Industrial

Anti Newton (Clock DVA)

Industrial music is a genre of experimental music which draws on harsh, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the “most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music”; “initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments (tape music, musique concrète, white noise, synthesizers, sequencers, etc.) and punk provocation”. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by members of Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza. While the genre name originated with Throbbing Gristle’s emergence in the United Kingdom, concentrations of artists and labels vital to the genre also emerged in Chicago.

The first industrial artists experimented with noise and aesthetically controversial topics, musically and visually, such as fascism, sexual perversion, and the occult. Prominent industrial musicians include Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Boyd Rice, SPK, and Z’EV. Test Dept, Clock DVA, Nocturnal Emissions, Whitehouse, Laibach, and The Leather Nun  subsequently participated in the movement. German group Einstürzende Neubauten, forged their own style, which mixed metal percussion, guitars and unconventional instruments (such as jackhammers and bones) in stage performances that often damaged the venues in which they played.

History

Z’EV

While the term was self-applied by a small coterie of groups and individuals associated with Industrial Records in the late 1970s, it was broadened to include artists influenced by the original movement or using an “industrial” aesthetic.  A few years later in the 1980s, artists on Chicago-based Wax Trax Records such as Front 242, KMFDM, Front Line Assembly, Ministry, and Sister Machine Gun gained prominence on the industrial music scene. Over time, the genre’s influence spread into and blended with styles including ambient and rock, all of which now fall under the post-industrial music label. Electro-industrial music is a primary subgenre that developed in the 1980s. The two other most notable hybrid genres are industrial rock and industrial metal, which include bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, both of which released platinum-selling albums in the 1990s. These distinct genres are often referred to as simply industrial.

Characteristics and history

The birth of industrial music was a response to “an age [in which] the access and control of information were becoming the primary tools of power.” At its birth, the genre of industrial music was different from any other music, and its use of technology and disturbing lyrics and themes to tear apart preconceptions about the necessary rules of musical form supports the suggestion that industrial music is modernist music. The artists themselves made these goals explicit, even drawing connections to social changes they wished to argue for through their music.

The Industrial Records website explains that the musicians wanted to re-invent rock music, and that their uncensored records were about their relationship with the world. They go on to say that they wanted their music to be an awakening for listeners so that they would begin to think for themselves and question the world around them. Industrial Records intended the term industrial to evoke the idea of music created for a new generation, with previous music being more agricultural: P-Orridge stated that “there’s an irony in the word ‘industrial’ because there’s the music industry. And then there’s the joke we often used to make in interviews about churning out our records like motorcars —that sense of industrial. And … up till then the music had been kind of based on the blues and slavery, and we thought it was time to update it to at least Victorian times—you know, the Industrial Revolution”.

Early industrial music often featured tape editing, stark percussion and loops distorted to the point where they had degraded to harsh noise, such as the work of early industrial group Cabaret Voltaire, which Journalist Simon Reynolds described as characterized by “hissing high hats and squelchy snares of rhythm-generator.” Carter of Throbbing Gristle invented a device named the “Gristle-izer”, played by Christopherson, which comprised a one-octave keyboard and a number of cassette machines triggering various pre-recorded sounds.

Traditional instruments were often played in nontraditional or highly modified ways. Reynolds described the Cabaret Voltaire members’ individual contributions as “[Chris] Watson’s smears of synth slime; [Stephen] Mallinder’s dankly pulsing bass; and [Richard H.] Kirk’s spikes of shattered-glass guitar.” Watson custom-built a fuzzbox for Kirk’s guitar, producing a unique timbre. Carter built speakers, effects units, and synthesizer modules, as well as modifying more conventional rock instrumentation, for Throbbing Gristle. Tutti played guitar with a slide in order to produce glissandi, or pounded the strings as if it were a percussion instrument. Throbbing Gristle also played at very high volume and produced ultra-high and sub-bass frequencies in an attempt to produce physical effects, naming this approach as “metabolic music.”

Vocals were sporadic, and were as likely to be bubblegum pop as they were to be abrasive polemics. Cabaret Voltaire’s Stephen Mallinder’s vocals were electronically treated.

The purpose of industrial music initially was to serve as a commentary on modern society by eschewing what artists saw as trite connections to the past. Throbbing Gristle opposed the elements of traditional rock music remaining in the punk rock scene, declaring industrial to be “anti-music.”Early industrial performances often involved taboo-breaking, provocative elements, such as mutilation, sado-masochistic elements and totalitarian imagery or symbolism, as well as forms of audience abuse, such as Throbbing Gristle’s aiming high powered lights at the audience.

SPK

Industrial groups typically focus on transgressive subject matter. In his introduction for the Industrial Culture Handbook (1983), Jon Savage considered some hallmarks of industrial music to be organizational autonomy, shock tactics, and the use of synthesizers and “anti-music.” Furthermore, an interest in the investigation of “cults, wars, psychological techniques of persuasion, unusual murders (especially by children and psychopaths), forensic pathology, venereology, concentration camp behavior, the history of uniforms and insignia” and Aleister Crowley’s magick was present in Throbbing Gristle’s work, as well as in other industrial pioneers. Burroughs’s recordings and writings were particularly influential on the scene, particularly his interest in the cut-up technique and noise as a method of disrupting societal control. Many of the first industrial musicians were interested in, though not necessarily sympathetic with, fascism. Throbbing Gristle’s logo was based on the lightning symbol of the British Union of Fascists, while the Industrial Records logo was a photo of Auschwitz.

Expansion and post-industrial (late 1980s and early 1990s)

In the late 1980s, a number of additional styles developed from the already eclectic base of industrial music. These offshoots include fusions with noise music, ambient music, folk music, post-punk and electronic dance music, as well as other mutations and developments. The scene has spread worldwide, and is particularly well represented in North America, Europe, and Japan. Post-industrial subgenres include dark ambient, power electronics, Japanoise, Neofolk, Electro-Industrial, Electronic Body Music, Industrial Hip Hop, Industrial Rock, Industrial Metal, Industrial pop, Martial Industrial, Power Noise, and witch house.

Mainstream success (1990s and 2000s)

In the 1990s, industrial music broke into the mainstream with artists and bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Orgy, White Zombie, Rob Zombie, and Marilyn Manson. In December 1992, Nine Inch Nails’ EP Broken was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Nine Inch Nails gained further popularity with the release of their album The Downward Spiral, an album released in 1994. The Downward Spiral sold almost 119,000 units in its first week of being released. The Downward Spiral was certified 4x platinum by the RIAA in 1998.  Nine inch Nails’ remix album Further Down the Spiral, released in May 1995, was certified gold by the RIAA in June 1996.  Nine Inch Nails’ 1999 album The Fragile went to number 1 on the Billboard 200 on October 9, 1999  and also was certified 2x platinum in January 2000.  With the success of Nine Inch Nails, the band’s debut album Pretty Hate Machine was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA in September 1995 and also was later certified 3x platinum by the RIAA in May 2003. In the 1990s, four Nine Inch Nails songs went on the Billboard Hot 100.  Several industrial rock and industrial metal artists such as KMFDM, Fear Factory, Gravity Kills and Sister Machine Gun appeared on the 1995 Mortal Kombat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.  The soundtrack was certified platinum by the RIAA in January 1996.

Einstürzende Neubauten

Marilyn Manson released its album Antichrist Superstar in 1996. Antichrist Superstar sold 132,000 in its first of being released. Antichrist Superstar was certified platinum by the RIAA two months after its release date.  In the United States, Antichrist Superstar sold at least 1,900,000 units.  Marilyn Manson’s EP Smells Like Children was certified platinum in May 1998.  Marilyn Manson’s album Mechanical Animals went to number 1, selling 223,000 copies in its first week in stores, knocking The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill off of the top spot.  Mechanical Animals was certified platinum by the RIAA in February 1999 and sold at least 1,409,000 copies in the United States. Orgy also experienced mainstream success during the 1990s. The band’s 1998 album Candyass was certified platinum by the RIAA in July 1999.  Orgy’s cover of New Order’s song “Blue Monday” went to number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100  and number 2 on the Dance Club Songs chart.  White Zombie experimented with industrial metal on its 1995 album Astro-Creep 2000,  which was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA in March 1996.  White Zombie’s vocalist Rob Zombie began creating pure industrial metal albums in his solo career. Rob Zombie’s solo debut studio album Hellbilly Deluxe was certified 3x platinum by the RIAA less than two years after its release date.  In November 1999, Powerman 5000’s album Tonight the Stars Revolt! was certified platinum by the RIAA.  The album sold at least 1,316,172 units in the United States.  Although the popularity of industrial music overall declined in the 2000s, both Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson continued to be popular during the 2000s. Nine Inch Nails’ 2005 album With Teeth went to number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 272,000 copies in its first week of being released.  As of October 2007, With Teeth has sold 1,100,000 copies in the United States.  During the 2000s, four Nine Inch Nails were on the Billboard Hot 100, including the Nine Inch Nails song “The Hand That Feeds”, which went to the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, going to number 31 on the chart.  Marilyn Manson’s 2003 album The Golden Age of Grotesque went to number 1 on the Billboard 200,  selling 118,000 copies in its first week of being released.

Comments are closed.