Industrial reccommendations?

[mad rhetorik]

Lately I've been wanting to check out the world of industrial music. I've heard a tiny bit of Ministry and Skinny Puppy. I've also heard some tracks by Strapping Young Lad and Fear Factory but I've been told those bands lean more to the metal side of the genre. Of course I've also heard more mainstream junk like Nine Inch Nails and Rammstein but people in the know have told me these artists really aren't "industrial," soo...

Are there any "rivetheads" in the audience that can give me a place to start in this genre?

[nobody]

I spent too much time in Chicago, so when I think of industrial, I gravitate pretty heavily to the Wax Traxx stuff.

My favorites include Revolting C<a>ocks, My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult, and Front 242.

There's also Nitzer Ebb, Laibach, Severed Heads...

Just to narrow things down rather than give you a ton of recommendations, I'd say pick up either Big Sexy Land or Beers, Steers, and Q<a>ueers from the Revolting C<a>ocks and maybe Kooler Than Jesus from My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.

Unfortunately, my recommendations of industrial stuff pretty well run out past about 1990 or so. Somebody else has to cover more recent stuff.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

...'Plastics'" To quote the famous Walter Brooke line from the Graduate.

Sorry, feeling like a bit of a smartass today.

Mark

[-Jar-]

Lately I've been wanting to check out the world of industrial music. I've heard a tiny bit of Ministry and Skinny Puppy. I've also heard some tracks by Strapping Young Lad and Fear Factory but I've been told those bands lean more to the metal side of the genre. Of course I've also heard more mainstream junk like Nine Inch Nails and Rammstein but people in the know have told me these artists really aren't "industrial," soo...

Are there any "rivetheads" in the audience that can give me a place to start in this genre?

Here are my favorites:

Skinny Puppy - TOO DARK PARK (dark, noisy, harsh vocals, but great beats and bass)
Meat Beat Manifesto - 99% (more hip-hop influenced, lots of cool sampling)
Coil - LOVE'S SECRET DOMAIN (one of my favorite electronica albums ever)
Front 242 - FRONT BY FRONT (required industrial dance album)
Nitzer Ebb - THIS TOTAL AGE (the other required industrial dance album.. though this one does sound kind of dated, it's still pretty cool)
Frontline Assembly - CAUSTIC GRIP
Revolting Cocks - BIG SEXY LAND
KMFDM - NAIVE


like nobody, I didn't follow industrial into the 90's for very long.. both of the "Front" bands continued to put out quality albums, though the influence that Ministry brought with LAND OF RAPE AND HONEY and THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO TASTE definately had their inpact on most industrial bands after 1990. Skinny Puppy's LAST RITES (1992) is a great one too, amazingly, far from being a sell-out or anything that you'd expect, it's one of the most extreme albums of their career.

As for the roots of industrial, you'd want to go back to Throbbing Gristle, Laibach, Einsturzende Neubauten, SPK, Controlled Bleeding or the Swans. Each one of these approached industrial music from different perspectives. All are worth seeking out. Check out the Industrial page at allmusic.com. Then spend all day reading.

Personally, I don't really listen to a lot of the early early industrial stuff, or the newer stuff for that matter. My collection is sorely lacking in some of these bands. But I went to industrial boot camp (college radio in the late 80s) and I learned a lot. Between that and the dance clubs it was hard to avoid the whole movement. After the whole thing died down and the techno-rave culture took over, industrial settled back into its underground home, save for major releases by NIN, Minstry, Rammstein, White Zombie, etc.. I'm still amazed that there are still tons of practicing industrial bands, I just don't have time to listen to them.

Dustychalk should chime in too, he's definately one that knows his stuff as far as industrial goes.

-jar

[Stone]

I have a smattering of industrial, and the vast majority of it is before 1990 also. If you want something with a thumping beat, pick up some Front 242, and I'd probably start with Front By Front. Einstόrzende Neubauten's Halber Mensch is a great album, and I think Ministry's Twitch is underrated (and before they adopted the heavy guitar sound).

I agree with Kooler than Jesus and I would also recommend TKK's first full length, I See Good Spirits, I See Bad Spirits.

I have Nitzer Ebb's first album and think it's okay, but nothing special and a little over the top (TO THE LEFT!!).

[Dusty Chalk]

Lately I've been wanting to check out the world of industrial music. I've heard a tiny bit of Ministry and Skinny Puppy. I've also heard some tracks by Strapping Young Lad and Fear Factory but I've been told those bands lean more to the metal side of the genre. Of course I've also heard more mainstream junk like Nine Inch Nails and Rammstein but people in the know have told me these artists really aren't "industrial," soo...

Are there any "rivetheads" in the audience that can give me a place to start in this genre?Well, first of all, yes, pretty much everything you mentioned is more metal/industrial crossover...excepting Skinny Puppy. Skinny Puppy are the industrial masters, and if you are going to have one industrial disk in your collection, it should be Singles Collect. Once you've heard that, and decided whether or not you like it, get back to me.

On the metal/industrial crossover front, yes the following are "my cup of tea" (sounds a bit too polite, though):

Ministry, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste
Ministry, The Land of Rape and Honey

The nice thing about Nine Inch Nails is, every album is different. So if you like that sort of thing, don't be afraid to get all their albums. Downward Spiral is their most difficult to listen to, but my personal favourite. Pretty Hate Machine is an early classic, but it's been played to death in most of the clubs that I went to. The Fragile is completely under-rated -- there's lots of melodic instrumentals interspersed that make this album well worth repeat listens. But Broken is the hardest (and shortest), so I would think that that would be your best first choice, knowing what I know of your tastes.

Stay away from the remix albums unless you're into that sort of thing. I can't recommend those to any but compleatists, but then again, I'm sort of remixed out, so I'm not exactly the best judge.

Rammstein! How can you not like Rammstein?!? Sehnsucht

Others:

KMFDM -- not sure which one, but you have to get something by them, it's required.

FLA (Front Line Assembly/Frontline Assembly) -- Tactical Neural Implant is considered to be their best by many in the know.

Front 242 -- more teutonic than the others, but still again, required listening. Official Version was always my favourite, but Front by Front is good too. Perhaps Back Catalog is a good place to start (I thought they did a compilation called History or something like that). They were always a "singles band", so a singles compilation is the best thing to do.

Later, more classics from Mentallo & The Fixer (Where Angels Fear to Tread and Revelations 23), Haujobb (Homes & Gardens, Freeze Frame Reality, and Solutions for a Small Planet), :wumpscut:, Nitzer Ebb.

[Davey]

Chrome! The band! To borrow a lyric from the Catherine Wheel song of the same name.....

<i>'Cos if I had some time
I'd use it this time
Escape to something beautiful
'Cos underneath the steel and rust and oil and s<a>hit
There's chrome just shining chrome</i>

Hehehe, I'm not much of an industrial fan so take this post with however much weight you like, but Chrome was a great, psychedelic industrial band way back in the days before there was a name for what they did, the late 70s. I have their best of set which also contains a very good sounding live disc from 1998, even though it isn't quite the same band. Definitely worth checking out. Probably their best album was ....

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000019HM.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

and it does have a very cool cover, but the Best/Live one contains a few of the better songs from that one as well as a bunch of others, and you can probably find a used copy for dirt cheap, so I call that a bargain....

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000HYWP.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

OK, we will now return you to your normally scheduled program.....

[-Jar-]

Chrome! The band! To borrow a lyric from the Catherine Wheel song of the same name.....

<i>'Cos if I had some time
I'd use it this time
Escape to something beautiful
'Cos underneath the steel and rust and oil and s<a>hit
There's chrome just shining chrome</i>

Hehehe, I'm not much of an industrial fan so take this post with however much weight you like, but Chrome was a great, psychedelic industrial band way back in the days before there was a name for what they did, the late 70s. .....

hey if yer gonna check out Chrome, might I also suggest Fad Gadget? Though they leaned more towareds post-punk/synthpop than industrial. Still pretty cool stuff for it's time. Again, I'm recalling my college radio daze here, haven't listened to their stuff in a very long time. For some reason I always associated Chrome and Fad Gadget.

ok bye.

[mad rhetorik]

I'll look into these reccs and save up some spending money. First on my list is probably Skinny Puppy and Front 242--I'm interested in hearing some dance-oriented industrial, which I have heard much less of than the metal-crossover stuff. Also Nobody is doing his part and sending me an industrial comp, so I'll get a taste and see which type I prefer.

Thanks everyone!

[nobody]

Here's the tracklist of the comp I've got. Figure I should let anyone else that wants one get a copy too. It's just a quickie I threw together for my industrial music loving wife.

<b>Industrial Trax!</b>

Revolting Cocks – Beers, Steers, and Q<a>ueers (12” version)
KMFDM – Godlike (12” version)
Sister Machine Gun – Addiction (LP version)
Pig – S<a>hit for Brains (LP version)
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult – Do You Fear for Your Child? (LP version)
Ministry – Everyday (Is Halloween) 12” version
Laibach - Geburt Einer Nation (LP version)
Revolting Cocks – No Devotion (LP version)
Meat Beat Manifesto – God O.D. (EP version)
KMFDM – Virus (12” version)
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult – Cuz It’s Hot (12” version)
Acid Horse – No Name, No Slogan (12” version)
A Split Second – Rigor Mortis (LP version)

So, if anyone wants one, just PM me with your address.

[-Jar-]

Here's the tracklist of the comp I've got. Figure I should let anyone else that wants one get a copy too. It's just a quickie I threw together for my industrial music loving wife.

<b>Industrial Trax!</b>

Revolting Cocks – Beers, Steers, and Q<a>ueers (12” version)
KMFDM – Godlike (12” version)
Sister Machine Gun – Addiction (LP version)
Pig – S<a>hit for Brains (LP version)
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult – Do You Fear for Your Child? (LP version)
Ministry – Everyday (Is Halloween) 12” version
Laibach - Geburt Einer Nation (LP version)
Revolting Cocks – No Devotion (LP version)
Meat Beat Manifesto – God O.D. (EP version)
KMFDM – Virus (12” version)
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult – Cuz It’s Hot (12” version)
Acid Horse – No Name, No Slogan (12” version)
A Split Second – Rigor Mortis (LP version)

So, if anyone wants one, just PM me with your address.


Man, just like listening to WUJC John Carroll University in Cleveland in 1988. I swear you could turn on that station just about any time and hear industrial. Our station was a little more diverse, but still.. those Laibach, Neubauten, Controlled Bleeding, Coil and Throbbing Gristle LP's sure were beat up by the time I started there in '88. The other cool thing was, we had ALL those rare imports too.. all the 4ad stuff... Factory.. All those Can albums.. stuff you couldn't find anywhere back then, except for $25 in the import section at the store.. you name it, we probably had it. Enough to make your head explode. I remember my friend playing "Vitamin C" by Can and just freaking out, jumping up and down. It was the first time either of us had heard Can. The stuff sounded literally 20 years ahead of its time.

sorry, I'll stop waxing nostalgic..

-jar

[nobody]

No problem with the nostalgia. I remember those days fondly too. Lots of good times and good drugs falling around nightclubs with industrial beats blaring. It got so popular around Chicago that even the more straight up dance clubs would put on a track or a few throughout the night and some local businesses used industrial tracks in the background of those self-produced commercials.

I tend to think the industrial dance stuff gets less attention than it deserves. It really was a unique sound and brought a lot of interesting people and sounds together. Personally, I hear a big influence from Industrail music in the tracks the Bomb Squad did, especially on Fear of a Black Planet. It just never had it in it to break through to the mainstream until Nine Inch Nails added a lot of rock elements to make it more palatable for the masses.

I like some of the later, rock influenced stuff like NIN and Ministry' stuff from Land of Rape and Honey on, but I tend to think the more beat oriented stuff was a more unique and interesting sound. The early stuff like Swans and all that is fun too, but I just don't have the memories of nights out and about with it blasting in my ears that helps me get nostalgic.

[-Jar-]

I like some of the later, rock influenced stuff like NIN and Ministry' stuff from Land of Rape and Honey on, but I tend to think the more beat oriented stuff was a more unique and interesting sound. The early stuff like Swans and all that is fun too, but I just don't have the memories of nights out and about with it blasting in my ears that helps me get nostalgic.

I remember when "Beers, Steers and *****s" first came out. Everyone would dance around in this big circle, doing their best hee-haw hillbilly dance immitations. Then there were the instant mosh pits that would erupt whenever they would play "Stigmata" or "Theives." We only really had 3 clubs in Cleveland that played that stuff, but it was a fun time. Then "James Brown Is Dead" came out and the whole scene changed. They replaced The Lift with The Smart Bar, that served these "energy drinks." Weird. After that, there was one club that had "industrial" night a few nights a week, but that as it.
One great memory was when they first played "Down In It".. that was back when Trent actually lived in Cleveland and you'd see him at the clubs on occasion. "Rain rain, go away, come again some other day.. rain, rain, go away, come again some other day...."

hehe

-jar

[nobody]

Yeah, Industrial did have a pretty short hey day. I think those rave tunes taking over is probably a big reason why my wife doesn't like any newer electronic stuff after Industrial; loyalty I guess. Acid House we were both Ok with, but something about those shiny happy ravers was just always a bit annoying. Those energy drinks were VERY annoying. C'mon, ain't you kids heard of coke? Heck, I'd think all the X those ravers were gobbling woulda given 'em enough energy as is. OK...enough substance talk and complaining.

Revolting Cocks will always be the ultimate Industrial band to me. The minimalism of Big Sexy Land just sums up the sound in my head.

[-Jar-]

Revolting Cocks will always be the ultimate Industrial band to me. The minimalism of Big Sexy Land just sums up the sound in my head.

Can't argue with that.. "Attack Ships On Fire" is probably the greatest example of its kind.

I loved that bassline.

[nobody]

They replaced The Lift with The Smart Bar, that served these "energy drinks." Weird. After that, there was one club that had "industrial" night a few nights a week, but that as it.


hehe

-jar

Oh yeah...what is funny is that there is a Smart Bar in Chicago that was big into the Industrial thing. It's right downstairs from Metro, so you could see Thrill Kill Kult at Metro, then head down stairs to Smart Bar for more industrial madness until the wee hours.