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Industrial
The most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music, industrial was initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments (tape music, musique concrète, white noise, synthesizers, sequencers, etc.) and punk provocation. As industrial evolved, its avant-garde influences became far less important than its pounding, relentless, jackhammer beats, which helped transform it into a darker alternative to the hedonism of mainstream dance music.
Industrial's trademark sound was harsh and menacing, but its rage was subordinate to the intentionally mechanical, numbingly repetitive qualities of the music, which fit the lyrics' themes of alienation and dehumanization quite well. In the early '90s, Ministry and Nine Inch Nails took their variations on industrial to wider alt-rock and metal audiences, but a substantial number of industrial artists chose to remain underground. The first group of industrial bands — England\'s Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, and Germany's Einsturzende Neubauten — were initially as much about beyond-edgy performance art as they were music. The second generation of industrial artists — including Skinny Puppy, Front 242, and Nitzer Ebb — added pummeling dance beats to their predecessors' confrontational sounds, for a substyle often referred to as electronic body music (centered around labels like Wax Trax). Meanwhile, bands like Ministry and KMFDM added metal-guitar riffs, which helped Ministry break through to a wider audience in the late '80s and early '90s; similarly, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor added more traditional song structures, and made his own persona the focal point, giving the music a rare human presence and becoming a star in the process. This more widely appealing strain of industrial continued to influence alternative metal throughout the \'90s. Still, after industrial metal began to fade, a near-exclusively electronic form of industrial dance continued to thrive as an uncompromisingly underground style, with many artists coming from the U.S. and Germany
Some Important Artists
Cabaret Voltaire Chris & Cosey
Chrome Gary Clail
Clock DVA Coil
Controlled Bleeding Current 93
D.A.F. Die Warzau
Download Einstürzende Neubauten
Electric Hellfire Club Filter
Foetus Front Line Assembly
Front 242 Gravity Kills
haujobb KMFDM
Laibach Meat Beat Manifesto
Ministry My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
Nine Inch Nails Nitzer Ebb
Nurse With Wound Pailhead
Industrial Metal
While pure industrial takes its primary cues from experimental music and electronic dance, Industrial Metal makes the distorted noise of electric guitars a crucial part of the music. Some industrial metal bands base their songs around metal-style guitar riffs, while others use the instrument more for the harsh, abrasive textures it can create.
Either way, industrial metal generally possesses greater aggressive force than straight-ahead industrial, which helped the style cross over to metal and alternative audiences accustomed to guitar-driven music. Industrial metal lyrics also mirror the darkness and aggression of standard heavy metal, although the sensibility is filtered through the personal alienation of punk and alternative rock. Whether its rage is turned inward at the self or outward at society, industrial metal is unremittingly bleak and angst-ridden, using its pounding walls of noise as expressions of near-hopeless alienation from the rest of the world.
Ministry was the first band to popularize industrial metal in the late '80s, basing their signature grind on countless repetitions of jackhammer guitar riffs, as well as electronics, samples, and distorted vocals; however, it was Nine Inch Nails that really brought the sound to the mainstream during the early '90s, thanks to Trent Reznor's flair for melodic songwriting and multi-layered production. In the wake of NIN\'s success, a number of similar-sounding bands popped up on alternative radio, and toward the end of the decade, a number of popular alternative metal bands appropriated industrial metal's electronic production touches into their hybrid of aggressive music styles.
Some Important Artists
Econoline Crush Fear Factory
Filter God Lives Underwater
Godflesh Gravity Kills
Lard Marilyn Manson
Ministry Nine Inch Nails
Orgy Rammstein
Stabbing Westward
Industrial Dance
During the 1980s, industrial music progressed from being an obscure, experimentalist style to a position where it was quite popular and straight-ahead for a growing audience unenthused by limp-wristed alternative music as well as cock rock and heavy metal. Early distinguished by the term "electronic body music," several artists, such as Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, and Ministry gained significant airplay in clubs. By the 1990s, industrial had split along a guitar/electronics divide, with the latter usually carrying on the tradition of electronic body music. America's Cleopatra Records featured the most Industrial Dance acts, including
Leætherstrip, Spahn Ranch, and Die Krupps.
Some Important Artists
Electric Hellfire Club Front Line Assembly
Front 242 Klute
Leæther Strip Ministry
Nitzer Ebb Revolting Cocks
Skinny Puppy Spahn Ranch
:wumpscut:
Electro-Industrial
Electro-Industrial artists are conspicuous by their general refrain to use the thrash guitars that dominated industrial crossover bands like Nine Inch Nails and Ministry. Groups including Cubanate, Leætherstrip, :wumpscut:, Haujobb, Kill Switch...Klick, and Mentallo & the Fixer focus more on the experimental and electronic edge of industrial music, emphasizing the influence of pioneering industrial bands like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Front 242, instead of the tired Black Sabbath-fests displayed on many "industrial" albums. In America, Metropolis Records is known for its electro-industrial recordings
Some Important Artists
Cubanate Front Line Assembly
haujobb Kill Switch...Klick
Leæther Strip Mentallo & the Fixer
:wumpscut: X-Marks the Pedwalk
Synth Pop
Synth Pop was one of the most distinctive subgenres of new wave. In the early '80s, a number of bands — primarily British and heavily influenced by Roxy Music and David Bowie — adapted the electronic innovations of bands like Kraftwerk for pop songs. Initially, in the hands of artists like Gary Numan, the Human League, and Depeche Mode, the sound was eerie, sterile, and vaguely menacing, since the electronics droned on relentlessly without any change in inflections. However, these first stabs at synth pop were transformed into danceable, synthesized pop by Duran Duran, who made the synthesized hooks warmer and catchier by grafting them onto a dance beat. Soon, a flood of bands followed Duran Duran\'s lead and although some of the groups weren't as infectious as that band, they nevertheless relied on the conventions of three-minute pop. Duran Duran became stars, while most other synth-pop groups were lucky to have more than one hit.
There were some exceptions — the Human League and Eurythmics had several hits, as did Howard Jones — but the field was mainly occupied by one-hit wonders like A Flock of Seagulls. By 1984, synth pop had begun to die out, but the music had helped establish the synthesizer as a primary instrument in mainstream pop music during its time in the spotlight
Some Important Artists
ABC Marc Almond
Bronski Beat The Buggles
Vince Clarke Depeche Mode
Devo Thomas Dolby
Duran Duran Eurythmics
A Flock of Seagulls Heaven 17
Human League Howard Jones
Naked Eyes New Order
Klaus Nomi Gary Numan
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Soft Cell
Talk Talk Thompson Twins
Ultravox Yaz Yello Magic Orchestra
Yellow
Trance
Breaking out of the German techno and hardcore scene of the early '90s, Trance emphasized brief synthesizer lines repeated endlessly throughout tracks, with only the addition of minimal rhythmic changes and occasional synthesizer atmospherics to distinguish them — in effect putting listeners into a trance that approached those of religious origin. Despite waning interest in the sound during the mid-'90s, trance made a big comeback later in the decade, even supplanting house as the most popular dance music of choice around the globe.
Inspired by acid house and Detroit techno, trance coalesced with the opening of R&S Records in Ghent, Belgium and Harthouse/Eye Q Records in Frankfurt, Germany. R&S defined the sound early on with singles like "Energy Flash" by Joey Beltram, "The Ravesignal" by CJ Bolland, and others by Robert Leiner, Sun Electric, and Aphex Twin. Harthouse, begun in 1992 by Sven Väth with Heinz Roth & Matthias Hoffman, made the most impact on the sound of trance with Hardfloor's minimal epic "Hardtrance Acperience" and Väth's own "L 'Esperanza," plus releases by Arpeggiators, Spicelab, and Barbarella. Artists like Väth, Bolland, Leiner, and many others made the transition to the full-length realm, though without much of an impact on the wider music world.
Despite a long nascent period when it appeared trance had disappeared, replaced by breakbeat dance (trip-hop and jungle), the style's increasing impact on Britain's dance scene finally crested in the late '90s. The classic German sound had changed somewhat though, and the term "progressive" trance gained favor to describe influences from the smoother end of house and Euro dance. By 1998, most of the country\'s best-known DJs — Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong, Tony De Vit, Danny Rampling, Sasha, Judge Jules — were playing trance in Britain's superclubs. Even America turned on to the sound (eventually), led by its own cast of excellent DJs, including Christopher Lawrence and Kimball Collins
Goth Rock
Frequently misunderstood in its aesthetics and misapplied as a term, goth rock is an offshoot of post-punk that existed primarily during the early to mid-'80s. Its reputation as the darkest and gloomiest form of underground rock is largely deserved, though today that reputation stems more from the visual theatricality of its bands and black-clad followers. Sonically, goth rock took the cold synthesizers and processed guitars of post-punk and used them to construct foreboding, sorrowful, often epic soundscapes. Early on, its lyrics were usually introspective and intensely personal, but its poetic sensibilities soon led to a taste for literary romanticism, morbidity, religious symbolism, and/or supernatural mysticism.
Goth rock was generally not a critically acclaimed style, given its penchant for florid poetry, relentlessly mournful dirges, and melodramatic excess. However, it spawned a devoted, still-thriving subculture that kept its aesthetics alive long after the music's initial heyday had passed. The godfathers of goth-rock were British post-punkers Joy Division, whose bleak, remote, obsessively introspective music and lyrics laid the initial foundation for goth. But for all intents and purposes, the true birth of goth rock was "Bela Lugosi's Dead," the 1979 debut single by Bauhaus. Already chilly post-punk outfits like the Cure and Siouxsie & the Banshees became full-on goth bands around the same time, and their heavy, menacing makeup and dark clothes became an important part of their fans' expression.
As goth rock's popularity spread among a certain segment of sensitive, alienated youth (first in the U.K., where most of its bands came from, then in the U.S.), its fashion sense grew more and more outlandish, and the original sound evolved somewhat. The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and the Mission UK incorporated more pop and alternative elements in their music, while the Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim, and the American band Christian Death took a heavier, sometimes metal-influenced approach. By the end of the '80s, the original goth-rock movement had ceased to exist, but the music mutated into new forms and continued to influence many of rock's darker subgenres.
During the '90s, the goth sound began to cross-pollinate with industrial music, producing hybrids that appealed to both sides, as well as the darkwave subgenre (which also incorporated '80s synth-pop and dream-pop). The latter half of the '90s also saw goth rock's influence cropping up all over heavy metal; a new breed of progressive black metal bands drew heavily from goth's sound and style, while some alternative metal bands also borrowed from goth rock\'s visual imagery (including Marilyn Manson, who — despite countless news reports to the contrary — is not a goth-rock artist).
Some Important Artists
Alien Sex Fiend Bauhaus
Christian Death Clan of Xymox
The Creatures The Cure
Fields of the Nephilim Flesh for Lulu
Gene Loves Jezebel Love and Rockets
Miranda Sex Garden The Mission UK
Peter Murphy Sex Gang Children
Siouxsie & the Banshees The Sisters of Mercy
Southern Death Cult Tones on Tail
New Wave
During the late '70s and early '80s, New Wave was a catch-all term for the music that directly followed punk rock; often, the term encompassed punk itself, as well. In retrospect, it\'s became clear that the music that followed punk could be divided, more or less, into two categories — post-punk and new wave. Where post-punk was arty, difficult, and challenging, new wave was pop music, pure and simple. It retained the fresh vigor and irreverence of punk music, as well as a fascination with electronics, style, and art. Therefore, there was a lot of stylistic diversity to new wave.
It meant the nervy power pop of bands like XTC and Nick Lowe, but it also meant synth rockers like Gary Numan or rock revivalists like Graham Parker and Rockpil There were edgy new wave songwriters like Elvis Costello, pop bands like Squeeze, tough rock & rollers like the Pretenders, pop-reggae like the Police, mainstream rockers like the Cars, and ska revivalists like the Specials and Madness. As important as these major artists were, there were also countless one-hit wonders that emerged during early new wave.
These one-hit groups were as diverse as the major artists, but they all shared a love of pop hooks, modernist, synthesized production, and a fascination for being slightly left of center. By the early '80s, new wave described nearly every new pop rock artist, especially those that used synthesizers like the Human League and Duran Duran. New wave received a boost in the early '80s by MTV, who broadcast endless hours of new wave videos in order to keep themselves on the air.
Therefore, new wave got a second life in 1982, when it probably would have died out. Instead, 1982 and 1983 were boom years for polished, MTV-radio new wave outfits like Culture Club, Adam Ant, Spandau Ballet, Haircut 100, and A Flock of Seagulls. New wave finally died out in 1984, when established artists began to make professional videos and a new crop of guitar-oriented bands like the Smiths and R.E.M. emerged to capture the attention of college-radio and underground rock fans. Nevertheless, new wave proved more influential than many of its critics would have suspected, as the mid-'90s were dominated by bands — from Blur to Weezer — that were raised on the music
Some Important Artists
ABC Adam & the Ants
Marc Almond Altered Images
Adam Ant Aztec Camera
The B-52\'s Bananarama
The Bangles Berlin
Big Country Blondie
Bow Wow Wow The Cars
Cheap Trick Elvis Costello
Marshall Crenshaw Culture Club
Devo Dexy\'s Midnight Runners
Thomas Dolby Duran Duran
Ian Dury The English Beat
Eurythmics A Flock of Seagulls
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Techno
Techno had its roots in the electronic house music made in Detroit in the mid-'80s. Where house still had explicit connection to disco even when it was entirely mechanical, techno was strictly electronic music, designed for a small, specific audience. The first techno producers and DJs — Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, and Derrick May, among others — emphasized the electronic, synthesized beats of electro-funk artists like Afrika Bambaataa and synth-rock units like Kraftwerk. In the United States, techno was strictly an underground phenomenon, but in England, it broke into the mainstream in the late'80s.
In the early '90s, techno began to fragment into a number of subgenres, including hardcore, ambient, and jungle. In hardcore techno, the beats-per-minute on each record were sped up to ridiculous, undanceable levels — it was designed to alienate a broad audience. Ambient took the opposite direction, slowing the beats down and relying on watery electronic textures — it was used as come-down music, when ravers and club-goers needed a break from acid house and hardcore techno. Jungle was nearly as aggressive as hardcore, combining driving techno beats with breakbeats and dancehall reggae — essentially.
All subgenres of techno were initially designed to be played in clubs, where they would be mixed by DJs. Consequently, most of the music was available on 12-inch singles or various-artists compilations, where the songs could run for a long time, providing the DJ with a lot of material to mix into his set. In the mid-'90s, a new breed of techno artists — most notably ambient acts like the Orb and Aphex Twin, but also harder-edged artists like the Prodigy and Goldie — began constructing albums that didn't consist of raw beats intended for mixing. Not surprisingly, these artists — particularly the Prodigy — became the first recognizable stars in techno
Dark Ambient
Brian Eno's original vision of ambient music as unobtrusive musical wallpaper, later fused with warm house rhythms and given playful qualities by the Orb in the '90s, found its opposite in the style known as Dark Ambient. Populated by a wide assortment of personalities — ranging from aging industrial and metal experimentalists (Scorn's Mick Harris, Current 93's David Tibet, Nurse with Wound's Steven Stapleton) to electronic boffins (Kim CasconePGR, Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia), Japanese noise artists (K.K. Null, Merzbow), and latter-day indie rockers (Main, Bark Psychosis) — dark ambient features toned-down or entirely missing beats with unsettling passages of keyboards, eerie samples, and treated guitar effects. Like most styles related in some way to electronic/dance music of the '90s, it's a very nebulous term; many artists enter or leave the style with each successive release
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The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”Albert Camus
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