Who likes Industrial?

[nobody]

I was listening to Jar's Attack Electronics comp the other day and the Meat Beat Manifesto song Acid Again got me going back to my old Wax Trax stuff. Pulled out some Revolting Cocks, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Ministry and others.

Anyway, just got me thinking about some of my favorite albums of the era, (and thinking alot about drugs but that's another story, or maybe not?) even though the real action was on 12 inches, but hey. I'll just list two of the best off the top of my head...

Revolting Cocks - Big Sexy Land
Excellent sample of the minimalist beat heavy sound of the times. This one conjures up the era more than any of the others to me. Gotta admit that Beers, Steers, and *****s stands out for the title track, but start to finish, this one takes it for me.

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Kooler Than Jesus
The title track and Devil Bunnies make this one an easy pick for something later in the era. Nothing particularly revolutionary by this time, but these guys were just always a fun listen.

OK...I left out a bunch of stuff, anybody else wanna chime in?

[Booji Boy]

I do, but I don't have a lot of it in my collection. My favorite of the genre is Front 242 because of their pounding beat. Thrill Kill Kult was great too, especially the Satan era of the band (preceded by the Nazi era, and succeeded by the Sex era), which obviously included "Kooler Than Jesus."

A very reliable source told me you have a copy of the Wax Trax box set....

[Dave_G]

Have not been able to get into this genre of rock.

Dave

[-Jar-]

MBM's Storm the Studio and 99% are both classics in my book.. the newer MBM stuff is awesome, but they really do sound contemporary, while when you go back and listen to these two older albums, you really get the feel of 1990, if there was such a feeling.

Ministry - Land of Rape and Honey This is where it all started, as far as the whole Industrial moving away from the Depeche Mode synthy sound and towards the more metal sound. I still think "Stigmata" is just about the best industrial song ever.

Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park It's so difficult to pick a favorite, or the most important, when talking about Skinny Puppy. If not this one, then Cleanse, Fold, and Manipulate would be my 2nd favorite. To me they're both really consistent and have very memorable songs. Rabies is great, but you can really hear the Ministry influence there.

Front 242 - Front by Front and Front Line Assembly Caustic Grip - just two real classic industrial dance albums.. they are to industrial dance what Nevermind and Badmotorfinger are to grunge.

I'll think of some more later..
-jar

[nobody]

Land of Rape and Honey really is a sticky one. Personally, loved the album, didn't much care for the direction it sent industrial music. It's not so much that I get bothered by metallic guitars blending with industrial stuff, just seems that over time, the abrasion and guitar heavy sounds have become the main thing a lot of people think about when they think of industrial.

[Jim Clark]

Can't really speak with authority to any on the bands or the growth/development of the genre but thanks to you and Dustychalk my appreciation has grown in leaps and bounds although my budding collection is not growing quite as fast.

KMFDM, Throbbing Gristle (Hamburger Lady), and some current kind of industrial like Project Pitchfork.

I don't think I got a copy of Jar's Attack comp. In fact I know I didn't. I must have been asleep that day. bummer. Maybe Jar will take pity on me. What do you think Jar? Of course I still have a couple of discs I want to send to you that I haven't managed to mail yet. Soon, real soon.

jc

[Dusty Chalk]

OMG, prolly my favourite genre of music. I was even in an industrial band at one point.

Some alternate favourites not already mentioned (and some that have, of course):

Skinny Puppy, Singles Collect -- probably the single most important industrial CD you can have -- all remastered, and sounding quite good. Sk/uppy are in my top 3 favourite artists of all time. They are the kings of "electro-industrial".

Oh, and PS they got back together. Really looking forward to what they come up with. The last few Download, ohGr, cEvin Key, Tear Garden (and other related artists) albums have been very interesting. There was even a Sk/uppy reunion recently, with a live album.

Ministry, Land.../Mind... are the ones that really got guitar-driven industrial off the ground. Yeah, Trent might have had a little something to do with selling it to the masses, but Ministry showed everyone how it was done right. (Not that there's anything wrong with Trent.) Twitch really defined that Wax Trax sound.

Einsturzende Neubauten, Strategies Against Architecture II -- they and Throbbing Gristle are the kings of old-skool industrial. I used to argue with people all the time on r.m.i what was and was not industrial. The old skool people wouldn't allow for anything contemporary past their filters. They stuck entirely to these early pioneers. Einstur still does the "using-large-dangerous-things-on-stage" thing. Huge rotating drums with what look like sawblades on them, and just drumming on them and large pipes for their rhythm sections and the occasional diffuse melody. A must-see.

I would say the genre is pretty much dead, with early adopters like Covenant and Project Pitchfork having gone off on a tangent ("Future Pop", a variant of synth-pop, and Covenant were never really industrial anyways -- they were more "E.B.M."), and recent album by Front 242 being more of the Underworld booty-shaking variety (albeit, very good, just not comparable to old Front 242 industrial).

Hey, Jar, did you hear MBM's recent R.U.O.K.?? It kind of sucked. I mean, if it was from anyone else, I probably would have liked it, because it was electro done well, but we've come to expect so much more from Mr. Dangers, haven't we? Sounds like he threw out all his analog gear and just went entirely Pro Tools (which is the case), but was still hoping to hear some of his inimitable creativity seep through.

More later. Can't think of anything else right now.

[-Jar-]

I don't think I got a copy of Jar's Attack comp. In fact I know I didn't. I must have been asleep that day. bummer. Maybe Jar will take pity on me. What do you think Jar? Of course I still have a couple of discs I want to send to you that I haven't managed to mail yet. Soon, real soon.

jc

I'd be happy to send it your way.. it has a pretty good mix of styles I think.. some industrial, some glitch and some dub influences too. I'll toss one your way and see what sticks. That one is almost two years old! I don't think anyone who I sent it to is around anymore, except for Demetrio and Nobody. ckelly? scottl? who knows??

-jar-

[Jim Clark]

I'd be happy to send it your way..
-jar-

Thank you very much Jar, I appreciate it. I've got a little package ready to go off to you as well.

Have a great weekend,
jc