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Industrial rock
Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. Originally emerging in the late 1970s to early 1980s, pioneered by artists such as Chrome, Killing Joke, Swans, Big Black and Skinny Puppy, the movement was further proliferated in the late 1980s by Wax Trax! Records in Chicago, with artists like Front 242, Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, and Sister Machine Gun.
Subsequently, the movement would lead to the emergence of genre fusions and subgenres like electro-industrial, industrial metal, martial industrial, industrial hip-hop, industrial dance and industrial techno. By the 1990s, broader industrial music genres were made accessible to mainstream audiences through the popularity of acts such as Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Rammstein, Marilyn Manson, all of whom released platinum-selling records.
Industrial rock is defined by the merging of rock music with influences lifted from industrial music, electronic, and avant-garde music. Industrial rock bands are characterized by harsh, abrasive sounds, blending distorted, aggressive guitar riffs with electronic textures and experimental production techniques. Exemplified by artists who signed to industrial focused independent record label Wax Trax! Records, while some industrial rock artists later overlapped with industrial metal.
Cromagnon's 1969 record Orgasm has been credited with foreshadowing the industrial rock sound, with AllMusic describing it as sounding "like it could be a Ministry [...] recording from 1989". Pitchfork labelled the opening track "Caledonia" as a "pre-industrial stomp".
During the mid to late 1970s, industrial music emerged through the early works of Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, NON, SPK and Z'EV. Subsequently, music critics retroactively credit the San Francisco band Chrome with sparking the "beginning of industrial rock." Alongside, New York City band Suicide, formed in 1970, by Alan Vega and Martin Rev, whose 1977 debut album has been credited with providing "the blueprints for [...] industrial rock". Furthermore, Iggy Pop who released his debut solo album The Idiot, produced by David Bowie, in 1977, was later retroactively recognized as a forerunner to industrial rock, particularly the closing track, "Mass Production', which contains numerous "proto-industrial noises" created using tape loops, which Hugo Wilcken described as "early industrial electronica." Ian Curtis of Joy Division, cited the album as an inspiration, and later influenced the work of Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who'd cover their song "Dead Souls". Other influences on industrial rock include Einstürzende Neubauten, Alien Sex Fiend, and Come.
By the late 1970s, post-punk and post-hardcore bands, began incorporating elements of industrial music into rock music. Killing Joke described by music journalist Simon Reynolds as "a post-punk version of heavy metal" emerged as an influential band in the development of industrial rock music, their album Night Time (1985) saw mainstream success and influenced Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Subsequently, New York City band Swans emerged and drew influence from the local no wave scene, most notably Glenn Branca's Theoretical Girls "You Got Me", as well as punk rock, noise music (particularly Whitehouse) and the original industrial groups. Chris Connelly said the musical project Foetus was "the instigator when it comes to the marriage of machinery to hardcore punk."
During the early 1980s, Steve Albini's band Big Black, post-hardcore and noise rock with industrial music. The Swiss trio The Young Gods, who deliberately eschewed electric guitars in favor of a sampler, also took inspiration from both hardcore and industrial. In 1986, Canadian band Skinny Puppy released the album Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse, with its lead single, "Dig It", seeing frequent airplay on MTV. The song was a major influence on Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor, who used it as inspiration when writing his first song, "Down in It".
By the late 1980s, Chicago's Wax Trax! Records became a central hub for the genre, further popularizing it across the United States. The label was started by Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher. The label went on to distribute some of the most prominent names in industrial throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, with artists like Front 242, Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, and Sister Machine Gun. In 1988, Ministry, released their album The Land of Rape and Honey, which drew from hardcore punk and thrash metal, while retaining electronic elements and samples. Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen was also involved in multiple industrial rock side projects that were signed to Wax Trax!, including Revolting Cocks, 1000 Homo DJs and Pailhead. Drawing heavy influences from New York's no wave scene, Cop Shoot Cop replaced lead guitars with bass.
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Industrial rock
Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. Originally emerging in the late 1970s to early 1980s, pioneered by artists such as Chrome, Killing Joke, Swans, Big Black and Skinny Puppy, the movement was further proliferated in the late 1980s by Wax Trax! Records in Chicago, with artists like Front 242, Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, and Sister Machine Gun.
Subsequently, the movement would lead to the emergence of genre fusions and subgenres like electro-industrial, industrial metal, martial industrial, industrial hip-hop, industrial dance and industrial techno. By the 1990s, broader industrial music genres were made accessible to mainstream audiences through the popularity of acts such as Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Rammstein, Marilyn Manson, all of whom released platinum-selling records.
Industrial rock is defined by the merging of rock music with influences lifted from industrial music, electronic, and avant-garde music. Industrial rock bands are characterized by harsh, abrasive sounds, blending distorted, aggressive guitar riffs with electronic textures and experimental production techniques. Exemplified by artists who signed to industrial focused independent record label Wax Trax! Records, while some industrial rock artists later overlapped with industrial metal.
Cromagnon's 1969 record Orgasm has been credited with foreshadowing the industrial rock sound, with AllMusic describing it as sounding "like it could be a Ministry [...] recording from 1989". Pitchfork labelled the opening track "Caledonia" as a "pre-industrial stomp".
During the mid to late 1970s, industrial music emerged through the early works of Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, NON, SPK and Z'EV. Subsequently, music critics retroactively credit the San Francisco band Chrome with sparking the "beginning of industrial rock." Alongside, New York City band Suicide, formed in 1970, by Alan Vega and Martin Rev, whose 1977 debut album has been credited with providing "the blueprints for [...] industrial rock". Furthermore, Iggy Pop who released his debut solo album The Idiot, produced by David Bowie, in 1977, was later retroactively recognized as a forerunner to industrial rock, particularly the closing track, "Mass Production', which contains numerous "proto-industrial noises" created using tape loops, which Hugo Wilcken described as "early industrial electronica." Ian Curtis of Joy Division, cited the album as an inspiration, and later influenced the work of Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who'd cover their song "Dead Souls". Other influences on industrial rock include Einstürzende Neubauten, Alien Sex Fiend, and Come.
By the late 1970s, post-punk and post-hardcore bands, began incorporating elements of industrial music into rock music. Killing Joke described by music journalist Simon Reynolds as "a post-punk version of heavy metal" emerged as an influential band in the development of industrial rock music, their album Night Time (1985) saw mainstream success and influenced Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Subsequently, New York City band Swans emerged and drew influence from the local no wave scene, most notably Glenn Branca's Theoretical Girls "You Got Me", as well as punk rock, noise music (particularly Whitehouse) and the original industrial groups. Chris Connelly said the musical project Foetus was "the instigator when it comes to the marriage of machinery to hardcore punk."
During the early 1980s, Steve Albini's band Big Black, post-hardcore and noise rock with industrial music. The Swiss trio The Young Gods, who deliberately eschewed electric guitars in favor of a sampler, also took inspiration from both hardcore and industrial. In 1986, Canadian band Skinny Puppy released the album Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse, with its lead single, "Dig It", seeing frequent airplay on MTV. The song was a major influence on Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor, who used it as inspiration when writing his first song, "Down in It".
By the late 1980s, Chicago's Wax Trax! Records became a central hub for the genre, further popularizing it across the United States. The label was started by Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher. The label went on to distribute some of the most prominent names in industrial throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, with artists like Front 242, Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, and Sister Machine Gun. In 1988, Ministry, released their album The Land of Rape and Honey, which drew from hardcore punk and thrash metal, while retaining electronic elements and samples. Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen was also involved in multiple industrial rock side projects that were signed to Wax Trax!, including Revolting Cocks, 1000 Homo DJs and Pailhead. Drawing heavy influences from New York's no wave scene, Cop Shoot Cop replaced lead guitars with bass.