Analysis of goth: Part 3, Goth in industrial music

I can hear you all now: “Hey, Atma. Industrial is a subgenre of electronic music. Why didn’t you discuss it in the previous article?” Well, my little abiders, there is a very good reason for that. Industrial, as it is widely understood today, is not as clearly defined as many other genres popular in the gothic subculture. There is much confusion as to the identity of the genre;  who is and who is not considered to be part of the movement is fuzzy to many as well. Luckily, it is easy to trace industrial back to its humble origins in 1970s Hull, England.

Throbbing Gristle and the Origins of Industrial Music

While some acts (namely American acts Pere Ubu and Devo) (1) had once seized the word “industrial” to describe their respective sounds, it was not until the formation of Throbbing Gristle that the term truly held significance. COUM Transmissions, officially founded in 1969 in England, was an amateur traveling performance art troupe who specialized in happenings that involved music around the Yorkshire area. There they made a name by embracing taboos and engaging in controversial and socially transgressive themes and imagery (murder, sexual abuse, child pornography, etc.). COUM Transmissions’ Genesis P-Orridge points to The Velvet Underground’s tendency to dissect the darker side of human behavior as an influence for COUM Transmissions’ lyrics. (2)

In 1975, the members of COUM Transmissions became interested in forming a “band” in a more traditional sense of the word, and Throbbing Gristle was formed as a result. As none of the members were familiar with playing instruments, they began to employ a classic philosophy of 20th century avant-garde composer John Cage: any sound can be music. (2) Throbbing Gristle took this idea and applied it to the newly emerging British punk rock aesthetic of the time and created a sound that relied heavily on improvisation with raw materials and homemade electronics. It is also important to note the stark lack of melody in favor of atonality and noise.

(For reference: “We Hate You (Little Girls)” by Throbbing Gristle)

The sound, approach to lyricism, and philosophy were all in place. Throbbing Gristle were certainly on the verge of founding a revolutionary form of music, but they needed a name. Monte Cazazza, an avant-garde artist from California and friend of Genesis P-Orridge dubbed the then developing sound “industrial music” on September 3rd, 1975 by describing Throbbing Gristle’s music as “industrial music for industrial people.” This phrase quickly became their tagline. P-Orridge said that they were “making music for the post-industrial age.” (2) Throbbing Gristle named their practice in Hackney, London “The Death Factory.” It was in close proximity to the noises of British workshops’ circular saws, railways, and many other sounds of the “post-industrial age.”

In 1976, the members of Throbbing Gristle founded Industrial Records, under which they would release all of their own material. Soon, other like-minded groups would be signed to this record label. Cabaret Voltaire’s 1974-1976 and Clock DVA’s White Souls in Black Suits were both released on the label in 1980. Other British acts not signed to the label (Nurse With Wound, Coil, Current 93, Test Dept, SPK) would soon emerge, contributing their own unique takes on the industrial genre.

(For reference, “Six Buttons of Sex Appeal” by Nurse With Wound)

Three crucial acts formed outside of Britain in the early ‘80s that left a sizable impact on the future of industrial music: Einstürzende Neubauten from Germany in 1980, Ministry from America in 1981, and Skinny Puppy from Canada in 1982.

Ministry, Wax Trax! and American Industrial

Cazazza was at least partially to blame for the migration of Industrial music from Europe to America. He brought word of the original British Industrial scene to his friends involved in music and avant-garde art in California. (2) Several bands (Factrix, NON, Minimal Man) formed thereafter. This interpretation of the then still undeveloped take on industrial music changed drastically after it had some time to evolve on American soil. Chicago’s Wax Trax! Records label, which began as a new wave and punk rock label, became the hub for alternative American electronic music (darkwave, futurepop, EBM, industrial, etc. had representation). Among the American industrial bands on the label, the most important were the likes of KMFDM, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, and Front Line Assembly, but no one had the realm of influence quite like Ministry.

Ministry, Cuban-born multi-instrumentalist Al Jourgensen’s most successful project, had roots in both industrial music and punk music. Ministry and old school British industrial shared many musical traits, but it was clear that Ministry was much more rhythmically-driven. Where Throbbing Gristle was freeform, there was an undeniable rigidity to Ministry’s music. Although, due to pressures administered by Arista Records, Inc., Jourgensen recorded the synthpop album With Sympathy under the Ministry name. Following the release, Jourgensen participated in several heavier projects (1000 Homo DJs, Pailhead, Revolting Cocks) that facilitated Ministry’s trajectory into more aggressive, industrial-influenced music. (3) By the two albums that followed, Twitch (’86) and The Land of Rape and Honey (’88), Jourgensen began incorporating more of his industrial influences again, and when he released Psalm 69 in ’92, he had effectively fused industrial and metal in a commercially successful way.

(For reference, “Everyday is Halloween” by Ministry)

Skinny Puppy and Electro-Industrial

In the early ‘80s, before the non-British industrial landscape was cultivated, the Canadian act Skinny Puppy formed and interpreted industrial music to suit their environment. Although still very much inspired by the iconoclastic vigor of Throbbing Gristle, the result was a much more conventional and consonant take on industrial music. The synth patches were glossy and refined, the distinct downbeats made it easy for the listener to tap his or her foot, and memorable melodies were not uncommon. Because of these changes, Skinny Puppy gave birth to the electro-industrial genre. (4) My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, KMFDM, Velvet Acid Christ, Leæther Strip, and :wumpscut: are among the most important contemporary electro-industrial bands. 

(For reference, “Assimilate” by Skinny Puppy and “Kooler Than Jesus” by My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult)

Nine Inch Nails and the Industrial Crossover

In 1988, an avid young fan of Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Gary Numan and Test Dept from Ohio named Trent Reznor tried his hand at industrial music the only way he knew how: a pop format. (5) The release of his project, Nine Inch Nails’ first full-length album Pretty Hate Machine (1989) became the most important occurrence in bringing industrial to a pop demographic. Reznor caused what was once a minor underground movement in England to become a global phenomenon throughout his career. The name “Nine Inch Nails” became synonymous with “industrial” to the point that Throbbing Gristle, Skinny Puppy, Coil, and the lot were overshadowed by Reznor’s success. His following two albums Broken (1992) and The Downward Spiral (1994) included a larger focus on rock instrumentation, which helped to further bridge industrial and rock and became a staple of Nine Inch Nails’ signature sound.

(For reference, “The Only Time” by Nine Inch Nails)

Industrial Metal

Ministry and Nine Inch Nails’ experimentation in the nebulous grey area between industrial and rock gave birth to two novel genres: industrial metal and industrial rock. The late ‘80s saw the fusion of industrial with metal when the term “industrial” was securely defined. Industrial metal was pioneered by Broken-era Nine Inch Nails, mid-late Ministry and ex-Napalm Death guitarist Justin Broadrick’s project Godflesh. (6) What gave industrial metal its personality was a loyal adherence to square, definite rhythms of the Wax Trax! bands and a focus on a cold, unapologetic worship of atonality (similarly, a rejection of gloss and melody). The industrial metal sound was introduced to several alternative metal and nü metal bands in the ‘90s, such as Fear Factory and Static-X.

(For reference: “Crush My Soul” by Godflesh and “Martyr” by Fear Factory)

Industrial Rock

In a similar vein, industrial rock bands, who take a bigger influence from electro-industrial produced music that was more prone to garner a wider audience. The industrial rock scene (which more or less melded with the flourishing ‘90s electro-industrial scene) found its home in American clubs and the now well-established gothic subculture. The likes of Orgy, Deadstar Assembly, KMFDM, and Zeromancer saw their own respective successes in the industrial rock and electro-industrial underground.

(For reference, “Fiction (Dreams in Digital)” by Orgy)

Post-industrial

A curious term that gets thrown around in industrial circles is “post-industrial.” This is a term that doesn’t signify a genre, but is rather a descriptor word that serves to elaborate on developments made on the old school British industrial scene of the late ‘70s and its immediate evolutions in general. SPK, for instance, took the noise aspect of industrial and brought it to new heights. SPK’s innovations in particular became important to musicians that eventually became part of the yet-to-be-established noise scene relevant in England and latterly the harsh noise scenes in Japan and America (particularly Portland, OR). (7) Japanoise (a portmanteau of the words “Japanese” and “noise”) was a subgenre of harsh noise that sprouted from industrial shortly after its origins that also had roots in free improvisation, avant-garde jazz, and experimental American rock. (8) Japanoise artists (Merzbow, Masonna, Incapacitants, C.C.C.C.) typically push the industrial convention of the acceptance of static and feedback to an oft nearly unbearable limit and are adept in the art of sensory overload. 

(For reference, “Wars of Islam” by SPK and “Ananga-Ranga” by Merzbow)

A sister genre to Japanese noise music is power electronics, which came into fruition in early-mid ‘80s England with the formation of the band Whitehouse. Power electronics is unique in that it is fascinated more by industrial’s politics and lyrical freedom rather than its sonics. It delves more deeply into the depravity of human nature, as lyrics take the reins as the crux of the music. Fueled by profanity and filth, power electronics acts (Sutcliffe Jügend, Brighter Death Now) rely on industrial noise and experimental electronics as a backdrop to their sordid displays of the psyche and exhibitions of lurid behavioral deviance.

(For reference, “Why You Never Became A Dancer” by Whitehouse)

Two post-industrial styles that grew from electro-industrial are aggrotech and dark electro. The two were both inspired by Skinny Puppy and their contemporaries. Aggrotech had a much larger staying presence in goth and industrial club scenes, as it has a large focus on rhythm, giving it a very danceable quality. It is so named due to aggrotech acts’ (Suicide Commando, Funker Vogt, Combichrist) penchant for incorporating noise in their music (as well as on the vocals). Dark electro is a style of music that is more freeform than aggrotech rhythmically and had leanings toward horror soundscapes and dark ambient music.

(For reference, “Bind, Torture and Kill” by Suicide Commando and “Curse” by yelworC)

And so my three-part study of music relevant in the gothic subculture comes to a close. All good things must come to an end, one should suppose. Unpleasant dreams, my darlings.

-Thus spake the Atma

Suggested listening (Industrial):

Throbbing Gristle - D.o.A: Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle (’78)

Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca (’81)

Einstürzende Neubauten - 1/2 Mensch (’85)

Foetus - Nail (’85)

Coil - Horse Rotorvator (’86)

Test Dept - Unacceptable Face of Freedom (’86)

Ministry - Twitch (’86)

Godflesh - Streetcleaner (’89)

Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (’89)

Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park (’90)

Suggested listening (post-industrial):

Merzbow - Pulse Demon (Japanoise) (’96)

Hocico - Signos de aberración (aggrotech) (’02)

Whitehouse - Bird Seed (power electronics) (’03)

Prurient - And Still, Wanting (harsh noise) (’08)

Sources

1 Reynolds, Simon. "Uncontrollable Urge: The Industrial Grotesquerie of Pere Ubu and Devo." In Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.

2 “Genesis P-Orridge,” YouTube video, posted by “prismfilms1,” June 7, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V40VSWWqXho

3 "Ministry FAQ: Ministry History - Everything You Wanted to Know About Ministry... And Now You Don't Have to Ask." 13th Planet Records. http://www.thirteenthplanet.com/press/tls/files/a05_ministry_faq.pdf.

4 Adem Tepedelen, "Skinny Puppy Bark Back", Rolling Stone, May 20, 2004.

5 Doran, Trent Reznor. "Trent Reznor On Coil & Nine Inch Nails, Plus Recoiled Review." . : The Quietus, . . 

6 Prato, Greg. "Godflesh Biography." AllMusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/godflesh-mn0000561715/biography.

7 People Who Do Noise. YouTube. Directed by Adam Cornelius. Portland: VHX, 2008.

8 Novak, David. "Noise Is Dead, Long Live Noise." In Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation, 15. Duke University Press Books, 2013.