-ian-astbury This article]] came out after someone hacked Killing Joke's [=FaceBook=] impersonating Jaz and trash-talking The Cult. It pretty nicely shows how Jaz is CrazyAwesome, even if the initial insults weren't by him.
** For bonus points, type "Jaz Coleman" into Google. "Jaz Coleman crazy" is the first suggestion.

** Other classic Geordie Walker riffs: "The Fall of Because" from ''What's THIS for...''; "Empire Song" from ''Revelations''; "The Gathering" and "Let's All Go (to the Fire Dances)" from ''Fire Dances''; and "Eighties" and the title track from ''Night Time''. "Here Comes the Singularity" from ''Absolute Dissent'' is an impressive modern-day addition to this list.
*** "Eighties" was even supposedly ripped off by Music/{{Nirvana}} for "Come As You Are", though a one [[Music/TheDamned Captain Sensible]], author of "Life Goes On" from years before either song, might like to have a word with both bands.

* MusicToInvadePolandTo: They were often accused of being Fascists back in day due to various comments Jaz and the others made to the music press which were intended purely as RefugeInAudacity or [[{{Troll}} trolling]]. Their music is aggressive and harsh enough to back up those who really want believe such things, of course. Their actual politics tend towards the other direction.
** Somewhat lampshaded by the band themselves in ''Wardance'':

* MagnumOpus: Most fans seem to consider this to be the 2003 self-titled album.

* BaseBreaker: ''Brighter than a Thousand Suns''. It was the most unapologetically synth-led album of their gothic era, not to mention their poppiest (aside from ''Outside the Gate'', but that wasn't even intended to be a Killing Joke album to begin with). Fans of their early and later eras tend to despise it, while goths tend to view it as an excellent and unfairly maligned album that needs more love. Given that they haven't played anything from it in a very, very long time, it would appear that the band is in the former camp.

* AndTheFandomRejoiced: When the original lineup got back together after Raven's death and played live for the first time since 1982.

* MusicToInvadePolandTo: They were often accused of being Fascists back in day due to various comments Jaz and the others made to the music press which were intended purely as RefugeInAudacity or [[Troll trolling]]. Their music is aggressive and harsh enough to back up those who really want believe such things, of course. Their actual politics tend towards the other direction.

* FanonDiscontinuity: ''Outside The Gate'', both because it's much more heavily based around synthesizers than their other albums, and because ExecutiveMeddling was what made it part of the Killing Joke discography to begin with: Though most of the then-current Killing Joke lineup were involved [[note]]Jaz Coleman, Geordie Walker, and an uncredited Paul Raven, who left the band after recording the album[[/note]], it was going to be billed as a Jaz Coleman solo album until the record company put the Killing Joke name on it, in the hopes of recouping the album's admittedly expensive production costs. The band themselves have admitted it shouldn't have been a Killing Joke album, but it isn't quite in CanonDiscontinuity - it was reissued alongside the rest of their discography in 2008.

* FanonDiscontinuity: ''Outside The Gate'', both because it's much more heavily based around synthesizers than their other albums, and because ExecutiveMeddling was what made it part of the Killing Joke discography to begin with: Though most of the then-current Killing Joke lineup were involved [[note]]Jaz Coleman, Geordie Walker, and an uncredited Paul Raven, who left the band it was going to be billed as a Jaz Coleman solo album until the record company put the Killing Joke name on it, in the hopes of recouping the album's admittedly expensive production costs. The band themselves have admitted it shouldn't have been a Killing Joke album, but it isn't quite in CanonDiscontinuity - it was reissued alongside the rest of their discography in 2008.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Music/{{Nirvana}} were brought to court over the riff of "Come As You Are" being a little too similar to the Joke's "Eighties". The riff for "Eighties" in-turn is almost exactly like the riff for Music/TheDamned's "Life Goes On".

* FirstInstallmentWins: Their debut eponymous album is considered a landmark in PostPunk and heavy music, to the point that every album since has to be compared to it, ''especially'' since the original lineup reformed.