Jump to content

Industrial music

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Je VH (talk | contribs) at 21:02, 1 June 2009 (→Expansion of the scene: Proper notation of "Z'EV"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about a musical genre. For other uses, see Industrial (disambiguation).
Industrial
Stylistic originsMusique concrète, Fluxus movement , Performance art, Electronic Music, Krautrock, Noise music, Post-punk
Cultural originsMid 1970s; United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, United States
Typical instrumentsSynthesizer - Drum machine - Tape loops - Drums - Guitar - Found objects - Modified electronics (in latter incarnations were added Sequencer - Keyboard - Sampler)
Derivative formsAggrotech - Ambient Industrial - EBM - Electro-industrial - Glitch - Industrial metal - Industrial percussion - Industrial rock - IDM - Martial Industrial

(complete list)
Other topics
List of noise musicians - Post-industrial music and related fusion genres

Industrial music is an experimental music style, often including electronic music, that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s to describe Industrial Records artists. The Allmusic website defines industrial as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music"; "initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments (tape music, musique concrète, white noise, synthesizers, sequencers, etc.) and punk provocation".[1]

The first industrial artists experimented with noise and controversial topics. Their production was not limited to music, but included mail art, performance art, installation pieces and other art forms.[2] Prominent industrial musicians include Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Boyd Rice, SPK, and Z'EV.[2] While the term was initially self-applied by a small coterie of groups and individuals associated with Industrial Records, it broadened to include artists influenced by the original movement or using an "industrial" aesthetic.[3]

Characteristics

Early industrial music often featured tape editing, stark percussion and loops distorted to the point where they had degraded to harsh noise. Vocals were sporadic, and were as likely to be bubblegum pop as they were to be abrasive polemics. Early industrial performances often involved taboo-breaking, provocative elements, such as mutilation, sado-masochistic elements and totalitarian imagery or symbolism, as well as forms of audience abuse.[4]

William S. Burroughs, a conceptual inspiration for the industrial musicians.

Journalist Simon Reynolds described the early industrial group Cabaret Voltaire as characterized by "hissing high hats and squelchy snares of rhythm-generator."[5] He enumerated the members' individual contributions as "[Chris] Watson's smears of synth slime; [Stephen] Mallinder's dankly pulsing bass; and [Richard H.] Kirk's spikes of shattered-glass guitar."[5] Watson custom-built a fuzzbox for Kirk's guitar, producing a unique timbre.[6] Mallinder's vocals were also electronically treated.[7] Chris Carter built speakers, effects units, and synthesizer modules, as well as modifying more conventional rock instrumentation, for Throbbing Gristle.[8] He also invented a device named the "Gristle-izer", played by Peter Christopherson, which comprised a one-octave keyboard and a number of cassette machines triggering various pre-recorded sounds.[9] Throbbing Gristle opposed the elements of traditional rock music remaining in the punk rock scene, declaring industrial to be "anti-music."[10] Cosey Fanni Tutti played guitar with a slide in order to produce glissandi, or pounded the strings as if it were a percussion instrument.[11] Throbbing Gristle also played at very high volume and produced ultra-high and sub-bass frequencies in an attempt to produce physical effects, naming this approach as "metabolic music."[12] They also aimed high powered lights at the audience.[13] Some later Throbbing Gristle pieces, such as "United", were a much more dance-friendly form of electropop.[14] Some industrial groups after Throbbing Gristle borrowed from Eurodisco or marching rhythms. Clock DVA and 23 Skidoo practiced an industrial version of funk music.[15]

Industrial groups typically focus on transgressive subject matter. In his introduction for the Industrial Culture Handbook (1983), Jon Savage considered some hallmarks of industrial music to be organizational autonomy, shock tactics and the use of synthesizers and "anti-music".[16] Furthermore, an interest in the investigation of "cults, wars, psychological techniques of persuasion, unusual murders (especially by children and psychopaths), forensic pathology, venereology, concentration camp behavior, the history of uniforms and insignia" and "Aleister Crowley's magick" was present in Throbbing Gristle's work,[17] as well as in other industrial pioneers. William S. Burroughs's recordings and writings were particularly influential on the scene, particularly his interest in the cut-up technique and noise as a method of disrupting societal control.[18] Many of the first industrial musicians were interested in, though not necessarily at all sympathetic with, fascism.[19] Throbbing Gristle's logo was based on the lightning symbol of the British Union of Fascists, while the Industrial Records logo was a photo of Auschwitz.[20] Boyd Rice is a particularly controversial figure for his interest in social Darwinism, The Church of Satan, misogyny, and Charles Manson.[21] Cabaret Voltaire's song "Do the Mussolini (Headkick)" was inspired by the titular dictator's murder by an Italian mob. As Kirk recalls, "We'd get National Front people coming to gigs 'cos they'd got the wrong idea. But, at the same time, we kinda liked the ambiguity."[22] Cabaret Voltaire were also interested in the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism and the U.S. Christian right, particularly on the Red Mecca album.[23] Some groups, such as Test Dept, were explicitly left wing.[24]

History

Precursors

Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, cited as inspirations by Genesis P-Orridge and Z'EV, in 1975

Industrial music drew from a broad range of predecessors. Alexei Monroe argues that Kraftwerk were particularly significant in the development of industrial music, as the "first successful artists to incorporate representations of industrial sounds into nonacademic electronic music."[25] Monroe also argues for Suicide as an influential contemporary of the industrial musicians.[25] Groups cited as inspirational by the founders of industrial music include The Velvet Underground, Joy Division, and Martin Denny.[26] Genesis P-Orridge's cassette library included recordings by the Master Musicians of Jajouka, Kraftwerk, Charles Manson, and William S. Burroughs.[27] P-Orridge also credited 1960s psychedelic rock such as The Doors, Pearls Before Swine, The Fugs, Captain Beefheart, and Frank Zappa in a 1979 interview.[28]

Chris Carter also enjoyed Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream.[29] Boyd Rice particularly enjoyed Lesley Gore, and Abba.[30] Z'EV cited Christopher Tree (Spontaneous Sound), John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Tim Buckley, Jimi Hendrix and Captain Beefheart, among others together with Tibetan, Balinese, Javanese, Indian and African music as influential in his artistic life.[31][32] Cabaret Voltaire cited Roxy Music as their initial forerunners, as well as Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express.[33] Cabaret Voltaire also recorded pieces reminiscent of musique concrète and composers such as Morton Subotnick.[34] Nurse with Wound cited a long list of obscure free improvisation and Krautrock as recommended listening.[35] 23 Skidoo borrowed from Fela Kuti and Miles Davis's On the Corner.[36] Many industrial groups, including Einstürzende Neubauten, took inspiration from world music.[37]

Many of the initial industrial musicians preferred to cite artists or thinkers, rather than musicians, as their inspiration. Simon Reynolds declares that "Being a Throbbing Gristle fan was like enrolling in a university course of cultural extremism."[38] John Cage was an initial inspiration for Throbbing Gristle.[39] SPK appreciated Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Jean Baudrillard, Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin, Marshall McLuhan, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Gilles Deleuze.[40] Cabaret Voltaire took conceptual cues from William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, and the Dada of Tristan Tzara.[41] Whitehouse and Nurse with Wound dedicated some of their work to the Marquis de Sade; the latter of these musicians also took impetus from the Comte de Lautréamont.[42]

Industrial Records

20 Jazz Funk Greats by Throbbing Gristle. The photograph is taken at Beachy Head, a famous leaping point for suicides.[43]

Industrial Music for Industrial People was originally coined by Monte Cazazza[44] as the strapline for the record label Industrial Records, founded by British art-provocateurs Throbbing Gristle.[45] The first wave of this music appeared with Throbbing Gristle, from London; Cabaret Voltaire, from Sheffield;[46] and Boyd Rice (recording under the name NON), from the United States.[47] Throbbing Gristle first performed in 1976,[48] and began as the musical offshoot of COUM Transmissions.[49] COUM was initially a psychedelic rock group, but began to describe their work as performance art in order to obtain grants from the Arts Council of Great Britain.[50] COUM was comprised of Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti.[51] Beginning in 1972, COUM staged several performances inspired by Fluxus and Viennese Actionism. These included various acts of sexual and physical abjection.[52] Peter Christopherson, an employee of commercial artists Hipgnosis, joined the group in 1974, with Chris Carter joining the following year.[53]

The group renamed itself Throbbing Gristle in September 1975.[54] Throbbing Gristle's first public performance, in October 1976, was alongside an exhibit titled Prostitution, which included pornographic photos of Tutti as well as used tampons. Nicholas Fairbairn, a Conservative politician, declared that "Public money is being wasted here to destroy the morality of our society. These people are wreckers of civilization!"[55] The group ended in 1981, with P-Orridge declaring "the mission is terminated."[56] Template:Sound sample box align right Template:Sample box end Industrial Records intended the term industrial to evoke the idea of music created for a new generation, previous music being more "agricultural":

There's an irony in the word 'industrial' because there's the music industry. And then there's the joke we often used to make in interviews about churning out our records like motorcars –- that sense of industrial. And ... up till then the music had been kind of based on the blues and slavery, and we thought it was time to update it to at least Victorian times -- you know, the Industrial Revolution. - Genesis P-Orridge[57]

Expansion of the scene

Bands like Clock DVA,[58] Nocturnal Emissions,[59] Whitehouse,[60] Nurse with Wound,[61] and SPK[62] soon followed. Whitehouse intended to play "the most brutal and extreme music of all time", a style they eventually called power electronics.[63] An early collaborator with Whitehouse, Steve Stapleton, formed Nurse with Wound, who experimented with noise sculpture and sound collage.[64] Clock DVA described their goal as borrowing equally from surrealism automatism and "nervous energy sort of funk stuff, body music that flinches you and makes you move."[65] 23 Skidoo, like Clock DVA, merged industrial music with African-American dance music, but also performed a response to world music. Performing at the first WOMAD Festival in 1982, the group likened themselves to Indonesian gamelan.[66] Swedish act The Leather Nun, were signed to Industrial Records in 1978, being the first non-TG/Cazazza act to have an IR-release.[67] Their singles eventually received significant airplay in the United States on college radio.[68]

Re/Search #6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook collected interviews from artists associated with Industrial Records.

Across the Atlantic, similar experiments were taking place. In San Francisco, performance artist Monte Cazazza began recording noise music.[69] Boyd Rice released several albums of noise, with guitar drones and tape loops creating a cacophony of repetitive sounds.[70] In Italy, work by Maurizio Bianchi at the beginning of the 1980s also shared this aesthetic.[71] In Germany, Einstürzende Neubauten mixed metal percussion, guitars and unconventional instruments (such as jackhammers and bones) in stage performances that often damaged the venues in which they played.[72] Blixa Bargeld, inspired by Antonin Artaud and an enthusiast of amphetamines, also originated an art movement called Die Geniale Dilettanten.[73] Bargeld is particularly well-known for his hissing scream.[74] In January 1984, Einstürzende Neubauten performed a Concerto for Voice and Machinery at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (the same site as COUM's Prostitution exhibition), drilling through the floor and eventually sparking a riot.[75] This event received front page news coverage in England.[76] Other groups who practiced a form of industrial "metal music" (that is, produced by the sounds of metal crashing against metal) include Test Dept,[24] Laibach,[77] and Die Krupps, as well as Z'EV and SPK.[78] Test Dept were largely inspired by Russian Futurism and toured to support the UK miners' strike (1984-1985).[79] Swans, from New York City, also practiced a metal music aesthetic, though reliant on standard rock instrumentation.[80] Laibach, a Slovenian group who began while Yugoslavia remained a single state, were very controversial for their iconographic borrowings from Stalinist, Nazi, Titoist, Dada, and Russian Futurist imagery, conflating Yugoslav patriotism with its German authoritarian adversary.[81] Slavoj Zizek has defended Laibach, arguing that they and their associated Neue Slowenische Kunst art group practice an overidentification with the hidden perverse enjoyment undergirding authority that produces a subversive and liberatory effect.[82]

Following the breakup of Throbbing Gristle, Genesis P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson founded Psychic TV and signed to a major label.[83] Their first album was much more accessible and melodic than the usual industrial style, and included hired work by trained musicians.[84] Later work returned to the sound collage and noise elements of earlier industrial.[85] They also borrowed from funk and disco. P-Orridge also founded Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, a quasi-religious organization that produced video art.[86] Psychic TV's commercial aspirations were managed by Stevo of Some Bizzare records, who released many of the later industrial musicians, including Eistürzende Neubauten, Test Dept, and Cabaret Voltaire.[87] Cabaret Voltaire had become friends with New Order, and began to practice a similar form of danceable electropop.[88] Peter Christopherson left Psychic TV in 1983 and formed Coil with John Balance. Coil made use of gongs and bullroarers in an attempt to conjur "Martian," "homosexual energy".[89] A friend of Coil's David Tibet, formed Current 93; both groups were inspired by amphetamines and LSD.[90] J.G. Thirlwell, a co-producer with Coil, developed a version of black comedy in industrial music, borrowing from lounge as well as noise and film music.[91] In the early 1980s, the Chicago-based record label Wax Trax! and Canada's Nettwerk helped to expand the industrial music genre into the more accessible electro-industrial and industrial rock genres.[92]

Post-industrial

Main article: Post-industrial music

In the late 1980s, a number of additional styles developed from the already eclectic base of industrial music. These offshoots include fusions with noise music, ambient music, folk music, and electronic dance music, as well as other mutations and developments. The scene has spread worldwide, and is particularly well-represented in North America, Europe, and Japan. Post-industrial subgenres include ambient industrial, power electronics, Japanoise, neofolk, electro-industrial, electronic body music, industrial hip hop, industrial rock, and power noise. Without a doubt, the best-selling offshoot of industrial music is industrial metal; Ministry and Nine Inch Nails both recorded platinum-selling albums.[93] Their success led to an increase in commercial success for some other industrial musicians; for example, the Nine Inch Nails remix album Further Down the Spiral, which included contributions from Foetus and Coil, was certified gold in 1996.[93]

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Ford, Simon. Wreckers of Civilization. London: Black Dog Publishing, 1999.
  • Monroe, Alexei. Interrogation Machine: Laibach and NSK. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2005.
  • Reynolds, Simon. Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. Chapters 9: "Living for the Future: Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League and the Sheffield Scene"; 12: "Industrial Devolution: Throbbing Gristle's Music from the Death Factory"; and 25: "Conform to Deform: The Second-Wave Industrial Infiltrators". London: Faber and Faber, 2005. ISBN 0-571-21569-6
  • V. Vale and Andrea Juno, Re/Search #6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook, San Francisco: V/Search, 1983. ISBN 0-9650469-6-6

Notes

  1. ^ "Industrial", Allmusic. [1] Access date: May 29, 2009.
  2. ^ a b V.Vale. Re/Search #6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook, 1983.
  3. ^ "... journalists now use 'industrial' as a term like they would 'blues.' - Genesis P-Orridge, RE/Search #6/7, p. 16.
  4. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 5.
  5. ^ a b Reynolds, p. 168.
  6. ^ Reynolds, p. 169-170.
  7. ^ Reynolds, p. 170.
  8. ^ Reynolds, p. 227.
  9. ^ Reynolds, p. 228.
  10. ^ Reynolds, p. 230.
  11. ^ Reynolds, p. 230.
  12. ^ Reynolds, p. 235.
  13. ^ Ford, 8.10
  14. ^ ibid.
  15. ^ Reynolds, p. 242-244.
  16. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 5.
  17. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 9.
  18. ^ "These ideas contributed some of the theoretical mise-en-scène for emergent Industrial groups such as Throbbing Gristle, SPK, and Cabaret Voltaire, all of whom experimented with cut-up sound and re-contextualised ambient recordings." Sargeant, Jack, "The Primer: William S. Burroughs," The Wire 300, February 2009, p. 38.
  19. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 105
  20. ^ Reynolds, p. 232-232.
  21. ^ Stubbs, David. Review of Standing in Two Circles: The Collected Works of Boyd Rice, Brian M. Clark, ed., in The Wire 300, February 2009, p. 72.
  22. ^ Reynolds, p. 170.
  23. ^ Reynolds, p. 170-171.
  24. ^ a b John Bush, "Test Dept.", Allmusic. [2] Access date: May 29, 2009.
  25. ^ a b Monroe, p. 212
  26. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 11-12.
  27. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 19.
  28. ^ Reynolds, p. 225.
  29. ^ Reynolds, p. 227.
  30. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 67.
  31. ^ Dmitri Kolesnik (1999). "Z'EV – Acoustic Phenomenae". Drugie Here. Retrieved 2009-06-01. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  32. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 117
  33. ^ Reynolds, p. 154, 159.
  34. ^ Reynolds, p. 156.
  35. ^ Reynolds, p. 242.
  36. ^ Reynolds, p. 243.
  37. ^ Reynolds, p. 485.
  38. ^ Simon Reynolds, "Sonic Youth are caught under the influence," Guardian, April 7, 2009. [3] Access date: April 7, 2009.
  39. ^ Reynolds, p. 226.
  40. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 97-105.
  41. ^ Reynolds, p. 154-155, 171.
  42. ^ Reynolds, p. 242.
  43. ^ Reynolds, p. 224.
  44. ^ TG CD I liner notes. P. Orridge states: "Monte Cazazza suggested our business slogan should be INDUSTRIAL MUSIC FOR INDUSTRIAL PEOPLE." [4]
  45. ^ Kilpatrick, Nancy. The Goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2004, ISBN 0-312-30696-2, p. 86.
  46. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 42-49.
  47. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 50-67.
  48. ^ Reynolds, p. 224.
  49. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 17.
  50. ^ Reynolds, p. 226.
  51. ^ Reynolds, p. 226.
  52. ^ Reynolds, p. 227.
  53. ^ ibid.
  54. ^ ibid.
  55. ^ Reynolds, p. 229.
  56. ^ Reynolds, p. 240.
  57. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 9-10.
  58. ^ Jason Ankeny, "Clock DVA", Allmusic. [5] Access date: May 29, 2009.
  59. ^ Bradley Torreano, "Nocturnal Emissions", Allmusic. [6] Access date: May 29, 2009.
  60. ^ Peter Schaefer, "Whitehouse", Allmusic. [7] Access date: May 29, 2009.
  61. ^ Reynolds, p. 241.
  62. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 92-105.
  63. ^ Reynolds, p. 240.
  64. ^ Reynolds, p. 241-242.
  65. ^ Reynolds, p. 243.
  66. ^ Reynolds, p. 243-244.
  67. ^ Industrial Records Discography. [8] Access date: May 29, 2009.
  68. ^ Michael Sutton, "Leather Nun", Allmusic. [9] Access date: May 29, 2009.
  69. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 68-81.
  70. ^ RE/Search #6/7, p. 50-67.
  71. ^ Bradley Torreano, "Maurizio Bianchi". Allmusic. [10] Access date: May 29, 2009.
  72. ^ Steve Huey, "Einstürzende Neubauten." Allmusic. [11] Access date: May 29, 2009.
  73. ^ Reynolds, p. 484.
  74. ^ ibid.
  75. ^ Reynolds, p. 486.
  76. ^ ibid.
  77. ^ Monroe, p. 222.
  78. ^ Reynolds, p. 485.
  79. ^ Reynolds, p. 489.
  80. ^ Reynolds, p. 487.
  81. ^ Monroe, p. 96.
  82. ^ Slavoj Zizek, "Why Are Laibach and NSK Not Fascists?," M'ARS 3-4, 1993, p. 3-4.
  83. ^ Reynolds, p. 474.
  84. ^ Reynolds, p. 474-475.
  85. ^ Reynolds, p. 480-481.
  86. ^ Reynolds, p. 476.
  87. ^ Reynolds, p. 477.
  88. ^ Reynolds, p. 478.
  89. ^ Reynolds, p. 481-482.
  90. ^ Reynolds, p. 482.
  91. ^ Reynolds, p. 483
  92. ^ Kilpatrick, Nancy. The Goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2004, ISBN 0-312-30696-2, p. 86.
  93. ^ a b RIAA Gold and Platinum searchable database. [12] Access date: March 24, 2009.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Industrial_music&oldid=293799646"