Quote Originally Posted by 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?
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