INDUSTRIAL

Aggressive, experimental, and often atonal, this unapologetic assault on culture enchanted the disenchanted and influenced the very mainstream it despised…

For many, the term ‘Industrial’ conjures the tuneful primal scream behind Nine Inch Nails or in-your-face aggro of Ministry. For others, the moniker is forever linked with the electronic body music of Front 242. Yet, as a genre, it was initially harder to pin down than its familiar form of the mid-90s.

Monte Cazazza coined the term to describe the art-noise of bands like Throbbing Gristle, who used it for their own record label. Bleak, hopeless, dystopian, and with the faint whiff of desiccation, early industrial music could at turns sound like a symphony of printing presses or an unashamed nod to Tangerine Dream – and just about anything in between.

Industrial music in its most familiar form wouldn’t happen until the art-noise contingent began adding drum machine-derived rhythms. Ex-Throbbing Gristlers Chris and Cosey predicted the future with Trance, while Cabaret Voltaire shook Sheffield with the unlikely funk of

Sensoria. Severed Heads and SPK were there, too, the former creating an unlikely dance-floor classic, the latter reaching for accessibility.

By the late 80s, many defining bands gained popularity, with the seemingly difficult Skinny Puppy setting the stage with horror movie samples, unusual beats and shock theatre.

Eventually, the guitar-driven junkie growl of Ministry and emotionalism of NiN – and bootyshaking beats of Front 242’s Headhunter re-drew the map others would follow.

Let’s take a look at how it’s done!