Coil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his lover Peter Christopherson, aka 'Sleazy'. The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be inspired by the omnipresence of the coil's shape in nature. Today Coil are one of the most influential and best known industrial music groups.
The group's first official release as Coil was a 1984 EP titled How to Destroy Angels. Following the EP's success Coil produced a series of three albums, Scatology, Horse Rotorvator and Love's Secret Domain, which met with little commercial success, but were praised as innovative due to their blend of industrial music and acid house.
In 1988 the group began working on a series of soundtracks and released experimental music under several pseudonyms. Coil redefined their sound during this period, and by 1998 were incorporating drone sounds into their recordings. In 1999 the group gave their first performance in sixteen years, and began a series of mini-tours which would last until 2004.
Following the death of John Balance on November 13, 2004, Peter Christopherson announced via their official record label website Threshold House that Coil as an entity had ceased to exist.
